§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of Iraq's known weapons of mass destruction were destroyed or otherwise disabled by UNSCOM inspectors up to December 1998. [101989]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienAs a result of Iraqi concealment and deceit, UNSCOM was never able to verify the full extent of Iraq's holdings of weapons of mass destruction, so it is not possible to give an accurate estimate of what proportion of them had been destroyed.
It is clear, however, from the final report of UNSCOM's Executive Chairman Richard Butler that there were substantial numbers of chemical and biological weapons, large quantities of the materials for the manufacture of such weapons and a number of missiles with a range beyond the 150 km limit prescribed by the United Nations still unaccounted for when UNSCOM left Iraq in December 1998.