U.S. Alleges Iraq’s Army Is Rebuilding

In a scene reminiscent of Adlai Stevenson displaying aerial images of Soviet bases during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, U.S. officials Wednesday gave diplomats here a high-tech slide show of satellite photos that the U.S. says prove Iraq has illegally converted recently imported trucks to weapons carriers.

The unusual U.S. intelligence presentation was staged on the eve of the first high-level talks between Iraqi and U.N. officials in almost two years.

In a visit that diplomats say was prompted by U.S. threats of military action against his government, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri is scheduled to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York today before flying back to the Middle East for a round of consultations in Arab capitals.

Although Iraq requested the meeting, U.N. officials say Annan set the agenda: full Iraqi compliance with U.N. demands for the return of its weapons inspectors, who left Baghdad hours before U.S. and British bombing raids there in December 1998.

“As far as the secretary-general is concerned, they will be talking about U.N. resolutions, and his emphasis will be implementation, implementation, implementation,” said Fred Eckhard, Annan’s spokesman.

Photos Taken From Satellites, Iraqi TV

The U.S. government says the spy photos unveiled behind closed doors Wednesday document Iraq’s brazen violation of the U.N. resolution that established the “oil-for-food” program, under which Iraq can import industrial goods such as heavy trucks only for humanitarian purposes.

Proof that Baghdad is systematically defying U.N. trade sanctions could derail any Iraqi efforts to negotiate the removal of the import controls, even if Iraq unexpectedly agrees to admit arms inspectors, diplomats here said.

And any evidence that Iraq is covertly rebuilding its army reinforces U.S. arguments that Saddam Hussein’s regime must be confronted militarily.

“It is doubly worrying,” said Catherine MacKenzie, an official at the British mission to the U.N. “The military buildup that it would bring about adds to Iraq’s ability to project its power more effectively. And these are vehicles that should be distributing food and humanitarian supplies, a job that is not being done. We know that Iraq’s priority is weapons, not food or welfare, and this is one more graphic illustration of that.”

In two sessions here Wednesday--first with top officials of the U.N. weapons inspections unit and later with diplomats from the 15 member states of the Security Council--a team of six unidentified U.S. officials gave half-hour presentations of computer images taken from spy satellites and Iraqi television.

Some officials who saw the presentation said the U.S. showed clear pictures of heavy-duty Russian and German trucks being unloaded at an Iraqi port last year; the same vehicles were later photographed at Iraqi army bases and at a military parade in Baghdad.

Some of the trucks in the televised parade were towing artillery that U.S. officials identified as D-30 “field guns” with a maximum range of 10 miles. Satellite surveillance photos of an Iraqi army base showed what U.S. officials said were dump trucks equipped with heavy-duty hydraulic lifts, which they said were being altered to serve as missile launchers.

Some Diplomats Ask for More Documentation

The U.S. officials showed the weapons inspectors at least one photograph of a truck that had already been transformed into a missile-launching platform, according to a diplomat who attended the briefing. As many as 1,000 Russian- and German-made trucks imported under the oil-for-food program have been diverted to military purposes, the U.S. officials contended in their presentation to Security Council members.

They said many of the trucks could be identified as Russian-made Urals, famously rugged heavy-transport vehicles that have been imported by Iraq for approved civilian purposes.

“You could clearly see that this was the same type of truck coming in at Iraqi ports and then reappearing at Iraqi military bases,” MacKenzie said.

But other diplomats said they wanted more documentation of the U.S. allegations that the imported trucks photographed at Iraqi seaports last year were the same vehicles later seen at army bases and the military parade.

“This all may be true or it may not all be true, but we need more information,” said one European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N. said the officials who gave the briefings could not be identified by name or title. Some diplomats who attended the briefings said the U.S. officials included intelligence agents.

The timing of their appearance, on the eve of the Iraqi foreign minister’s visit, “was coincidental, though I know you won’t believe me,” said the spokesman, who also declined to be identified.

Western diplomats and U.N. officials said they have limited expectations for the visit, which is seen as one of a series of recent gestures prompted by Baghdad’s alarm at U.S. threats of military action, and by its growing concern at the new unanimity in Security Council demands for the reentry of weapons inspectors.

A stronger, streamlined trade sanctions program due to take effect in June will increase economic and political pressure on Iraq, diplomats note.

Reversing its long-standing opposition to U.N. monitoring missions of any kind, Iraq recently allowed the chief U.N. human rights official with responsibility for Iraq to visit Baghdad for the first time in a decade. It also recently permitted inspections of a nuclear power plant by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, which verified that stocks of uranium remained sealed and on site in accordance with U.N. rules.

But U.N. officials remain adamant that Iraq must permit weapons inspectors to return to the country without restrictions. The inspectors have said there is circumstantial evidence that Iraq is still clandestinely smuggling in equipment for its outlawed nuclear weapons program, and the allegations presented by U.S. officials Wednesday may buttress their contention that Iraq appears intent on rebuilding its military.