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The "Don't touch Saddam" lobby has transformed into a hunting party to chase British Prime Minister Tony Blair out of office. The claim is that Blair (and President Bush) "lied" about the reasons for the war against Saddam. A few months before the war, Blair published a dossier on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD). At the time, some of us realized that the dossier contained many flaws. But that didn't mean that there was no justification for going to war against Saddam. His WMD program was only one of many issues between Saddam and the United Nations. From August...

Kofi Annan just announced that once the war is over, UN inspections will continue. What the hell is this pygmy smoking?

Iraqi arsenal of banned weapons discovered British troops outside Basra have discovered cruise missiles and warheads hidden inside fortified bunkers as part of a massive arsenal abandoned by Saddam Hussein's disintegrating southern army. Cases of rockets, giant anti-shipping mines and other ammunition are piled from floor to ceiling in dozens of bunkers at what is marked on maps as the Az Zubaya Heliport. The most disturbing find was two Russian-made Al-Harith anti-shipping cruise missiles, each 6m long and 1m in diameter, and nine warheads, hidden in two enormous reinforced concrete bunkers. Another missile, as yet unidentified, was found still crated...

Welcome to PRI's The World: your daily international news magazine. Question: Ray Paulie was curios about something- “How the weapons inspections carried out by the UN and Iraq compare to the inspections carried out in Germany by France under the Peace Treaty of Versailles of 1919?” Comparison of Current Iraq Inspections and the Peace Treaty of Versailles 1919 by UNSCOM former Deputy Director Charles Duelfer Mullens: “French and other international inspectors did try to disarm Germany after the Treaty Of Versailles.” ”Who in the World turns to Charles Duelfer for a comparison with Iraq. For seven years Mr. Duelfer was...

Inspectors enter one of Hussein's palaces U.N. team makes unannounced visit in search for weapons 12/03/2002 Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.N. weapons inspectors made their first unannounced visit to one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces early Tuesday in a test of new powers to search for weapons of mass destruction anywhere, anytime. After seven minutes of discussion, the huge gates were opened at the west Baghdad complex, one of many presidential palaces in Iraq, and a half-dozen U.N vehicles entered. The Iraqis have until Sunday to disclose details of their chemical, biological and nuclear programs, but they have...

According to John Burns of the New York Times, now reporting on the Lehrer News Hour, weapons inspectors have determined that weapons equipment had been moved from a site without any accounting, and amid Iraqi denials of having moved anything. The equipment was known to UN inspectors, because it had been recorded during earlier, mid-to-late 1990s inspections. The Iraqis were obliged to notify inspectors every six months of any changes in the placement of the equipment. Burns says that the exact equipment has not been released.

WASHINGTON –– President Bush warned Iraq's Saddam Hussein that he has until a Sunday deadline to prove he is serious about averting war. After the first week of United Nations weapons inspections, Bush said: "So far, the signs are not encouraging."

Weapons inspectors visit once-restricted Iraqi base Findings undisclosed; U.N. teams satisfied with cooperation 12/01/2002 Associated Press BALAD, Iraq - International weapons hunters crossed a threshold Saturday, paying their first visit under the new inspection program to a military post once declared "sensitive" and restricted by the Iraqi government. On the third day of the renewed inspections, U.N. monitors arrived unannounced but received unrestricted access to the Chemical Corps base, as required by the U.N. Security Council when it sent them back to Iraq with greater powers. Another team, meanwhile, inspected a complex that once was the heart of Iraq's...

Iraqis 'staggered' by exhaustive list of demands from UN inspectorsMattress and slipper factories among sites Blix weapons team insists on examiningBy Kim Sengupta in Baghdad The dinner between one of Saddam Hussein's closest aides and Hans Blix was meant to smooth the thorny path for the renewed United Nations weapons inspections. But the Iraqis were bemused to find sponge mattresses and slippers on the menu. Factories producing such items were just two of the examples of the array of sites the UN chief weapons inspector said his team intended to search in its efforts to discover whether Saddam Hussein is...

VIENNA, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- The Iraqi delegation was cooperating in the first of two-days of "practical arrangements" talks for the return of weapons inspectors, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said Monday, adding "there were many specific clarifications" to his inquiries of concern. The talks were on logistics, communications, security and other support needs for the possible resumption of Security Council-mandated inspections. They opened at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which conducts its own Iraq inspections. Blix, executive director of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, was first to report Thursday to the Security Council...

<p>WASHINGTON — Despite its denials, Iraq probably possesses large stockpiles of nerve agents, mustard gas and anthrax, former U.N. inspectors say.</p> <p>While Saddam Hussein probably does not have a nuclear bomb, the Iraqi president does have the designs, equipment and expertise to build one quickly if he can get enough weapons-grade uranium or plutonium, the former inspectors and other experts says.</p>