Chemical: What happened to 3.9 tons of VX chemical agent? Experts either want proof of its destruction or its location. The Iraqis have told different stories over the years, but ultimately admitted prior to 1998 that they had produced that much VX and had stabilized it. Iraq has claimed the documentation on the destruction was lost or destroyed by coalition bombing, but the inspectors do not believe the Iraqis, noting that officials made seven copies of every program document, each for a different archive.

The Iraqis also claim that after 10 years, the VX would be destabilized even if it did exist. The inspectors say that once VX is stabilized — and the Iraqis admit they were able to stabilize it — it can remain effective for up to 100 years. Iraq has also denied it had weaponized VX for missile warheads, but tests conducted by an earlier weapons inspection team proved otherwise. In addition, the United Nations is seeking information on 6,000 aerial bombs filled with chemical weapons and 550 artillery shells filled with mustard gas.

Biological weapons: U.N. experts either want proof of destruction or the location of 17 tons of biological growth media needed for growing the biological agents for weaponry. The missing growth media represent half of what inspectors believe was imported by Iraq. The inspectors also want information on 15 missile warheads filled with biological agents and 157 aerial bombs believed to be filled with biological agents.

Missiles: U.N. experts either want proof of destruction or the location of Scud-type missiles. Estimates of these weapons are based in part on what Iraq did with 845 Scud missiles it imported from the Soviet Union, some of which were fired during the Iran-Iraq and Gulf Wars, and some of which were converted to longer-range missiles.
       What concerns the inspectors is that Iraq developed its own missile design based on Scud and Condor missile technology. They now believe that Iraq actually built missiles based on that design but they cannot locate the weapons. The Condor missile was an Argentine-Egyptian-Iraqi program whose technology was far superior to the Scuds. Iraq said it had only tested the missile, but the inspectors believe Iraq has deployed it. Estimates vary greatly on how many missiles may be missing. U.N. experts believe there are around seven, the CIA estimates there are two to 12 and Israel believes there are up to 70. The weapons inspectors also are interested in 50 conventional missile warheads and 500-plus tons of missile fuel.

Nuclear: The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has responsibility for nuclear weapons inspections, wants Iraq to provide some key information: documentation related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons design program and details on foreign sources of assistance. The inspectors fear that Iraq may have either continued to pay foreigners who helped assist their program, or sent its own scientists abroad to work with those who provided assistance, and that when sanctions are listed, the scientists could easily restart their programs. Still, the nuclear agency has long said it “found no indication of Iraq having achieved its program goal of producing nuclear weapons, or of Iraq having retained a physical capability for the production of weapon-useable nuclear material or having clandestinely obtained such material.”