U.N. inspectors arrive in Baghdad
URL:http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-11-17-iraq-inspectors_x.htm
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — U.N. inspectors met with Iraqi officials Monday as they prepared to resume the search for weapons of mass destruction, a mission that could determine whether the Mideast is plunged into a new war.
Iraqi General Amer al-Saadi, right, receives chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix, left, and the head of the IAEA, Mohamed El Baradei in Baghdad.
Karim Sahib, AFP
Their arrival in Baghdad on Monday after a four-year absence came as allied warplanes bombed Iraqi defense systems in the northern no-fly zone after being fired upon during routine patrols, the U.S. military said. Iraq considers such patrols a violation of its sovereignty and frequently shoots at them.
At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday the Iraqi anti-aircraft fire "appears to be a violation" of the U.N. resolution that sent the inspectors back to Iraq, but declined to say if Washington would seek Security Council action as allowed under the guidelines.
Separately, the U.S. Central Command said U.S. planes dropped 120,000 leaflets Sunday near the town of Ar Rumaythah, in southern Iraq, urging the military to stop firing on U.S. and British planes patrolling the southern "no fly" zone. It was the fourth leaflet drop in the last eight weeks in southern Iraq.
Ewen Buchanan, the U.N. inspectors' spokesman, said Monday he did not think the no-fly zone activity would affect the inspection mission.
Inspections timetable
Key dates for United Nations weapons inspectors under the Security Council resolution passed Nov. 8:
Today: A U.N. team arrives in Baghdad for the first time in four years to begin reassembling the inspectors' facilities.
Nov. 27: Inspections are expected to begin.
Dec. 8: Iraq must submit a declaration of its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.
Jan. 26: The inspection team is required to report its findings to the Security Council. An immediate report to the council is required, however, if Iraq does not comply at any point in the process.
This time, the U.N. inspectors will have more sophisticated equipment than their predecessors did and a broader right to search anywhere, anytime — even in presidential palaces and mosques. President Bush has warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that failure to cooperate with the inspectors will bring on an American attack.
In the past, weapons inspectors had to give advance notice of visits to sensitive sites including eight vast presidential palace complexes, losing the effect of surprise inspections. The new Security Council resolution states that inspectors have "the right to inspect any sites and buildings, including immediate, unimpeded, unconditional, and unrestricted access to presidential sites equal to that at all other sites." Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix made clear before arriving in Baghdad that mosques also are not off-limits.
Blix told reporters that credible inspections are "in the interest of Iraq and the interest of the world."
Saddam's deputy, Izzat Ibrahim, was quoted Monday by the official Iraqi News Agency as saying that Iraq was dealing with the U.N. resolution to protect its people from "American arrogance," but also was prepared to fight "if war is imposed on us."
At a chaotic airport news conference, the inspectors faced Iraqi and other Arab reporters demanding to know whether they expected friction with the United States and whether they would accept intelligence information from Washington. The inspectors said they did not expect trouble from the United States and welcomed information from all over the world.
Blix arrived in Baghdad aboard a U.N. cargo plane with Mohamed ElBaradei, who oversees the International Atomic Energy Agency. They were met by an Iraqi delegation led by Gen. Hosam Amin, head of the national monitoring directorate, set up as a counterpart to the inspection team.
Blix and ElBaradei sat down Monday night with Amin and Iraqi presidential adviser Amer Saadi in their first official meeting, which involved about a dozen people from each side. They did not speak to reporters on entering the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
The U.N. team planned to reopen the Baghdad offices that inspectors abandoned in 1998, set up secure phone lines and arrange transportation ahead of the first inspections, which Blix has said would begin as early as Nov. 27.
Iraq must file a declaration of its banned weapons programs by Dec. 8 or provide convincing evidence that they have been eliminated. Full-scale inspections are to resume after that, with Blix reporting his findings to the U.N. Security Council within 60 days.
"I urge president Saddam Hussein to comply fully for the sake of his people, for the sake of the region and for the sake of the world order," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday, while traveling in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The last U.N. inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998 amid Iraqi allegations that some were spying for the United States and countercharges that Iraq was not cooperating with the teams. Their departure was followed by four days of punishing U.S. and British airstrikes.
Leading Iraqi newspaper Babil, owned by Saddam's son, Odai, said in an editorial Monday that Iraq wants the inspectors' mission to "prove to the Americans ... that our country is free of weapons of mass destruction."
A front-page editorial in the ruling Baath Party newspaper Al-Thawra called the previous U.N. inspection regime "an American organization to spy on Iraq," and said it hoped the new team would avoid that trap.
Iraq has been under strict economic sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The sanctions can be lifted when U.N. inspectors declare Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction.
ElBaradei said he hoped for Iraqi cooperation in producing a report to the Security Council that could be "a basic step toward the lifting of sanctions on Iraq."
In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said Russia would insist on a tighter connection between Baghdad's cooperation with inspectors and the lifting of sanctions. Fedotov also said the timeframe of the inspectors' work should be shortened, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.
Russia and Iraq share extensive trade ties. The two countries plan to sign a long-term trade deal worth $40 billion. Iraq also owes Russia $7 billion in Soviet debt, and Moscow fears a U.S. attack on Baghdad could hinder repayment.
Blix said the team was prepared to meet the challenge of ensuring Iraqi compliance, but he hoped Iraq would not try to hide anything.
"The question of war and peace remains first of all in the hands of Iraq, the Security Council and the members of the Security Council," Blix said Sunday.
Sounding a tough line, ElBaradei said Sunday there was agreement on the need for "intrusive verifications — that means we would go everywhere, we will use every means at our disposal to make sure that Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction."
Blix favors cooperation instead of confrontation with the Iraqis, and the differences in approach could create tension between the inspectors and the Bush administration, U.N. officials said Sunday on condition of anonymity.
Blix and ElBaradei flew from Vienna to Cyprus over the weekend to join up with about two dozen other members of their team before heading for Iraq. Eventually more than 220 U.N. inspectors, from 49 countries, will be deployed. At least 30 are American and at least are five women. At least six of the group are Arabs and the leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency group is Egyptian.
Saddam agreed Wednesday to allow the inspectors to return to search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons after the Security Council approved a toughly worded resolution giving Iraq "a final opportunity" to eliminate such arms. It gives inspectors the right to go anywhere at anytime and warns Iraq it will face "serious consequences" if it fails to cooperate. |
