Blix: U.N. Won't Reveal Iraq Arms Secrets

AP | 12/07/02

[kattracks]

UNITED NATIONS Dec. 7 — On the eve of Iraq's declaration of its weapons programs, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said Friday that U.N. experts will keep secret all sensitive material on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in the massive report even from the United States and other Security Council members.

Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri said Friday his government will hand over the declaration to inspectors in Baghdad at 8 p.m. local time on Saturday. He reiterated Iraq's claim that the country is now free of weapons of mass destruction, but said the declaration would contain "new elements."

The U.N. Security Council empowered the two main U.N. inspection bodies to take charge of the Iraqi declaration and eliminate material that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction before it is made public.

Blix told a news conference that he understood the Iraqi report would be in Arabic and English and contain more than 10,000 pages, which would require translation before an initial assessment could be made on which material is sensitive.

He said he would brief the council early next week on the contents of the report. The sheer length of the report would mean that it will take time to release the details.

Colombia's U.N. Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso, the current council president, announced that the Security Council had asked the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission known as UNMOVIC, which Blix heads, and the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which is responsible for nuclear inspections, to immediately review the document.

"All the governments are aware that they should not have access to anything that everyone else does not have access to," Blix said after discussing the handling of the declaration with the 15 council members at a closed-door meeting.

Council diplomats said Russia and other council members were concerned that the declaration might contain "recipes" for chemical and biological weapons, and other information that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Al-Douri said the declaration contains "a huge amount of information," some of which would not be made public.

Both the Iraqi envoy and the chief inspector addressed charges by the United States that Saddam Hussein's government is hiding weapons of mass destruction.

"We said again and again that we have no more destruction weapons at all, everything has been destroyed and we have no intention to do that again," the Iraqi envoy said. "If the Americans have this evidence, they have to tell the inspectors in Iraq to go find this evidence."

Blix denied that he was under any pressure from the United States, but stressed that Resolution 1441 adopted Nov. 8 to toughen U.N. inspections asks all 191 U.N. member states to provide information to help inspectors search for banned weapons.

"We want to have recommendations from member governments what we should do," Blix said.

The chief inspector was asked about reports that the United States was pressing for the inspectors to question Iraqi scientists outside the country.

"We are not going to abduct anybody, and we're not serving as a defection agency," Blix said.

Under Resolution 1441, Iraq has until Sunday to submit a full and complete disclosure of its chemical, biological and nuclear programs.

Blix updated the council Friday on the work of his inspection teams so far in Iraq. Inspectors returned to Iraq last month after nearly four years. "They have done a good professional job," he said.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Joe Boucher]

To hell with the U.N., let's roll.

[wretchard]

Hans Blix is in flagrant violation of Resolution 1441, whose text may be viewed here: http://www.un.int/usa/sres-iraq.htm. The relevant passage states:

"3.       Decides that, in order to begin to comply with its disarmament obligations, in addition to submitting the required biannual declarations, the Government of Iraq shall provide to UNMOVIC, the IAEA, and the Council, not later than 30 days from the date of this resolution, a currently accurate, full, and complete declaration of all aspects of its programmes to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and other delivery systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles and dispersal systems designed for use on aircraft, including any holdings and precise locations of such weapons, components, sub-components, stocks of agents, and related material and equipment, the locations and work of its research, development and production facilities, as well as all other chemical, biological, and nuclear programmes, including any which it claims are for purposes not related to weapon production or material;"

Hans Blix has no authority to keep the declaration from the Council.

[Quilla]

"We are not going to abduct anybody, and we're not serving as a defection agency," Blix said.

In other words - "We are not going to ask any questions of someone who would be privy to information on Saddam's weapons capacities."

[MeekOneGOP]

---

Here's the A/P article I found on the DMN. A little different take, just fyi:

Secrets to be excised from Iraq report

12/07/2002

Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS - Iraq on Saturday will hand over more than 10,000 pages detailing its chemical, biological and nuclear programs, including sensitive material that will not be shared with the United States or other governments, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said.

The United States and other U.N. Security Council members decided Friday that the material - which could include "recipes" for chemical and biological weapons - should be kept secret even from the council itself lest it fall into the wrong hands.

