May 10, 2002
The chief U.N. weapons inspector said Iraq must do more than let inspectors into the Arab country and instead prove that it has no weapons of mass destruction.
In an undated interview published Friday in the London-based, Arabic-language Al Hayat newspaper, Hans Blix said inspectors needed hard proof, not a mere invite, to determine whether Iraq has dismantled chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, along with the missiles to deliver them.
Such verification is necessary before economic sanctions imposed on Iraq following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted. The return of inspectors was at the center of Iraq-U.N. talks, involving Blix, that ended without breakthrough earlier this month. America accuses Iraq of stockpiling weapons of mass detraction. Iraq maintains it has dismantled all such weapons, but has refused to let in the U.N. inspectors, who left Baghdad ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes in December 1998.
In his Al Hayat interview, Blix said Baghdad should present documents to U.N. inspectors concerning the weapons and permit meetings with Iraqi officials. Such cooperation could see the sanctions lifted within a year, he said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri has said Iraqis are opposed to accepting inspectors as long as U.S. threats to attack it persist, Blix said. President George W. Bush has warned Saddam Hussein of unspecified consequences if weapons inspectors are prevented from entering Iraq.
Blix wants U.N. inspectors to go to Iraq to update old data, visit suspected weapons production and storage sites and determine pending issues. The number of inspectors would eventually reach 80, he said. Following such inspections, the U.N. team would report to the Security Council.
Sabri has indicated that Iraq wants inspections to run for a limited time and result in certification that it is free of such weapons. Western officials have rejected any conditions and demanded unfettered access to suspected weapons sites. In the last round of U.N.-Iraqi talks, Blix said he had answered about half of 19 questions Iraq presented on the proposed inspections. Follow-up talks should focus on practical steps regarding inspections resumption, he said.
The U.N. Special Commission was created after the 1991 Gulf War to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Baghdad accused it of spying and it was replaced in December 1999 by the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which Blix runs.
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