Posted on 01/28/2003 5:39:23 AM PST by Clive
For those who want to listen, UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix couldn't have been more clear.
Yesterday, he told the Security Council that Saddam Hussein has not genuinely accepted UN resolutions demanding that Iraq disarm.
Blix said Iraq was testing prohibited long-range missiles and not coming clean on chemical and biological weapons it may have.
He said it had imported 380 rocket engines, chemicals used in propellants and instrumentation forbidden under 1991 UN sanctions.
He said inspectors had found a "laboratory quantity" of a chemical used in mustard gas.
He said Iraq had now submitted a document showing it had been able to purify VX, a deadly nerve gas, to a greater degree than previously admitted, and that, despite Iraq's denials there were "indications the agent was weaponized".
He said Iraq has failed to account for 6,500 chemical warfare bombs filled with 1,000 tons of chemical agents and that inspectors also found a dozen, 122mm chemical rocket warheads in a relatively new bunker at a storage depot.
He said several thousand chemical rockets still haven't been accounted for.
Blix said despite the fact Iraq said it had destroyed 8,500 litres of anthrax in 1991, there are "strong indications Iraq produced more anthrax than declared", and may have the ability to produce 5,000 more litres of concentrated anthrax.
Inspectors, Blix said, are not certain if Iraq has declared all its SCUD-type missiles.
Documents in the home of an Iraqi scientist turned up 3,000 pages related to the laser enrichment of uranium. Blix said Iraq's highly touted 12,000-page declaration of compliance with the UN contains almost nothing new.
Obviously, the real issue isn't whether Saddam has violated Security Council resolutions to disarm. He has. It's whether the UN is willing to do anything about it. If not, then U.S. President George Bush should lead a coalition of willing nations against Iraq - including Canada, which should stop dithering and sign on. Either we deal with this threat now, or we will have to deal with it later. Enough talk. Time to decide.
There's no getting around it--Saddam's dealt with now or when he's militarily stronger. He's not going to volunteer to leave the world stage.
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