|
Inspectors Hold Urgent Talks With Iraq
The chief U.N. arms inspectors sat down for urgent talks with Iraqi officials Sunday, bearing a long list of questions about Iraq's weapons programs and a demand for better cooperation from Saddam Hussein's government to avoid war."Lookee here, we're not gonna be able to hold the Merkins and Brits back unless you guys at least appear a little cooperative..." Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei were in Iraq for what ElBaradei said was a last-ditch effort to persuade Iraq to "give us what we need" before the pair report to the Security Council Jan. 27 on Iraq's claim that it has no banned chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. "Baghdad, its people and leadership, is determined to force the Mongols of our age to commit suicide at its gates!" "We do not think that war is inevitable," Blix told reporters in Baghdad. "We think that the inspection process that we are conducting is the peaceful alternative. It requires comprehensive inspections and it requires a very active Iraqi cooperation." "But you've gotta do something to cooperate!" "It's in Iraq's benefit to submit all the evidence it has, so that we can submit positive reports to the Security Council," ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear agency, said. "The army of Hulagu has come again to clash with Baghdad after it was born anew!" "We are not here to humiliate or to insult," Blix said beforehand. "We are here to inspect in the best, correct manner." "They will commit suicide on the walls of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities!" Blix and ElBaradei were met at Saddam International Airport by key presidential adviser Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi, who led the Iraqi side in talks that began at the Foreign Ministry in the afternoon. "We need to show progress because the international community is getting very much impatient," ElBaradei said. "We need to bring closure to the Iraqi file on weapons of mass destruction." "Right, then. We'll see what we can do..." Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-19 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=9387 |