May 10, 2002
The head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Committee (UNMOVIC), Hans Blix, was quoted Friday as saying he did not discern "a green light" for the return of arms inspectors to Iraq when he met with the Iraqi delegation to the talks with the U.N. in New York last week.
In an interview with the London-based Arabic daily "Al-Hayat", Blix expressed the conviction that there was no need for the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq if a U.S.-led military strike against that country was "inevitable".
Speaking about his impression during the last round of dialogue between Iraq and the U.N. conducted on May 1-3, Blix said "we went into details regarding inspection and the conditions mentioned in the U.N. Security Council resolutions, but there was no green light (from the Iraqis)". "The fact that they sat with me at the same table is tantamount to a recognition of Resolution 1284, but I did not hear from them that they are going to approve the inspection (for arms) again," he added.
Iraq has so far rejected Resolution 1284, which was adopted by the Security Council at the end of 1999. The resolution, which created UNMOVIC as a replacement for the U.N. special committee on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (UNSCOM), offered Baghdad a temporary lifting of the U.N. sanctions in return for allowing back the U.N. arms inspectors who left Iraq at the end of 1998.
"We don't know exactly what they are looking for. We did hear the foreign minister (of Iraq) saying that it would be difficult to persuade the Iraqi people to accept inspections so long as there was a threat of aggression. I would imagine this is one important element," Blix said.
He was alluding to the recurrent warnings by the United States and Britain that Baghdad should expect a retaliatory military action if it remained adamant in refusing to allow the return of U.N. arms inspectors to Iraq to complete their mission of eliminating the country's weapons of mass destruction.
"If the invasion turns out to be inevitable, then the return of inspectors appears not to be necessary," the UNMOVIC chief said. "But, judging by statements made so far by U.S. officials, I think a military action (against Iraq) is not a forgone conclusion," he added.
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