BAGHDAD, 13 August — Baghdad yesterday ruled out a return of UN weapons inspectors, saying they had finished their work in Iraq as US Navy sought to charter a large ship to carry military helicopters and ammunition from the United States to two ports in the Red Sea.
The request follows a recent order for a vessel to carry military hardware from Europe to the Middle East, heightening speculation that the US is pre-positioning equipment for a possible strike on Iraq.
In Washington, US Navy spokesman Ensign David Luckett denied the Military Sealift Command had placed a request for a ship to carry helicopters and ammunition to the Red Sea.
"The US Navy and the Military Sealift Command have no such request to charter a civilian vessel at this time," Luckett said.
Military Sealift Command, the agency responsible for shipping the bulk of equipment used during the 1991 Gulf War, asked for a roll-on-roll-off vessel to discharge at two ports in the Red Sea in late August, according to shipping brokers.
"It’s another big one — 48,000 square feet of helicopters, ammo, and assorted rolling stock," said a shipping broker familiar with the US military’s tendering process. An area of 48,000 square feet is roughly equivalent to a soccer field.
Roll-on-roll-off ships, and oil tankers to carry military jet fuel and marine diesel oil, will top the US military’s most wanted list of vessels if war breaks out.
Last week’s request was for a similar ship to carry military supplies covering an area of 38,000 square feet. The heaviest pieces, at 50 tons each, were probably tanks and armored vehicles, according to a shipping source who chartered vessels for the US during the Gulf War.
In Baghdad, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahhaf told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television channel that UN weapons inspectors had finished their work and "To say, as the United States does, that Iraq possesses prohibited weapons is pure invention.
"The work of the United Nations according to chapter C of resolution 687 (passed on April 3, 1991 after the Gulf War) on the so-called prohibited arms has been accomplished," he said.
US and UN claims that Iraq had not been satisfactorily disarmed "can be refuted," Sahhaf said.
Sahhaf also described as "bad American bats" Iraqi opposition members who held talks with senior US officials over the weekend on plans to overthrow President Saddam Hussein.
Sahhaf called the cooperation between the opposition and the US administration a "game that reflects the weakness of the American position."
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote in an opinion column published by The Washington Post yesterday that toppling Saddam militarily could alienate US allies and set a precedent that would not be in US interests.
Meanwhile, according to a poll published in the Daily Telegraph of London yesterday two-thirds of British voters believe that a military attack against Iraq is not justified.
Only 28 percent of those questioned said they felt a US military operation against Saddam could be justified in the current circumstances.
Ninety percent warned that such action would result in revenge attacks against the West by militants, while 82 percent said attacking Iraq would result in numerous civilian casualties.
A majority of 62 percent said such action could lead to a larger Middle East war.
