Yogurt tank probe irritates Iraqi students

By KHALED YACOUB OWEIS

First-year students in President Saddam Hussein's hometown yesterday learned the inconvenience of studying in Iraq.

A team of United Nations weapons inspectors showed up unexpectedly at the agriculture school of Tikrit University, 175km north of Baghdad, and gathered around a metal tank, examining it, turning its knobs and photographing it.

"I can't believe this," said one student. "This is a condenser, part of a mini-factory being set up to teach us the process of turning milk into yogurt and cheese. Let them take it and get off our backs."

The inspectors have been searching for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq for three months. Iraq insists it has no banned weapons.

Every morning, teams of inspectors head out of their Baghdad headquarters, followed by journalists and Iraqi minders.

One team drove up unannounced to Tikrit yesterday, passing by Saddam's palace in the centre of the city, where he grew up, and headed to the university.

Saddam was born in Oja, a village near Tikrit in 1937. He renamed the province Saladdine in honour of the legendary Arab leader and warrior Salahuddin, who is believed to have been born in Tikrit.

Saddam founded the University of Tikrit in the 1990s and its huge campus is still under construction.

The inspectors aroused a mix of indignation and curiosity as they went into a number of buildings in the university, including animal husbandry and the school of science.

"They are all spies. War is coming regardless," said Athir, another first-year student. He was referring to United States and British troops amassing in the Gulf.

One professor said the experts, who refused to talk to the media, were looking for equipment that could be used for dual civilian and military purposes.

"They think that anything that has to do with food is dual use. But the lab equipment we have is very basic and for educational purposes only," the professor said.

Tikriti students were not the only ones to be irritated.

After searching the campus, the weapons inspectors drove to an animal feed storage depot, waking up the guard who was having an afternoon nap. They also visited the Tikrit Yogurt Company at the entrance of the town.

After more than six hours in the area, the inspectors did not appear to have found anything unusual and headed back to Baghdad.

The experts' trip was not all business. As they drove back, the convoy stopped by the old city of Samara to admire its minaret, built by the Abbaside Caliph al-Mutasem.

They also contributed to the local economy, filling up petrol tanks and buying two bananas from a stall along the way.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq