16 December 1998
THE UN SPECIAL COMMISSION REPORTS NO PROGRESS WITH IRAQ
(Butler: Iraq initiated new forms of restrictions) (950) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) overseeing the destruction of weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq reported late December 15 that Iraq has not fully cooperated with UNSCOM weapons experts since inspections resumed in November and, in fact, imposed new restrictions on the commission. In a report to the UN Security Council UNSCOM Executive Chairman Richard Butler said that "Iraq did not provide the full cooperation it promised on 14 November 1998." "Iraq initiated new forms of restrictions upon the Commission's work," he said. "Amongst the Commission's many concerns about this retrograde step is what such further restrictions might mean for the effectiveness of long-term monitoring activities." "In spite of the opportunity presented by the circumstances of the last month, including the prospect of a comprehensive review, Iraq's conduct ensured that no progress was able to be made in either the fields of disarmament or accounting for its prohibited weapons programs," the UNSCOM chairman reported. Iraq escaped US and British air strikes in November after it agreed to resume the cooperation it first curtailed in August and then halted in October. The UNSCOM report is the first to the Council on how Iraq has lived up to the latest pledge. On November 15 in accepting Iraq's pledge to resume full and unconditional cooperation with the UN weapons inspectors, the Council said that it was ready to proceed with a comprehensive review after the secretary general confirmed that Iraq is fully cooperating. In the report given to Security Council members late in the evening December 15, Butler said that because of Iraq's lack of full cooperation, "it must regrettably be recorded again that the commission is not able to conduct the substantive disarmament work mandated to it." Iraq is still refusing to turn over a document which details Iraq's use of special munitions in the 1980s found by UNSCOM experts at Iraqi Air Force Headquarters in July. That document is needed to tally the chemical munitions balance. Butler reported that Iraq has said it is ready only to "consider" portions of the document in the presence of the UN special envoy. Iraq also refused to turn over a number of specific documents relating to biological weapons, including one that had been seen by the UN experts in 1995, Butler said. On November 18 UNSCOM asked for new information on biological weapons activities that would enable the commission to enhance its level of verification and correct inconsistencies in Iraq's current declarations. "No new information or documents have been presented," he said. In addition, a biological team was not allowed to interview students at university sites that Iraq had already said had conducted biological weapons research. In the ballistic missile area, Iraq refused to allow UNSCOM to remove missile engine components saying that the request "is not justified on 'technical or scientific grounds,'" the chairman said. On December 5 Iraq placed "unacceptable conditions on the photography of bombs citing national security concerns," he also reported, Outlining what transpired at a series of inspections to six sites, Butler said that Iraq refused to allow an inspection on December 11 because it was a Friday; UNSCOM was prevented from inspecting a site occupied by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran; and inspectors were prevented from inspecting Ba'ath Party Headquarters. At the Military Industrialization Corporation "the site had been prepared to avoid any disclosure of relevant materials and the team assessed Iraq had expected their arrival," he said. "In light of the clear evidence that Iraq had taken advance actions at certain of the locations planned for inspection in order to defeat the purposes of inspection," Butler said he decided not to conduct the full range of inspections and did not inspect any of the so-called presidential sites. Despite Butler's negative comments, in his letter accompanying the UNSCOM report Secretary General Kofi Annan did not say that Iraq was in violation of the Council's Gulf War cease-fire resolution which requires full cooperation from Baghdad and he gave the Council the option of conducting the comprehensive review. Annan did not give any recommendation on whether the Council should hold the review which would be a first step in determining how close Baghdad is to having sanctions lifted. Instead he gave the Council three alternatives on how it might proceed. The Secretary General pointed out that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which is responsible for Iraq's nuclear programs was satisfied with the cooperation it received, "but UNSCOM did not enjoy full cooperation." Annan said that the Council could determine that the four-week period didn't provide sufficient time to hold a comprehensive review or that Iraq should be given more time "to demonstrate its commitment to do so." The Council could also proceed with the review "on the premise that it is sufficiently important to know precisely what has been achieved in the area of disarmament over the entire period since 1991," he said. Briefly reviewing UNSCOM's eight-year history with Iraq in his ten-page report, Butler said that "Iraq's current claims that it has fulfilled all of its disarmament obligations in each weapons area; ceased concealment policies and actions; and that it has neither proscribed weapons nor the ability to make them, cannot be accepted without further verification." Citing the 1995 revelation of tons of weapons-related documents hidden at a farm in Iraq, Butler said that "it remains the commission's strong view that, under the present circumstances, relevant documentation must exist in Iraq and that provision of such documentation is the best hope for revealing the full picture."
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