U.N. inspectors yesterday confirmed that a stockpile of chemical agents stored at a former Iraqi biological and chemical weapons site had been undisturbed since previous rounds of inspections (see GSN, Dec. 4).

During a visit to the al-Muthanna State Establishment north of Baghdad, inspectors verified that mustard gas shells that had been left at the site were still stored there, said Dimitri Perricos, leader of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission team.  Before halting operations in Iraq in 1998, inspectors had destroyed thousands of chemical weapons shells at the site (U.N. release, Dec. 5).

“We wanted to make sure that the mustard shells which were not destroyed were still there,” Perricos said.  “It’s a pretty good quantity of mustard.  There is no leakage,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Times of India, Dec. 5).

The shells have been “well stored” at al-Muthanna, which was “a very important place for the chemical warfare program they [Iraq] were building in the past,” Perricos said.  Inspectors hope to begin destroying the shells soon, he added (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, Dec. 5).

After visiting various Iraqi sites for a week, U.N. inspectors are scheduled for a short break today and tomorrow to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Associated Press reported today (Charles Hanley, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Dec. 5).

United States Calls for More Inspectors

The United States, meanwhile, has begun urging the United Nations to intensify inspections, the Bush administration said yesterday.

“We want to make certain that they are aggressive enough to be able to ascertain the facts in the face of an adversary who in the past did everything in his power to hide the facts,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

U.S. national security advisor Condoleezza Rice met Monday with UNMOVIC head Hans Blix and requested that he increase the number of inspectors and conduct several visits at once to make it more difficult for Iraq to interfere, according to the Los Angeles Times.  About 100 inspectors should be in Iraq by Christmas, and more plan to arrive in January, Blix said.  The United States, however, has requested that the United Nations accelerate inspector training, the Times reported.

During their meeting, Rice offered “recommendations and advice on how to proceed,” Blix said, adding that he did not consider it as undue pressure.  “I know what my job is,” Blix said (Gerstenzang/Farley, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 5).

Oil-for-Food

At the United Nations, the Security Council yesterday voted 15-0 to renew the oil-for-food program for the customary six-month period.  The United States had delayed a vote on the program to force the council to amend the Goods Review List of items that Iraq must not import without approval from the council.  The United States agreed to accept a commitment from the council to “consider necessary adjustments” to the list within 30 days (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, Dec. 5).

U.N. diplomats were pleased that the United States agreed to the compromise, saying a time when a united front on Iraq is needed, according to the New York Times.

“It’s a good solution,” a French diplomat said.  “The American delegation listened to the other members and made a reasonable response,” the diplomat added (Julia Preston, New York Times, Dec. 5).

For further information, see:

UNMOVIC

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