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Blix 'hid smoking gun' from Britain and US
The Times ^
| March 10, 2003
| James Bone
Posted on 03/09/2003 3:20:07 PM PST by MadIvan
BRITAIN and the United States will today press the chief UN weapons inspector to admit that he has found a smoking gun in Iraq. Such an admission could persuade swing voters on the Security Council to back the March 17 ultimatum.
The British and US ambassadors plan to demand that Hans Blix reveals more details of a huge undeclared Iraqi unmanned aircraft, the discovery of which he failed to mention in his oral report to Security Council foreign ministers on Friday. Its existence was only disclosed in a declassified 173-page document circulated by the inspectors at the end of the meeting an apparent attempt by Dr Blix to hide the revelation to avoid triggering a war.
The discovery of the drone, which has a wingspan of 7.45 metres, will make it much easier for waverers on the Security Council to accept US and British arguments that Iraq has failed to meet UN demands that it disarm.
Its incredible, a senior diplomat from a swing voter on the council said. This report is going to have a clearly defined impact on the people who are wavering. Its a biggie.
An explicit report by Dr Blix of the discovery of an Iraqi violation would help the six swing voters Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan to explain a change of position to their publics.
Unlike the outlawed Al-Samoud 2 missile, which was declared as a purportedly legal weapon, the drone was not declared. It would be the first undeclared weapons programme found by the UN and is considered by British and US officials to be a smoking gun.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: blair; blix; bush; iraq; saddam; uk; un; us
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To: MadIvan
Powell said something today on one of our Sunday chat shows .....about making news this week ....I wonder if he meant this...
21
posted on
03/09/2003 4:34:03 PM PST
by
Dog
(Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway. ~John Wayne)
To: Calpernia
When confronted with the truth of the unreported drones for weapon dispersal, the French frogs will swear it shows the inspections are working! NOTHING will change de villibedpan's assertion that he will veto any resolution that could lead to war ... which, of course, makes the U.N. irrelevant as any kind of deliberative/international enforcement body. They will have been dealt the final death blow by the leading appeasenik, de Villipin, and the assend of it will have German, Chinese, and Russian lips all over it! Time for that feckless debating squad to get the hell off of American soil. It is repugnant that they carry on their useless rhetoric within spitting distance of the WTC hallowed ground. Get US out of the U.N. and the U.N. out of America!
22
posted on
03/09/2003 4:37:00 PM PST
by
MHGinTN
(If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote Life Support for others.)
To: Laverne
Not NYT! Not there. I'm going to check the Washington Times and Fox news.
Somebody put up a post from the Australian Times on this.
To: MHGinTN; MadIvan
This Times story just hit Drudge...people will see it now..
24
posted on
03/09/2003 4:40:40 PM PST
by
Dog
(Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway. ~John Wayne)
To: Dog
This Times story just hit Drudge...people will see it now.. It needs to be broadcast everywhere, blaring out from every news source. The more it gets out, the more likely we can get the UN to do what it is supposed to.
Or alternatively, crush it.
Regards, Ivan
25
posted on
03/09/2003 4:45:44 PM PST
by
MadIvan
(Learn the power of the Dark Side, www.thedarkside.net)
To: MadIvan
That idiot Keith Olberman actually reported it as "Breaking" as he closed his MSNBC coverage of the war at 8:00 PM EST.
To: Steven W.
BTTT; all cable shows right now have "canned" shows on, hope this is big ticket talk item starting at 9pm and going until....well, the vote on Tuesday.
27
posted on
03/09/2003 5:32:07 PM PST
by
Laverne
To: MadIvan
Ivan, you have absolutely NO IDEA what a relief it is to us Americans to know that there is at least one Brit who has preserved his sanity even when surrounded by the madness that is so prevalent in modern Britain. We love you. Thank you, and keep it coming, friend!
28
posted on
03/09/2003 5:36:26 PM PST
by
Capriole
(Foi vainquera)
To: MadIvan
BTTT
29
posted on
03/09/2003 5:44:33 PM PST
by
SunStar
(Democrats Piss Me Off !!)
To: Steven W.
**That idiot Keith Olberman actually reported it as "Breaking"...8*
Somebody ought to show old Keith how to sign up at FReeRepublic. He'd have his news lots sooner. :^)
Prairie
30
posted on
03/09/2003 5:50:21 PM PST
by
prairiebreeze
("We won't deny, ignore or pass our problems along to other Presidents" --GWBush)
To: MadIvan
This seems choreographed to me. I suspect some other governments are pulling Blixes' strings.
31
posted on
03/09/2003 5:54:59 PM PST
by
dano1
To: Canadian Outrage
"Blix was likely the worst of the inspectors.
He is naive and gullible and simply not up to the job."
Moi?
32
posted on
03/09/2003 5:55:53 PM PST
by
APBaer
To: APBaer
LOL - Inspector Clouseau and my eye is starting to twitch!!
33
posted on
03/09/2003 6:00:02 PM PST
by
Canadian Outrage
(all us Western Canuks belong South)
To: TimPatriot
I also suspect that Sadaam is paying Kim Dung Ill, or whatever his name is, to act up now, but that's another issue send some food and a case of liquor for favors
34
posted on
03/09/2003 6:03:19 PM PST
by
alrea
To: Canadian Outrage
It is a bim. Are you expecting a bim?
Seriously, the drone issue should not and cannot be considered in isolation as a stand alone circumstance. If considered together with the fact that Iraq has not satisfactorily accounted for chemical agents (which Blix readily admits) this is an ominous development. As such, the drone represents a delivery system for weapons of mass destruction that are known to have existed and which are presently unaccounted for. Blix knows this and that the gravity of the combined facts is too much to withstanding resistance to US/British insistence on a literal drop-dead date for disarmament.
35
posted on
03/09/2003 6:15:01 PM PST
by
t4texas
To: Capriole
I 2nd the motion! All in favor? Say Aye...
To: Randjuke
37
posted on
03/09/2003 6:31:32 PM PST
by
Happy2BMe
(HOLLYWOOD:Ask not what U can do for your country, ask what U can do for Iraq!)
To: demlosers
Blix is an employee of the security council, its not for him to decide for or against war, he just collates the facts. If he has overstepped his brief he should go, and so should his boss Annan because this is such a serious omission that it calls into question the validity of the whole process.
38
posted on
03/09/2003 6:37:05 PM PST
by
spitz
To: prairiebreeze
Olberman is a pompous jackass anyway. He couldn't cut it as a sportscaster so PMSNBC hired him. Supposedly, the guys at ESPN hated him (and Kilborn too).Another great staffing move by the same group that canned their highest rated prime-time host.
39
posted on
03/09/2003 6:39:36 PM PST
by
way-right-of-center
(I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.-- Will Rogers)
To: Randjuke
"His job is not to influence whether war is justified, but rather to inspect and report." True. The criminal investigator does not serve as the defense attorney.
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