Posted on 02/15/2003 3:45:56 AM PST by JohnHuang2
The "moment of truth," in the words of Secretary of State Colin Powell, has arrived for the United Nations Security Council to act on Iraqi disarmament after chief U.N. weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei reported today they had not found any weapons of mass destruction, but needed more time to complete their inspections.
Their findings deepened the division on the council, making both sides of the war debate more resolute.
Powell urged the Security Council to make good on its threat of "serious consequences" outlined in Resolution 1441.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin unequivocally declared: "The use of military force is not justified today."
In their presentation before the council today, both Blix and ElBaradei expressed appreciation for increased cooperation on the part of Baghdad with the inspection process, now in its 12th week, but faulted Iraq for failing to fully come clean on disarmament issues.
While not painting it as a "smoking gun," Blix said inspectors had found banned missiles and explained that experts had confirmed that the al Samoud 2 missile recovered earlier this week has a range that exceeds the permitted 93-miles.
Blix also said Iraq's efforts to reconstitute casting chambers previously destroyed by UNMOVIC and import rocket engines were also problematic.
"Another matter, and one of great significance, is that many proscribed weapons and items are not accounted for," said Blix referring to Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration submitted Dec. 8.
He said Iraq had failed to account for 1,000 tons of chemical agent, long-range missiles and biological agents – outlined in his earlier report as 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin and 500 tons of sarin, mustard gas and VX nerve agent.
"One must not jump to the conclusion that they exist. However, that possibility is also not excluded," he said.
ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, said his inspectors had found no evidence of nuclear weapons production.
The conclusion of the inspectors differed somewhat: While ElBaradei outlined plans for continued inspections and investigations over a "few months," Blix hinted the process may be winding down.
"If Iraq had provided necessary cooperation in 1991," Blix told members of the council assembled in New York, "sanctions could have been avoided. Today, three months after the adoption of Resolution 1441, the period of disarmament through inspection could still be short if 'immediate, active, unconditional cooperation' with IAEA and UNMOVIC were to be provided,'" he concluded, quoting from the resolution unanimously adopted by council members in November.
Blix placed heavy emphasis on the word "if."
In his Jan. 27 report to the council, Blix blasted Iraq for not "genuinely" accepting disarmament and hinted that undeclared chemical warheads found in a bunker southwest of Baghdad may be the "tip of the submerged iceberg."
He also criticized the government of Saddam Hussein for harassing inspectors, impeding interviews with Iraqi scientists and blocking U-2 surveillance flights.
Today, Blix and ElBaradei reiterated frustration over the interviews and said the fact that scientists were recording them indicated they were not meeting unhindered by the Iraqi regime.
Blix announced that recent negotiations have led to an agreement on the U-2 surveillance and said flights should begin next week, along with those of drones supplied from Russia.
On the issue of harassment of inspectors, Blix said the situation had improved and that the ratio of Iraqi minders was now less than five per inspector.
Contradicting the claims of Powell in his presentation to the council, Blix denied Iraq had infiltrated the inspection process.
"In no case have we seen convincing evidence that Iraq had prior notice that inspectors were coming," he stated.
Reacting to the satellite images Powell maintained documented Iraq's efforts to move weapons of mass destruction ahead of inspections, Blix said the increased activity spotted could be "just routine."
Blix and ElBaradei also indicated that Iraq had provided more requested documents since their last report.
Blix said inspectors were given papers on anthrax and VX production on Feb. 8 but they contained "no new evidence."
Iraq also provided on Feb. 12 a list of 83 names of participants in the destruction of chemcials, according to Blix, who called for documents illustrating a similar unilateral destruction of biological weapons.
ElBaradei said his inspectors were still investigating Iraq's importation of banned aluminum tubes, magnets and carbon fiber for their possible use in the process of enriching uranium, the last remaining ingredient Iraq needs to manufacture nuclear bombs.
Blix said inspectors had conducted 400 searches of 300 sites over the past 11 weeks, and had found and destroyed 200 chemical and 100 biological munitions.
"We have obtained a good knowledge of the industrial and scientific landscape of Iraq. ... We do not know every cave and corner," he said.
Security Council reaction
There was wide anticipation that today's report by Blix and ElBaradei would spark a showdown in the council between the veto-wielding members who are in favor of using military force – the U.S. and UK – and those opposed – France, Russia and China.
Germany also opposes immediate military action.
Indeed, reaction to the report fell along the familiar fault lines.
France called for inspections to continue and for Blix and ElBaradei to report back again on Mar. 14.
"All along France has been saying we do not exclude the possiblity that force may have to be used one day if the inspectors' reports concluded it was impossible to continue inpsections," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said. "The option of inspections has not been taken to the end; it can provide an effective end. ... Real progress is emerging."
De Villepin panned Powell's evidence of a link between al-Qaida and the Iraqi regime stating, "Given the present state or our research and intelligence ... nothing allows us to establish such a link."
