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Posted on 11/23/2002 2:59:29 PM PST by blam
Weapons inspectors warn of delays
By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad
24 November 2002
A newly arrived United Nations team has warned of delays in inspecting the most controversial suspected Iraqi weapons sites, including the palaces of Saddam Hussein. The news is likely to infuriate Washington, which has little time if it is to launch an invasion of Iraq before the onset of hot weather there.
The UN says that it does not yet have enough personnel, secure communications or transport to start its mission this week with "surprise raids" on the most sensitive targets. It has yet to set up a system to take witnesses out of the country for debriefing, to protect them from possible intimidation by the regime.
The inspectors are reluctant to begin their mission by immediately confronting Baghdad. They believe it would not only be counterproductive, but could damage the prospect of ascertaining whether President Saddam does indeed possess an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
The Bush administration is widely seen as seeking an excuse to launch an attack. The UN's delay could mean that the US loses the optimum season for a military campaign, from around now until the end of February.
A fresh batch of 18 inspectors, 12 from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) looking for chemical and biological weaponry, and six from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seeking evidence of Iraq's nuclear programme, are due to arrive in Baghdad tomorrow. The first inspection is due to take place on Wednesday.
However, the sheer amount of cleaning up that has needed to be done has meant that the UN has not yet been able to put in its own secure communications system. And the mission's fleet of helicopters needs to be serviced.
Although some members of the Bush administration have openly disparaged the UN mission and its chief Hans Blix, UN officials on the ground are determined not to be pushed into carrying out high-profile searches without adequate preparation. During his visit to Baghdad last week, the 74-year-old former Swedish foreign minister stressed the need to obtain Iraqi co-operation without needless threats.
Miroslav Gregoric, the highly experienced and respected head of mission, stressed his team will "proceed with our plan in a practical and methodical way and achieve what has been asked of us". UN spokesman Hiro Ueki added: "We have to first revisit the previously monitored sites to check if the equipment installed is still functional. It will take some time to do that work."
The US has kept up its pressure on Iraq with the Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, declaring that Washington would refuse to accept any Iraqi pleas in its report to the UN, due on 8 December, that it does not have weapons of mass destruction.
The Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said on a visit to India: "We will be transparent, we will do things correctly, objectively. [But] we are ready to defend our country. We are working to avoid a calamity."
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This line puzzles me: launch an invasion of Iraq before the onset of hot weather there.
Maybe I'm losing it, but I thought they were about to go into winter in Iraq.
Blix is clearly the wrong one for this job--what an idiot!
Personally, I don't think it'll take even a month. But who knows? Saddam might pull a rabbit out of his hat.
Since we can't be 100% sure, I'd like to see us start the war yesterday. :-(
Yup. Just go ahead a move Saudia Arabia to the head of the list while we're waiting on the UN.
I am sure that Rumsfeld is congratulating Powell on the superb manner in which the guys and gals over at State have been handling this hole thing.
Maybe I'm losing it, but I thought they were about to go into winter in Iraq.
I remember reading that the French believed if they could delay the invasion of Iraq for six months, they could delay it forever. The point is that Blix and Saddam, partners in delay, will try to drag out the whole inspection thing at least until Spring and, if they have their way, until Iraq has its first nuclear test under its belt.
Where then? I suppose Saddam will broadly hint what he is going to do with his nukes if the US doesn't abandon the no fly zones. Then we're in retreat and, success breeding success, Al Quaeda's back in the recruiting business big-time.
Of course, I am not a tin hat alleging some French/UN/Iraq conspiracy. Iraq knows what it is doing, but Blix, France, and company are just doing what comes naturally.
Well, of course, any sensible parent of one of these inspectors must be scared to death of the risks their child takes of becoming a hostage. I guess that the way Blix will protect his people from this fate is to suck up to Saddam. Sad to say, perhaps, but it probably will work. If Blix keeps on saying he has not found Iraqi WMD, that C-130 will probably be allowed out just as the Marines are coming in. Still, by conducting inspections despite Iraq's highly insulting reply to UN Resolution 1441, Blix is risking his peoples' lives unnecessarily. If he really wanted to know the truth, all he would need is to have some of the Iraqi defectors polygraphed.
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