Iraq To U.S.: No Inspectors
Baghdad Says No Observers Allowed Until Sanctions Are Lifted
BAGHDAD, Nov. 27, 2001
AP
(CBS) Iraq rejected Tuesday a call by President Bush to let U.N. weapons inspectors back into the country to determine whether Iraq is building weapons of mass destruction.
"Anyone who thinks Iraq can accept an arrogant and unilateral will of this party or that, is mistaken," an Iraqi government spokesman said.
"Iraq is able to defend itself and rights and will not bow to threats but only to justice, and right," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency.
Meanwhile, U.S. and British warplanes bombed a military target in southern Iraq Tuesday in response to threats to coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone in the area, the U.S. military said.
The attack took place around 11:15 a.m. local time (3:15 EST) on a command and control site in the province of Nasiriyah, Chief Petty Officer David Nagle of the Riyadh-based Joint Task Force Southwest Asia told The Associated Press. Nasiriyah is 218 miles southeast of Baghdad.
All coalition aircraft returned safely to base, Nagle told the AP.
There was no word from Iraq on the attack.
Mr. Bush Monday demanded Iraq allow international arms inspections to resume, saying Washington's war on terrorism also targeted those who made weapons of mass destruction "to terrorize the world."
Bush urged Saddam to allow weapons inspectors into the country "to prove to the world he's not developing weapons of mass destruction."
Asked what will happen if Saddam refuses, the president replied, "He'll find out."
The Iraqi spokesman said before asking Iraq to allow weapons inspectors to return, the U.N. should lift the 11-year-old sanctions on Iraq and the West should abolish the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq.
Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohammed al-Douri, also said the Iraqi government will not allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return as long as the Security Council maintains sanctions imposed after Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
"Our position is very clear on that question — that we will not permit any...weapons inspectors," he said. "We have nothing to inspect."
But sanctions will not be lifted until the U.N. monitors verify to the U.N. Security Council that Iraq is free from prohibited weapons.
Washington says Baghdad has strengthened its weapons arsenal since barring the inspectors.
U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in December 1998 when the United States and Britain launched four-day extensive air and missile bombings against Iraq for failing to cooperate with them.
U.S. and British planes have been patrolling skies over northern and southern Iraq since the end of the 1991 Gulf War that liberated Kuwait from a seven-month Iraqi occupation. The patrols were set up to protect Kurds and Shiite Muslims from the forces of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Iraq says the zones violate international law and has been challenging allied planes patrolling them since December 1998.
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