De Villepin warned military intervention comes with "considerable risk," asserting it was "liable to exascerbate divisions between societies, cultures, peoples – divisions that nurture terrorism."
"This message comes to you today from an old country, France, that has known war, occupation ... that does not forget and is very aware of all that it owes to freedom fighters who came from America and elsewhere," De Villepin said in apparent defense of public outrcy from American citizens and the threat of a boycott by members of Congress.
"And yet France has always stood upright in the face of history before mankind. It wants resolutely to act with all members of the U.N. community," he continued.
China and Russia offered similar statements.
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw countered that "Iraq's material breaches" to U.N. resolutions dating back to 1991 still exist.
"Let's just remind ourselves that Iraq is the only country in the world which has launched missile attacks on five of its neighbors, invaded two of its neighbors – both Muslim – and killed, without any justification hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Iran, in Kuwait, and in Iraq itself," said Straw.
The British official called the past 12 years a "period of humiliation" for the Security Council and the United Nations.
"The United Nations charter requires of us ... to back a diplomatic process with a credible threat of force and also, if necessary, to be ready to use that threat of force. If we back away from that ... then the disarmament of Iraq and the peace and security of the international community will not get any easier but very much harder," Straw concluded. "If we send out the message to proliferators the world over that the defiance of the United Nations pays, then it will not be peace that we will have secured."
Powell echoed Straw's sentiments, saying it was time for the Security Council to deliver on its threat of "serious consequences" if Hussein does not comply with Resolution 1441.
"I commend the inspectors. I thank them for what they are doing," Powell began. "But at the same time, I have to keep coming back to the point that the inspectors have repeatedly made, and they've made it again here this morning. They've been making it for the last 11-plus years. What we need is not more inspections. What we need is not more immediate access. What we need is immediate, active, unconditional, full cooperation on the part of Iraq. What we need is for Iraq to disarm.
"Force should always be a last resort. I have preached this for most of my professional life as a soldier and as a diplomat," said Powell. "But it must be a resort. We cannot allow this process to be endlessly strung out, as Iraq is trying to do right now: 'String it out long enough and the world will start looking in other directions; the Security Council will move on; We'll get away with it again.' My friends, they cannot be allowed to get away with it again," he said.
Saddam's presidential decree
Ahead of today's Security Council meeting, Iraqi officials warned enemies not to use the inspectors' report as an excuse for war.
"Iraq is free of the so-called weapons of mass destruction – chemical, biological and nuclear," the official Iraqi News Agency quoted leaders as saying. "If the aggressors still attack, the blame should fall on them before God and the people. Iraqis will fight them as a people and as an armed force, with a spirit of faith and holy war."
In a pre-emptive strike to avert a Security Council authorization for war, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein issued a presidential decree today banning weapons of mass destruction.
"All ministries should implement this decree and take whatever measures are necessary to punish people who do not adhere to it," the decree read.
The decree fulfilled a longtime U.N. demand, hours before the crucial Blix-ElBaradei report.
"We have not yet time to study the details of the text of the decree," said Blix.
ElBaradei called the decree "a step in the right direction for Iraq to demonstrate its willingness to fulfill its disarmament obligations."
Secretary Powell dismissed the decree as being among Saddam Hussein's "continued efforts to deceive, to deny, to divert, to throw us off the trail, to throw us off the path."
History is being made. Old alliances are changing and new ones will be formed. This is only the beginning of the inevitable consequences of 911. The sky is not falling, but the world will change, at an accelerated rate for a while, due to the events of 911. Unfortunately, or fortunately based upon ones perspective, many folks just don't get it.
I'm numb from shock. Thunderstruck by what I saw at the U.N. Friday.It was a staggering day of astounding surprises -- geopolitical bombshells were dropping and detonating at every turn. I felt overwhelmed.
Bill of particulars?
Sheesh, where, O where to begin?
First -- and boy, is this a shocker! -- after one, no, two, no, three...wait, 5, oops, 10? Okay, I forget: How many U.N. resolutions on Iraq are there? Oh, yeah, that's right -- 17. Well, after 17 U.N. resolutions, 12 years of defiance, imagine my shock -- SHOCK! -- to learn Iraq was still (gasp!) in defiance, thumbing its nose at the League of Nations, oops, I meant the United Nations
Okay, I'll admit that was low -- comparing the U.N. to the League of Nations is demeaning . . . to the League of Nations. Those clowns in New York make the Boulder, Colorado police look competent.
More stunners:
--Hans Blix told the U.N. Security Council that, after 3 months, no weapons of mass destruction have turned up -- nor has any convincing evidence that U.N. inspectors are likelier to find the stuff than, say, O.J. at finding the "real killers." You're better off calling Miss Cleo's psyhic hotline. On the upside, Saddam's denials, on a credibility scale, rank right there with Michael Jackson claiming he's had only 2 operations performed on his nose. Mini-Me actor Verne Troyer will quit the boozing before Saddam quits the weapons of mass destruction habit.
