04 February 2003
Blix Won't Ask for More Time for Inspectors
(UNMOVIC chief urges Iraq to cooperate in "substance") (1170) By Judy Aita Washington File U.N. Correspondent United Nations -- Saying that it is "five minutes to midnight," chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said February 4 that Iraq must cooperate immediately with U.N. weapons inspectors on the substance of its weapons of mass destruction programs. Blix said that with the lack of cooperation from Baghdad, he did not feel the need to ask the Security Council to give his inspectors more time to do their job. Instead, he said, he was urging the Iraqis to improve their cooperation with the U.N. "My impression is that after 12,000 pages given to us (in Iraq's December final declaration) and after 400 names and a number of other signs are taken together, I assessed that we do not have the same determination for cooperation on substance as we had on process," he said. "Our experts have not found any significant material that sheds light on the questions of the past -- those that were asked in early 1999," Blix said. "This is our main concern: That an opportunity was missed, in my view, and I think (Iraq) should take it now." On the eve of a Security Council meeting at which U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will present information and intelligence on Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction programs, efforts to hide them, and links to terrorism, Blix talked with journalists about the efforts of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) efforts in Iraq. Blix made an interim 60-day report to the council on January 27 and is scheduled to report again on February 14. He and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is inspecting Iraq's nuclear program, will meet with Iraqi officials in Baghdad February 8 and 9. Blix said that the thrust of his January 27 report was that "we do not feel there is sufficient Iraqi cooperation on substance. There is cooperation -- help -- on process, but not on substance. And not having, not knowing if and when that will come, I did not think that it was possible for me to ask for a few months" to continue the inspections. "If I had asked for a few months it would have been predicated on the idea that there will be cooperation so that two months will help. So long as I did not see that cooperation in substance, I did not feel it was justified," he said. Blix said it would not be enough for Iraq to give him a commitment to present material by the first of June, for example. "They have to be much more active and present very promptly whatever they can present promptly," he said. If Iraq wants to convince the international community that it no longer has weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi officials could use the newly formed commission of inquiry to find the documents and individuals who can fill in the blanks, Blix said. When he and ElBaradei return to Iraq, Blix said, he will be "pleading" for the Iraqis to cooperate on substance. In accepting Baghdad's invitation to return for more talks, Blix said he made "absolutely clear that the principal item is how can Iraq assure us and the Security Council that it will actively seek and present any items or programs which are proscribed or else if they are not there to seek and present credible evidence for their absence." "Minor points" on his agenda are getting U-2 surveillance flights, private interviews with scientists, and getting Iraq to pass the required legislation on weapons of mass destruction. "They are tangible and easy to see, but they are the minor points," he said. "At this stage of the political development we think it is extremely important that Iraq move forward on the substance and not ... simply say these were issues that UNSCOM dreamt up and which were so-called issues of marginal importance. (Iraqi officials) have to take them seriously," Blix said. The chief inspector said that even if Iraq's latest invitation was a diplomatic game of cat and mouse he didn't see any great harm in accepting. "This is a chance and I will report next week (to the council) on my impressions from that exercise," he said. Blix said he is aware of the statement by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, who said, "the diplomatic window is closing." "We all know the situation is very serious. I don't think the date has been set for armed action, but I think we are moving closer and closer to it. It seems to me the Iraqi leadership must be well aware of that," Blix said. UNMOVIC has many questions in the biological and chemical weapons and ballistic missile areas, the chief inspector said. Blix said that so far the inspectors have not seen any signs, such as tracks in the sand, of weapons being moved by Iraq to elude inspections. He said inspectors have not found evidence of a mobile biological weapons laboratory. U.N. inspectors have taken soil samples to see if banned materials had been at certain sites, but the analysis are not all completed yet, he said. Blix added that if the council felt it wanted the inspections to go on he "would welcome it." "We had eight years of inspections, then four years of no inspectors and now we had two months of inspections," Blix said. "It is rather a short time to call it a day." To continue the inspections for several months or a year would not be disarmament, but "would amount to containment ... keeping Saddam in his box," he said. But the decision is up to the Security Council, he stressed. He added that it is also up to the Security Council, not UNMOVIC, to determine if Iraq is in material breech of any U.N. resolution. Blix also said that he is well aware of the shortcomings of the inspections and has no illusions about the whole process. Even with the strong group of inspectors he has assembled and the most technologically advanced equipment, there could still be underground facilities or operations that UNMOVIC does not find, he said. In addition, he said that the inspection process will not guarantee that Iraq will not produce anthrax in the future. Security is also a problem. "We were aware that there would be bugs everywhere; they have lots of minders for each inspector," Blix said. "In some cases they have five minders per inspector on an inspection. The hotel rooms surely are bugged as well. Telephones bugged. Surveillance. Yes," he said. But when it comes to confidential issues of where the next inspection will be and when, UNMOVIC has "very, very rigid" procedures that include a small group of people and a short time-frame," Blix said. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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