Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : A to Z Junior Mining Research Site -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 4figureau who wrote (2694)	1/16/2003 9:42:44 AM
From: 4figureau	Respond to of 5423

Blix: Iraq violated U.N. import ban Thursday, January 16, 2003 Posted: 9:08 AM EST (1408 GMT) BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Iraq has illegally imported arms-related material but it is not yet clear whether the material is related to weapons of mass destruction, the chief U.N. weapons inspector said Thursday. Hans Blix, who spoke to reporters after meeting with European Union officials, said Iraq has to be more active in addressing the concerns of the United Nations and the inspectors. "It's clear they have violated the bans of the United Nations in terms of imports," said Blix. The imported items include missile parts, CNN's Richard Roth reported. The "situation is very tense and very dangerous," Blix said. "And everybody wants to see a verified and credible" disarmament. "We have found things that have been illegally imported, even in 2001 and 2002," Blix said. He said "the question of whether they are related to weapons of mass destruction is something that requires further technical evaluation." "We try our best to make the inspections effective," Blix said, "so that we can have a peaceful solution," but he warned that "if the U.S. were to walk in, that would be the end of inspections clearly." As Blix spoke, U.N. weapons inspectors were making their first search of private homes owned by Iraqi nuclear scientists in the hunt for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi officials said. (Full story) The homes are located in the Al-Ghazaliyah district in Baghdad and are not listed as declared sites by Iraq, suggesting that inspectors may have been working on an intelligence tip. Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are due to visit Iraq next week ahead of their report to the U.N. Security Council on January 27. Blix has said he plans to tell Iraq to submit new weapons evidence. After the talks in Brussels with Blix, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed his solidarity with the chief weapons inspector. An Iraqi nuclear scientist talks to U.N. weapons inspectors Thursday before they search his house in Baghdad. Solana told reporters: "He (Blix) has conveyed to me his concern that the cooperation with Saddam Hussein, the cooperation with Iraq, is not sufficient. "We are demanding a more proactive cooperation from the regime of Saddam Hussein so that the world, the Security Council, the inspectors, are convinced that he has disarmed from all weapons of mass destruction." ElBaradei, speaking after two days of talks with Russian officials, also used the term "proactive" to describe what is required of Iraq. "What they ought to do is come forward" provide documents or physical evidence to support the conclusion that the country no longer has weapons of mass destruction, he said. "This kind of proactive approach is not there. And that's why I said they need to shift gears," ElBaradei said. "As long as we can continue to go around the country and come to the conclusion, 'well we are not 100 percent sure,' this is not good enough for the Security Council." In another development, sources said that during a meeting Tuesday, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice pressed Blix and other senior U.N. officials to demand that Iraq allow certain scientists and their families for travel outside the country for interviews about weapons of mass destruction programs. The move would reflect a more muscular interpretation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1441, which said that inspectors "may at their discretion conduct interviews inside or outside of Iraq, (and) may facilitate the travel of those interviewed and family members outside of Iraq." To date, U.N. weapons inspectors have only asked Iraqi scientists whether they would be willing to be interviewed outside of the country, or interviewed without the presence of Iraqi government representatives. None have agreed so far, U.N. officials said. cnn.com