A rchive Date
[ 25-11-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
|
[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2002/11/22/5282-ap.html
Weapons inspectors seek U-2 help
By CHARLES J. HANLEY - Associated Press
Fri, November 22, 2002
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - With just days to go before their first inspections, U.N. weapons monitors worked to tie down critical loose ends Friday - lists of potential Iraqi informants, helicopter support, high-flying backup from American spy planes.
A U.N. spokesman also said a "lot of confusion" persists in the Iraqi government over the report it must file two weeks from now summarizing, according to a U.N. resolution, "all aspects of its programs to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons." The Iraqis deny they are developing or storing such weapons any longer
"It's up to the Iraqi government to decide what to include," was all U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki would say.
After a four-year absence, weapons inspectors resume their work in Iraq next week, under the new Security Council resolution demanding Iraq give up any weapons of mass destruction or face "serious consequences." The Bush administration has threatened an invasion to enforce Iraqi disarmament.
In only one sign of that threat's seriousness, elements of the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were airborne Friday, bound from California to an undisclosed location in the Middle East.
"We'll do initial exercises and then we'll stand by for further direction," Marine Col. John Coleman said.
They join more than 20,000 U.S. military personnel already in the Persian Gulf region.
The first operational contingent of 18 inspectors arrives in Baghdad on Monday, and their initial inspection is expected Wednesday, when they probably will begin revisiting sites inspected in the 1990s by other U.N teams, looking for signs of a resumption of weapons-making.
From 1991 to 1998, U.N. inspectors dismantled Iraq's nuclear program before it could build a bomb and destroyed large amounts of chemical and biological weapons and longer-range missiles forbidden to Iraq by U.N. resolutions after the Gulf War.
The inspections ended amid disputes over access to sensitive Iraqi "presidential sites" and Iraqi complaints the U.N. operation was infiltrated by U.S. spies. Experts believe the Iraqis may have retained some weapons, especially chemical.
Baghdad has accepted the new resolution, which gives inspectors unquestionable access to all sites, and U.N. officials say the Iraqis have promised full cooperation with the inspectors.
But the inspectors still do not have an updated list of names of scientists and technicians who worked on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles, as required by the U.N. resolution.
"We reiterated the Security Council's request for the list," spokesman Ueki said.
The list will serve as a roster of potential informants for the U.N. inspectors, who have the right under the resolution to request private interviews of Iraqi specialists, and even to offer to fly them out of the country to be interviewed.
The inspection agency was also waiting on agreement with the U.S. government for the use of sophisticated surveillance aircraft, such as the U-2 and possibly the CIA's unmanned Predator, to overfly and monitor suspect sites in Iraq, as U-2s did for the U.N. inspections program in the 1990s.
Ueki said he believed officials at New York's U.N. headquarters continued discussions with Washington over such reconnaissance support.
The inspection agency still had no operable helicopters for their Iraq missions, although the spokesman said he expected helicopters to be secured shortly. Additional communications gear, computers and other equipment were expected to arrive Saturday from the U.N. agency's support base in Cyprus.
The Baghdad government has said it will meet the Security Council's demand for a "declaration" by Dec. 8 of any weapons of mass destruction, facilities to manufacture them, and "all other chemical, biological, and nuclear programs," even those not related to military uses.
Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix says the challenge of reporting on their complex chemical industry, in particular, is of "concern" to the Iraqis.
Ueki said Friday, "They seem to have a lot of confusion as to what the declaration should include. Ultimately, it's their decision."
Gaps and discrepancies in such Iraqi declarations could be construed as a serious enough violation to warrant a new Security Council debate over punitive measures. The Bush administration claims a right to resort to military action against Iraq even without council authorization.
If the inspectors certify Iraq has cooperated fully with their disarmament work, the council is supposed to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
Cross-Indexed:
 Just Cause For Asking About WMDs
|
|