IRAQ - Jan. 28 - Amer Rashid Calls UN Report On Weapons Unfair.

In the first official comment in Baghdad on the Jan. 27 report by Hans Blix to the UN Security Council, Saddam aide Lt.-Gen. Amer Rashid says Baghdad holds no banned weapons, adding: "We are co-operating with all our capacity and if there is a demand for additional co-operation in some issue, here or there, we will do it". He complains that the assessment given to the UN Security Council by Blix and Mohammad El Baradei failed to note that their inspections did not support US and British allegations of forbidden weapons work at specific sites. Rashid said: "There was not proportionate presentation of the facts. We see, for example, some facts amplified and magnified on what are called problems". This, he says, creates a "somewhat negative" impact. Rashid says US and British intelligence reports in 2002 spotlighted Iraqi sites that they contended might be conducting work on forbidden chemical, biological or nuclear arms. Inspections over the past two months have repeatedly covered these sites and no major violations have been reported.