by Mehr News Agency (Iran) –

http://www.mehrnews.com/ar/wfNewsDetails_en.aspx?NewsID=65327&t=Political

TEHRAN (March 12, 2004) — Over the past few days, in the wake of the bombings in Karbala and the ideological disputes that delayed the signing of Iraq’s interim constitution, there have been reports that US forces have unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the southern ports of Iraq.

A reliable source from the Iraqi Governing Council, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mehr News Agency that US forces, with the help of British forces stationed in southern Iraq, had made extensive efforts to conceal their actions.

US Moves in WMDs under Cover of Darkness
He added that the cargo was unloaded during the night as attention was still focused on the aftermath of the deadly bombings in Karbala and the signing of Iraq’s interim constitution.

The source said that in order to avoid suspicion, ordinary cargo ships were used to download the cargo, which consisted of weapons produced in the 1980s and 1990s.

He mentioned the fact that the United States had facilitated Iraq’s WMD program during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War and said that some of the weapons being downloaded are similar to those weapons, although international inspectors had announced Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime had destroyed all its WMD.

The source went on to say that the rest of the weapons were probably transferred in vans to an unknown location somewhere in the vicinity of Basra overnight.

“Most of these weapons are of Eastern European origin and some parts are from the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The US obtained them through confiscations during sales of banned arms over the past two decades,” he said.

If You Can’t Find WMDs, Why Not Plant Them?
This action comes as certain US and Western officials have been pointing out the fact that no weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in Iraq and the issue of Saddam’s trial begins to take center stage.

In addition, former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has emphasized that the US and British intelligence agencies issued false reports on Iraq leading to the US attack.

Meanwhile, the suspicious death of weapons inspector David Kelly is also an unresolved issue in Britain.

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