|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Iraq I: Blix, ElBaradei Brief Security Council; U.S. Declares “Material Breach”The heads of the agencies investigating Iraq’s programs for weapons of mass destruction, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, told the U.N. Security Council this morning that their preliminary assessment of Iraq’s declaration is that it falls short of a full disclosure of its weapons programs. The United States called the declaration “a deception” and “another material breach.” Other permanent members of the council were also critical of the declaration but stopped short of calling it a material breach — a finding that could lead to a war against Iraq. Blix, the head of U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, said, “There has been relatively little given in the declaration by way of evidence concerning their programs of weapons of mass destruction.” International Atomic Energy Agency chief ElBaradei, who is in charge of uncovering Iraq’s nuclear activities, said, “We still need much more cooperation from Iraq in terms of substance, in terms of evidence to exonerate themselves that they are clean from weapons of mass destruction.” Speaking to reporters after the council briefing, Blix said, “There were a lot of open questions … and these have not been answered by evidence in the new declaration. The absence of evidence means one can not have confidence that there do not remain weapons of mass destruction.” He added, “An opportunity was missed in the declaration to give a lot of evidence, they can still provide it, but it would have better if it had been in the declaration.” The United States was the only government to declare that Iraq is in “material breach” of Resolution 1441, the November resolution demanding a full disclosure of its weapons program. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said, “We were deeply disappointed that Iraq has again defied the council’s demands and chosen deception and concealment over full disclosure.” He added, “These are material omissions that in our view constitute another material breach. It is up to Iraq to prove there is some other explanation besides the obvious one, that this declaration is just one more act of deception.” The declaration “clearly shows that Iraq has spurned its last opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations,” said Negroponte. “It seeks to deceive when it says that Iraq has no ongoing weapons of mass destruction programs,” he said. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom called the declaration “inadequate.” He said, “The declaration was an opportunity to deal with these questions, that it has not done so, we find deeply disappointing … That amounts to a rejection by Iraq of the opportunity that Resolution 1441 afforded … therefore there is fuller work to do.” Greenstock repeatedly declined to use the term “material breach,” instead referring to the series of paragraphs on 1441 that refer to possible further council actions if Iraq is found to have made false statements or omissions in the declaration. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere of France also refused to use the term, saying, “It is for the Security Council to make such judgment in according with Resolution 1441.” De La Sabliere said the inspectors’ preliminary assessment “is very similar to ours … Despite its volume, the Iraqi declaration proves only a few new elements, the consistency of some elements can be questioned. Therefore the declaration does not clearly answer and resolve pending questions.” Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said, “It is not up to individual members [of the council] to make this judgment [on material breach]. It is up to the Security Council to make this judgment on the basis of reports from UNMOVIC and IAEA. And of course the work of the inspectors is at a very early stage.” Lavrov added, “We have been hearing allegations that Iraq does continue its WMD programs [but] we never saw any evidence that this is the case. We don’t know if this is true or not and we want this to be verified by professionals … To say that we know but we won’t tell you is not persuasive.” Iraqi Deputy Ambassador Abdul Munim al-Kadhe repeated his government’s position that “Iraq’s declaration is complete and comprehensive and included all that is required of Iraq.” He called the accusations by United States and United Kingdom “baseless … If they have any evidence, let them present this evidence.” He added, “Iraq is not in material breach as [Negroponte] said, this is the interpretation of the U.S. and does not represent the interpretation of the whole international community.” The council’s president for December, Colombian Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso, read a statement on behalf of the council that said the council was “looking forward” to meeting again in early 2003 “after all members of the council finish their own analytical work on the Iraqi declaration and to hold more regular briefing” from the inspectors. He added, “There was no decision, it was simply a preliminary assessment.” The council will meet again within the first 10 days of January. The inspectors are scheduled to give a more comprehensive assessment, not only of the declaration, but also of their own investigations on Jan. 27 (Jim Wurst, Global Security Newswire, Dec. 19). Prior to today’s meeting, Syria, one of the 10 nonpermanent Security Council members, returned the edited version of the declaration that it received, according to United Press International. “This is an unacceptable discrimination, either we take a full copy or we don’t take anything,” said Syrian Deputy Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad. “We protested the original handling over of the report to selected countries. Syria as a member of the council has the right to receive the report in full,” he added. Providing the full declaration to the five permanent council members while giving nonpermanent members access to only an edited version violated Security Council procedures, Mekdad said. “The decision that was made was not legal,” he said. “It was against the procedures of the council. All 15 members of the council have ratified the [Nuclear] Nonproliferation Treaty. All of them should be dealt with in the same way,” Mekdad added (William Reilly, United Press International, Dec. 19). Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said he would not participate in the Security Council discussion of the declaration. “I have no judgment [to make] because I will not share in this judgment since we did not receive the whole text. So how can we judge the report if it is not complete?” Wehbe said (Jim Wurst, Global Security Newswire). Some IAEA officials are angry that copies of the declaration have been distributed at all, according to the London Guardian. “It was a very dumb idea,” an agency official said. “They (the Americans) wanted to get their hands on something, forgetting they also had obligations on nonproliferation,” the official added (Ian Traynor, London Guardian, Dec. 19). U.S. Plans The United States has set the last week of January as the deadline for deciding whether to conduct military action against Iraq, officials said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 18). The Blix and ElBaradei council briefing scheduled for Jan. 27 is within the late January-early February timeframe that the U.S. Defense Department has said would be the best time to attack Iraq, according to the Washington Post. By waiting to make a case for military action until the end of next month, the United States should be able to demonstrate its commitment to a multilateral approach to disarming Iraq, administration officials said. The extra month should also give the United States enough time to build an irrefutable case for an attack that Security Council members would be unable to ignore, they said. Senior White House officials have decided that the best way to maintain international support against Iraq is to allow the inspections to continue, officials said (Bradley Graham, Washington Post, Dec. 19). France Might Join Attack Meanwhile, even though France was often at odds with the United States during negotiations over a U.N. resolution on Iraq, French officials now believe that the Iraqi WMD declaration fails to meet Security Council demands. They suggested that France might choose to support U.N.-mandated military action against Iraq. The flaws in the declaration amount to outright deception and have increased the chances that France would participate in a U.S.-led attack, sources said yesterday. “It is not accurate, not full, not comprehensive,” a French source said of the declaration. After examining the declaration for two weeks, analysts still have several serious unanswered questions related to Iraq’s WMD programs, with the possible exception of its nuclear efforts, French policymakers and experts said. “Discrepancies apparently exist in most categories of Iraq’s suspected arsenal of prohibited weapons,” a French diplomat in a European capital said. For example, the declaration contains no information concerning research into biological toxins, French sources said. With regard to chemical weapons, Baghdad also has failed to account for imports of precursor chemicals that have been large enough to suggest continued weapon development since 1998, they said. “The amounts listed in their declaration does not tally with our information based on intelligence reporting about Iraqi foreign orders and bills of lading,” an expert said. The information Iraq has offered on its ballistic missile programs has raised concerns that it has worked to improve its missiles so that they can be quickly converted to achieve longer ranges than those allowed under U.N. regulations, French sources said. Iraq is apparently conducting missile engineering programs with what an expert called “ambiguous characteristics” similar to efforts to improve the ranges of short-range ballistic missiles, according to the International Herald-Tribune. Iraq also has failed to provide enough information on dual-use programs, French sources said. The declaration fails to answer several questions that have been unresolved since the last U.N. inspections in 1998, an expert said. “This is a compendium of issues that are out there, in U.N. documents describing suspected weapons programs that Baghdad needs to account for, which Iraq just chose to ignore” in its declaration, a European specialist said. The large number of flaws in the declaration indicates that Iraq is seeking to mislead the Security Council, which could result in an accusation that Iraq is in “material breach” of U.N. resolutions, French officials said. In short, the declaration “doesn’t answer the question that the Security Council put forward in its resolution” calling for evidence of Iraq’s disarmament, according to some familiar with French policymakers’ thinking (Joseph Fitchett, International Herald Tribune, Dec. 19). Inspections Meanwhile, London has begun providing U.N. inspectors with intelligence to aid in their search for evidence of Iraqi WMD programs, a