DATE=12/6/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQ/WEAPONS INSPECTIONS (L)
NUMBER=2-256901
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The deputy head of the United Nations Special
Commission on Iraq says Baghdad may succeed in
preventing U-N arms inspectors from ever returning to
the country and finishing the task of declaring Iraq
free of weapons of mass destruction. Correspondent
Nick Simeone reports Baghdad wants a decade of U-N-
imposed sanctions lifted before allowing weapons
inspectors to return.
TEXT: No weapons inspections have been conducted in
Iraq in nearly a year, and they may never resume if
President Saddam Hussein's government and the U-N
Security Council cannot agree on a formula allowing
weapons experts to return. Charles Duelfer is deputy
chairman of UNSCOM, the U-N body charged with ensuring
Iraq is disarmed.
/// 1st DUELFER ACT ///
There's now a standoff between Iraq and the
Security Council on this and some other issues.
It may well be that one concludes that the last
part of this task is not able to be achieved.
/// END ACT ///
// OPT // All UNSCOM staff were withdrawn from Iraq a
year ago when Baghdad refused to cooperate with
weapons experts. That led to several days of bombing
by American and British jets, and a hardened attitude
by Iraq. Baghdad said it would not allow weapons
inspections to resume until the lifting of sanctions,
which were first imposed after its invasion of Kuwait
in 1990. // END OPT //
The Security Council is now struggling to find a
formula that would get inspectors back on the job in
exchange for a lifting of sanctions. State Department
Spokesman Jim Foley:
/// FOLEY ACT ///
We believe discussions among the permanent five
members in the Security Council have made a good
deal of progress in recent weeks. We also
believe that a Security Council vote on the
omnibus draft is likely this week.
/// END ACT ///
Still, closing the file on Iraq may be no closer now
than it has been over the past decade. UNSCOM's
deputy chairman Charles Duelfer explains why:
/// 2nd DUELFER ACT ///
Well, a) to a put inspectors back, b) convince
ourselves that Iraq has finally gotten rid of
all these things, and c) sustain that level of
... intrusive monitoring to assure that Iraq
does not reconstitute these programs. Those are
very tough tasks, and you can only expect them
to be implemented if there is an adequate
consensus in the Council and the right set of
carrots and sticks for Iraq to achieve these
things.
/// END ACT ///
If there is no consensus, Iraq may succeed to some
degree in its decade-long battle with the world, by
exhausting all United Nations efforts to close the
final chapter on what has been the most intrusive
weapons inspection regime in modern history.
(Signed)
NEB/NJS/WTW
06-Dec-1999 17:03 PM EDT (06-Dec-1999 2203 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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