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| Iraq |
| Blix pleads for time to finish the job |
| 2003-03-08 |
| Edited for length. The United Nations chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, tried yesterday to forestall war by offering his most positive assessment yet of Iraqi disarmament. Although he is supposed to have a neutral, civil servant role, providing objective facts, he tried to secure more time for his inspection teams and delay the onset of conflict, in direct opposition to the US-British rush towards war. Wow. The Guardian calls Blixie out? Quick, Ethel, my pills! He stressed that Iraq had made "substantial" progress in destroying the Samoud 2 missiles, that no evidence had been found of biological and chemical weapons and that some documentation, apparently of limited value, had been handed over by Iraq. "Yep, we can't find nuttin', and he's handed us a big steamin' pile o' dogpoop, but I figger we're makin' progress!" Taking up the challenge posed by President Bush that Iraq was in breach of its disarmament obligations, Mr Blix reluctantly concluded that Iraq had failed to move "immediately" to begin disarmament. He tried to soften this admission by saying that Iraq had moved forward in complying elsewhere. "He ain't moved much, but that there George feller moved him an inch or so, and I figger that's good 'nough!" The first report by Mr Blix in January was critical of the Iraqi government's slowness to cooperate. The second, last month, was on balance Blixie's getting worried about his pension, I think. In the most positive language of his report, Mr Blix said Iraq's agreement to destroy its Samoud 2 missiles constituted "a substantial measure of disarmament — indeed, the first since the 1990s". He added pointedly: "We are not watching the breaking of toothpicks — lethal weapons are being destroyed." And more are being made. Mr Blix said that while at first resisting the destruction of the missiles, Iraq had now accepted that they should be destroyed. The issue of the missiles is significant. Mr Blix used strong language in criticising what he called the proscribed missiles in his report. The Iraqi deputy Of course not. He didn't find them, so they don't exist. Mr Blix said that he had found no evidence yet of hidden arsenals of VX nerve gas in spite of using radar to search for underground arsenals. The tone in his verbal report to the security council was softer than a written report he provided that set out a long list of VX, anthrax and other chemical and biological weapons that were still missing. Andy Oppenheimer, a specialist in nuclear, biological and chemical weapons at Jane's Terrorism and Security Monitor, said: "They have not found a smoking gun. That is what makes it so difficult to carry out further action. We know there is some deception but we can't prove it. We can only go on what the inspectors say." Mr Oppenheimer described the missing anthrax and VX gas as the crux of the matter. "This is the material that has to be sorted out. They still have not found them. There is supposed to be a great network of these sites. They need intelligence and cooperation to find them. Biological and chemical weapons are so relatively easy to hide, it is difficult to establish whether Iraq still has them." Right. We don't have cooperation, we can't verify that the Iraqis have destroyed the stuff, but it's all okay to Blixie. Iraq has provided access to scientists, engineers and chemists involved in weapons programmes but these have been of limited value because few of them have been in private. Conscious of reprisals against those being interviewed and their families, Mr Blix finally said yesterday he will ask shortly for such interviews to be conducted abroad, either in an Arab country or in Cyprus, the temporary headquarters of the inspectors. And it only took what, eight months to decide to interview them elsewhere? British and US intelligence agencies say they have provided Mr Blix and his team with valuable information - including the existence of the Samoud 2 missiles - which, they say, would not have been discovered or admitted to by the Iraqis without their help. Mr Blix yesterday made no reference to this. Instead, he questioned the value of the intelligence provided to him. Not only incompetent, but ungrateful. He said inspectors had been unable to verify some claims about hidden Iraqi weapons and he asked again for more information about suspect sites. He referred to "intelligence claims" about mobile biological weapons laboratories. He said his inspectors had found mobile food testing and seed processing equipment but no evidence of proscribed activities. Stalin used to have the NKVD disguise its paddy wagons as "bread trucks." A Red Cross visitor remarked that she'd never seen a city, Moscow, so well supplied with bread. Making the case for more time, Mr Blix said he expected to begin night inspections using Russian planes and improve overhead surveillances by using German drones. We could loan him some Predators, but we get to fire the attached Hellfires. To the extent that the US and Britain seem to be intent on war, Mr Blix's assessment was a sideshow to be ignored. But it mattered in that he did not provide a casus belli, and helped the case of those arguing for the inspectors to be given more time. His assessment will not have helped to persuade sceptical members of the security council, who will be asked next week to vote for a resolution setting an ultimatum that could lead to war. His mission was to ensure he didn't help anyone. Mission accomplished. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 I can hear rousing cries of: 12 more years! 12 more years! ... |
| Posted by: Spot 2003-03-08 09:33:58 |
| #1 MB wrote the following to the post immediately above, not realizing this post was here, but it bears repeating: Why is MB's nose twitching and quivering very badly every time the name Blix is written or spoken. She has a very keen nose which seems to indicate to her that something is badly amiss with that man. Wonder why??? |
| Posted by: MommaBear 2003-03-08 21:38:01 |