U.S. unsatisfied with Iraqi deal on inspections
Posted on 10/02/2002 3:33:23 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
U.S. unsatisfied with Iraqi deal on inspections
U.N. teams must have access to Saddam Hussein's palaces, Powell says
10/02/2002
VIENNA, Austria - Iraq agreed Tuesday to a plan for the return of U.N. weapons inspectors for the first time in nearly four years, but the deal ignores U.S. demands for access to Saddam Hussein's palaces and other contested sites.
Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said an advance team of inspectors could be in Iraq in two weeks if it gets the go-ahead from the U.N. Security Council.
Hours later, however, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the search for hidden arsenals in Iraq should be held up until the U.N. Security Council adopts tougher rules for the inspections.
 Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix (left) briefs the media along with Gen. Amir al-Sadi, the head of the Iraqi delegation, after the second round of their talks in Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday. The United Nations and Iraq agreed on details for new inspections. (AP) |
Sending inspectors back to Iraq now after such a lengthy layoff would risk further deception by Mr. Hussein, Mr. Powell said in Washington.
"We will not be satisfied with Iraqi half-truths or Iraqi compromises, or Iraqi efforts to get us back into the same swamp that they took the United Nations into," Mr. Powell said.
"Pressure works, and we are going to keep it up," he said.
Referring to the Vienna negotiations, he said: "Dr. Blix is an agent of the Security Council and will carry out what the Security Council will do."
"Our position," Mr. Powell said, "is that he should get new instructions in the form of a resolution."
Dr. Blix said the agreement with Iraqi officials on logistics, hammered out in two days of talks, called for "immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access" to most sites.
But, he said, eight presidential sites - 12 square miles of territory - would remain off-limits to surprise inspections unless the U.N. Security Council bends to U.S. demands that all sites be subject to unannounced visits. Besides the palaces, also declared off-limits were several government ministries, including defense and interior, as well as the headquarters of Mr. Hussein's elite Republican Guard.
Under a 1998 deal worked out between U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Baghdad, the inspectors are not allowed to visit the presidential sites unannounced and must be accompanied by a team of international diplomats when they do visit.
Playing down palaces
The chief Iraqi negotiator, Gen. Amir al-Sadi, sought to deflect attention from the presidential sites.
"Quite honestly, I don't understand why it is so critical," Gen. al-Sadi said, adding that on the whole, Baghdad was "happy with this agreement." He and Dr. Blix agreed that the issue of presidential sites had not been on the Vienna agenda.
Nearly four years ago, inspectors hunting for evidence of weapons of mass destruction withdrew from Iraq on the eve of U.S.-British airstrikes amid allegations that Baghdad was not cooperating with the teams.
Sanctions imposed by the Security Council on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that any weapons of mass destruction Iraq possesses, as well as systems capable of delivering them, have been dismantled.
By the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, assessments from the International Atomic Energy Agency indicated that Mr. Hussein was six months away from building an atomic bomb.
Inspectors discovered the oil-rich nation had imported thousands of pounds of uranium, some of which was already refined for weapons use, and had considered two types of delivery systems for those weapons.
Over the next six years, weapons inspectors seized the uranium, destroyed facilities and chemicals, dismantled more than 40 missiles and confiscated thousands of documents.
U.S. urges resolution
On Tuesday, the United States moved negotiations about a new draft resolution on Iraq to the United Nations. Ambassadors from the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China - the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - discussed the resolution's so-called "or else" clause, which warns Mr. Hussein to cooperate or face military action from U.N. members.
The draft would also give member states the right to give military support to inspections.
France and Russia vehemently oppose the U.S. position. Paris is floating its own proposal for a two-phased approach that would only authorize force if Iraq failed to cooperate with inspectors.
A senior U.S. official in Washington told The Associated Press that all five veto-holding members agreed that a new system of inspections must be worked out to include Mr. Hussein's presidential sites.
The draft resolution from the United States, with support from Britain, would give Iraq seven days after adoption to declare whether it would comply, and then 23 days to list all sites where weapons are stored, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Also, the proposed resolution contains a provision giving inspectors the authority to declare "no-fly" and "no-drive" zones that would keep out Iraqi officials while inspections proceed.
The State Department said any inspections should be deferred until a U.N. resolution is approved. However, spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration had no objection to inspectors making arrangements in advance.
"We continue to work with other members of the council to come up with a resolution that makes clear the need for thorough and unfettered inspections and the need for consequences if Iraq refuses to cooperate," Mr. Boucher said. "They really don't understand quite yet that they have to disarm, they have to cooperate."
Dr. Blix, who was to brief the Security Council on Thursday, said the talks with Iraqi officials focused on practical aspects of the renewed inspections, such as where the inspectors would fly and their security on the ground.
Iraqis share reports
The Iraqis handed over four compact discs that contained a backlog of monitoring reports for suspect sites and items, spanning June 1998 to July 2002, Dr. Blix said. Although that information was not yet analyzed, it will provide important clues about Iraqi weapons activity, he said.
"It was promised to us in New York, and I'm glad it came here," Dr. Blix said.
He said the Iraqis were serious about allowing the return of his team, despite the continuing standoff on the presidential sites. "There is a willingness to accept inspections that has not existed before."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he welcomed the work of Hans Blix and his colleagues and looked forward to his report to the Security Council.
"However," he said, "this work is not an alternative to the high priority we place on a new and tougher resolution in the Security Council."
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