Hans Blix and just about anybody with a capacity for reasonable thought, except Bush-Cheney, share my view in the matter; not yours.
Well, I see nothing to disagree with in Hans Blix's recent statements about Iraq.
abc.net.au
Blix tells Iraq more cooperation is needed
AM - Monday, January 20, 2003 8:24
LINDA MOTTRAM: In other news today, a last chance to avoid war, is the message carried by the United Nations' top weapons officials, Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei who are back in Baghdad, before they give a report to the security council next week on Iraq's weapons programs.
Middle East correspondent Mark Willacy reports.
MARK WILLACY: Known for his diplomacy and ice cool demeanour, Hans Blix’s patience is being sorely tested by Saddam Hussein.
First his weapons inspectors uncovered 11 empty chemical warheads at an Iraqi munitions dump.
Now they’ve discovered 3,000 pages of documents apparently hidden in the Baghdad home of an Iraqi scientist.
HANS BLIX: These are not weapons of mass destruction. Documents are not weapons of mass destruction, nor are empty shells weapons of mass destruction.
But they are a sign, they are a symptom that not everything has been properly declared.
MARK WILLACY: Accompanying Hans Blix to Baghdad is Mohamed El Baradei, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
It’s not so much what the 3,000 pages of documents reveals which bothers him, but rather where they were found.
MOHAMED EL BARADEI: They appear to be relevant to laser enrichment technology. Why are these documents have not been provided to us? Why they have been kept in a private home?
MARK WILLACY: Both Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei believe Iraq is so far failing to offer genuine or sufficient cooperation to UN weapons inspectors.
Dr Blix says in talks with Iraqi officials over the next couple of days he’ll be pushing for a change of attitude. But he says failure to cooperate more fully does not automatically mean war.
HANS BLIX: The message after our travelling around to capitals of Somalia [inaudible] Moscow and together with the French President, myself in Brussels, in European Union headquarters and in London is the impression that war is not inevitable.
No, I don't think anyone wants war but the alternative to this are inspections that are effective, that are credible and which require active cooperation by Iraq.
MARK WILLACY: The scientist found in possession of the 3,000 pages of documents argues that Iraq is cooperating as best it can.
And Faleh Hassan Hamza accuses weapons inspectors of employing mafia-like intimidation in their hunt for weapons of mass destruction.
The nuclear scientist says inspectors barged into his home and used his wife’s illness to try to convince him to leave the country and tell all.
FALEH HASSAN HAMZA: My wife was sick, and she was sleeping and they were looking in the sleeping room. Do you accept somebody looking in your private things. Do you accept this?
Unfortunately for Faleh Hassan Hamza and other Iraqi scientists, they’ll have to accept it.
Barring any more discoveries, the next big date for Iraq is in a week’s time when weapons inspectors hand in their final status report to the Security Council.
While Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei want more time to search for weapons of mass destruction, the Bush Administration could use the final status report to push even harder for war - with or without UN support.
LINDA MOTTRAM: Middle East correspondent Mark Willacy.
In the United States, Secretary of State Colin Powell has said overnight that even if no weapons of mass destruction are found, Baghdad could still be in breach of UN resolutions.
COLIN POWELL: Dr Blix says he has found a smoking gun but he has also said that all he is getting from the Iraqis is passive cooperation. Catch us if you can, if you find something we might admit it, but we're working hard to deceive you, to hide things and make it harder for you to get to the truth. |
