George F. Will: Arms inspections after World War I (H. Blix should read)

Sacramento Bee | December 15, 2002 | George Will

[Tripleplay]

WASHINGTON -- Disarmament by weapons inspectors was not going well.

The defeated nation had agreed to disarmament verified by the victors, even though it had not been occupied or its capital captured. Especially destructive weapons were proscribed. But the nation had experience evading compulsory disarmament. It mounted guileful resistance to inspectors, and citizens tempted to be helpful were intimidated. Plant inspections were denounced as commercial espionage, and impeded. The resisting government insisted that potential "dual use" technologies, and materials that could be precursor elements for proscribed weapons, were merely for civilian uses. (An explosion that killed 11 in a chemical factory revealed the continuing production of chemical weapons.) There were endless controversies about what war materials had existed at the time of the armistice. (Six hundred 105-millimeter gun barrels were found behind a factory's secret walls.) The government's liaison officers gave advance warnings to people at sites to be inspected. Arms were secretly shuffled from one depot to another.

[sonofatpatcher2]

You can take a person to history, but you can't make them read...

[American in Israel]

The faces change, but it seems with this very good find in an article the lies remain the same.

[SkyPilot]

Nice post.

[AngrySpud]

" ... do you think the French would look on with their hands in their pockets?"

The French would look on with their hands in somebody else's pockets.