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JANUARY 24, 2003 : (WOLFOWITZ SAYS IRAQ HAS A HISTORY OF PRESSURING & BLACKMAILING UN INSPECTORS) The significance of former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter's arrest, allegedly in a police sex-sting operation a year and a half ago, was underscored today when Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told of Baghdad's use of personal information to intimidate the inspectors. "In the past, Iraq did not hesitate to use pressure tactics to obtain information about the inspectors," Wolfowitz said today in a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Noting that often the pressure was "quite crude," Wolfowitz said that during the previous inspection period in the 1990s, "one inspector was reportedly filmed in a compromising situation and blackmailed." Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Dave Lapan told WND today he would seek further elaboration from Wolfowitz concerning his remarks about the inspectors. The deputy defense chief said in his speech this afternoon that sometimes Iraq's pressure on the inspectors was subtler. Wolfowitz said, "Richard Spertzel, a former UNSCOM specialist in biological warfare, recalled the case of an Iraqi official coyly asking a new member of his team: 'How far is it from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis?' Having moved from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis just days prior to her arrival in Iraq, she was unnerved by the comment, according to Spertzel." More recently, according to Wolfowitz, "Iraq has again begun referring to the inspectors as spies, clearly hoping to make them uncomfortable at best, and afraid at worst, and intimidate Iraqis from interacting with the inspectors." Wolfowitz claimed today that Iraq has not destroyed its chemical and biological arsenal and is working hard to produce nuclear weapons. Iraq has failed to cooperate fully with weapons inspectors, he said, treating "disarmament like a game of hide and seek – or, as Secretary of State [Colin] Powell has called it, 'rope-a-dope in the desert.'" - "Baghdad pressuring Ritter? Wolfowitz says Baghdad has history of blackmailing weapons inspectors ," By Art Moore, WorldNetDaily.com, Friday, January 24, 2003

JANUARY 30, 2003 : (IRAQ : RIGHT UNDER THE NOSES OF THE UN INSPECTORS IN IRAQ, IRAQI MILITARY STILL GOES ABOUT EFFORT TO HIDE EVIDENCE OF WMD : OFFICER FROM THE REPUBLICAN GUARD HQ ISSUES INSTRUCTIONS TO AN OFFICER IN THE FIELD: THE US SECRETLY TAPES THE CONVERSATION AND POWELL WOULD PLAY PART OF IT BEFORE THE UN IN FEBRUARY 2003)

...
HQ : "They are inspecting the ammunition you have, yes?"
FIELD OFFICER : "Yes. For the possibility there are forbidden ammo."
HQ : "For the possibility there is, by chance, forbidden ammo?"
FIELD OFFICER : "Yes.
HQ : "And we sent you a message yesterday to clean out all the areas, the scrap areas, the abandoned areas. Make sure there is nothing there.”
...
HQ : "After you have carried out what is contained in this message, destroy the message because I don't want anyone to see this message."
FIELD OFFICER : "Okay."

-- Source: "Remarks to the United Nations Security Council," by Secretary Colin L. Powell, New York City February 5, 2003

MARCH 2003 first week : (CUBA : CASTRO TELLS IRAQ TO DESTROY ITS WMD & COMMENTS ON IRAN ) President Fidel Castro has urged Baghdad to destroy "the last cubic centimetre of chemical or biological weapons" to remove any pretext Washington might have to attack it. At the close of the new Cuban parliamentary legislature, in which Castro's re-election as head of the government and the state came as no surprise, the Cuban leader praised Iraq's decision to destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles. "The American Government will no longer have the least legal or moral pretext to attack Iraq," Castro said. He slammed Washington for closing its eyes to atomic weapons held by Israel having provided the means for their transportation. "Only the complete truth ... would give the Iraqi people enough moral strength and international support to defend their homeland and integrity right up to the last drop of blood," he said. Castro acknowledged that Iraq had "committed two grave and unjustifiable actions" in invading Iran and occupying Kuwait, but had also had to endure "very hard action" itself. Iraq "is not in a position, militarily speaking, to constitute the least risk to US security or of their allies in the region", Castro said.- "Castro tells Iraq: destroy weapons," Agence France-Presse , March 7, 2003