AP March 8 2003

The failure of chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to inform the UN's Security Council of the discovery of an Iraqi drone with a 24 foot wingspan, during his oral presentation yesterday has outraged U.S. officials and cast serious doubt about his objectivity.

According to Britain's Times newspaper, during his oral report to the Council Blix never mentioned the drone, but instead, buried the item about the pilotless, remotely controlled aircraft capable of carrying chemical or biological weapons, in the 173-page single-spaced report that was distributed to Council members later in the day. Moreover, also buried in the report, described by Britain's foreign minister Jack Straw as a "chilling read," was what it called "credible information" indicating that 21,000 liters of biological warfare agent, including some 10,000 liters of anthrax, was stored in bulk at locations around the country during the Gulf War and was never destroyed.

According to the report, "Recent inspections have also revealed the existence of a drone with a wingspan of 7.45m that has not been declared by Iraq ...Officials at the inspection site stated that the drone had been test-flown. Further investigation is required to establish the actual specifications and capabilities of these RPV drones" which the Times says are restricted by the same UN rules as missiles, which limit their range to 150km (92.6 miles).

In the report, inspectors warned that Iraq still has spraying devices and drop tanks that could be used in dispersing chemical and biological agents from aircraft. "A large number of drop tanks of various types, both imported and locally manufactured, are available and could be modified," it says.

The report which was obtained by The Times, details the possible chemical and biological arsenal that British and US Forces could face in an invasion of Iraq. The report suggests that Iraq has huge stockpiles of anthrax, may be developing long-range missiles and could possess chemical and biological R400 aerial bombs and Scud missiles, and even smallpox.

"Unmovic has credible information that the total quantity of biological warfare agent in bombs, warheads and in bulk at the time of the Gulf War was 7,000 liters more than declared by Iraq. This additional agent was most likely all anthrax," the report revealed.