Posted on 12/10/2002 7:59:28 AM PST by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
In a press statement released late Sunday night, the Council Presidency – currently held by Colombia – said the review will be conducted in close coordination and consultation with the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and will assist them “in producing a working version of the declaration as soon as possible.”
Responding this morning to questions about the Council’s decision, the Secretary-General told reporters as he entered the UN complex that he had “no problem” with it. “I think the Council is the master of its own deliberations,” he said. “If the Council decided to do that, it is their right and I will not quibble with that.”
The Secretary-General also counselled patience with the process, saying the UN weapons inspectors should be allowed time to go through the text before any comments are made about it. “The documents have just arrived, and as you all know, the inspectors will have to review them, analyze them, and report to the Council,” Mr. Annan said, noting that the process “is going to take a while.”
The Iraqi declaration, which had been handed over to the UN on Saturday evening in Baghdad, arrived on Sunday in New York at 8:40 p.m., a spokesman for the world body reported. “Both experts from UNMOVIC and IAEA have started going through the material,” Fred Eckhard told the press.
Interviewed by UN Radio, UNMOVIC spokesman Ewen Buchanan said the initial examination would focus on assessing how to handle the 12,000-page document, including “what is the amount of [text in] Arabic, what is the amount of electronic material, paper material, and how long we reckon it will take us to deal with it.”
Meanwhile, Hiro Ueki, a spokesman for the inspection teams, said in Baghdad that an UNMOVIC team returned to the Falluja II site of the Al-Tariq Company, which includes a factory area. “Two separate chemical plants are in the factory area and their major activity is the production of phenol and chlorine,” he said, noting that the chlorine plant is currently inoperative.
“The site contains a number of tagged dual-use items of equipment, which were all accounted for,” the spokesman noted. “The objectives of the visit were successfully achieved.”
The IAEA inspected Tuwaitha, where five teams used “a wide range of inspection techniques, ranging from visual inspections to sampling for detection of any potential radiological activity using Gamma surveys, water sampling and swipe sampling techniques” and “started to take a physical inventory of nuclear materials” from the site, Mr. Ueki said.
At Ash Shakyli, “all buildings were inspected and sampled for the detection of radiological materials,” he added, while the IAEA team at Al Qa Qaa began “inventorying known explosive materials from the past nuclear programme” that had previously been under the Agency’s control.
I know it is all politics of war. But who died and put the U.N. in charge of the world?
Michael
I know that when we go in (and now the UK is backing down) (as they claim to have done a sudden brain fart and realized that since they signed up for globalization that their soldiers can be tried in the U.N.'s International Criminal Court.) IF they assist us and other countries.
It will rage (with Israel and the mid east) turmoils) the continuation and finale' of WWIII. So therefore the U.S. should show all reasonable diplomacy and appeasement to the U.N. but this is now TEN freaking yesrs, enough is enough---with the U.N. acting all new agey stalling like they rule the world!
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh it took 12 freaking thousand pages for Iraq to say "WE ARE GOOD PEOPLE WE DO NOT HAVE ANY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION,WE ARE ALL SAINTS THAT RUN CHARITY HOSPITALS"
I am sorry, I see the U.N. as a foe as they are enabling Iraq to stall and hide everything. This is such utter hidious bull crap.
Please tell me I didn't just hear this!!! Like Iraq is going to admit muchless put into writing all of it's back door evil deeds. GIVE ME A BREAK!
Alright I quit laughing... let's say the 12,000 pages details... how they are gonna nuke the world kill everyone and make OBL king of the world... THEN WHAT????
Will the U.N. ALLOW anyone to stop them?
This crap is beyond any politics of our country showing reasoning to sending our troops, this crap is beyond appeaseing the U.N.
To prevent proliferation, UN experts to review Iraqi Declaration before sharing it
B U M P!
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Video of Secretary-General's press encounter