time will tell on wmd

Weapons hidden: ex-Iraq adviser
From correspondents in Manila
February 17, 2003

A FORMER nuclear adviser to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein today said that Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction which were being hidden from United Nations inspectors.

"I believe these are still in Iraq and being moved around to avoid detection by the UN inspection team," Hussein Shahristani said in Manilla.

The nuclear scientist once served as adviser to Saddam while Iraq was developing atomic energy capability to produce weapons of mass destruction.

The London-based Shahristani escaped from Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War after he was jailed for 11 years when he refused to be part of his country's nuclear buildup.

He is in Manila to hold a series of closed-door briefings with US embassy officials and academics.