Posted on 09/25/2002 3:02:37 AM PDT by Gemflint
Iraq promises U.N. arms experts unfettered access
United Nations weapons inspectors will have unrestricted access to any site they want to inspect in Iraq, an adviser to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said yesterday.
The presidential adviser was speaking at a news conference called in response to a dossier issued by Britain, which is seeking to show why it backs possible military action against Iraq.
"The UN weapons inspectors would have unfettered access and (can go) wherever they want to go," Amir Al Saadi told the news conference, adding that he expected them to be in Iraq in mid-October.
Britain's dossier, issued yesterday said Iraq could launch a chemical or biological warhead at 45 minutes' notice, but Baghdad dismissed the charges made by Prime Minister Tony Blair as lies.
"His allegations are long, his evidence is short," said Saadi, who used to be one of the top officials responsible for Iraq's past weapons programmes.
"His evidence is a hotchpotch of half-truths, lies, short sighted and naive allegations which will not hold after a brief investigation by competent and independent exp-erts in the related fields," he said.
He added that although Iraq had long-range missiles in the past, it no longer did and was not trying to develop them.
Iraq demanded Britain give the dossier to UN inspectors for verification. "We invite Mr Blair to pass on his dossier to Unmovic (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) for proper assessment and soon enough the truth will come out," Saadi said.
In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush praised Blair for telling the truth about Iraq, in what the White House called a frightening dossier of Saddam's "murderous ways."
"We shouldn't deceive ourselves about this man," Bush told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
"He has poisoned his people before, he has poisoned his neighbourhood. He is willing to use weapons of mass destruction. And the prime minister continued to make the case, and so will I."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he did not see any distance between the prime minister and the president on the issue.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Baghdad is ready to accept a mission of British weapons experts to verify London's charge.
"If there is a treasure of evidence on the alleged existence of these weapons, then we are ready to facilitate a visit by British experts so that they can tell the world where these weapons are," Sabri was quoted by Egypt's official Mena news agency as saying.
"Nuclear weapons and arms of mass destruction cannot be hidden in pockets," he added, speaking after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
They mean unfettered access to all sites Iraq deems should have unfettered access. They don't mean inspectors can go anywhere they please. We've been through this before, a couple weeks ago.
That's right, if he makes it to February, he gets another year due to the summer heat. What will our political will be by this time next year?
Hey Clinton, who's yer daddy? Huh? Who's yer daddy?
"His evidence is a hotchpotch of half-truths, lies, short sighted and naive allegations which will not hold after a brief investigation by competent and independent exp-erts in the related fields,"
That's because the dumpocraps stonewalling has givin them plenty of time to move it to a safe location across the boarder. Idiots.
He added that although Iraq had long-range missiles in the past, it no longer did and was not trying to develop them.
Oh those little things? Heck, we don't bother with them anymore. We have big, bigger, biggest and more expensive toys to play with.
In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush praised Blair for telling the truth about Iraq,
Yeh. Ya don't see much of that happening in politics, aye?
"Nuclear weapons and arms of mass destruction cannot be hidden in pockets,"
Um....yes they can. One vile is all it takes.
Iraq: Today, you can come in here.
UN: No, today we are going in there
Iraq: OK, Next week go there, Today come in here.
UN: No. Today, we are going in there.
Iraq: No, No. There Next Week. Here today.
UN: (on Satellite Phone) Gen. Franks? We have been told target XYZ is not open to inspection today. Could you take it out please.
Iraq: What is this?
UN: You have 15 minutes to evacuate 'there'.
Lapse of Time 15 minutes.
Sound of Large Explosion.
Don't send just one team of 30-50 inspectors.
Send 50 teams of 25 inspectors. that way the IRAQ secret police won't be able to monitor all the monitors and will have a difficult time hiding all their WMD's.
If we do inspections, the order of business ought to be something along the line of "In two hours, facility X will be inspected. Until the inspection is complete, any vehicles leaving the premises will be destroyed. If the inspection team is not granted unfettered access and full cooperation, the facility will be destroyed."
My nomination for quote of the day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.