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Iraq I: Inspectors Find No “Smoking Guns,” Blix Says U.N weapons inspectors operating within Iraq have so far found no “smoking guns” that would demonstrate that Baghdad is attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction, U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told reporters at the United Nations today (see GSN, Jan. 8). “We have now been there for some two months and been covering the country in ever wider sweeps and we haven’t found any smoking guns,” Blix said before briefing the U.N. Security Council with International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei. While inspectors have found little evidence to support the U.S. and British claims that Iraq has continued to develop weapons of mass destruction, the declaration was incomplete, Blix told the gathered reporters. “We think that the declaration failed to answer a great many questions,” Blix said (Associated Press/London Independent, Jan. 9). Today’s Security Council briefing was scheduled primarily for the benefit of the five new members who joined at the start of the year, according to Agence France-Presse. The new members have had little time to analyze the Iraqi declaration, which was submitted to the council last month. The next important date in the inspections timeline is Jan. 27, when Blix and ElBaradei are scheduled to provide the Security Council with a 60-day update on inspections. South Africa, on behalf of the U.N. nonaligned nations group, has asked council president France to arrange for the Jan. 27 briefing to be made public, AFP reported. The United States, however, is “completely against” the idea, a council diplomat said (Agence France-Presse/BusinessDay, Jan. 9). Although its declaration is considered incomplete, Iraq has not tried to impede the inspectors’ operations, leading some officials to speculate that U.N.-sanctioned military activites against Iraq are unlikely to approved soon. “Realistically, it is not going to be easy to see in the next two months that we will be able to say that Iraq is not cooperating,” a diplomat said (David Usborne, London Independent, Jan. 9). Intelligence-Sharing France has called on other countries to provide inspectors with any intelligence information they might have concerning Iraq’s WMD programs, according to the Associated Press. France wants the Security Council to implement a resolution calling on countries to provide inspectors with information on Iraq’s “prohibited programs” and to recommend sites to be visited and personnel to be interviewed, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said yesterday. “All countries with specific information must convey it,” de Villepin said Tuesday during a press conference in Moscow (Edith Lederer, Associated Press, Jan. 9). Over the past several days, the United States has begun providing inspectors with “significant” intelligence information that has allowed them to be “more aggressive and to be more comprehensive in the work they’re doing,” U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2002). While Powell did not detail what information was being provided, he said, “we want to flood this up” with information that would help inspectors carry out their mission. The United States is still holding back, however, on providing inspectors with some of its most sensitive intelligence and is waiting to see if inspectors “are able to handle it and exploit it,” Powell said. “It is not a matter of opening up every door that we have,” he added. The Bush administration has also provided the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the IAEA with an outline on how to conduct interviews with Iraqi WMD personnel outside the country, Powell said. “I don’t know that it’s all glued together yet, but I know that (the inspectors) know there are ways to do that,” he said. Blix has recently been receiving new intelligence information from the United States, although it “is a little opaque,” a U.N. source said. IAEA inspectors still need “more specific information to act on” from the United States, ElBaradei said Tuesday in an interview with ABC News. “We are in contact with the administration and I hope in the next few weeks we’ll be getting much more information for us to be able to zero in on any suspicious activities,” ElBaradei said (DeYoung/Pincus, Washington Post, Jan. 9). U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that the United States might withhold some of its most sensitive intelligence information from the Security Council for fear of jeopardizing any potential military action. The final decision, however, is in the hands of U.S. President George W. Bush, Rumsfeld said. “To the extent that prior to using force he were to reveal intelligence information in a way that damaged the ability to conduct the conflict, it would be, needless to say, unfortunately risky for the coalition forces’ lives engaged,” Rumsfeld said. “And I don’t know what calibration would be made there. On the one hand, you have the advantage of persuading the publics in the world and countries of the facts of the matter, and on the other hand, by so doing, you weaken your ability to do that which you have decided to do,” he added (Roland Watson, London Times, Jan. 9). Inspections Meanwhile, inspectors have visited at least seven suspect Iraqi sites today, Iraqi officials said. UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the al-Rifah facility in Baghdad, al-Hareth in Taji, about 10 miles north of Baghdad and al-Milad in Yousefiyah, about 10 miles south of the capital, according to Reuters. UNMOVIC chemical teams visited the al-Rayah facility in Taji and Ayniyah in Beji, about 110 miles north of Baghdad. UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited a Baghdad medical laboratory, Reuters reported. A team of IAEA inspectors visited the al-Qadisiyah facility northeast of the city (Nadim Ladki, Reuters/Yahoo.com, Jan. 9). Iraq Denies Exile Rumors A senior Iraqi diplomat has denied recent reports that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is considering going into exile before any potential war with the United States. Responding specifically to a report that Hussein was considering exile in Libya and that his son Uday had sent $3 billion to Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi to arrange asylum, Abbas Khalaf, Iraq’s ambassador to Russia, said rumors of exile are “nonsense” and a “canard” that is part of a psychological campaign against Iraq. “I’d like to assure you that Hussein will continue to defend his homeland. He is one of the leaders who will never leave his country and will fight till the last drop of blood,” Khalaf was quoted by Interfax yesterday. “Hussein enjoys excellent health. He is in a determined mood, is in perfect control of the situation and believes in our victory,” Khalaf added. One of the biggest hurdles to any consideration by Hussein of going into exile is a fear of being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his rule of Iraq, the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, according to the Los Angeles Times. For Hussein to step down, he would want a guarantee that he will not be extradited from his place of exile to stand trial, Arab officials said. While the U.S. State Department has been working to prepare war crimes charges against Hussein and other senior Iraqi officials, the issue is now being re-examined, according to U.S. officials (see GSN, Oct. 30, 2002). There has also been debate within the Bush administration as to what Hussein might attempt to do once in exile, according to the Times. “Some say he’s the ultimate survivor and will take whatever steps necessary to get out of this alive, believing he’ll be able to go back someday because the American experiment in Iraq will fail. He’s so convinced of his own abilities that he believes he’s the once and future strongman that Iraq needs,” a U.S. official said (Robin Wright, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 9). For further information, see:
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