Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992                   TAG: 9203010003
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANAMA, BAHRAIN                                LENGTH: Medium

U.N. TEAM LEAVES IRAQI MISSILE GEAR INTACT

The refusal by Saddam Hussein's government to begin scrapping Scud-manufacturing facilities by Friday drew a strong warning from the U.N. Security Council that continued defiance would bring "serious consequences."

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, president of the council, declined Friday to elaborate, but he refused to rule out a military strike to force compliance. The council authorized the military campaign that drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait a year ago.

Christopher Holland, the British missile expert who headed the 12-member U.N. team, said the team returned as originally scheduled but had been prepared to stay an extra day if the Iraqis had agreed to destroy missile equipment.

Holland said he expected Iraq to bow to international pressure, but not until after Iraqi delegates consult in New York this week with the Security Council.

"I am confident that the Iraqis and the United Nations will formally agree in New York within the next two weeks, and the process will move forward positively at that time," he said.

However, Holland said his confidence was based only on his feelings that "the United Nations is so determined" to see its orders carried out and not on anything the Iraqis said to him.

The Iraqi News Agency said Saddam met with military and government leaders Saturday to discuss "the latest political developments." The report, monitored in Nicosia, Cyprus, gave no details.

The agency said Iraqi Foreign Minister Ahmed Hussein charged the Security Council with reacting hastily without considering Iraq's position. "America created a tense atmosphere before Iraq could express itself," he said.

The Iraqis told the Security Council on Friday that they would not destroy their equipment for building long-range missiles because it could be converted to peaceful uses.

Other teams have overseen the destruction of Scud missiles and launchers. A U.N. team is now in Iraq blowing up rockets with damaged chemical warheads.

Under the Gulf War cease-fire agreement, the United Nations ordered Iraq to scrap nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and Scud missiles, and the means for producing them. Some of the weapons have been destroyed or seized by U.N. teams, but Saddam's government has tried to conceal production and research facilities.