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EXCERPT "They are working very hard, under very, very dangerous circumstances," (U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon) told a news conference in The Hague where he was attending centenary celebrations for the Peace Palace. "Let them conclude their work for four days, and then we will have to analyse scientifically with experts and then I think we will have to report to the Security Council for any actions."

(Reuters) - United Nations inspectors should be given time to determine whether forces have used chemical weapons in Syria's civil war, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in The Hague on Wednesday.

Susan Lindauer, the former Democratic congressional aide charged with spying for Iraq, was arrested several months after meeting with an FBI agent who posed as a Libyan intelligence agent looking to recruit support for Iraqi groups attacking U.S. forces in the aftermath of the war. According to the indictment charging Lindauer with conspiracy to spy for Iraq, that meeting took place on June 23, 2003, in Baltimore, Maryland. The indictment charges that Lindauer and the agent "discussed the need for plans and foreign resources to support [resistance] groups operating within Iraq." The indictment says Lindauer met with the agent again...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In his final word, the CIA's top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has "gone as far as feasible" and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion. "After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted," wrote Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, in an addendum to the final report he issued last fall. "As matters now stand, the WMD investigation has gone as far...

Saddam's $2m offer to WMD inspector By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 12/03/2005) Saddam Hussein's regime offered a $2 million (£1.4 million) bribe to the United Nations' chief weapons inspector to doctor his reports on the search for weapons of mass destruction

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US and British nuclear inspectors were this week to wrap up their first visit to Libya supervising the dismantling of the country's weapons of mass destruction programs, the State Department said. "We still have some people from the United States and the United Kingdom on the ground in Libya," said spokesman Richard Boucher. "They'll end ... this initial visit ... later this week, and then we will continue to work with Libya to help it dismantle its program the way it's decided to do so." The UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, also has...

Former chief United Nations weapons inspector Richard Butler was today named Tasmania's new governor. Mr Butler, 61, will be sworn in on October 3, replacing current governor Sir Guy Green, who is retiring after eight years in the vice-regal post. Premier Jim Bacon announced Mr Butler's appointment today, saying he was regarded as one of the world's most respected commentators on international affairs. Mr Butler has been an outspoken critic of the Howard government's decision to join the United States war on Iraq, and last month accused Prime Minister John Howard of misleading parliament over the issue. However Mr Butler...

1 April-Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today he hoped United Nations weapons inspectors would eventually return to Iraq, noting that their work had merely been suspended. Speaking to reporters upon arriving at UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General said that if any weapons of mass destruction were to be found, the inspectors should go back to test them. "I hope the time will come when they will be able to do that," he added. Asked about what consequences it might have for the legitimacy of military action if such weapons are not found, the Secretary-General noted that, although the issue...

Weapon Inspectors German Guilt in the War UN weapon inspectors talk for the first time about Schröder's course of peace: He was "crazy". By Jochen Bittner and Reiner Luyken Larnaka The Mediterranean waves slapped weakly on the narrow sandy beach in front of the Flamingo Beach hotel. Bored policemen stand in front of the entrance of the simple tourist hotel in Larnaka, Cyprus, letting submachine guns dangle from their hips. The team of the UN weapon inspectors is staying here, one and a half hours by flight west of Baghdad, after their hasty departure from Iraq. In the lobby, CNN...

Iraq Destroys Prohibited Scud Missile Rip Rowan Thu 20 Mar 2003 Today in Kuwait, Iraq destroyed one of its prohibited Scud missiles during the first day of a US-led disarmament program. The Scud, which was destroyed with the help of US weapons experts, was the first Scud destroyed in Iraq since the mid-1990's. "This act represents real disarmament on the part of Iraq," said UN weapons inspector Hans Blix. "We support Iraq's decision to disarm itself of these dangerous prohibited weapons." "Already in the first day of a US-led disarmament effort, we have seen more progress on the issue of...

Developing....

By Steve Wampler My Voice Published Sunday, March 2, 2003 For months, anti-war activists, Hollywood elitists and liberal congressional Democrats have incessantly attacked President Bush's plan to force Saddam Hussein to comply with a U.N. disarmament resolution. Some groups, such as Not In Our Name, have proclaimed that large numbers of Iraqi civilians and children would be killed by any war to oust the longtime dictator. In effect, the anti-war groups purport to represent the Iraqi people. Interviews in the British press with Iraqi exiles make clear, however, that the people of Iraq largely want an end to Saddam's governance...

