The Brain
01-09-03, 01:01 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20030109/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iraq_16
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. weapons inspectors have not found any "smoking guns" in Iraq but are receiving intelligence from several nations that could help point the way to new sites to search for weapons of mass destruction, the chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Thursday.
A White House official said Blix's comments did not contradict the U.S. position that Baghdad is still working to hide its weapons programs. Inspectors' reports have also stated that Iraq still must present evidence it does not possess such weapons, the official said on condition of anonymity.
In Baghdad, an adviser to Saddam Hussein addressed another concern — taking Iraqi scientists to neutral ground abroad for questioning.
Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer to the inspection teams, said Thursday that a U.N. inspector had raised the possibility — without making a formal request — of taking Iraqi scientists to Cyprus for questioning. Asked how Iraq responded, he repeated the Iraqi position that scientists could decide for themselves but that they were expected to refuse.
Blix said he hadn't heard of such a request. He said "the question of interviews remains" and that the U.N. Security Council had provided several options with how to conduct the questioning.
Blix spoke to reporters before briefing the Security Council on the progress of inspections and assessments of Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration, which he and other inspectors have said leaves many questions unanswered.
The inspectors are to give a formal report on Iraq's compliance on Jan. 27. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday said that date should not be seen as a deadline for conflict.
"We are in the middle of a process. The U.N. inspectors have just, at the beginning of the year, got their full complement of inspectors there," Blair told government ministers in London, according to his spokesman.
The United States, backed by Britain, has threatened military action against Iraq if it does not comply with U.N. demands and rid itself of programs for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. But Blix stressed that U.N. resolution do not put a time limit on inspections.
Blix briefed the council along with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which leads nuclear inspections in Iraq.
Ahead of the briefing, Blix said "a more profound reading" of Iraq's weapons declaration confirmed inspectors' initial impression a month ago that it was incomplete.
"We think that the declaration failed to answer a great many questions," he told reporters.
He said Iraq had not replied to his requests for the answers made since the declaration. "Iraq may have more to say. I hope so," he said.
Amin denied inspectors had submitted any questions and said Iraq had shown that it no longer has any weapons of mass destruction.
For much of the Security Council, the issues of Iraqi cooperation with inspectors and evidence of clandestine Iraqi weapons programs are considered crucial to support for any military action.
"We have now been there for some two months and been covering the country in ever wider sweeps and we haven't found any smoking guns," Blix said.
Asked whether inspectors were getting significant intelligence from the United States, Blix said: "Well, we are getting intelligence from several sources and I will not go into the operative part of that, but it's clear that this will be helpful in the future to us."
"We have gone to, I think, about 125 sites already, and some of them were not visited before, and there will be more. And as more intelligence comes in, there will be more sites visited. I'm confident that we will get more intelligence."
Blix has said previously that his inspectors need intelligence from other nations because Iraq's weapons declaration leaves so many unanswered questions that it's impossible to verify its claim of having no weapons of mass destruction.
Secretary of State Colin Powell told The Washington Post for Thursday's editions that in the past few days, the United States has begun giving inspectors "significant intelligence" that has enabled them to become "more aggressive and to be more comprehensive in the work they're doing."
But Washington is holding back some information to see if inspectors "are able to handle it and exploit it. ... It is not a matter of opening up every door we have," Powell said.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said his government wants the council to comply with Resolution 1441, adopted Nov. 8, which asks all countries to provide information on Iraq's "prohibited programs" and recommend sites to be visited and Iraqis to be interviewed.
The United States has promised to share information with inspectors, as long as U.S. intelligence sources aren't compromised. "We have and will continue to provide information to the inspectors," a U.S. official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Britain opened a channel weeks ago to provide the inspectors with information and "they are getting all that we can usefully give," a British official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
French President Jacques Chirac, two days after telling his armed forces to be ready "for all eventualities," said Thursday he hoped the Iraq crisis would be resolved peacefully and reiterated that military action must be a last resort.
Chirac said the government will work alongside the United Nations to make Saddam comply with his U.N. disarmament obligations and that France would continue to push for a diplomatic solution.
