05 March 2003
Blix: Iraqi Disarmament Track Record Not Good
(Weapons inspectors will not ask Security Council for more time) (1190) By Judy Aita Washington File U.N. Correspondent United Nations -- The chief U.N. weapons inspector said March 5 that Iraq has increased cooperation in the past weeks but he would not ask the Security Council for more time because Baghdad's "track record has not been good." Hans Blix, executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), said that when he meets with the Security Council March 7 he will be presenting a list of 29 clusters of unresolved Iraq disarmament issues and report that "Iraq has been very active ... even proactive in the last month." Blix presented a written report to the council February 28 saying that over the past three months Iraq could have made greater efforts to find remaining banned weapons of mass destruction or provide credible evidence showing such weapons had been destroyed, and has still not accounted for its chemical and biological weapons. As a result, disarmament has been "very limited so far." He will discuss that quarterly report, required under resolution 1284, passed in 1999, and update developments over the past week at a ministerial level council meeting March 7. During an hour-long press conference at U.N. headquarters March 5, Blix discussed his approach to the disarmament process; talked about his relations with the United States, France, Russia and United Kingdom, permanent members of the council with veto power; and the status of Iraq's disarmament in the face of increased threats of military action. The UNMOVIC chief said he would not ask the council to give him four more months to complete his task. "That sort of suggests that I have confidence that they will cooperate sufficiently to succeed in answering the questions in that time," he said. "I would not dare to give any check on that they would do so, because the track record has not been good." "They have been very active I would say, even pro-active in the last month or so. But in the past the track record was not so good and therefore I would not want to suggest that I am confident that this will happen. I would not want to base a request that would intimate that assumption," Blix said. Whether inspections continue for a few more months or military action is taken is up to the Security Council members to decide, not the weapons inspectors, he said. "Whatever the council wants us to do we will respond to. I am not playing into ... anybody else's hands. I have said, however, that if we were to be given more months, I would welcome it." There was "a lot more" Iraqi cooperation to report this time than previously, Blix said. "There is certainly a great deal of activity and they are clearly motivated -- just motivated -- by the threat around them. I never wavered on that point. The threat around them has brought them to accept inspections and it is also very effective in order to bring them to more cooperation," he said. "That is easily realized and it is good that has happened. It is a pity that it is needed, but it is good," Blix said. The destruction of the Al Samoud 2 missiles is "the most spectacular and the most important and tangible" example of Iraqi cooperation in the past week, Blix said. Iraq has also provided some documents that had not been found before and a detailed list of people who participated in the 1991 unilateral destruction of biological weapons. There has been a greater measure of cooperation on private interviews with scientists with seven interviews having been concluded. Iraq has begun digging up the site of R-400 bombs thought to contain biological weapons. "They are providing (evidence) that there were more bombs than were established before, but whether they can get to the end of the story is another matter," he said. Throughout his press conference, Blix walked the same fine line he has in his numerous reports to the Security Council since December 2002, refusing to give a definitive evaluation of Iraq's disarmament efforts, instead providing what he called "balanced" reporting of both cooperation and non-cooperation. He repeatedly emphasized that his responsibility was administrative, not political. The political decisions on Iraq are for the Security Council to make, he emphasized. "My duty is not to give a report that would be designed to move politically one direction or another," he said. "I can see that some people are irritated at that. But I don't think that is what the Security Council has asked me to do. ... They have never asked for anything from me but accurate reporting and to push the inspection process." "The responsibility of a war is not mine. It is the Security Council -- the Iraqis and the Security Council and its members," Blix said. Pressed to answer the question: Is Iraq, as required in 1441, providing full, immediate, unconditional cooperation, Blix said: "There are lots of questions in this world, Mr. reporter, to which you should not answer just yes or no." Blix said that "too much is made" in the press about his being pressured by the United States, France, or representatives of other council members on how to slant his reports. He said he did not feel any pressure, and discussions with senior officials have been "very civilized." An "important development" for UNMOVIC is the completion of a so-called "working paper" which will be presented to the council March 7 on remaining disarmament tasks, Blix also said. The paper contains "29 clusters of issues and each cluster ends with a number of questions as to what Iraq could do in order to solve the issue." That report and a program of work or timeline on completing those remaining issues must be presented to the council by the end of March according to resolution 1284, he noted. Blix also said that he does not favor "inspections forever." "I don't think anyone thinks it's reasonable to go as we did from 1991 to 1998" conducting inspections, he said. "There has to be an awareness that it concludes somewhere. That is for the members of the council to set that time." It is difficult to say how fast the inspections can be concluded satisfactorily, Blix said. "The missiles we are now destroying are a special case because they were declared. They were not clandestine. That is a lot easier than coming to a convincing conclusion that there could not be any more anthrax anywhere." "There is no certainty that you will come to a complete accounting and in the last resort it will be a political judgment of the council to ... assess whether they feel Iraq has supplied enough evidence and the conduct and attitude of the Iraqi side is sufficiently convincing," Blix said. Blix said that plans have been discussed for the emergency evacuation of both U.N. weapons inspectors and humanitarian workers now in Iraq should there be military action. (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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