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Iraq I: Bush Supports Exile for Hussein U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday said he would support a decision by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other top Iraqi “henchmen” to peacefully step down and go into exile (see GSN, Jan. 30). “Hopefully the pressure of the Free World will convince Mr. Saddam Hussein to relinquish power,” Bush said. “Should he choose to leave the country, along with a lot of the other henchmen who have tortured the Iranian, Iraqi people, we would welcome that, of course,” he added. There are only “weeks, not months,” to find a diplomatic solution to the Iraqi crisis, Bush said. Hussein must leave power soon, either peacefully or through force, he said (Bob Deans, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 31). Blix Challenges U.S. Claims Meanwhile, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix Wednesday challenged a number of U.S. claims of Iraq’s noncompliance with inspections, according to the New York Times. Blix disagreed with claims by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that Iraqi officials were moving prohibited materials both within and outside of the country. Inspectors reported no such actions, Blix said in an interview. Blix also said teams found no evidence that Iraq sent key scientists and technicians to other countries to prevent interviews or that Iraqi agents have posed as scientists, as Bush claimed in his State of the Union address (see GSN, Jan. 29). “There were some occasions where people didn’t seem very knowledgeable,” Blix said. “But if it has happened, it’s not from the top” and “it’s certainly not anything that is common.” There was also no persuasive evidence linking Iraq and al-Qaeda, Blix said, referring to another Bush claim. “There are other states where there appear to be stronger links" such as Afghanistan, Blix said. “It’s bad enough that Iraq may have weapons of mass destruction,” he added. Blix said he still supported a peaceful disarming of Iraq. “I think it would be terrible if this comes to an end by armed force, and I wish for this process of disarmament through the peaceful avenue of inspections,” Blix said. “But I also know that diplomacy needs to be backed by force sometimes, and inspections need to be backed by pressure” (Miller/Preston, New York Times, Jan. 31). Back to Baghdad? International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said today he and Blix would accept a recent invitation to travel to Baghdad if Iraq complied with unresolved inspectors’ requests (see GSN, Jan. 21). Iraq must first allow inspectors to conduct private interviews with scientists and to use high-altitude surveillance aircraft, ElBaradei said. “We need to make sure before we go that they are ready to move forward ... on these issues. We will have first to see what they are offering before we decide on the visit,” he said. If the top inspectors accept the invitation, they would want to meet with high-ranking Iraqi officials, perhaps even Hussein, ElBaradei said. “It’s very important that ... we meet at the highest level of the leadership, and hear from them a clear commitment that they are ready to be fully transparent,” he said (Vanessa Gera, Associated Press, Jan. 31). Iraqi presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi invited Blix and ElBaradei to visit Baghdad prior to a Feb. 14 U.N. Security Council session. In his invitation, al-Saadi indicated the visit could focus on improving cooperation and on “methods of disarmament verification,” the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said yesterday (Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press, Jan. 31). Iraqi Missile Tests Blix might convene a meeting of international experts as soon as next week to examine whether Iraqi medium-range ballistic missiles, which have been flight tested beyond the U.N.-mandated range of 150 kilometers, might violate U.N. resolutions, according to the Financial Times. The al-Samoud 2 al-Fatah missiles “might very well represent prima facie cases of proscribed systems,” Blix said Monday during his briefing on the progress of inspections to the Security Council. Even though Iraq disclosed the tests last year, the missiles still might represent a “smoking gun” that Iraq failed to comply with U.N. resolutions, according to analysts. Some diplomats, however, have said it would be excessive to call for military action on the basis of missiles that exceed the U.N-mandated range by a small amount, the Times reported. Iraq has said the missiles would fall within the permitted range once they were equipped with warheads and guidance systems (Turner/Ghattas, Financial Times, Jan. 30). “Supergun” Meanwhile, two German businessmen were convicted today of violating German export control laws for aiding Iraq’s efforts to develop a “supergun” that would have been able to fire WMD shells, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Jan. 15). Bernd Schompeter was sentenced to five years and three months in prison and Willi Heinz Ribbeck was sentenced to two years’ probation. The two men were charged with helping Iraq obtain large drills needed to create the al-Fao cannon, AP reported. German prosecutors argued that Schompeter’s trading company, Alriwo, bought the drills from the German machine company Burgsmueller, where Ribbeck worked. The drills were then delivered to Sahib Abd al-Amir al-Haddad, an Iraqi-born U.S. businessman, in Jordan. Germany is seeking al-Haddad’s extradition from Bulgaria, where he was arrested last year (Geir Moulson, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 31). Inspections U.N. inspectors visited at least three suspect Iraqi sites today, according to Iraqi officials. Experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission visited the al-Yarmouk State Company. UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the 7 Nissan Company in Nahrawan, about 20 miles east of Baghdad; and UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited an agricultural equipment company in the Waziriya area of Baghdad (Reuters, Jan. 31). Yesterday, inspectors visited at least seven sites, according to an IAEA press release. UNMOVIC chemical inspectors traveled via helicopter to the State Company for Petrochemicals Industry in the southern city of Basra. IAEA inspectors visited the 17th April Facility in Baghdad and conducted a motorized radiation survey in areas southeast of the Iraqi capital (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Jan. 30). For further information, see:
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