Inspectors to ask for more time
February 14 2003
New York: The United Nations' nuclear weapons expert, preparing to give a crucial report to the Security Council on Friday, said inspections should continue for months because "we are moving forward".
Mohamed ElBaradei, the nuclear chief, and Hans Blix, his counterpart, will tell the council that Iraq is developing new missiles systems, has imported parts that could be used for a nuclear program, and still isn't cooperating 100 per cent, UN officials said on Thursday.
Their findings, coming as the United States prepares for war with Iraq, could bolster the US case with allies or further divide the Security Council, badly split over whether the time has come to use force to disarm Saddam Hussein.
British diplomats said it was possible that the United States and Britain could present a proposal by Saturday for a new resolution authorising military action against Iraq. Both Secretary of State Colin Powell and his British counterpart, Jack Straw, will attend Friday's briefing by the inspectors and then hold meetings immediately afterward with the 13 other members of the council.
While the reports by the inspectors are expected to welcome recent Iraqi efforts at cooperation, the moves fall short of the complete and genuine turnaround Blix said he was hoping for when he left for meetings with Iraqi officials last week.
We're still in midcourse," ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday on a flight from Vienna to New York. "But we are moving forward, and I see no reason for us to bring the inspection process to a halt."
ElBaradei also said he did not consider war a foregone conclusion provided "we see some progress on the part of Iraq" in revealing any hidden weapons of mass destruction.
In his report, ElBaradei will raise remaining questions about Iraq's nuclear program including possible imports of uranium, smuggled aluminum tubing, and other components that could be used to revive Iraq's nuclear program.
On the eve of a showdown over Iraq, President George W Bush said the United Nations must help him confront Iraqi President Saddam Hussein or "fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant, debating society".
As Bush issued his call for unity, the administration said Americans should be prepared for "a fairly long-term commitment" in Iraq if the United States goes to war.
Secretary of State Colin Powell told the House Budget Committee he had no estimate of the cost of war with Iraq.
But he did say he thought Iraq should be able to adjust quickly afterward - in contrast to the slow pace of recovery in Afghanistan.
"I would hope that it would be a short conflict and that it would be directed at the leadership, not the society," he said.
Iraq had an effective bureaucracy, rich oil resources and a developed middle class, the secretary of state said.
The flurry of events laid the groundwork for today, when UN weapons inspectors were to report to the Security Council on whether Iraq is complying with orders to disarm.
Bush is expected to quickly follow up with a request for a UN resolution authorising force.
However, the top UN nuclear weapons inspector said yesterday that inspections should continue.
"We're still in mid-course, but we are moving forward, and I see no reason for us to bring the inspection process to a halt," Mohamed ElBaradei said as he drafted his report on a flight from Vienna, Austria, to New York.
UN officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hans Blix, who heads the hunt for Baghdad's biological and chemical weapons, would address a French proposal to triple the number of inspectors.
During a visit to Mayport Naval Station in Florida, Bush told cheering sailors, "I'm optimistic that free nations will show backbone and courage in the face of true threats to peace and freedom."
"I believe when it's all said and done, free nations will not allow the United Nations to fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant, debating society," he said.
Concerns identified by ElBaradei on Thursday included "the questions of aluminum tubes, the question of importation of magnets, and the question of importation of carbon fibre" as well as reported imports of uranium.
He suggested his report will not give a definite use for aluminum tubing because "we are still conducting investigations" based on additional information from the Iraqis.
The main area on which Blix is likely to focus will be a new Iraqi missile system which slightly exceeds the range limits set by Security Council resolutions.
Blix could recommend that UN inspectors destroy the al-Samoud missile system. In that case, a Security Council diplomat who confirmed the experts' finding said inspectors would also probably destroy the rocket engines Iraq imported for the missile. But Blix could also recommend the missile system be modified, or undergo more tests.
Last month, Blix reported that despite an arms embargo, Iraq had imported 380 rocket engines for the al-Samoud 2 as well as chemicals used in propellants, test instruments, and guidance and control systems.
smh.com.au |
