Iraqi truks, carrying Al-Samoud 2 missiles head to an undisclosed location from the Al-Taji military complex, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad 01 March 2003, where Iraqi and UN officials had said the banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles were to be destroyed. Iraq destroyed the first of its banned missile and an operation is under way to scrap three others, a senior UN official said. AFP Photo by Karim Sahib
Iraq's destruction of Al-Samoud missiles merely "a game": White House
Washington (AFP) Mar 1, 2003
The White House dismissed Baghdad's move to begin destroying its Al-Samoud 2 missiles Saturday, saying the step was merely part of "a game" Iraq was playing with the international community.
"President (George W.) Bush has always predicted that Iraq would destroy their Al-Samoud 2 missiles as part of their games of deception," White House spokeswoman Mercy Viana said.
She added that UN Resolution 1441 "called for a complete, total and immediate disarmament; it did not call for pieces of disarmament."
"It is a game that Iraq is playing," she said.
Under UN supervision early Saturday in Al-Taji, north of Baghdad, Iraq began destroying the first four of its stockpile of banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles, said by UN experts to exceed the agreed range limit of 150 kilometers (93 miles) set under UN disarmament terms.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix ordered Iraq to start destroying the missiles, warheads and component parts and their manufacturing systems by Saturday.
The United States, together with Britain, has massed more than 225,000 troops in the Gulf for a possible war, which they say is being mounted to rid Iraq of its alleged arsenal of banned weapons.
Iraqi officials say there are about 100 Al-Samoud 2 missiles in existence, of which around 50 have been delivered to the army.
