Newsday December 04, 2002
Surprise Visitors; UN experts inspect palace; Iraq complies
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Baghdad, Iraq - United Nations experts searching for weapons of mass destruction barged into one of President Saddam Hussein's opulent palaces from two directions yesterday morning in a surprise inspection that tested Iraq's vow to comply with last month's UN Security Council resolution on Iraq.
The inspectors, traveling in two convoys and followed by Iraqi officials, roared up to the front and rear entrances of Hussein's al-Sajoud Palace in central Baghdad shortly before 9 a.m. local time, 1 a.m. in New York. Flustered guards initially prevented the inspectors from entering the compound, but after about eight minutes, during which Iraqi officials accompanying the convoy barked into their radios and shouted at the palace guards, the black metal gates were pulled open, allowing the inspectors at the front entrance to drive up a wide, palm-lined driveway toward a three-story, turquoise-domed brick building at the center of the vast compound.
UN officials did not immediately say why they chose to visit al-Sajoud yesterday, what the inspectors were looking for or whether they found any evidence that Iraq is building chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Western intelligence officials and analysts have long believed Hussein has hidden banned arms in some of his palaces, which are highly secretive and secure facilities off-limits to all but a trusted few of his aides. The visit, just one day after President George W. Bush said his initial reading of Iraq's cooperation with the Security Council resolution was "not encouraging," could have been an effort by UN inspection leaders to send a signal to the U.S. government about Iraq's compliance thus far, diplomats here said.
Iraq's acquiescence to such a search of a Hussein palace would have been unthinkable during earlier rounds of inspections, the diplomats said.
For most of the 1990s, Hussein's government refused to allow inspectors into al-Sajoud and other presidential palaces on the grounds that it would violate Iraq's sovereignty. But in February 1998, after former president Bill Clinton threatened to launch military strikes against Iraq, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hammered out a compromise that allowed inspectors to visit the palaces and other sensitive sites if they provided advance notice and were accompanied by a team of diplomats.
The inspectors eventually searched al-Sajoud and seven other presidential palaces in April 1998, although they reported that most of the 1,058 buildings they saw in those compounds were largely empty.
Yesterday, however, the inspectors had to go through none of the earlier formalities. They simply got in their white Toyota Land Rovers at the UN headquarters here and drove to al-Sajoud.
Under a Security Council resolution approved unanimously last month, Iraq could face unspecified "serious consequences" - a phrase that, for the Bush administration, means a U.S. attack - if inspectors are not given immediate access to any person or place in Iraq.
Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer, told journalists after the inspection that "the Iraqi side was cooperative."
"The inspectors were happy," he said.
After the inspectors left, Iraqi officials let several dozen foreign journalists enter the grounds and even walk around the place's ornate foyer for about 15 minutes. The journalists were prevented from entering other rooms in the main building - plainclothes guards stood in front of closed wooden doors - or from walking into some of the other, smaller buildings inside the high-walled compound, which stretches for about three city blocks in both length and width.
The lobby and a few connecting hallways appeared to be largely unused and the few pieces of visible furniture were far less elegant than the surroundings. A dining table was surrounded by 10 chairs with peeling paint. A lime green fly swatter was sitting on the buffet table, albeit in a seemingly custom-built wooden rack.
There were tables and chairs in two alcoves, but boxes of hot pink facial tissue on the tables were unopened. A 1970s-era Toshiba projection television and a twin-cassette boom box, neither of which looked like they had been used in years, were placed next to one set of chairs.
The building itself was ornate. The floors were white marble, covered in places by red, green and blue rugs in the style of those from Iraq's erstwhile enemy, Iran. Garish chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The two elevators had gold-plated doors.
Conspicuously absent were portraits of Hussein, a fixture in almost every room in this country.
Last week, UN officials said the inspectors likely would not visit any palaces or other big sites that have not been subject to previous searches, largely because there are too few inspectors in Iraq now. But al-Sajoud, since it was among the eight of Hussein's more than 50 palaces that had been inspected before, apparently did not fall into that category.
The inspectors might have been looking for obvious changes since 1998 or seeking to follow up possible intelligence reports about activities inside. In one of the inspectors' vehicles, which was parked in front of the main gate in a way to prevent Iraqi cars from exiting the compound, a black-and-white map titled "al-Sajoud Palace Presidential Site" could be seen on the front seat. The map, which identified 19 buildings on the site, had some of the structures labeled as "blue" and "red" areas.
The Art of Surprise
Unannounced inspections at facilities such as the al-Sajoud Palace require preparation and delicacy. How the UN does it:
1. A satellite or aircraft takes an image of the suspected site. The team is then briefed on the facility.
2. Inspectors travel to the site in small groups, by air or ground, taking a route that will leave Iraqis unaware of their destination.
3. At the facility, inspectors order workers to remain on site during the search. Outside, a helicopter patrols the area to prevent anyone from leaving with evidence.
4. Team inspects the site visually, then tests air and water samples.
Inspectors have the right to remove or destroy suspicious materials.
5. Team prepares report to be resented to the UN Security Council in February.
SOURCE: globalsecurity.org; Chicago Tribune
GRAPHIC: Photos Courtesy of globalsecurity.org and DigitalGlobe - 1 - 2) The al-Sajoud Palace is part of a sprawling presidential complex in downtown Baghdad. 3) AP Cover Photo - An Iraqi guard directs UN vehicles as they enter the al-Sajoud Palace.AP Photos - 4) Exterior and interior views of al-Sajoud Palce, visite by weapons inspectors yesterday. 5) UN Resolution 1441 adopted last month give free, unannounced access to all Iraqi sites. Chart - The Art of Surprise (see end of text).
Copyright 2002 Newsday, Inc.
