British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on the set of an MTV, Music Television, forum debate titled „Is War the Answer“ held at a London TV Studio, Thursday, March. 6, 2003. The Prime Minister was quizzed for 60 minutes on a possable war on Iraq, by an MTV Europe‘s youth audience, consisting of 40 young people from Europe the Middle East and the United States of America. PHOTO - TASR/AP

BAGHDAD - Iraq said it had scrapped six more al-Samoud 2 missiles at a military base near Baghdad, an Iraqi official said. „Six al-Samoud 2 missiles have been destroyed today,“ the official told reporters. He said the destruction took place at the Taji air base, 40 km (25 miles) north of the Iraqi capital. Hiro Ueki, spokesman for U.N. inspectors in Baghdad, said a group of inspectors was overseeing the work.

„A team has gone out to continue supervising the destruction of Samoud missiles,“ he said, without elaborating.

Baghdad has destroyed 34 out of some 120 missiles since a Saturday deadline imposed by chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix. The surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, whose range exceeds the 150-km (93-mile) limit allowed by U.N. resolutions, are the most advanced in Baghdad‘s arsenal. But President Saddam Hussein, facing the threat of U.S. invasion, told army officers on Wednesday Iraq‘s ability to defend itself would not be diminished by their destruction. „In the final outcome, the thing that settles war is a fighter who walks on his legs and a tank battalion driving on the ground,“ the Iraqi leader said.

Washington has threatened to attack Baghdad for failing to comply with United Nations demands for full cooperation with weapons inspectors charged with overseeing destruction of all biological, chemical or nuclear weapons programmes in Iraq. Iraq says it has no such weapons. It has accused Washington of seeking any pretext for war and failing to prove Iraq possessed any weapons of mass destruction. Blix delivered a report on Iraq‘s cooperation in New York on Friday. In a preview of his report, Blix told a news conference Iraq had been more cooperative recently in helping inspectors and by destroying the missiles. But he said he still could not determine whether Baghdad had accounted for all of its biological weapons.

Reuters