| Submit your comments on this article |
| Axis of Evil |
| Powell Promises U.N. Compelling Proof on Iraq |
| 2003-02-03 |
| LONDON/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged Monday to provide "straightforward, sober and compelling" proof this week that Iraq was hiding banned weapons from United Nations inspectors in violation of U.N. demands. Baghdad has already dismissed the evidence. "They won't be really proof, they will be fabricated space and aerial photos," Hussam Mohammad Amin, head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, said Sunday. Wow, never saw that coming,did we? And Hussam sounds like he's got a real tough job. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece two days before he speaks to the U.N. Security Council, Powell wrote that although there was still no "smoking gun," the world must recognize Iraq had flouted the will of the international community. I'd settle for "smoking rubble"... Powell was backed up by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's main ally in its drive to force Baghdad to give up banned weapons peacefully or by force. Blair said there was "unmistakable evidence" that Iraq was withholding cooperation from the inspectors. Striking a conciliatory but firm note toward other European allies, many of them skeptical of U.S. intentions, Powell promised Washington would try to bridge differences and fully consult its partners before any decision to go to war. ...and if that don't work, we're going anyways."Partners" my ass. A peaceful outcome was still possible if Iraq's President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) switched course and cooperated with U.N. experts hunting for Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction. But Washington "will not shrink from war" if necessary, he wrote. Powell did not say what evidence he would hand the Security Council Wednesday. One of his aides told an Egyptian daily it would not have the detail of evidence used in a law court but would convince "any sensible person" Iraq was hiding something. Any "sensible person" is already convinced. NO PICTURES OF STOCKPILED WEAPONS Richard Haass, State Department director of policy planning, told al-Ahram in an interview run in Arabic: "I don't want to raise expectations. We will not present pictures of 30,000 stockpiled warheads which can each carry chemical weapons, if that is what you mean by evidence." The two top U.N. disarmament officials, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, are expected to go to Baghdad at the end of the week despite a letter they wrote that appeared to put conditions on the trip, U.N. officials said. Iraq has rejected any conditions for the visit, expected on Saturday, just days before another key report by the inspectors to the Security Council on February 14 -- possibly the last before Washington finally decides on an attack. In a German newspaper interview published Monday, Blix called on the United States to come up with concrete facts in its evidence to the United Nations this week. "What we need is evidence that is actionable, tip-offs that lead us to specific places," Blix, the U.N.'s chief weapons inspector, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Like flashing signs "Weapons of Mass Destruction HERE". In the Wall Street Journal article, Powell wrote that he would say Baghdad was continuing to frustrate the work of the inspectors, who have been scouring Iraq since November but have yet to find proof of chemical, biological or nuclear arms. "While there will be no 'smoking gun' ... we will ... offer a straightforward, sober and compelling demonstration that Saddam is concealing the evidence of his weapons of mass destruction, while preserving the weapons themselves," he wrote. SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES Washington says Iraq is in breach of Security Council resolution 1441, which gave Baghdad a last chance to give up banned weapons peacefully or face "serious consequences." To the UN "serious consequences " means they'll have the Iraqi ambassador's car towed.. Powell admitted that "much has been made of the friction between the U.S. and some of its traditional partners" -- France and Germany among them -- who want to slow the rush toward war. "We will work to bridge our differences," he said, promising "a new round of full and open consultation with our allies about next steps." "The next step is BOOM. Are you in or out?" In London, Blair told the British parliament there was "a huge infrastructure of deception and concealment designed to prevent the inspectors from doing their job." "The evidence of cooperation withheld is unmistakable," he said two days after returning from talks with President Bush (news - web sites) in Washington. "We are entering the final phase of a 12-year history of the disarmament of Iraq." Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, on a Middle East tour as envoy of the European Union (news - web sites), of which Greece is current president, said chances of peace were "quite slim" but a last try by Arab states to head off war might be worth it. Yeah, right... Papandreou said in the Jordanian capital Amman that Arab leaders believed Saddam still had to be convinced that war could be imminent. "The feeling is that he doesn't understand" that time is running out, Papandreou said. Then he's even dumber then we thought. U.S. and British forces have been gathering in the Gulf and Turkey's government said Monday it would ask parliament this week to authorize military measures -- a move that could open the way for U.S. forces to open a northern front against Iraq. Could???? IRAQ WANTS ARAB SUMMIT In Iraq, which denies it has weapons of mass destruction, the newspaper Babel, owned by Saddam's eldest son Uday, called Monday for an emergency Arab summit to discuss "the aggressive American threats." "Babel"? How appropriate? Too bad it's spelled wrong. And those Arab summits always accomplish so much... Arms inspections continued in Iraq Monday. The official Iraqi News Agency said the inspectors found a damaged warhead for a permitted short-range missile and a ceramic mold for a small missile during visits to at least nine more sites. ...and then they tried to find another distillery to search and mooch some of that good Iraqi scotch.... The agency called the finds unimportant.as usual There was no immediate comment from the inspectors. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #1 Well, I think we can safely say now that the U.N. is not going to take any action AT ALL if this is any clue - apparently they have all had their brains AND spines removed. Got this link from FARK - good grief! http://www.artdaily.com/noticiaframe.asp?not=11&fnot=2/2/2003 |
| Posted by: Flora 2003-02-03 22:27:54 |