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Tension as inspectors locked out
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The top Iraqi and U.N. monitoring officials were called to a Baghdad health center Friday after U.N. weapons inspectors reported a problem tagging equipment during a routine search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the officials said. A gatekeeper at the facility -- which had never been searched before by the U.N. -- said the inspection team was locked out of several rooms at the site because the employees holding the keys were not at work Friday, a Muslim holy day. It is the first time inspectors have conducted a search on a Friday. White House officials plan to issue later in the day their preliminary assessment of the Iraqi report to U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix. U.S. officials say they believe Iraq's declaration of its weapons of mass destruction program falls "far, far, far short" of a complete report. (Full story) In Friday's inspections incident, an Iraqi official rushed to the site armed with a hand drill, shortly after the U.N. and Iraqi officials' arrival, CNN's Nic Robertson reported. About two hours after the inspections began, the head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate Hossam Amin arrived on the site with Miroslav Gregorich, head of the U.N. monitoring operation in Iraq. The U.N. used a telephone hotline, for the first time, to contact Amin about the situation. Amin and Gregorich emerged after about 15 minutes and announced that the situation had been resolved. "This is a newly declared site and we want to clarify the tagging procedure, that's all," Amin said. He would not give any further details about the incident. The U.N. tags items discovered during weapons inspections for monitoring purposes. The team of inspectors arrived at the Communicable Disease Control Center in Baghdad at about 9 a.m. and left shortly after the officials arrived. The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), is looking for biological and chemical programs, while the International Atomic Energy Agency is checking for nuclear programs. Thursday inspectionsKeeping to an accelerated inspections regime, U.N. weapons inspectors Thursday were at no fewer than five sites across Iraq. Two IAEA teams made a follow-up visit Thursday to the Ibn Sina Company 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Baghdad. The site -- formerly known as Tarmiya -- hosted a uranium enrichment plant that was destroyed in 1991. The United Nations has verified that no nuclear activities remain or have been initiated at this site. Inspection teams Thursday also went to: • An unnamed missile site about 200 km (124 miles) west of Baghdad. UNMOVIC said inspectors attended the test launch of a short-range ballistic missile. Inspectors said the range of the missile fell within U.N. limits for Iraq, which is allowed short-range capabilities. • The Arabic Company for Antibiotics near al-Suwairah, 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Baghdad, where inspectors said they verified that the plant was used to formulate and package medications. • Two sites in the vicinity of Baghdad, including an engineering facility and an electronics plant. • A missile factory on the grounds of a former nuclear facility. About 98 inspectors are in Baghdad after more than two dozen more reinforcements arrived in Baghdad Thursday, according to the United Nations. So far, the inspectors have visited 58 sites, 10 of which were cited in a British dossier released earlier this year, according to Amin. On Thursday, Amin said the new round of U.N. weapons inspections had disproved "groundless" allegations by Western intelligence agencies that 10 Iraqi sites may be helping to produce banned weapons, Reuters reported. Ten of the sites newly inspected "were allegedly said to practice and conduct some prohibited activities," Amin told reporters, without identifying the locations. "The visits of the inspection teams proved that those allegations are groundless," he said. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday he thinks the inspections themselves represent progress. "I think it's important to think of the setting six months ago," Rumsfeld said during a news conference with Gen. Tommy Franks in Qatar. "Six months ago, the Iraqis refused to have inspectors in their country. They were ignoring 16 resolutions of the United Nations." But, he said, "Only time will tell the extent to which they really are or are not going to cooperate." -- CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson contributed to this report
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