Funny how we never heard any
more about this since last year... --Tony
United
States and British intelligence are tracking three
mystery cargo ships for fear they contain Saddam
Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, according to
British reports.
The vessels left port in late
November, just as United Nations weapons inspectors
arrived in Iraq to search for chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons believed to have been stockpiled since
the Persian Gulf War.
They've been traveling in
"ever-decreasing circles" ever since, all the while
maintaining radio silence in violation of international
maritime law. The captains refuse to reveal the content
of their cargoes or destinations, according to the
Independent and the Evening Standard.
The ships, each with a deadweight of
35,000 to 40,000 tons, were chartered by a shipping
agent based in Egypt and are flying under the flags of
three different countries, according to the British
papers.
Officials believe the ships set sail
from a country other than Iraq to avoid detection from
Western naval vessels patrolling the Gulf. Defense
experts speculate that, if the ships are carrying
weapons of mass destruction, the arms could have been
smuggled out through Syria or Jordan.
The vessels are thought to have spent
much of the past three months in the deep waters of the
Indian Ocean. They berthed in a handful of Arab
countries, including Yemen.
Asked to comment on the Independent
report, a spokeswoman for Britain's Ministry of Defense
told Reuters News Agency: "We don't discuss intelligence
issues."
The British papers report U.S. and
British military forces are reluctant to stop and search
the vessels for fear that such intervention could lead
to the destruction of "smoking gun" evidence that
Hussein is in "material breach" of U.N. resolutions
seeking his disarmament.
In addition, if weapons of mass
destruction were dumped overboard, the environmental
damage could be catastrophic.
U.N. weapons inspectors have found no
evidence of weapons of mass destruction after conducting
more than 400 searches of 300 sites over the past eleven
weeks.
But chief inspector
Hans Blix reported to Security Council members that
Iraq had failed to account for 1,000 tons of chemical
agent, 6,500 chemical bombs, 25,000 liters of anthrax,
38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tons of sarin,
mustard gas and VX nerve agent and 380 rocket engines
useful in the delivery of biological and chemical
agents.
"One must not jump to the conclusion
that they exist. However, that possibility is also not
excluded," he said.
Meanwhile, Security Council members
are continuing to debate what next steps to take with
Iraq, including whether a second resolution should be
adopted.