Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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07AMMAN4578 | 2007-11-15 12:13:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Amman |
VZCZCXYZ0011 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHAM #4578/01 3191213 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 151213Z NOV 07 FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0902 INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 5538 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1193 RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 0337 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC |
C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 004578 |
1. (SBU) From 2005 through 2007, the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has held a series of meetings with Iraqi officials to assist them in preparing for accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) (Ref A). The Technical Secretariat (TS) hosted the fourth and final meeting in Amman, Jordan on October 29-31, 2007 with the objective of developing a complete and correct declaration appropriate for submission to the OPCW within 60 days after Iraq's submission of its articles of accession to the United Nations, which could take place at any time. This final meeting focused on review of the revisions made by Iraq to its December 2006 draft in response to the additional information needs identified in December, and the follow-up U.S.-UK comments on the December 2006 draft declaration. The meeting also afforded an opportunity to review and make suggested edits to the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction implementing legislation that includes CWC issues. This final meeting, therefore, was organized into three sub-groups that addressed the chemical weapons-related declaration, the industrial declaration, and implementing legislation. -------------------------- Chemical Weapons-Related Declaration -------------------------- 2. (C) The basis of the Iraqi declaration for CW activity remains unchanged from the December 2006 draft: - declaration of the possession of CW; - declaration of five past CW-production facilities: Al-Rashad, Al-Muthanna, and Al-Falluja I, II, and III, - declaration of two "other facilities" for CW development at Al-Rashad and Al-Muthanna, - inclusion of a separate annex to provide available information on the remnants of CW assessed to still remain at the Al-Muthanna storage site; - declaration of four "other chemical production facilities" (OCPFs); and the - declaration of CW-related transfers on a country-by-country, non-company specific basis. The format of the December 2006 draft declaration has been expanded to include new annexes for additional information, including site diagrams, process flow diagrams, photos, and tabulated information, e.g., equipment lists. 3. (SBU) The CW sub-group conducted a line-by-line review of the revised sections of the declaration, and provided clarification and appropriate revisions as needed. The Iraqis had addressed the U.S-UK additional comments (Ref B) in preparation for this meeting, as well as the open issues from the December 2006 session. However, complete sets of process flow diagrams did not provide for all manufacturing steps, and the detail of annotation provided was not adequate. A comprehensive list of acronyms for the entire declaration was also needed. The UK will assist Iraq with preparing final site diagrams and process flow diagrams with appropriate annotation. The TS representatives suggested that all drawings should be recreated by computer to a uniform standard. However, the U.S. delegation agreed with the UK that original (including hand-drawn) figures are acceptable for submission as part of the declaration as long as they are completely legible and fully annotated. 4. (SBU) The TS encouraged the Iraqi delegation to obtain additional photographs that could demonstrate the completeness of destruction of declared facilities and equipment. The Iraqi delegation reported that they had been unsuccessful in accessing the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) archives in order to obtain useful photos. The U.S. delegation provided the Iraqi side with 11 aerial photographs and 5 preliminary site diagrams for three of the five declared CWPFs. The U.S. delegation agreed to continue to look for useful, unclassified photographs (e.g., bunkers), and asked the TS to SIPDIS consider using the OPCW's specifically designated status - paragraph 15 of the Secretary-General's Report on paragraph 5 of Resolution 1762 (2007), S/2007/568 - to access useful photos from the UNMOVIC archives. 5. (SBU) The Iraqis had not understood that the Convention requirements for destruction of CW facilities differ from the criteria used by the UN for CW destruction, i.e., that equipment was permanently disabled, that equipment was dismantled and reused for other legitimate commercial use, OR that the facilities were destroyed from coalition strikes and deemed unusable for CW development. TS participants reviewed several of the photographs provided by the Iraqis, pointing out examples of facilities that did not meet the CWC definition for destruction. 