The "weapons inspectors" from France and Germany and elsewhere trooped up to the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Grounds this morning to "inspect" the chemical and biological weapons that were produced there and are being destroyed there. Some background: Over the past several years, there has been a substantial effort on the part of the U.S. Army to incinerate chemical weapons such as mustard gas. Also, due to 9-1-1, this is now a closed post. Unless one has a DoD ID badge, one does not get in the front gate. I arrived on site about 9:30 AM. I went and...

Weapons inspectors have failed us By Khidhir Hamza Wednesday, Feb 05, 2003,Page 8 `Control of access to Iraqi experts has always been essential to uncovering the truth about weapons and weapon programs. Without independent access, the Iraqi government retains total control of the information supplied to inspectors.' Today US Secretary of State Colin Powell will present America's case against Iraq to the UN Security Council. His appearance will come a week after Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei -- the chiefs of the UN inspectors -- demonstrated their inability to fulfill their mandate. Faced with reports of their failure to cooperate...

efreedomnews         WAR ON TERRORISM - AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE  Blix, Blair Call Iraq's BluffJonathan Rhodes13 January 2003Once again, the mass media outlets spin the truth into headlines that blame America first. Here's what they say about remarks made today by Hans Blix, Chief UN Weapons Inspector and Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency:Headlines today: UN arms experts plead for more time in Iraq (AP)UN Inspectors Want More Time (AP) With the massive US military buildup in the region, the clear inference of these headlines is a plea for the aggressor US to stand down and...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JAN 05, 2003 19:25:38 ET XXXXX WHITE HOUSE ANGER AT BOOK BY BUSH 'AXIS OF EVIL' SPEECHWRITER; CONCERN MEDIA TOUR WILL MUDDLE MESSAGE; FRUM DESCRIBES PRESIDENT AS 'TART' **World Exclusive** Former Bush speechwriter David Frum -- credited with the phrase 'Axis of Evil' -- has infuriated top officials at the White House with his controversial new book, the first insider account of the W. Bush Administration, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Frum helped make international headlines when President Bush's 2002 State of the Union address linked international terrorists to Iran, Iraq and North Korea. But...

Iraq says inspectors are spies U.N. team says it's getting results, balancing demands 12/05/2002 Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq protested sharply Wednesday over U.N. weapons inspectors' surprise intrusion into one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, accusing the arms experts of being spies who staged the search as a provocation that could lead to war. The harshest criticism came from Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who charged - in language reminiscent of clashes with inspectors in the 1990s - that the new teams of U.N. monitors were gathering intelligence for Washington and Israel. "Their work is to spy to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States could fight Iraq in the summer, especially in the cool of the night, if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) waits until the winter passes and then obstructs U.N. weapons inspections, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday. Powell told CBS television in an interview that the winter was the ideal time for a military operation but the United States should not be bound by any calendar. "Many battles have been fought in the heat of summer, and the United States armed forces are very effective at night, when it is...

An advance team of United Nations weapons inspectors has arrived in Baghdad to begin implementing a tough new UN mandate aimed at disarming Iraq. Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohammed el-Baradei, his counterpart from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), are to hold a series of meetings with Iraqi Government officials. Their 25-strong team will be trying to assess what has happened in the four years since UN inspectors left Iraq and will pave the way for fresh inspections due to start later this month. "We are on our way to a new chapter of inspections in Iraq,"...

(IsraelNN.com)- A new book being published next month reveals that Israel provided key intelligence to UN weapons inspectors starting in 1994. "The United Nations and Iraq" by Yale University scholars Jean E. Krasno and James S. Sutterlin, documents that Israel provided important intelligence to the inspectors on Iraq's Special Republican Guards, the Saddam's henchmen tasked with hiding Iraq's secret weapons. Rolf Ekeus, Lead Inspector, risked diplomatic fallout by authorizing contact with the Israelis. The book also mentions that the Israelis interpreted U.S. satellite reconnaissance photos better than the Americans themselves.