Baghdad Complains to U.N. Over Tougher Restrictions on Weapons

Tough new U.N. weapons controls have outraged Iraqi officials, who call the measures a violation of their nation’s sovereignty and an attempt to drive President Saddam Hussein from power.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday ordered Iraq’s nuclear program dismantled and said its arms industry will be monitored as long as Hussein is president. Iraq will have to submit reports every six months on projects that could have military applications. It will also have to provide an inventory of all its nuclear installations and materials in 30 days.

Iraq’s Ambassador Abdul Amir Anbari said, “No country or sovereignty, whether it is in the Middle East or anywhere else, would accept such inspections or such a plan.”

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ahmed Hussein Khudayer wrote to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar and the Security Council, saying: “The President of the United States of America persists in intervening in the internal affairs of Iraq, in implementation of a suspect policy that seeks to subject Iraq and the Iraqi people to U.S. colonial tutelage.”