Powell raises the banner for war
but the world remains divided
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday February 6, 2003
The Guardian
Colin Powell yesterday used satellite photographs, tapes of
intercepted conversations and newly opened CIA files to make
the United States case against Iraq in a determined attempt to
win over international opinion.
However, the presentation appeared to do little to heal the deep
rifts in the UN security council. America and Britain claimed the
evidence proved Iraq was in "material breach" of its UN
obligations, justifying "serious consequences". France and
Russia said that the evidence only strengthened the case for
further inspections. Iraq rejected the presentation as a fraud.
Facing Iraq's UN representative and surrounded by foreign
ministers from the 15 members of the security council, the US
secretary of state took well over 70 minutes to make the
multi-media presentation in the most climactic showdown in the
UN chamber since the cold war.
In the course of the presentation, the crackling sound of
telephone conversations allegedly between Iraqi officers echoed
around the hushed chamber, and satellite pictures said to show
chemical weapons being moved before the UN inspectors' visits
were beamed on to a big screen above the foreign ministers.
Mr Powell said the Iraqi government had set up a special
organisation dedicated to spying on the weapons inspectors. He
quoted intelligence sources and an unnamed al-Qaida captive as
evidence of longstanding and continuing links between Iraq and
al-Qaida. The CIA director, George Tenet, sat behind Mr
Powell's shoulder in a display of confidence in the US case,
after persistent reports of divisions between his agency and the
Pentagon over the strength of the evidence.
It was a prosecution case with the American public in mind, as
well as the international community, and it was broadcast live on
all the major television networks. An opinion survey yesterday
found that nine out of 10 Americans said they were going to
make up their mind about whether to support a war based on Mr
Powell's performance.
Among the most dramatic evidence were satellite pictures of
what Mr Powell said was an ammunition dump known as al-Taji,
showing 15 bunkers, four of which had been outlined with a thick
red line.
He described them as "active chemical munitions bunkers" and
showed a close up of structures he described as "signature"
items of bunkers containing active chemical weapons: a tent
serving as a security checkpoint and a decontamination vehicle.
In a second picture, said to be of the same site, the tent and the
vehicle were missing. Mr Powell said: "It's been cleaned up and
it was done on December 22, as the UN inspection team is
arriving, and you can see the inspection vehicles arriving in the
lower portion of the picture on the right."
Mr Powell also played three scratchy audiotapes he said were
intercepted conversations between Iraqi officers, all about the
"cleaning" of sites that the inspectors might visit, or the removal
of other incriminating evidence.
The men on the tapes do not identify themselves fully, nor do
they name other people or places. In the most explicit of the
three tapes, between two commanders of Iraq's 2nd Republican
Guard corps "a few weeks ago", according to Mr Powell, one
voice is slowly dictating an order to a junior officer to remove any
reference to the words "nerve agents" wherever they appear in
"wireless instructions".
In Baghdad, Iraqi officials dismissed the tapes, satellite pictures
and defector evidence as a collection of "stunts, special effects
and unknown sources".
Iraq's UN representative, Mohammed al-Douri, called the
presentation a fraud "utterly unrelated to the truth".
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, insisted yesterday "war
is not inevitable", but he urged Saddam Hussein to offer better
cooperation with the chief UN weapons inspector when the
teams revisit Iraq this weekend.
Until the inspectors present another report next Friday, the
security council deadlock on Iraq is set to continue.
Mr Powell also alleged yesterday that a senior al-Qaida leader,
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had gone to Baghdad in May 2002 for
medical treatment, and that during that time "nearly two dozen
extremists converged on Baghdad and established a base of
operations there.
"These al-Qaida affiliates, based in Baghdad now coordinate the
movement of people money and supplies into and throughout
Iraq for [Zarqawi's] network, and they've now been operating
freely in the capital for more than eight months," Mr Powell said.
He added that the network, made up of 116 operatives, included
the "ricin plotters" arrested in Britain.
Mr Powell said his case proved "Iraq is now in further material
breach of its obligations. I believe this conclusion is irrefutable
and undeniable."
However, some aspects of Mr Powell's case was patchy.
Images of alleged mobile biological weapons laboratories were
computer-generated, on the basis of defectors' accounts.
In a theatrical moment, Mr Powell held up a small phial which he
said represented the amount of anthrax used to cause havoc in
the US in 2001. However, the US administration has never
claimed that either Iraq or al-Qaida were behind the anthrax
attacks.
The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, described the US
case as "powerful and authoritative". He added that Iraq had
failed to provide an accurate account of its weapons
programmes and was orchestrating a "charade" to mislead
inspectors.
However, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin,
instead launched a counter-proposal, suggesting the UN
inspection teams be doubled or tripled, and a special
organisation to put suspect sites under permanent surveillance.
He did not rule out the use of force as a last resort, but he
insisted that the UN remain at "the centre of operations" and
that the safety of civilians and the territorial integrity of Iraq must
be respected.
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