As a result, inspectors plan to weed out the sensitive details as well as translate the Arabic sections before giving the declaration to the council, U.N. officials said. The declaration is expected to be delivered to inspectors in Baghdad on Saturday at 8 p.m. (11 a.m. Dallas time) and then couriered to U.N. headquarters in New York on Sunday, the deadline for its arrival.

Also Online

	Full Text: U.S. draft resolution on Iraq
	Special report: Iraq

The declaration is a crucial requirement that Iraq must meet, and Security Council members and weapons experts will be combing it to assess whether Baghdad is telling the truth. Omissions or false statements, coupled with any Iraqi failure to cooperate with weapons inspectors, could trigger war.

Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri said the report would reflect Iraq's long-standing contentions that it is free of weapons of mass destruction, although it will also contain some "new elements," which he did not disclose.

Bush administration officials are sure Iraq has such weapons, and on Thursday the White House said "solid evidence" would be turned over to U.N. inspectors.

On Friday, the White House said it wanted the U.N. weapons inspection team to aggressively court Iraqi scientists with promises of safety and asylum in exchange for evidence against Saddam Hussein's weapons programs.

A closer look

INSPECTION OPERATION

A glance at the United Nations' weapons inspection operation in Iraq:

THE INSPECTORS

More than two dozen inspectors from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and the New York-based U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission are in Iraq. The international agency's Iraq Action Team includes 15 experts from 11 countries. About 30 more inspectors are expected to arrive next week, and by month's end, a total of 80-100 should be in place, the agency says.

THE FILES

The international agency, which is leading the hunt for nuclear weapons, has not said how many pages of information are in its databases, but it has compiled hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from past inspections.

The U.N. monitoring board, overseeing the search for biological and chemical agents, says it has more than 1 million pages in its database.

THE IRAQIS

The Iraqi government's declaration of its weapons programs, which is to be handed over to U.N. officials by a Sunday deadline, must be checked against both databases. Chief inspector Hans Blix said he understood the Iraqi report would be in Arabic and English and contain more than 10,000 pages.

SOURCE: Associated Press

"We take the issue very seriously and attach great importance to it. We hope the international community would also attach the same importance to the issue," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters.

But Dr. Blix, the 74-year-old Swede who heads the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, was unmoved.

"We are not going to abduct anybody, and we're not serving as a defection agency," he said.

Under the latest Security Council resolution, Iraq must submit an "accurate, full, and complete declaration" of its chemical, biological and nuclear programs. Iraqi officials last month complained about the scope of this demand, saying it would even cover petrochemical industry production of plastic sandals.

Iraqi officials have called a news conference Saturday morning in Baghdad to discuss the report, which Mr. Al-Douri said would contain "a huge amount of information." Several diplomats said they were told the declaration weighs about 130 pounds.

The material, which may include computer disks, will cover the 1991-98 history of U.N. weapons and equipment destruction and "new elements" relating to dual-use sites and activities.

Dr. Blix had called on the Iraqis to examine their "stocks and stores" before declaring they had no prohibited weapons left. But Mr. Al-Douri was adamant Friday that Iraq no longer had any.

"We said again and again that we have no more destruction weapons at all. Everything has been destroyed, and we have no intention to do that again," the Iraqi envoy said. "If the Americans have this evidence, they have to tell the inspectors in Iraq to go find this evidence."

Meanwhile, U.S. and U.N. officials cautioned that the Iraqi declaration would take time to translate and analyze.

A U.S. official in Washington told The Associated Press that the declaration would be distributed first to the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China, the permanent Security Council members, and then to the 10 other members.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the process could take about a week.

The inspectors hope the Iraqis at least will help them answer some open questions by supplying convincing documentation on the fate of 550 artillery shells filled with poisonous mustard gas. Iraqi and U.N. accounts contain many such discrepancies from the 1990s.

---

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/120702dnintiraq.a658c.html

[DB]

Ya right...

The UN tries to roll us again.

We'll see what Bush does...

[American in Israel]

How do you write a 10,000 page report in a week? The report had to exist before the UN ever demanded it. This is a setup.

