Iraqi scientists refuse private questioning
Associated Press
Baghdad — Three Iraqi scientists refused to submit to requested private interviews with UN inspectors in their search for signs of forbidden arms programs, a senior Iraqi official reported Saturday.
One of the three did undergo UN questioning, but in the presence of an Iraqi official, said the source, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition he not be identified. He did not name the scientists involved or their specialties.
The Baghdad government said Friday night it had "encouraged" three scientists to accept unmonitored interviews, under an agreement reached last Monday with the chief UN inspectors.
However, the White House has accused the government of intimidating scientists into refusing private interviews.
The inspectors believe that Iraqis knowledgeable about possible weapons programs would be less candid when questioned with government monitors present. In all formal interview requests thus far, however, the Iraqi specialists have asked to have government representatives present.
Earlier Saturday, arms inspectors met with an unidentified Iraqi, possibly one of the three, in an apparent effort to win his agreement on private questioning.
That man, accompanied by an Iraqi official, was met about 10:40 a.m. at the front door of a Baghdad hotel by a UN inspection team leader, who led the man inside. He left about noon in a government car, seen off by the same inspector. Both coming and going, he refused to speak with waiting reporters.
The subject of private interviews has become a major issue in advance of a UN chief inspectors' report Monday on how well Iraq has cooperated during the first two months of renewed arms inspections.
Earlier Saturday, in unrelated and unexplained incidents, two men — one carrying knives, the other shouting "Save me!" and carrying a notebook — tried to enter the UN inspectors' compound on Baghdad's outskirts, a UN spokesman said.
The first man was apprehended as he tried to get through a front gate and was taken away by Iraqi police. Journalists said the second was led inside the compound, and UN spokesman Hiro Ueki said he was handed over to Iraqi authorities at a government office next door.
Two days before its "report card" on arms inspections is due, one UN agency said Baghdad would get a "quite satisfactory" grade on its responses to inspectors' questions and requests for information. In Washington, the White House, easing off the tougher rhetoric of recent days, said Friday it might give inspectors more time to look for weapons, depending on the content of Monday's report.
Late Friday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said new requests had been received from UN officials for interviews Saturday with three Iraqi scientists, who were not publicly identified. The Iraqi liaison agency working with the inspectors said it had "encouraged" the three to grant private interviews.
In its harsh criticism of Iraq, the Bush administration has focused most sharply on the issue of private interviews of scientists.
The UN Security Council resolution governing the inspections declares that "Iraq shall provide ... private access" to anyone the inspectors wish to interview.
The Baghdad government says it cannot force its scientists into private interviews, but it reached agreement with the chief inspectors last Monday to "encourage" interview subjects to submit to unmonitored questioning.
The White House on Friday rejected the Iraqi approach. "President Bush believes that Iraq's refusal to allow Iraqi scientists to submit to private interviews with UN inspectors is unacceptable," spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Meanwhile, international opposition to the U.S. threats of war against Iraq appeared to solidify.
France, Germany and Russia all urge that the inspectors be given more time to do their job of assessing whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or programs to build them. After conferring Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, reported "growing support" in Europe for Germany's opposition to military action.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Saturday that the international community it cannot shrink from its responsibility to disarm Iraq by force if necessary just because "the going is getting tough."
"The burden is upon Iraq," Mr. Powell said on his arrival in Davos, Switzerland, where 2,300 world political and business leaders have gathered for an annual meeting. "Iraq must comply, or it will be made to comply with military force."
Mr. Powell made no mention of a timetable. But the U.S. government were considering giving the UN inspectors more time to find Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, a senior U.S. official said.
The Security Council's next moves will be based on the report it receives Monday from chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The IAEA said Friday that analyses of samples taken by nuclear inspectors in Iraq have so far not revealed any evidence of prohibited nuclear activity.
Dr. Blix has said his report will be a "mixed bag." He notes the Iraqis have cooperated well on hundreds of daily inspections since Nov. 27 — of chemical plants, nuclear centers, medical laboratories and other "sites of concern." The inspectors thus far have not reported finding any violations of UN bans on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
"Their report card will be a 'B'" on requests for information and responses to questions, said Mark Gwozdecky, a spokesman for Mr. ElBaradei's nuclear agency.
But Dr. Blix complains that Iraq has resisted allowing American U-2 reconnaissance planes to aid the inspection effort.
As the crucial UN report date approached, the fear of war was taking stronger hold among Iraqis.
The Iraqi Parliament speaker, Saadoun Hammadi, declared Saturday that if war comes, Iraqis "will fight fiercely until the end," and would use "every method to inflict heavy damages on the enemy."
Mr. Hammadi, speaking at a news conference in New Delhi, India, did not elaborate on what he meant by "every method." The U.S. government has repeatedly warned the Iraqi military not to use any chemical or biological weapons it may have against U.S. troops.
Here in Baghdad, a few foreign embassies have decided to evacuate dependents, or even to close down. Japan has urged its citizens to leave Baghdad, citing the possibility of military action.
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