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UN Arms Inspectors Could Take a Year

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Reuters
January 13, 2003

U.N. arms experts say they want up to a year to complete their inspections in Iraq, as Washington masses a force in the Gulf that will be ready to wage war within weeks.


Top U.N. inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei go to Baghdad next weekend to demand Iraq account for missing stocks of such items as chemical bombs, nerve gas and missile engines. But they appeared anxious on Monday to slow down the timetable of any U.S. attack on Iraq.

"We are operating on the basis of timelines that have been provided to us in (U.N.) resolutions 1284 and 1441," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told Reuters in Vienna.

"Those timelines will require somewhere between six and 12 months before we're in a position where the Security Council might suspend sanctions" if no weapons are found. "We think we'll get the time we need since no one has explicitly said that they disagreed with our assessment of the time it would take," he said.

ElBaradei himself told reporters in Paris: "We need to take a few months...How long depends on the cooperation of Iraq." He added: "There is a great deal of anxiousness that we need to finish our job, our mission, as soon as possible."

Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have already been massed in the Gulf and analysts say military chiefs want any attack on Iraq to be launched within the next two or three winter months, before temperatures in the desert region rise.

"Frankly we think it is worth the wait to get a sustainable and long-term peaceful solution," Gwozdecky told CNN in a separate interview. "It is a far better option to wait a little bit longer than to have to resort to war."

He stressed that January 27, the date on which inspectors are scheduled to report to the U.N. Security Council on Iraq's compliance with disarmament demands, was not a final deadline. "There's a little bit of misunderstanding about this January 27 reporting date. The Security Council is asking us to report but not to have all the answers at that point," Gwozdecky said.

Inspectors briefed the Security Council last week on the Iraq inspections. "We heard unanimous support from the council members that they were four-square behind us, and we believe that they're willing to give us the time that we need," he said.

POPE OPPOSES WAR

The newspaper USA Today said on Monday the U.S. force in the Gulf would not be ready for full-scale war until late February or early March because of logistical complications. It said the delayed timetable had contributed to the willingness of President George W. Bush's administration to accept extending arms inspections beyond the January 27 report.

Blix and ElBaradei told the U.N. Security Council last week that while searches in Iraq so far had not uncovered "smoking guns", Baghdad had left a "great many questions" unanswered.

Washington has signalled that if Iraq does not provide satisfactory answers, this could be deemed non-cooperation under U.N. resolutions and therefore a trigger for war.

The United States announced new troop deployments over the weekend amid signs most governments in Europe and the Middle East are nervous about war and want all other options explored.

Pope John Paul on Monday condemned the threatened war, saying it could be avoided and would be a defeat for humanity. "And what are we to say of the threat of a war which could strike Iraq, the land of the Prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than 12 years of embargo?" he said.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair are chief prosecutors of the case against Iraq, saying they have solid intelligence it has weapons of mass destruction.

Even in Britain, a poll published on Monday showed that 53 percent of people would back a U.N.-sanctioned attack but only 13 percent would support action by the U.S. and Britain alone.

BLAIR AND BUSH TO MEET

Bush and Blair will meet soon after the January 27 report to discuss what to do next on Iraq. British newspapers said Blair would go to Washington to underline his belief that the inspectors should be given time to deal with Iraq.

In Washington there is deep scepticism that inspection teams are capable of uncovering the truth about Iraq's weaponry. Critics express dismay that Iraqi minders have accompanied all Iraqi scientists interviewed by inspectors so far. Iraq said on Sunday two scientists interviewed by inspectors last month had refused to leave the country for further interviews.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said only Iraq's neighbours could stop the United States from declaring war on Baghdad. "Inspection teams are here and our cooperation with them is continuing, but if America wants to look for a pretext for the aggression, only the countries of the region can prevent it," he said at talks with Turkish Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen.


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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.