--The French, often the butt of jokes as sniveling cowards, were surprisingly tough, standing up to a "brutal dictator." No brutal dictator is going to push the French around -- no siree. Problem is: In the eyes of those sniveling cowards -- the French -- Bush was the brutal dictator.
French Foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin demanded that inspections -- which are not inspections because Saddam won't give inspectors anything to inspect -- more time . . . oh, and more airplanes, more offices, more maps, more pencils, more paper, more puters, more CDs, more drones, more giger counters. Then, if all that fails, more talks! And if more talks fail, an 18th U.N. resolution calling for. . . a new round of talks!
--Russia praised Saddam for allowing interview of scientists without minders standing by -- okay with fewer minders standing by (3 minders instead of 5) -- yes! Wonderful progress! A huge leap forward! But progress didn't stop there. In his zeal to cooperate, Saddam's even planting fewer bugs at hotel rooms of U.N. inspectors. Let's see, fewer bugs, fewer minders can mean only one thing: Saddam's going wobbly. Give inspections another 12 years, and he'll cave. (For peaceniks, how's that for a slogan? "Twelve more years! Twelve more years!")
And Democrat reaction? Bush needs to build a coalition. The U.S. can't go it alone with the U.K., Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Australia, Turkey, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic! The 25 or so countries with us aren't, well, countries enough.
But fret not, for here's the bottom line: Iraq will soon have some Real Weapons Inspectors. How soon? Oh, just as soon as their Commander-in-Chief says, 'Go!'
--------------------------------- "A key piece of the information leading to the recent terror alerts was fabricated," reported completely objective and neutral ABCNEWS Friday morning, fueling a big 'Ah-Ha!-We-Knew-Bush-Ginned-The-Whole-Thing-Up-To-Whip-Up-Support-For-His-War!' media splash."The officials said that a claim made by a captured al-Qaeda member that Washington, New York, or Florida would be hit by a 'dirty bomb' sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination," claimed the completely objective and neutral report, False Alarm?, by completely objective and neutral reporters, Brian Ross, Len Tepper and Jill Rackmill.
An al-Qaeda sleeper cell in Virginia or Detroit had, according to this informant, a "detailed plan" to dirty bomb "government buildings and Christian or clerical centers," having cooked up ingenious means to elude security checks.
"Former CIA counter-terrorism chief" and network consultant Vince Cannistraro (also completely objective and neutral) called the 'fabrication' "the reason for a lot of the alarm," insinuating the feds screwed up royally by raising the threat alert status based on a fabricated report before giving the "informant" a polygraph which he flunked.
So, given the feds screwed up royally by raising the threat alert status based on a fabricated report, the feds are set to reverse course -- put the thing back where it was before the goof, right?
Well, no, because, er, (as we learn only well into the article) the threat alert status was not raised based on a fabricated report but on "other (validated) intelligence that officials still believe points to a coming attack, timed to hostilities with Iraq."
In other words, completely objective and neutral ABCNEWS, in their noble zeal to cast the Bush administration in the worst possible light, based their report that the feds had screwed up royally by raising the threat alert status on a fabrication that wasn't the reason why they raised the threat alert status in the first place.
Incidentally, had the thrust of the story been correct -- it wasn't -- the worst the feds might be accused of is, well, screwing up. Nothing more venal than that.
There was, however, nothing unintentional in ABCNEWS' handling of this story. Their hyped "report" was intentionally misleading.
Anyway, that's..
My two cents..
"JohnHuang2"
Don't forget, the left is working very hard to make sure this is exactly what happens. The longer the delay, the more time they have to work at the morale and confidence of the average American.
"U.N. Suffers Fatal Blow Over Iraq"
Couldn't agree with you more, amigo.
Most of the poobahs there on Friday thought it was a festivus!
Blix was like Shultz from Hogan's Heroes. Iraq and Syria are now on the “security council”!
Time to escalate diplomacy to the final rung. WAR!
True, but if ABC/NBC/CBS were so powerful, Bush would've tanked long ago. The nets (and big city papers) lost all credibility when, barely a month into Afghanistan, they predicted a quagmire. They were wrong then, they're wrong now. And Americans won't forget.
Anti-war rallies aren't more effective now in shaping public opinion than they were when Nixon swept the country in a landslide in '72 -- in the middle of Vietnam -- and they're even less effective in our post 9/11 world.
For the peaceniks, moreover, the Osama audio tape this week was a nightmare: In 16 minutes, it exploded a myth the media and the Democrats had diligently spent 16 painstaking months to foster: The oil & water theory -- i.e., that Saddam and Osama don't mix. Result? A clear majority of Americans now believe Saddam was, directly or indirectly, involved in 9/11.
As I type the morning news is reporting that 59% of Americans do not want Bush to act without UN support,
Every survey I've seen suggests a majority support military without U.N. authorization -- so long as the U.S. has allies. It may not get much media coverage, but 25 + nations are now part of Bush's 'coalition of the willing'.
Chin up, my friend, and watch the stratgery do its magic. :^)
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