The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Tuesday refuted a German official's allegations that German companies have provided Iraq with technology that could enable it to produce heavy cannons to launch shells carrying chemical or biological weapons.
"German companies provided Iraq with a peculiar technology to make heavy cannons that can launch shells loaded with chemical and biological weapons," INA quoted an unidentified German official as saying.
The news agency termed the German allegations as "silly and baseless lies" against Iraq. "Iraq despises such cheap acts of blackmail," it said.
INA blamed that the "negative" attitude of Germany toward Iraq has resulted in the failure of German companies to gain lucrative contracts in the oil-rich country.
"German companies should know that such a suspicious official would inflict bigger damages to their interests in Iraq," INA said.
A German intelligence organization claimed in February that Iraq might be able to produce nuclear weapons in three years.
Under United Nations resolutions adopted after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Iraq is forbidden to produce weapons of mass destruction - nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and long- range missiles.
(People's Daily December 12, 2001)
