Report: Iraq Has Resumed Missile Program

N E W   Y O R K, July 1, 2000 -- Iraq has restarted its missile program and hasconducted flight tests of a short-range ballistic missile, officials said today.

The tests — eight since as early as May 1999, including one onTuesday — have involved Al Samoud, a liquid-fueled ballisticmissile that could carry conventional explosives or the chemicaland biological weapons that Iraq is still suspected of hiding,according to Clinton administration and military officials.“We’re starting to see things up and functioning,” Gen.Anthony C. Zinni, the commander of American forces in the PersianGulf region, said in an interview Monday.

The tests come eight months after American and British warplanesbadly damaged Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s missile factoriesafter Iraq halted all cooperation with international inspectorssearching for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and themissiles that can carry them. Iraq had agreed to forsake thoseweapons as a condition for the United States and its allies endingthe Persian Gulf war in 1991.

No Threat to Neighbors

The new missile’s range, shorter than that of the Russian-madeScud missiles fired at Israel and Saudi Arabia during the war, doesnot pose a significant threat to Iraq’s neighbors or Americanforces in the region, officials said. But those officials view thetesting as evidence that Iraq is still working to perfect itsballistic missile technology, which could be adapted tolonger-range missiles, officials said.

“What he (Hussein) learns from these tests, the technologicaldevelopments and the other things he picks up, are transferable tolonger-range missiles,” said Zinni.

With a range under 95 miles, the new missile does not violateUnited Nations restrictions.

Officials told The New York Times the new missile did not appear to beready for deployment, adding that American satellites, radar andaircraft monitoring the test flights had found significant problemswith Al Samoud—which in Arabic means resistance.

“They can’t get the guidance to work right. They can’t get the engines to work right. It’s not close to going into production, butthey are persistent,” said one unnamed official cited by thenewspaper.