A rchive Date
[ 16-11-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.N ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2002/11/15/4544-ap.html
Blix outlines expectations of Iraq
By EDITH M. LEDERER - Associated Press
Fri, November 15, 2002
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Friday, on the eve of his departure for Baghdad, that inspections will likely resume Nov. 27 and Iraq must declare all of its weapons programs to the United Nations.
The deadline for the Iraqi declaration is Dec. 8.
"Iraq's declaration is a very important document that we hope they take very seriously," Blix told reporters. The declaration, laid out in the terms of a tough new Security Council resolution on Iraq, will be compared with previous data inspectors have on Iraq.
Still Blix said: "We are not contending that Iraq as weapons mass destruction, we have a great many questions."
Blix said that if Iraq were to declare no such weapons programs, then countries that claim to have evidence to the contrary must make it public.
"It will be the moment for those who claim they have evidence ... to put it on the table,"
After Blix suggested President Bush's "zero tolerance" standard might be overly strict, White House spokesman Scott McClellan retorted heatedly.
"The inspectors, I will remind you, are there to report the facts back to the Security Council. They are not going in ... to make assessments. They will report the facts to the Security Council and that's where they will be discussed and assessed and determinations will be made on what kind of consequences need to follow," McClellan said.
"Our view remains one of zero tolerance," he added.
The United States believes Iraq has been illegally rearming for several years. Inspectors, barred from Iraq since December 1998, have not been able to verify either claim.
Blix said it was up to the Security Council to decide whether any Iraqi omissions or false statements in the declaration should be punishable.
"We do not judge whether something constitutes a material breach," of Iraq's obligations under current resolutions, he said.
At the same time, he said encouraged Iraq to cooperate fully and said: "I think the United States government is determine that there should be no cat-and-mouse play."
Blix said inspectors would consider the potential Nov. 27 start date as the inspector's first day of work under the terms of the resolution which calls for him to report his findings to the Security Council 60 days later.
Blix will be flying into Baghdad Monday together with Mohamed ElBaradei, his counterpart at the International Atomic Energy Agency to "initiate this new chapter of inspections," Blix said.
They will be accompanied by a small advance team which prepare for the resumption of inspections. Blix said the teams would reopen the office used by the previous inspections regime and would setup new secure phone lines, prepare transportation and order helicopters.
The resolution adopted unanimously last Friday by the Security Council gives Iraq "a final opportunity" to eliminate its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them. It gives inspectors the right to go anywhere, anytime, and warns Iraq that it will face "serious consequences" if it fails to cooperate.
Iraq accepted the terms of the resolution Wednesday, giving a green light for the return of weapons inspectors whose searches will test Saddam Hussein's commitment to disarm and avert a new war.
Iraq's cooperation will face its next test with the arrival of the advance team.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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