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Iraq said on Thursday UN arms inspectors have so far found no "direct or indirect" proof of the US and British allegations that Iraq is secretly developing weapons of mass destruction.
Gen. Hussam Mohammed Amin, chief of the National Monitoring Directorate, Iraq's liaison body with the UN inspectors, made the remarks at a news conference in Baghdad.
"The (UN arms inspection) teams have not been able to find any evidence to support the US and British allegations that Iraq is hiding prohibited weapons," Amin told reporters.
"On the contrary, the teams have been able to see that all the information we gave them was accurate," he added.
He accused the United States of ignoring Baghdad's Sunday invitation to send representatives of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to Iraq to point out any sites allegedly engaged in prohibited weapons programs.
Because "they know that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and their main goal is to distort inspections," Amin said.
Asked about whether Baghdad would allow Iraqi scientists to be questioned by UN inspectors abroad, Amin said it was up to the country's scientists to decide.
"Their travel outside Iraq is optional. But for myself, I will not accept to leave Iraq, and if they want to question me, I would like to be here in Iraq," he said.
Asked about the list of Iraqi scientists who could be interviewed by UN inspectors, Amin said it "will be ready in two or three days, probably Sunday, and Iraq will submit it to the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC)."
The Iraqi official also denied Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's allegation that Iraq had transferred banned weapons to Syria.
"This is absolute lies. These allegations are baseless," Amin said, reaffirming "Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction."
Sharon said in an interview with Israel's Channel 2 television on Tuesday that Israel suspected Baghdad was transferring arms to Syria to hide them from UN weapons inspectors, but gave no evidence to support the intelligence.
Currently, over 100 UN arms experts are carrying out their almost daily field operations in Iraq searching for banned weapons.
By Jan. 27, the inspectors will present their first formal report to the UN Security Council about Iraq's weapons programs.
(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2002)
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