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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PartyTime who wrote (2207)	1/21/2003 2:27:04 AM
From: Vitas	Respond to of 25898

Iraq vows to boost cooperation with UN arms inspectors Monday January 20, 11:57 PM BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq pledged to boost its cooperation with UN disarmament inspectors in an accord struck before they deliver a key report to the Security Council next week that could be the lynchpin for a US-led war. The announcement of the deal by UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Committee (UNMOVIC) chief Hans Blix was tempered as he said they had yet to discuss several "substantive issues" related to anthrax, Scud missiles and the lethal VX nerve gas. The United States meanwhile gave its strong backing to mooted plans to offer Iraqi President Saddam Hussein exile to avoid a war. Blix said after meeting with Iraqi foreign ministry officials the 10-point accord covers access to all sites, including private homes, encourages Iraqi scientists to accept private interviews and appoints a team to search for warheads. "We have gone a long way on that but there have been hitches on it and some of these hitches were solved today," Blix told reporters. Talks since Sunday between Iraqi officials and Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), focused on "stocktaking of inspections" and issues raised by them, said Iraqi presidential advisor Amer al-Saadi, who is in charge of Iraq's disarmament dossier. "Access has been obtained to all sites. This will continue. The Iraqi side will encourage persons to accept access also to private sites," Saadi said after a 24-hour mission by the chief UN inspectors. A list of scientists already submitted would be "supplemented in accordance with advice" from the inspectors," under the accord. However Blix warned that major issues remained outstanding with Iraq. "There are outstanding issues which we were not able to solve, substantive issues related to anthrax, VX (nerve gas), Scud missiles. We did not discuss that yet." UNMOVIC's predecessor, the UN Special Commission on disarmament (UNSCOM), concluded in 1998 that 200 tonnes of precursor chemicals for VX production remained unaccounted for in Iraq. It also warned Iraq could have a number of Scud-type missiles, with enough anthrax and VX, a highly toxic nerve agent first developed in the 1940s, to cause huge damage. These were among the main elements which led UNSCOM to conclude Iraq had failed to cooperate, sparking US and British bombing raids. Blix and ElBaradei said on their arrival here that war was not inevitable, but demanded greater cooperation because "time is running out" ahead of their first status report to the Security Council, on January 27, since the resumption of inspections. US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had said the upcoming UN report would probably mark the beginning of a "last phase" for Iraq. While stepping up its military preparations, the United States has offered strong support to moves to convince the Iraqi president and his top aides to seek exile. Both Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday they would encourage exile coupled with an amnesty. "To avoid a war I would personally recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership and their families could be provided haven in some other country," Rumsfeld said. "I think that that would be a fair trade to avoid a war." Time magazine reported last week that Iraq's neighbors hope to orchestrate Saddam's ouster with a broad amnesty for senior officials. Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia are set to send their foreign ministers to a meeting called by Turkey to try to settle the crisis, although there has been no official mention of an exile plot. asia.news.yahoo.com