6. (SBU) The TS defined four specific tasks to be completed by the Iraqis, in addition to minor corrections and required clarifications identified in the text of the draft declaration, in order for the draft declaration to be considered complete: - To address remaining issues (highlighted in the current draft of Initial Declarations), including comprehensive site diagrams, process flow diagrams (CW-related), inventory of buildings and equipment (original) for each CWPF, to the extent possible; - To check for additional photographic evidence regarding the current condition of Iraqi CWPFs, to the extent possible; - To review the draft for editorial completeness, to check the availability and correctness of CAS numbers and other data; and - To provide an introductory narrative for the declaration that covers the history of the Iraqi CW-program, and the circumstances and problems in retrieving information evolving from the events since the 1991 Gulf war. A comprehensive list of acronyms is also needed, which the Iraqis agreed to provide. 7. (C) The Iraq delegation made no commitment as to its schedule for completing the final revisions to the draft initial declaration. The U.S. and UK delegations plan to conduct a final review of the October 2007 version of the initial declaration draft to ensure that all of the changes were properly entered, and to add technical details not captured by the TS during the meeting, e.g., correct chemical names and structures, etc. The U.S. and UK plan to submit a final coordinated set of comments to the Iraqi side within the next few weeks, which will include restatement of our shared view that at least the annex defining the assessed content of the two Al-Muthanna bunkers be classified Highly Protected. The issue of classification of the Iraqi declaration, currently marked as Highly Protected as a place holder, was not discussed in detail, and was left to the Iraqis for decision and incorporation into their final version. 8. (C) The U.S. and UK delegations raised concern that the generic entry for 122 mm rockets did not reflect the known four types that were imported, i.e., Sakr, Sakr-18, Sakr-30, and Firos-25. An acceptable clarification for this entry was to add the word "different types" to represent the four types as referenced in UNSCOM official documents. However, when the two delegations asked about a fifth type of "aluminum" rocket, also known as the "Al-Borak" that was produced indigenously, Iraqi officials denied their existence. U.S. and UK delegations made reference to this type of rocket which is referenced in Chapter III of the June 2007 UNMOVIC Compendium, and in press reporting describing such rockets as being recovered. Although this matter was not resolved at the meeting, TS Director of Verification Horst Reeps opined in discussions on the margins of the meeting that since the Al-Borak rockets were not imported, the Treaty does not require their declaration as received CW. This issue still remains unresolved, and U.S. and UK will raise it again in our joint comments on the final draft declaration review. -------------------------- Industry Declaration -------------------------- 9. (SBU) As in the case for the draft Iraqi CW related initial declaration, the basis of the Iraqi industry declaration remains unchanged from the December 2006 draft: - declaration of declarable industry facilities; and - declaration aggregate national data (AND), in particular imports and exports of Schedule 2 and 3 chemicals. 10. (SBU) Since the last workshop in December 2006, six other chemical production facilities (OCPFs) had been identified by the Iraqis as possibly meeting the requirements for declaration under Article VI (note that the codes assigned were adjusted at this workshop): -IRQ001, State Company for Petrochemical Industries, Basra, vinyl chloride monomer; -IRQ002, State Company for Vegetable Oil Industries, Baghdad, LABS; -IRQ003, State Company for Fertilizer Industries-Northern Area, Baghdad, urea; -IRQ004, State Company for Fertilizer Industries-Southern Area, Basra, -IRQ005, State Company for Vegetable Oil Industries, Baghdad, LABS; and -no code, Alswari Chemical Industries, Taji, vinyl acetate. 