February 7, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 5,1423

STOCKHOLM, Feb 6: The information on Iraqi weapons presented by US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday is out of date, an expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Thursday.

“I think Mr Powell presented proof on arms and arms programmes which Iraq had, but when I say ‘had’, I mean we’re talking about programmes from the 1990s,” SIPRI expert Jean-Pascal Zanders said.

“Concerning elements possibly justifying war, I don’t think that Mr Powell has provided proof on what has changed since the 1990s,” he said.

For example, a film of an Iraqi war plane presented by Powell to the United Nations Security Council was taken in 1991, he said.

“It is believed that Iraq has since developed devices such as pilotless aircraft. But if these had been tested, I believe that American or other satellites would have picked this up,” Zanders said, adding that Powell’s testimony to the Security Council had not covered such issues.—AFP