ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:97061002.NNE
DATE:06/10/97
TITLE:10-06-97 EKEUS: WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION OF HIGHER VALUE TO IRAQ THAN OIL
TEXT:
(Outgoing UNSCOM chairman urges continued vigilance) (480)
By Rick Marshall
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- Why would Iraq willingly forego six years' worth of oil
revenues -- approximately $120 billion -- rather than cooperate with
the United Nations Security Council resolutions and reveal the extent
of its weapons of mass destruction programs?
The answer, according to Rolf Ekeus, the outgoing executive chairman
of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), is that to the Iraqi
leadership the country's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
programs are "of much higher value" than the revenue they would have
gained from selling oil.
It is precisely these weapons of mass destruction which could have
made Iraq "a major regional power," a dominant force in the Gulf and
thus in the world's energy supplies, the Swedish diplomat told an
overflow audience at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment
June 10.
"The weapons give you power, sweet, wonderful power," Ekeus said in an
address that looked back at UNSCOM's achievements over the past six
years. In July, Ekeus will retire to become ambassador to the United
States. His place will be taken by Richard Butler, currently
Australia's permanent representative to the U.N.
Ekeus recounted how he came to the job in April 1991, shortly after
the Gulf War ended. The plan was simple, he said, get Iraq to reveal
its weapons programs and comply with the U.N. resolutions. It seemed
logical to him that Iraq would see its own interests and cooperate, so
that it could resume its oil production quickly.
But the reality Ekeus and his inspectors found was different, a series
of threats, falsifications and outright lies.
Now six years later, the results of what UNSCOM found still seem
staggering: a full biological weapons program, complete with "major
production" facilities, bombs, munitions, and delivery systems. This
program was apparently kept such a secret that even Tariq Aziz, then
the country's deputy prime minister, was not aware of it.
UNSCOM also found that Iraq was working on a new "strategic" chemical
weapons capability, building on the existing chemical weapons the
country had used in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
While it was known that Iraq had imported Scud missiles before the
Gulf War, much less was known about the "17/28" program, which focused
on producing "homemade" Scuds. This was part of Iraq's program to
produce missiles with a range from 300 to 600 kilometers capable of
carrying nuclear, biological and chemical warheads.
While Ekeus believes that UNSCOM has accounted for "practically all"
of Iraq's Scuds and "neutralized" its chemical weapons programs, he
remains concerned about the need to continue monitoring Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction programs extremely closely.
"It is very important the international community and especially the
(UN) Security Council understand how important it is," Ekeus said.
"Awareness and attention are the most powerful tools."
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