U.S. Seeks Extension on Chemical Weapons

The United States said it would not meet an April 2004 deadline for destroying 45% of its chemical weapons stockpile. The Pentagon said it has asked the world body that governs the destruction -- the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons -- for a delay until December 2007.

The United States has destroyed about 23% of its declared stockpile of 31,280 tons of mustard gas, sarin and other chemical weapons under a 1997 treaty. Environmental, safety and other problems at high-temperature incinerators have made it impossible to meet the deadline, the Pentagon said.