British official said yesterday. The United Kingdom has established a channel with the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and is “passing information, and this is something that I think you can expect to continue,” the official said. London also has information for the IAEA, the official added. “It’s no good just us knowing,” the official said. “We know firstly that for inspections to be effective they need this sort of information, and secondly, if our information is to be credible to others it needs to be tested out by inspectors,” the official added (Edith Lederer, Associated Press, Dec. 19). Inspectors traveled to four sites today, according to the Associated Press. They were delayed in entering a building at the al-Fao military industrial facility, AP reported. The Arab satellite television network al-Jazeera reported that inspectors were denied access for about 30 minutes because they had not given advance notification, but another witness said the delay lasted for about five minutes while officials looked for keys for the building. Inspectors visited the al-Hareth site in the Taji area, about 20 miles north of Baghdad. Iraq has claimed the site is a food warehouse, but the United States has alleged it is a biological weapons site (Nadia Abou El-Magd, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Dec. 19). They also traveled to a pesticide and insecticide plant at al-Tariq Company at Fallujah, 60 miles west of Baghdad, and the bin Firnas engineering firm, 15 miles north of Baghdad, which has employed personnel previously involved in Iraq’s nuclear weapons efforts (Kamal Taha, Agence France-Presse, Dec. 19). Yesterday, an UNMOVIC biological team visited the Mosul Bakery Yeast Factory in northern Iraq, according to an IAEA press release. Missile inspectors visited the former Taji Project 144 site, where ballistic missile components are stored, and a 3.5-kilometer-area on both sides of the al-Saklawiya river, where gyroscope components were formerly destroyed. An IAEA team visited three sites in the Baghdad area yesterday — the Saidiya Specialized Institute for Engineering Industries, a hydraulics factory and the Daura Industrial Engine Factory, according to the agency (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Dec 18). For further information, see:
From December 19, 2002 issue.Iraq II: Summary of InspectionsInspectors from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have now visited dozens of sites in the round of post-Gulf War inspections that resumed Nov. 27 after a four-year lapse. The following chart summarizes some of their reported activities.
From December 18, 2002 issue.Iraq I: United States Expected to Declare Baghdad Is Violating U.N. ResolutionsThe United States is expected to announce tomorrow that Iraq has violated the recent U.N. resolution requiring it to reveal all of its weapons of mass destruction, senior Bush administration officials said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 17). Senior U.S. State Department nonproliferation official John Wolf met yesterday with U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to outline the flaws U.S. intelligence agencies have said they have found in Iraq’s WMD declaration, according to the New York Times. While Wolf did not provide Blix with the data used to support the U.S. evaluation of the declaration, “we gave him the thrust with some examples,” a Bush administration official said (Sanger/Preston, New York Times, Dec. 18). The White House is expected to publicly present the U.S. assessment of the declaration Friday, the day after U.N. inspectors brief the Security Council on it, according to the Washington Post. U.S. President George W. Bush might deliver the statement himself, the Post reported. The United States and U.N. inspectors agree that the declaration fails to provide a full and accurate picture of Iraq’s WMD efforts as called for under U.N. Resolution 1441, sources said (see GSN, Nov. 8; Pincus/DeYoung, Washington Post, Dec. 18). The United States has chosen to wait until at least Friday to reveal its assessment of the declaration to avoid being seen as trying to pre-empt the U.N. report, U.S. officials said. “We’re not going to get too detailed on Thursday. We’re not going to be talking so much about mustard gas and (nerve agent) VX as the fact that there were omissions in the declaration,” a U.S. official said. “It wasn’t detailed enough. It didn’t give any proof as to what was destroyed,” the official added. When the United States does present its assessment, it will only be a preliminary maneuver, officials said. “Don’t bill this as a definitive or instant grand jury indictment on Thursday,” a senior State official said. “We will base our final conclusions down the road on the Blix assessment as well as on further analysis, discussions with supplier countries (that sold Iraq items used for weapons systems), other permanent members of the Security Council and other things,” the official added (Wright/Farley, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 18). Senior U.S. national security advisers met yesterday to discuss the Iraq issue, including the issue of when Bush should declare that Iraq is in “material breach” of the resolution, according to several officials. Bush is expected to consider the question during a national security meeting set for today, officials said (Sanger/Preston, New York Times). During yesterday’s meeting, White House foreign policy officials began preparing a three-pronged strategy to launch after the United Nations presents its assessment