Blix on the wire
by Hal Crawford, 14 February 2003
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has walked a fine line in his much-anticipated report to the UN Security Council on Iraqi disarmament, finding fault with both Saddam Hussein's regime and US claims of Iraqi deceit. During the half-hour presentation Mr Blix demanded more cooperation from both Baghdad and foreign intelligence services; bluntly reminding US Secretary of State Colin Powell that allegations without evidence were useless for UN weapons inspectors. Neither Mr Blix or nuclear inspection chief Mohammed al-Baradei – who gave a largely positive report – handed the US and its allies any striking new evidence of Iraqi transgressions.
Mr Blix said that in many cases, results from the past 11 weeks of inspections have been consistent with Iraqi declarations. "Access to sites has so far been without problems, including those that have never been declared or inspected, as well as to presidential sites and private residences," he said. Furthermore, he found no evidence that inspected sites had been given advance warning. This statement was an implied contradiction of Mr Powell's presentation to the Security Council on February 5.
US flaws
More specific criticism of the US dossier came when Mr Blix noted that two satellite images of what Mr Powell said were chemical decontamination trucks at a munitions depot had been taken two weeks apart
The reported movement of munitions at the site could just as easily have been a routine activity as a movement of proscribed munitions in anticipation of an imminent inspection."
Mr Blix did not find Iraq blameless, however, noting that 1000 tonnes of banned chemical and biological material has yet to be accounted for, and that Iraqi missile programmes had clearly transgressed UN rules on maximum range. The process of interviewing Iraqi scientists needed to be improved, also.
Nuclear satisfaction
Mr al-Baradei, in a less ambiguous presentation, said Iraqi cooperation had been good. His team had found no evidence of a functioning nuclear weapons programme, and there were only a few outstanding matters - such as the discovery of high-tolerance aluminium tubes that could be used to enrich uranium - to be investigated.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, reacting to the inspectors' reports, gave an impassioned speech in which he denounced war as "a sanction of failure" and declared that the inspection regime had achieved real progress. "The use of force is not justified at this time. There is an alternative to war: disarming Iraq through inspections," he said.
Lonely hawks
With no fresh evidence of Iraqi misdeeds emerging, pro-war allies the US and UK appeared to be largely isolated on the 15-member Security Council. UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw told the Council "a dramatic and immediate change" in attitude by Saddam Hussein would be required if war is to be avoided.
Mr Powell challenged the prevailing anti-war sentiment, telling the other members "many of you would rather not have to face this issue, but it is an issue that must be faced". Although he acknowledged the recent Iraqi decision to allow aerial reconnaissance and the formal ban on weapons of mass destruction programmes, he dismissed the moves.
"These are all tricks that are being played on us . . . they [the inspectors] are still being watched. They are still being bugged. They still do not have the access they need in Iraq to do their job well," he said. "In the very near future, we will have to consider whether or not . . . it is time to consider 'serious consequences' of the kind intended by 1441."
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