11. (SBU) Four of the OCPFs met the criteria in 2006 for declaration in 2007, IRQ002-IRQ005, and only three -- IRQ002, IRQ004, and IRQ005 -- met the criteria in 2007 for declaration in 2008. IRQ001, while intact and capable of production, did not operate in 2006 and 2007, but may do so later. The Alswari Chemical Industries plant site did not produce vinyl acetate monomer and only polymerized imported monomer, so it did not meet the criteria for a declarable OCPF. It was determined that Iraq will have no AND declarations for either 2006 or 2007. The necessary declaration forms 4.1 were completed. The industry portion of the Iraqi initial declaration is ready for submission. -------------------------- Implementing Legislation -------------------------- 12. (SBU) Representatives from the TS and all delegations except the UK discussed in detail the "Final Draft" Law on Non-Proliferation in the Republic of Iraq. According to the Iraqis, the Shura Council will have one more (the third) reading of the text before it is forwarded to the Parliament. After the second reading, the Shura Council requested changes to the text; however, the Iraqi delegation only brought a revised Arabic draft to the meeting since it is still undergoing revisions. The Shura Council had requested that the law be revised to add in three objectives to the preamble, and provide elaboration on the handling of classified information. The three new/revised objectives to the law are: 1) prevent the exploitation of any activities related to weapons of mass destruction; 2) implement sanctions for violations to treaty provisions and protocols; and 3) more closely incorporate Convention definitions (which were not fully articulated during discussions). The Iraqi delegation agreed to incorporate, with some modifications, the informal U.S. CWC-related comments previously provided. The group also discussed the informal comments on the BWC-related provisions, and reached agreement on the changes the Iraqi government needs to make to the text. The Japanese delegate also provided substantive comments on the text, some of which were accepted. Additions by the Shura Council and those discussed during the Amman working group are to be incorporated prior to the third reading, but are subject to change. 13. (SBU) The group discussed at length the differences between the term "means of warfare" and "method of warfare" with regard to the use of riot control agents. The Arabic version of the CWC uses the term "means of warfare" which explains the difference in the English translation. For consistency, the Iraqi delegation will continue to use the same term used in the Arabic version of the CWC. -------------------------- Other Issues Discussed -------------------------- 14. (C) U.S. delegation met with Horst Reeps on the margins of the Tuesday session to discuss the status of the U.S. submission on recovered munitions, and stated that the updated summary was still being developed. The delegation indicated that we expect to have the summary available prior to Iraq's submission of its initial CWC declaration. Reeps opined that the United States had met its immediate reporting obligation via the joint U.S. and UK letter to the United Nations (Annex I of Security Council Resolution 1762(2007)). The UK delegation suggested that we consider providing a joint status report on recovered munitions, and was told that this approach appeared to have merit. Comment: Agreement to this approach could be made part of the coordination of final declaration comments. End Comment. 15. (C) The U. S. Delegation also discussed informally with Horst Reeps how the TS planned to assist the Iraqis in their verification obligations after they become a State Party. Mr. Reeps said the Director-General has decided that in light of the current security situation in Iraq, no on-site inspection activities will take place. Further, the Director-General does not want Iraq to be perceived as having been party to this decision. On the other hand, the Director-General is looking for ways to provide interim verification that can be reported to the Executive Council. Methods being considered include imagery provided by interested States Parties or commercial imagery purchased from commercial satellite operators. No decisions have yet been made. 16. (U) Participants: IRAQ -- Muhaned T. Kareem, Director of Chemical Department, National Monitoring Directorate (NMD), Ministry of Science and Technology -- Abbas Ghadab, Head of Declaration Activities, NMD -- Adnan Abbas, Head of Verification and Inspection, NMD -- Reyadh Abd, Inspection Activities, NMD -- Farouq Jassim, Import-Export Officer, NMD -- Ahmed Mohammed, Head of Operations, NMD -- Mahmood Ahmed, Legal Advisor, NMD -- Mushin Y. Abdul Majid, Second Secretary, MFA -- Kurdistan A. Kittani, Second Secretary, MFA -- Basim Mohammad Saleh, Ministry of Industry and Minerals -- Hessien N. Hamad, Kurdish Region Government OPCW TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT -- Horst Reeps, Director of Verification -- Santiago Onate, Legal Advisor -- Kenneth Penman, Officer, Declarations Branch -- Oleg Ukharov, Officer, Chemical Demilitarization Branch -- Jose Renato Carvalho, Head, Inspectorate Management Branch -- Mahmoud El-Ghabbach, Interpreter UNITED STATES -- Tom Ferguson, ISN/CB, State -- Don Clagett, VCI/CCW, State -- Bill Parker, ISN/CB, State -- Sarah Nett, OSD, DOD UK -- Jim McGilly, DSTL, Porton Down -- Chris McCormick, Ministry of Defense -- Sheilesh Patel, DSTL, Porton Down JAPAN -- Tatsuya Abe, Advisor to Delegation of Japan to OPCW, University of Kyoto 17. (U) This message was drafted by ISN/CB. Hale |