Mr. Sami Raouf Al Araji (Iraq)

Me. AL HITTI (Iraq) said that the ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq had coexisted fraternally for centuries.

They said there was no link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

His Excellency Ghazi Ajil Al Yawer, President of the Republic of Iraq

I now give the floor to the representative of Iraq, Ambassador Al Tikriti.

(Signed) Mohammed Said AL SAHAF Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq

(Signed) Mohammed Said Al SAHAF Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq

Address by His Excellency Mr. Ibrahim al Jaafari, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq

Mr. Ibrahim al Jaafari, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, was escorted to the rostrum.

Mr. Ibrahim al Jaafari, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, was escorted from the rostrum.

Mr. AL ARAJI (Observer for Iraq) congratulated Mr. Yumkella and assured him of Iraq's full cooperation.

In 1996, the entire Al Hakam complex, including all buildings, support infrastructures, utilities, equipment and materials, was destroyed by Iraq under United Nations supervision, as well as equipment and materials used by Iraq for biological warfare purposes and remaining at Salman Pak, Al Fudaliyah and the plant at Al Dawrah.

After the defection of Hussein Kamel from Iraq in August 1995, Iraq further admitted that biological warfare agents had also been produced at two other civilian facilities, the foot and mouth disease vaccine plant at Al Dawrah and Al Fudaliyah.

Mr. AL HUMAIMIDI (Iraq) reaffirmed that there were no Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq and that his Government was duly assisting the search for the Kuwaitis reported missing.

Iraq disclosed the Al Hakam site on the occasion of the visit of the second biological inspection team.

Abu Musab al Zaraqawi s Al Qaeda offshoot in Iraq demonstrates this well the group was called Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia for recruitment and propaganda purposes, but it was quite autonomous organizationally and operationally. When Bin Laden s close collaborator Ayman al Zawahiri asked al Zaraqawi to avoid targeting Shiites, al Zaraqawi instead escalated the violence against them.

25. The Special Rapporteur has received information on the arrest in July 1998 of Mr. Dawoud Al Farhan, a senior journalist and reporter for the Middle East News Agency and a columnist for the daily Al Iraq and the weekly Al Mousawar Al Arabi.

Mr. AL HITTI (Iraq) said that the Constitution and certain laws in Iraq guaranteed that women apos s legal and social status would be equal to that of men.

The most outstanding examples of non State owned newspapers that are currently published are the daily Al Iraq, which is run by a private group holding a franchise, Al Thawra, Babil and the Human Rights Bulletin published by the Human Rights Association in Iraq.

35. The report apos s reference to Al Aqlam magazine which, like many other cultural magazines, is published by Dar al Shu apos un al Thaqafiya al Amma, provides us with an opportunity to speak of the grievous effects of the cultural embargo that has been imposed on Iraq.

Mr. Al Humaimidi (Iraq) My delegation would like to join in the sponsorship of draft resolution A 60 L.8.

These foreign fighters had left their families in the Gulf, the Levant and North Africa to join al Qaeda in Iraq.

It was established that timing was critical for Iraq to eliminate much of the evidence of past activities at Al Hakam.

The Acting President The next speaker is the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iraq, His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Said Al Sahaf.

In a related development, the military wing of Hamas, Izz Al din al Qassam, warned that it would carry out terrorists attacks in Israel if the United States took military action against Iraq.

8. Mr. Al Humaimidi (Iraq) said that the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iraq (A 52 476) simply repeated the usual allegations and slanders on the basis of information provided by parties hostile to Iraq.

Mr. AL HITTI (Iraq) said that the responsibility for solving the problem of refugees and displaced persons rested with the international community.

13. Mr. Al Humaimidi (Iraq) said that his delegation supported the views expressed by previous speakers concerning the draft resolution under consideration.

19. With regard to Al Waqa apos i al Iraqiya (Iraq apos s Official Gazette), this publication is distributed at the same places as all other newspapers and there is no difficulty in obtaining it.

While hard hitting professional news and programs like Al Itijah al Mu akess provided viewers with unique television, it took major world conflicts to bring Al Jazeera acclaim. The Palestinian intifada, the terrorist attacks against New York and Washington in September 2001, and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq propelled Al Jazeera to global influence.

With regard to Al Hussein missile warheads filled with biological warfare agents and later unilaterally destroyed by Iraq, in 1992 inspectors verified the number of fragments which Iraq declared to have been from chemical warheads.

In 1988, Iraq also began to produce botulinum toxin at a refurbished fermentation unit at the single cell protein facility at Al Taji.

Mr. AL TIKRITI (Iraq) (translated from Arabic) In fact, like some of our colleagues, I did not intend to speak in this connection.

Annex Letter dated 25 December 1998 from Mr. Mohammed Said Al Sahaf, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iraq, addressed to the Secretary General

Moreover, Al Qaeda uses poetry to address the challenges that it faces. Contrasting its fighters bravery and commitment with the comfort of Muslim bystanders, Al Qaeda tries to rally more fighters to its cause in Iraq.

In October, 2007, U.S. and coalition forces raided an al Qaeda safe house in the city of Sinjar on the Syrian border of Iraq.

Mr. Al Humaimidi (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic) The peoples of the world are commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ongoing violence in Basra and the fighting between Sunni Awakening Councils and Al Qaida in Iraq demonstrate this. In fact, the current escalation points to an increasing political struggle between the federalist position of Shia Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki and the centralist position of Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr.

Mr. Al Humaimidi (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic) I wish to thank you, Mr. President, for giving me this opportunity to speak before the General Assembly.

With respect to weaponization, Iraq declared that warheads for Al Hussein missiles and R 400 aerial bombs had been filled with liquid biological warfare agents.

78. Mr. Al Humaimidi (Iraq), speaking in exercise of the right of reply, endorsed the statement made by the representative of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Mr. Al Hitti (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic) I would like to take the floor to exercise my right of reply against the Israeli Prime Minister.

As was subsequently learned, Iraq produced bacterial biological warfare agents at Al Hakam with a moderate risk of airborne contamination due to the generation of aerosols.

O. Zniber (Morocco) was informed of the withdrawal of the candidate from Iraq, Mr. Sami Raouf Al Araji, for the post of Director General of UNIDO.

26. Mr. Al Humaimidi (Iraq) said that refugee problems were not just a matter for sending and receiving countries they must be resolved through international cooperation.