Iraqi Parliament Will Consider Law Banning Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Country

The Iraqi parliament (National Council) will meet on Friday in Baghdad for an extraordinary session.

The observers in the Iraqi capital believe that the session will pass a law to prohibit Iraq from possessing weapons of mass destruction and the citizens of the country - from taking part in developing and producing them.

The demand to adopt such a law was put forth at the end of January in Baghdad during the negotiations between the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq (UNMOVIC), Hans Blix, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, with the Iraqi officials.

By adopting this legislation on prohibiting weapons of mass destruction, Baghdad will formally fulfil all the demands of the senior inspectors of the United Nations.

Iraq has already given to them additional documents and explanation of a number of unsolved problems, because the elimination of a certain amount of chemical and biological poisonous agents and rockets, earlier produced in Iraq, has not been confirmed by documents. Baghdad also assists interviews between Iraqi scientists and UN inspectors without witnesses; it has also given its consent to the flights of reconnaissance planes above its territory, having thus changed its attitude to the inspections, which was required by Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei during their recent visit to Iraq.