Blix Tells Of New Iraqi Obstruction

cbs ^ | 1/19/03

[knak]

CBS) Chief United Nations biological and chemical weapons inspector Hans Blix told CBS News Anchor Dan Rather in an interview in Cyprus that Baghdad presented a new impediment Saturday to U.N. arms teams trying to do their job.

Blix told Rather that the Iraqis insisted that their helicopters go along with U.N. choppers taking the U.N. inspectors to a site in Iraq's nothern no-fly zone.

That, Blix explained to Rather, could be dangerous for the U.N personnel, since Iraqi craft operating in no-fly zones could be shot at.

As a result, Blix said, the inspection was cancelled.

He called that "something new to us and unacceptsble."

Blix said. "It's a bit of a cat and mouse play, again. If they are really sincere, if they want to create confidence, then they should give us the maximum freedom to go around the country wherever we want in the no fly zones or elsewhere, and I do not see any good justification for that demand."

Blix agreed with Rather's suggestion that the new Iraqi move isn't exactly a welcome sign for Blix, who is due in Baghdad Sunday along with the U.N.'s top nuclear arms inspector, Mohamed ElBaradei.

When asked by Rather, "Would it be accurate for tomorrow's headlines to read something along the lines of: UN inspectors tell Iraq 'you are not doing enough, you are not doing nearly enough'. Would that be one accurate headline," Blix agreed.

In the same session, ElBaradei confirmed to Rather that U.N. inspectors this week found papers in the private home of an Iraqi physicist on uranium enrichment of uranium, which could result in a material that could be used in a nucleaer weapon.

The physicist, Faleh Hassan, said the documents were from his private research projects and students' theses and he accused the inspectors of "Mafia-like" tactics.

However, ElBaradei told Rather that since the Iraqis had not disclosed information contained in the documents, "it obviously doesn't show the transparency we've been preaching."

[Dan Day]

It's a no-fly zone just for Iraq. They agreed to it as part of the 1991 terms.

They didn't, actually. We imposed the no-fly zones after the ceasefire agreement, when Iraq started attacking the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south. Nor did the UN specifically authorize it. But tough noogies.

It was specifically to keep the Iraqi Air Farce from attacking Iraqi citizens.

Correct.

[Dan Day]

How much more of this horse hockey do we have to put up with?

About ten more days.

[Libertina]

Official UN Motto:
Fool me once
twice
three times
four times
five times
six times
seven times
eight times
nine times
ten times
eleven times...

[USNBandit]

Back in the mid nineties U.N. flight info was provided on both a prior knowledge and real time basis to pilots flying in the no fly zones. I would imagine it hasn't changed since then. Aircraft patrolling the no fly zones don't have to know the ultimate destination of U.N. helos, just that they are up so our early warning aircraft can track them and update the pointed nose guys.