3 Nations Called Source of 80% of Iraq’s Arms

Four-fifths of Iraq’s arms came from three permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, a Swedish diplomat told a disarmament conference Tuesday.

“It is an irony of history that weapons in Iraq’s arsenal are now turned against their suppliers,” Swedish Ambassador Maj Britt Theorin, chairman of the Swedish Disarmament Commission, told the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament.

Four-fifths came from China, France and the Soviet Union, she said, adding: “A lesson to be learned from the military buildup in the region is that the international arms trade has to be limited.”