Inspectors may delay Iraq weapons search
UN inspectors have indicated they will not resume their search for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction until the Security Council decides whether to adopt a new resolution that could give them broad new powers.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said yesterday that he hoped council members would make up their minds quickly. If the rules changed while he was in Iraq, he said, “it would be awkward”.
In the meantime, Dr Blix is moving ahead with plans to send an advance team to Baghdad in mid-October following an agreement he reached with Iraq earlier this week on logistics for resuming inspections after nearly four years.
“We have not purchased the air tickets yet, but we have plans,” he told reporters after briefing the council on the agreement. “The readiness is there to go. We hope it won’t be a long delay. We are ready to go at the earliest practical opportunity.”
Mohamed ElBaradei, whose International Atomic Energy Agency is in charge of nuclear inspections, also called for quick council action but indicated that inspectors would wait for a decision.
“We need to align our date with the deliberation of the council, and I think there was an agreement in the council that both the council and us should proceed without a great deal of delay,” Mr ElBaradei said.
Dr Blix and Mr ElBaradei are heading to Washington today for meetings with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
“I hope to hear something of what their planning is, and we’ll tell them what our planning is,” Dr Blix said with a grin.
The 15-member council is divided over how to proceed on Iraq.
The US says a new mandate is critical to the disarmament of Saddam Hussein, but Russia says it is not needed and would cause unnecessary delay to a resumption of inspections.
Council members also disagree over whether Dr Blix could go to Baghdad before a decision is made on a new resolution. The US and Britain are demanding that he wait, but Syria and Russia want him to go.
Dr Blix said that many issues had been solved during his talks with the Iraqis in Vienna, “but there are some minor matters and some loose ends before we go to Baghdad”.
The US leaped on Dr Blix’s reference to “loose ends”, saying it reinforced the need for a resolution providing inspectors with new powers.
The five permanent veto-wielding council members – the US, Britain, Russia, China and France – met with Dr Blix after he briefed the council.
One council diplomat called the meeting constructive and said: “It’s understood that the inspectors are not going anywhere before there’s a resolution.”
US President George W Bush, meanwhile, stepped up his pressure on the UN to stand with Washington against Saddam.
“The choice is up (to) the United Nations to show its resolve. The choice is up to Saddam Hussein to fulfil his word,” Mr Bush said. “And if neither of them acts, the United States in deliberate fashion will lead a coalition to take away the world's worst weapons from one of the world’s worst leaders.”
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters it is “up to the council today or in the coming week to determine what the next stage would be”.
“Of course, they are discussing a new resolution which may be passed. But Blix, in the meantime, continues his preparations,” Mr Annan said.
Washington wants one resolution that would include approval for military action if Iraq fails to comply. Russia, China and France oppose the US demand that any new resolution authorise the use of force if Iraq fails to comply with inspectors.
France has proposed a middle ground which would strengthen inspections but give Iraq a chance to cooperate before authorising any military action.
Dr Blix said the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission which he heads has the legal authority to return to Iraq under a series of resolutions adopted since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
“The question was whether one should solve every practical arrangement” before an advance team departs, he said. “We solved a good deal in Vienna and went over a good deal, but there are some minor matters and some loose ends before we go to Baghdad.”
Those loose ends, he said, included the key issue of whether Saddam’s network of presidential palaces would remain off-limits to surprise inspections. Also unresolved were security arrangements for inspectors and flights within Iraq to reach suspected weapons sites.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said Dr Blix should wait for the council to act.
“It would be practically – and I would say politically – wise for those discussions to finish so that he (Blix) is 100% clear across the full range of his business, tight ends and loose ends, what are his rights and what are his powers,” Mr Greenstock said.
Washington wants a complete overhaul of the rules under which the inspections would be carried out, including immediate and unfettered access to the eight presidential complexes which cover about 12 square miles.
Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed al-Douri suggested yesterday that Iraq was flexible on the issue of presidential palaces, saying they “should not be an issue”.
“We can overcome that if there is any problem,” he said, but he vehemently opposed the US draft proposal, calling it “a declaration of war”.
