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Missile destruction begins, says Iraq: US unmoved

AP, Baghdad
An Iraqi official said Iraq destroyed four Al Samoud 2 missiles yesterday, as ordered by UN weapons inspectors. A spokesman for UN weapons inspectors said he couldn't confirm the destruction, but that it was "a matter of min-utes."The Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the destruction occurred in the Al-Taji area, 20 miles north of Baghdad, which has several facto-
ries involved in missile production.
A spokesman for the UN weapons inspectors, Hiro Ueki, said a team of inspectors was headed to the site.
The Iraqi official said the destruction had begun at 1 p.m. local time (5 a.m. EST).
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix ordered the destruction of the finned, white rockets and all their components, fuel and design systems because tests indicated
some fly farther than allowed.
On Friday he praised the Iraqi decision to comply with his order, saying: "It is a very significant piece of real disarmament."
Blix's chief deputy, Demetrius Perricos, met yesterday morning with Saddam Hussein's scientific adviser, Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi, to finalise details of the destruction. Iraq is believed to have more than 100 Al Samoud 2 missiles.
Odai al-Taie, head of the Iraqi
information department, said the two sides discussed technical points and "agreed on a schedule and a work plan for the coming days." He said they also agreed on "the sites of destruction, the manner of destruction and the priorities."
Ueki also announced that the inspectors had resumed interviews with Iraqi scientists, interviewing a biological weapons expert and a missile expert on Friday evening -the first such interviews since Feb. 7.
"This is positive news," Ueki said.
The two developments - both key demands of the weapons inspectors - were likely to affect next week's address to the UN Security Council by Blix.
Reuters from Washington adds: The United States dismissed Iraq's pledge to destroy missiles as "propaganda wrapped in a lie inside a falsehood" and said the move will still leave Baghdad short of U.N. demands and not stop the march toward a possible war.
Iraq's vow to destroy its al-Samoud 2 ballistic missiles, whose 90 mile range exceeds the U.N. limit set in 1991, set off a round of denunciations at the White House.
"That's the problem with Saddam Hussein. Every time he's under pressure, he tries to relieve the pressure by disarming just a touch, just a little, playing the game, playing the deception," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The U.S. reaction was that the missiles represented only the tip of the iceberg and that Baghdad was trying to mask the fact that it has mass stores of weapons of mass destruction it is required to disarm under U.N. resolution 1441.
"The Iraqi actions are propaganda wrapped in a lie inside a falsehood," Fleischer said.
The Iraqi move complicated the U.S.-British push to gain Security Council support for a new U.N. resolution that would set the stage for war.
With France saying there was no Security Council majority for the resolution and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov threatening a veto, U.S. officials still believed it was possible to get the nine needed votes to gain passage from the 15-member Security Council.
U.S. statements that Bush wants regime change in Baghdad in addition to total disarmament drew the ire of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who said in Mexico City that U.N. resolution 1441 did not mention regime change.
"So if we decide he's (Saddam) no good, who's going to be the next one?...What about the others? That is a very dangerous concept," he said.
Fleischer said Bush's goal is still to end the crisis peacefully. "He hopes it can be done peacefully but the goal remains disarmament and regime change," he said.
He raised the idea of Saddam and his top lieutenants going into exile as a way to avert war.
"The president remains hopeful
that Saddam Hussein and his top leaders will go into exile or that he will completely and totally disarm," he said.
Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and others are engaged in an intensive diplomatic effort for the resolution.
Bush needs the resolution as a show of international unity behind his drive for a war to disarm Iraq's alleged weapons and topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Bush spoke by phone on Thursday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who like the leaders of France and China have said inspectors should be given more time.
U.S. officials refused to predict the ultimate outcome, but held out hope of getting to nine votes with no veto from permanent Security Council members Russia, China and France.
"We don't take at this point anybody's vote for granted and we'll see how they vote. We haven't seen anybody definitively take a position on the resolution that is irrevocable," said one senior administration official.
Another official, noting the Nov. 8 passage of resolution 1441 was 150, said: "Nobody is counting on 15-0 this time, but we think we can get to
nine."
The United States is building a large military force in the Gulf region for a possible war with Iraq, including about 200,000 ground troops. Bush has said the United States will act against Iraq with a coalition of like-minded nations with or without U.N. backing.