Besides, if the UN is not going to show what is in the report, what use is the report?

[Fresh Wind]

This is a setup.

That is an understatement!!

What use is the report?

None. What use is the UN??

[ex-Texan]

Blix is getting his marching orders from His Majesty, Kingof the U.N., Koffee Anus himself ..... Koffee Anus has ordered that the report be kept secret in violation of the Security Counsel's Order.

Koffee Anus takes his marching orders from the Muslim Brotherhood, and their terrorist buddies. The UN was always a bad idea and this proves it.

Hope GWB has a good plan, otherwise we will have to tell the UN to jump in the Atlantic Ocean. I can just see Colin Powell taking on that project ... NOT!

[wretchard]

You are right. The news stories claim that the Security Council, in a closed door meeting, asked Blix to redact the report. But redact it from the Council itself? That sounds like a partial repeal of 1441.

The article you quote suggests the US was behind the restriction of the report. Other sources say otherwise. Fox says: "Council diplomats said Russia and other council members were concerned that the declaration might contain "recipes" for chemical and biological weapons, and other information that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." Since the meeting was closed-door, we'll never know.

Something doesn't make sense here. The draft of Resolution 1441 was perhaps the most scrutinized text in UN Security Council history. Had there been any danger arising from leaked "recipes", 1441 would have restricted the report from the outset. The tone of 1441 is peremptory. Fully declare within 30 days. That deadline has effectively been set aside by the classification of the report. If any real "recipes" are in the Blix report, the Iraquis are in material breach; if the Iraquis are innocent, the report cannot describe "recipes" that don't exist. And it is not as if the US, which is supposed to be keeping itself in the dark over this report, can suddenly have a horror over learning technologies it has had for decades, yet be content to repose these secrets in a UN filing cabinet.

The US, the author of the resolution, is said to have decided to keep the report from itself. It's illogical. Yet I cannot argue with your citation.

About the only comparable situation I can think of is a poker game. The last card is being kept face down on purpose. What I want to know is: why?

[Texbob]

Tell that pro terrorist inspector to stay put, while we bomb Iraq out of exisistance, then he will get his just reward.

[another cricket]

Tell that pro terrorist inspector to stay put, while we bomb Iraq out of exisistance, then he will get his just reward.

He isn't in Iraq. Never has been.

Kind of strange, he sends underlings to Iraq but stays as far away from Iraq personally as possible.

Now what could possibly be the reason for that?

a.cricket

[nypokerface]

"On the eve of Iraq's declaration of its weapons programs, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said Friday that U.N. experts will keep secret all sensitive material on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in the massive report even from the United States and other Security Council members."

- What the hell are they there for? Let's just start the bombing. The U.N. is just playing around there in order to make them more important than they really are. I never did trust a guy named Hans.

[mhking]

Hans Blix:

[crystalk]

Let's bomb not only Iraq, but Kofi Annan and his Swedish wife, and also the stupid Socialist America-hater Blix, all back to the Stone Age.

The UN never DID have any usefulness, and Sweden has outlived its usefulness. They no longer have any birth surplus, and Minnesota is already populated.

[Wonder Warthog]

""We said again and again that we have no more destruction weapons at all. Everything has been destroyed, and we have no intention to do that again," the Iraqi envoy said."

Lessee now--the UN inspectors have ALREADY FOUND artillery shells charged with mustard gas that had NOT been destroyed, so obviously "the Iraqi envoy" was lying or ignorant (or both).

[TennesseeProfessor]

Keep in mind that anything shared with the security council will be shared with China.

[Cachelot]

Hans Blix is in flagrant violation of Resolution 1441

Oh, the UN violates its own resolutions all the time.

It should be the first target in the war on terror.

[mhking]

T-minus thirty-four hours and counting...

[Diogenesis]

UN JOINS AXIS OF EVIL

THIS JUST IN: "Mr. Blix, lawyer to Saddam and the UN,
leader of Kofi's KlownsTM has no decided to imperiously withhold
the Iraqi documents, consistent with his repeated advance warnings
to the Iraqis before most of the "inspections".