Cablegate: Iraq Enacts Chemical Weapons Convention

VZCZCXRO5735
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #3428 3011549
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271549Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0109
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 0047
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0751

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 003428

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

SECDEF PASS TO ASD(GSA) BENKERT
STATE FOR NEA/I/PM, ISN/CB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL OPCW CWC IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ ENACTS CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION
LEGISLATION; NEXT STOP, ACCESSION

REF: A. 07 STATE 162259
B. STATE 95569

1. (SBU) After long administrative delays, legislation
authorizing the Government of Iraq to accede to the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production,
Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their
Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention - CWC) was published
in the Official Gazette October 20. The instruments of
accession have been prepared and required declarations were
shared with U.S. Embassy The Hague in July.

2. (SBU) The CWC legislation, passed by the Council of
Representatives in November 2007 and signed by the Presidency
Council in December 2007, had been languishing at the
Ministry of Justice awaiting publication in the Official
Gazette, a requirement for the enactment of legislation.
With its enactment, the Iraqi National Monitoring
Directorate, the National Authority for the non-proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, may proceed with the
submission of the instruments of accession to the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the
United Nations.
CROCKER

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