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. weapons inspectors have not found any "smoking guns" in Iraq but are receiving intelligence from several nations that could help point the way to new sites to search for weapons of mass destruction, the chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Thursday.
A White House official said Blix's comments did not contradict the U.S. position that Baghdad is still working to hide its weapons programs. Inspectors' reports have also stated that Iraq still must present evidence it does not possess such weapons, the official said on condition of anonymity.
In Baghdad, an adviser to Saddam Hussein addressed another concern — taking Iraqi scientists to neutral ground abroad for questioning.
Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer to the inspection teams, said Thursday that a U.N. inspector had raised the possibility — without making a formal request — of taking Iraqi scientists to Cyprus for questioning. Asked how Iraq responded, he repeated the Iraqi position that scientists could decide for themselves but that they were expected to refuse.
Blix said he hadn't heard of such a request. He said "the question of interviews remains" and that the U.N. Security Council had provided several options with how to conduct the questioning.
Blix spoke to reporters before briefing the Security Council on the progress of inspections and assessments of Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration, which he and other inspectors have said leaves many questions unanswered.
The inspectors are to give a formal report on Iraq's compliance on Jan. 27. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday said that date should not be seen as a deadline for conflict.
"We are in the middle of a process. The U.N. inspectors have just, at the beginning of the year, got their full complement of inspectors there," Blair told government ministers in London, according to his spokesman.
The United States, backed by Britain, has threatened military action against Iraq if it does not comply with U.N. demands and rid itself of programs for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. But Blix stressed that U.N. resolution do not put a time limit on inspections.
Blix briefed the council along with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which leads nuclear inspections in Iraq.
Ahead of the briefing, Blix said "a more profound reading" of Iraq's weapons declaration confirmed inspectors' initial impression a month ago that it was incomplete.
"We think that the declaration failed to answer a great many questions," he told reporters.
He said Iraq had not replied to his requests for the answers made since the declaration. "Iraq may have more to say. I hope so," he said.
Amin denied inspectors had submitted any questions and said Iraq had shown that it no longer has any weapons of mass destruction.
For much of the Security Council, the issues of Iraqi cooperation with inspectors and evidence of clandestine Iraqi weapons programs are considered crucial to support for any military action.
"We have now been there for some two months and been covering the country in ever wider sweeps and we haven't found any smoking guns," Blix said.
Asked whether inspectors were getting significant intelligence from the United States, Blix said: "Well, we are getting intelligence from several sources and I will not go into the operative part of that, but it's clear that this will be helpful in the future to us."
"We have gone to, I think, about 125 sites already, and some of them were not visited before, and there will be more. And as more intelligence comes in, there will be more sites visited. I'm confident that we will get more intelligence."
Blix has said previously that his inspectors need intelligence from other nations because Iraq's weapons declaration leaves so many unanswered questions that it's impossible to verify its claim of having no weapons of mass destruction.
Secretary of State Colin Powell told The Washington Post for Thursday's editions that in the past few days, the United States has begun giving inspectors "significant intelligence" that has enabled them to become "more aggressive and to be more comprehensive in the work they're doing."
But Washington is holding back some information to see if inspectors "are able to handle it and exploit it. ... It is not a matter of opening up every door we have," Powell said.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said his government wants the council to comply with Resolution 1441, adopted Nov. 8, which asks all countries to provide information on Iraq's "prohibited programs" and recommend sites to be visited and Iraqis to be interviewed.
The United States has promised to share information with inspectors, as long as U.S. intelligence sources aren't compromised. "We have and will continue to provide information to the inspectors," a U.S. official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Britain opened a channel weeks ago to provide the inspectors with information and "they are getting all that we can usefully give," a British official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
French President Jacques Chirac, two days after telling his armed forces to be ready "for all eventualities," said Thursday he hoped the Iraq crisis would be resolved peacefully and reiterated that military action must be a last resort.
Chirac said the government will work alongside the United Nations to make Saddam comply with his U.N. disarmament obligations and that France would continue to push for a diplomatic solution.