MElB: What they say is that they have no records of destruction. And we have told them that, if you cannot produce documents at least you should be able to produce people who have participated in that destruction process, or at least provide residues of the items that were destroyed. So, we cannot just simply take their word for it that this item has been destroyed and we do not have a document, because then we cannot provide the Council with any degree of certainty that that item has been destroyed. That is what we have been saying. There are a lot of open questions in that fashion and unless the Iraqis come forward with convincing evidence, then this question will continue to remain open and the Council will, in our judgement, will not come to closure on these issues.

Q: On the question of aluminium tubes, what have you told the Council? This is obviously something the U.S. is very interested in - are they being used for uranium enrichment. What have you told the Council?

MElB: We told the Council that we have been investigating Iraqi reports that they have imported aluminium tubes for rockets and not for centrifuge, not for uranium enrichment. We are investigating their efforts to procure aluminium tubes. We are in touch with some of their intended suppliers, and the question is still open, but we believe, at this stage, that these aluminium tubes were intended for the manufacturing of rockets.