With what would the UN fight us?
Posted on 09/20/2002 7:27:50 AM PDT by HAL9000
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20 (AFP) - The United States faces a tough fight in the UN Security Council if it tries to scrap special procedures for arms inspections at Iraq's eight presidential sites, diplomats said.In an agreement with Iraq on February 23, 1998, Secretary General Kofi Annan said UN inspectors would "respect the legitimate concerns of Iraq relating to national security, sovereignty and dignity" of the sites.
But the United States says Iraq broke its promise to give the inspectors "immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access" to all areas.
"This time, Iraq must comply with the UN mandate or there will be decisive action to compel compliance," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.
It would be "a recipe for failure" to send inspectors back "without any new resolution or new authority," he told the House of Representatives International Relations Committee in Washington.
But a US official who asked not be identified told AFP that the fight to overturn the 1998 memorandum of understanding (MoU) which Annan signed with Iraqi Deputy Premier Tareq Aziz could be hard.
"It's something that is under very active discussion," he said, but "this is very sensitive and it's something we could lose on."
A resolution needs the support of at least nine of the 15 members of the Security Council to be adopted and can be vetoed by any of the five permanent members.
Annan negotiated the MoU with Aziz to defuse a crisis that was provoked by Iraq's attempt to declare the presidential sites off limits to UN arms inspectors in September 1997.
The two sides agreed that inspections at the eight sites would be conducted by a special group, to be appointed by Annan, including senior diplomats as well as experts in nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missiles.
Less than 10 months later, however, the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) which had carried out inspections for seven years, was withdrawn and never allowed to return.
UNSCOM was disbanded on December 17, 1999, by Resolution 1284 which set up the new UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
Under the resolution, UNMOVIC inherited not only UNSCOM's archives but also all its assets and liabilities including its part in all agreements between Iraq and the UN.
Hans Blix, the chairman of UNMOVIC, told reporters after briefing the council on Thursday that as far as he was concerned, the MoU was still valid, although he added: "In my view there are no sanctuaries in Iraq."
A member of the council told AFP after the briefing that "it would be pretty difficult to touch" the MoU, which was endorsed in Resolution 1154 on March 2, 1998.
He noted that the memorandum had been carried over by Resolution 1284 and said "it would be dangerous to touch 1284."
Reopening one part of the resolution would open the possibility of renegotiating other parts, he said.
The sites were far more extensive than the presidential palaces they enclosed. The largest of them, the Radwaniyah site, covered 17.8 square kilometres (6.7 square miles) bordering on the Tigris River in central Baghdad.
The eight totalled 31.5 sq kms (11.8 sq miles) and included about 1,000 buildings. One third of the total area included artificial lakes.
Excellent! This is the only approach that will work with any and all sites - total inspection on demand - no lead time - or bomb into rubble.
With what would the UN fight us?
Today a huge portrait of Saddam Hussein stands at the entrance to the Babylon site, 56 miles south of Baghdad. He has left his own mark at Babylon, building a presidential palace a few hundred metres from the site, in the same style as the original (SNIP)
President Saddam's palace sits on a hill overlooking the great throne room of Nebuchadnezzar's palace.
But United Nations weapons inspectors, hunting for biological and chemical weapons between 1991 and 1998 claimed it might have another use: to hide an arsenal of banned weapons.
Now compare it with the prophesy about the DESTRUCTION of Babylon in Isaiah 13:
1 Isaiah son of Amoz received this message concerning the destruction of Babylon: 2 "See the flags waving as the enemy attacks. Cheer them on, O Israel! Wave to them as they march against Babylon to destroy the palaces of the high and mighty. 3 I, the LORD, have assigned this task to these armies, and they will rejoice when I am exalted. I have called them to satisfy my anger." 4 Hear the noise on the mountains! Listen, as the armies march! It is the noise and the shout of many nations. The LORD Almighty has brought them here to form an army. 5They came from countries far away.
They are the LORD's weapons; they carry his anger with them and will destroy the whole land. 6 Scream in terror, for the LORD's time has arrived--the time for the Almighty to destroy.
Things are moving in exactly that direction!
LINKS:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,709809,00.html
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/tools/printer-friendly.pl?book=Isa&chapter=13&startv=1&endv=22&version=nlt&Go.x=32&Go.y=2
BTW - You need not stay trapped in liberal hell. I moved from Seattle to Fargo, where "cultural conservative" is a compliment. I cannot express how much happier I am about where I live.
Things are moving in exactly that direction.
Thanks for the info. & links. Very interesting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.