13 October 1998
UNSC CALLS ON IRAQ TO RESUME COOPERATION WITH WEAPONS INSPECTORS
(Security Council notes progress before August decision) (970) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- Noting that work was near completion on its chemical and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs before Iraq ended cooperation with the United Nations, the Security Council October 13 urged Baghdad to resume cooperation with UN weapons inspectors. After reviewing the six-month reports of the UN Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons (UNSCOM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the council said that "in the light of these reports, members of the council look to Iraq to take the decision to resume full cooperation." Council President Jeremy Greenstock of Great Britain said that on "the IAEA report, members of the council noted that the report stated that should Iraq recommence full cooperation with the IAEA, there would be no impediment to the full implementation of the IAEA's plan for ongoing monitoring and verification which must be comprehensive and intrusive." "On the UNSCOM report, members of the council focused on the need for Iraq to return to full cooperation if forward progress was to be made," Greenstock said in an informal press statement. "On the chemical weapons and missile files, members of the council felt there were not many items still to be resolved if that cooperation was forthcoming. They noted that on the biological weapons file, rather more work was needed which depended crucially on full disclosure by Iraq, including information on biological weapons which they already say they have," the council president said. The council's statement echoed the reports of progress made by UNSCOM and IAEA on certain categories of weapons before Iraq's August 5 decision to end cooperation with the two agencies and demand that the council declare Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction and end sanctions. The two agencies said that in the areas of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and chemical weapons, with a little more data from Baghdad, they were about ready to move to less intrusive inspections and long-term monitoring. US Ambassador Peter Burleigh called on Iraq "to come back into compliance right away." "That's the next step that is required here," Burleigh said. The ambassador added that the United States "very much appreciates the work that IAEA and UNSCOM do in Iraq under very difficult circumstances. We call on Iraq to come back into cooperation immediately with both agencies. They can't do their work properly under current circumstances." Both agencies "reported declining confidence in the level of what they can report about Iraq in all their programs of mass destruction," he noted. The United States has been "alarmed by many of the aspects of the Iraqi (weapons of mass destruction) program for years and we continue to be deeply concerned about them," the ambassador said. That includes getting the full information on Iraq's VX nerve agent and anthrax production and an accurate count on the number of ballistic missiles Iraq had and destroyed. "What we want to find out is whether Iraq has any more weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that it can use and therefore continue to be a threat to its neighbors. This is ... our core question," he said. A second concern is whether Iraq "is still actively pursuing a program of developing weapons of mass destruction," Burleigh said. The ambassador said that the position of the United States, as well as the other members of the council, on the nuclear files (which are IAEA's responsibility) has not changed since May. He noted that the council is "ready actively to consider a resolution that would authorize a transition (to long-term monitoring)." "Iraq has to answer three remaining questions and concerns of the IAEA and also pass the penal legislation that is required by IAEA. Iraq hasn't done any of that," Burleigh said. "... there is no new information that has been provided by the government of Iraq in the six-month period." UNSCOM Executive Chairman Richard Butler has scheduled a technical experts meeting for October 22 and 23 to go over the results of tests on missile fragments for VX nerve agents from laboratories in the United States, France and Switzerland. IAEA Executive Director Mohamed Al Baradei said that IAEA has "no indication that Iraq has nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons usable material or the capability to produce such items." "These, we believe, are credible assurances but not absolute assurances. As we have always said, we cannot give any absolute assurances with regard to any country and therefore we must continue to do on-going monitoring and verification in Iraq and the system must be vigorous and comprehensive," El Baradei told journalists after his private meeting with the council. Since Iraq suspended cooperation in August, IAEA has been limited to monitoring "declared nuclear activities, which deprives the system of very important search and detection capability," he said. However, the IAEA director noted that Iraq's nuclear file "will never be closed." "We can say we have seen as much as we can see from the clandestine program and we are ready to focus most of our resources on the ongoing monitoring and verification, but that does not exclude our right at any time in the future to go back in case we see anything," El Baradei said. The remaining questions IAEA wants clarified are: the extent of external assistance to Iraq's clandestine nuclear program, the timing and modalities of the abandonment of the nuclear weapons program, and how much Iraq achieved in organizing its program. The agency also wants some additional drawings to better understand the degree of weaponization. (For more information on this subject, contact our special Iraq website at: http://www.usia.gov/iraq)
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