Main points of the 55-page dossier published by the British government Tuesday, Sept 22 on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction:

:: Iraq is one or two years from building a nuclear weapon, and has tried to find "significant quantities" of uranium, a key ingredient for a nuclear bomb, in Africa.

:: President Saddam Hussein's military planning allows for some of his chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to strike.

:: It has begun to conceal sensitive equipment and documentation in advance
of a return of UN inspectors.

:: Iraq has constructed a new engine test stand for development of missiles
capable of reaching British military bases Cyprus and NATO members Greece and
Turkey, as well as Iraq's Gulf neighbours and Israel.

:: Iraq has illegally retained up to 20 al-Hussein missiles, with a range of 650 kilometres (400 miles), capable of carrying chemical or biological warheads.

:: It has started to deploy al-Samoud liquid propellant missiles and to produce the solid propellant Ababil-100. It has used the four-year absence of UN weapons inspectors to work on extending their range to at least 200 kilometres (125 miles), which is beyond the limit of 150 kilometres imposed by the United Nations.

:: Saddam is ready to use weapons of mass destruction even against his own
Muslim Shia population.

:: Although authority to use Iraq's chemical and biological weapons rests with Saddam, intelligence that he may have delegated authority to his son Qusai.

:: The threat from Iraq does not depend solely on the capabilities of its weapons programme, but also because of the "violent and aggressive nature" of Saddam's regime.

:: Iraq has drawn on illicit earnings generated outside UN control to finance its weapons programme. Iraq generated illegal income of some US$3 billion (Euros 3.07 billion) in 2001.

:: All judgements expressed in the dossier reflect the views of the Joint Intelligence Committee, the secretive agency at the heart of Britain's intelligence machinery.

Source: AFP