of the declaration, Bush administration officials said. The strategy will include a public relations campaign to convince the U.S. public and other countries that Iraq has not fully revealed its WMD programs, a diplomatic campaign to build Security Council unity for further action, and planning for a new round of strengthened inspections to prove that Iraq has lied, the officials said (Wright/Farley, Los Angeles Times). As part of the toughened inspections, the United States plans to provide U.S. intelligence data to inspectors and hopes they will also be able to interview scientists who were involved with Iraqi WMD programs, officials said. The overall purpose of the strategy is to find a “smoking gun” to prove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has lied when he has said Iraq no longer possesses weapons of mass destruction, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Proving Hussein has lied, however, will be an difficult task, a State official said (Strobel/Ibarguen, Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 18). Security Council Even though the United States and the United Kingdom agree that the declaration is heavily flawed, Washington expects different reactions from the remaining permanent council members — China, France and Russia, said U.S. officials and U.N. diplomats. The officials and diplomats said they believe, however, that the Security Council will decide that now is not the right time for military action against Iraq, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Expect to see varying degrees of reaction — some will say partial breach, others will say complete,” said a Security Council diplomat. “The only point of full agreement is that this is not the trigger for military action,” the diplomat added (Wright/Farley, Los Angeles Times). Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov yesterday called on countries to refrain from making a judgment on the declaration until the inspectors have presented their report. “We are not happy that some people in Washington are trying to interpret in public the resolution in a way that is clearly prejudging what inspectors say,” Lavrov said (Turner/Williamson, Financial Times, Dec. 18). The 10 nonpermanent Security Council members were given an opportunity yesterday to receive edited copies of the Iraqi declaration. Some of the declaration’s annexes and Arabic materials might be given to the nonpermanent council members later if the Security Council agrees to do so, said U.N. spokesman Ewen Buchanan. The International Atomic Energy Agency presented copies of its report on Iraq nuclear program to the nonpermanent council members yesterday, according to the Associated Press. The edited declaration contains many deletions, including the names of foreign individuals and companies as well as some Iraqis, a Security Council diplomat said. Some of the editing, however, appears to have been done quickly, for example, leaving the names of some Swiss and West German companies in the missile section still discernible, according to the diplomat. “There seem to be a lot of gaps and omissions in this declaration but they seem to be produced by UNMOVIC [the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission], the IAEA and the five permanent members, not by Iraq,” a diplomat said (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Dec. 18). Scientists Meanwhile, as requested by inspectors Iraq has begun preparing a list of personnel who worked in its WMD programs, U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said. “I understand they are working on it,” he said. The list is expected to include personnel ranging from top WMD program officials to scientists and engineers, Ueki said (DAWN, Dec. 18). Inspections U.N. inspectors searched at least nine suspect Iraqi sites today, according to Reuters. UNMOVIC inspectors visited a Baghdad water facility; a missile launch pad north of Baghdad; and a paint factory in southern Iraq, Iraqi officials said. UNMOVIC teams also visited a Directorate for Military Works and Clothing Stores depot and the biology department of a university in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. They revisited the al-Nassr Company for Mechanical Industries in the Taji area north of Baghdad. IAEA inspectors visited the Engineering Industries Institute and the al-Fida Company in Dora, just south of Baghdad, according to Reuters. A second IAEA team visited the Saddam Dam near Mosul (Reuters/MSNBC.com, Dec. 18). Yesterday, an UNMOVIC biological team traveled to Mosul to visit previously declared sites in the area, according to an IAEA press release. UNMOVIC missile experts visited the Oxidizer Production plant, which produces ballistic missile fuel; and the al-Almeen Factory, which produces components for the al-Fet’h and al-Abour missiles. An UNMOVIC chemical team revisited the Fallujah 2 site. IAEA experts visited the Iraqi Plant, a previously declared site, the agency release said. An additional eight UNMOVIC inspectors arrived in Baghdad yesterday, bringing the total number of inspectors to 113 — 94 from UNMOVIC and 19 from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Dec. 17). For further information, see:
From December 18, 2002 issue.Iraq II: Summary of InspectionsInspectors from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have now visited dozens of sites in the round of post-Gulf War inspections that resumed Nov. 27 after a four-year lapse. The following chart summarizes some of their reported activities.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Back to top