by Barbara Crossette
Officials here cautioned today that although the chief United Nation arms inspector succeeded over the weekend in setting a list of immediate goals for Iraq to meet before a eight-year embargo on oil sales could be lifted, other more difficult issue remained.
Nizar Hamdoon, Iraq's representative at the United Nations, said in an interview today that the inspector, Richard Butler, had laid out in Baghdad exactly what Iraq needed to do to come into compliance with Security Council resolutions. Iraq welcomed the move, he said, and has pledged cooperation.
"He provided a final list, and that's important," Mr. Hamdoon said "And they have agreed on a time frame for the different activities."
But diplomats here and in the Middle East say Mr. Butler never intended to predict that Iraq would meet by early August the conditions for ending sanctions. The first assessment of Iraqi compliance will be made in August, almost exactly eight years after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The sanctions are due to be reviewed in October.
There are now concerns among diplomats that Iraq will try to turn any cooperation into proof that it has met all demands, as it did when it allowed diplomats and inspectors to conduct pro forma inspections of presidential palaces earlier this year.
United Nations officials said that in talks with the Iraqis last weekend Mr. Butler decided to focus during the next two months on straightforward disarmament measures - the handing over of weapons parts still unaccounted for in biological, chemical and missile programs. They would set aside for later the large questions of documentation involving areas of official decision-making especially on Iraqi concealment policies, which inspectors say were deliberate attempts to confuse and confound their work.
Also put aside for the moment are demands for proof that 300 tons of missile fuel has been destroyed, according to diplomats who spoke to Reuters in Baghdad. Mr. Butler's team has said the fuel was suitable -only for Scud-type missiles. Iraq insists it has other uses.
Bill Richardson, the United State representative at the United Nations and other diplomats said today that the order in which Iraq approached its tasks did not change the reality that it had a way to go before it could resume selling oil and even longer go before the broader trade embargo would be lifted completely. Iraq will also remain under international scrutiny for an indefinite period after sanctions were lifted.
"In our view, based on Unscom's last briefing with the Security Council, Iraq has a long way to go to fully comply with the disarmament provisions relating to chemical and biological weapons," Mr. Richardson said in an interview, referring to the United Nations Special Commission, which Mr. Butler leads. "The Iraqis are good at rhetoric about complying but when it comes to fulfilling their commitments they are always woefully short. We don't expect the Butler road map to be met." Mr. Butler, who is on his way to Australia from the Middle East, was not available for comment today.
Officials said that he would submit a report on his talks in Baghdad to the Security Council by the end of the week and that it would outline his program of action. It is expected to detail the timetable of action for the period before the next half-yearly sanctions review in October.
Today, Iraqi officials said Mr. Butler and Unscom had "finally shown flexibility," and they tried to turn Mr. Butler's more conciliatory, methodical approach into progress, if not victory, even in the most difficult area, biological weapons.
"We agreed on a new approach, a practical approach, within the context of disarmament to address the biological file," Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister who negotiates with Mr. Butler, said today in Baghdad, where an Egyptian trade fair opened - a signal of Iraq's hopes.
Iraq, which when not promising compliance is denying it has any disarming left to do, is pressing hard for some lifting of sanctions - at least the bar on oil sales - in October.
Mr. Hamdoon confirmed today that his Government decided last week not to accept any more relief aid from American or other foreign groups that have been willing to defy sanctions if necessary to import medicines and other commodities for Iraqis suffering from sanctions. Iraq asked its friends abroad to lobby against sanctions instead.
Russia, iraq's strongest Supporter on the Security Council, seemed to take a less optimistic view of the Baghdad talks. In Moscow today, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Vladimir Rakhmanin, told reporters that the meetings between Mr. Butler and Mr. Aziz had been "tense."
A special Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East was sent to Baghdad this week to hold his own meetings with Iraqi leaders.
The envoy, Viktor Posuvalyuk, played an important role earlier this year in defusing a crisis that led to an American war buildup in the Persian Gulf and ultimately to the visit by Secretary General Kofi Annan to Baghdad.
Some Security Council members, are questioning whether the United States, with a range of international crises to confront, will I be able to give much attention to Iraq if Mr. Butler runs into trouble again with Baghdad. On May 26 the Pentagon announced that half its forces in the gulf area would be withdrawn.
