Wizdom
06-12-02, 22:17
US pressing UN experts to spirit scientists out of Iraq
WASHINGTON, 7 December 2002 — The Bush Administration is pressuring chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to spirit key Iraqi weapons scientists out of Iraq and offer them asylum in exchange for telling what they know, US officials said yesterday.
The Pentagon and the White House want the UN team to be aggressive in identifying scientists and demanding that they leave the country, perhaps without their consent, unnamed US and UN officials told The New York Times.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix is arguing that the United Nations cannot, in effect, abduct people against their will, and his view is backed by most UN officials and the US State Department, the officials said.
Discussions on how UN weapons inspectors should handle the issue began Monday in New York when President George W. Bush’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice met with Blix, the officials said.
The United States has offered to set up a witness protection program for defecting Iraqi scientists and help them resettle in any country willing to take them.
In exchange the scientists would provide information on where Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is hiding his weapons of mass destruction, the officials added.
The Times report comes a day ahead of Iraq’s announced disclosure to the United Nations of its weapons program, and amid US charges that UN inspectors are not aggressive enough in their searches — Washington believes Saddam is lying about not having any weapons of mass destruction.
Under US pressure, the UN Security Council on Nov. 8 issued a resolution demanding that Iraq come clean about its weapons program. The United States is pressing for military action if Iraq is found to have such weapons.
The UN resolution set a Dec. 8 deadline for full Iraqi disclosure, but Baghdad has promised to provide a declaration a day earlier, making it understood it will confirm it has no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
The UN resolution demands that Iraq provide unimpeded access “to all officials and other persons” whom UN inspectors decide to interview “inside or outside Iraq.”
It is this clause the United States would like the UN inspectors to implement fully, officials told the Times, adding that the message given to Blix was that he should “make it a priority.”
The chief aim of getting Iraqi scientists to talk, the daily said, is to achieve a breakthrough in gathering fresh evidence about Iraq’s weapons program.
“The United States is concerned with the safety, welfare and non-intimidation of people who may wish to cooperate” with inspectors, the daily said an unidentified senior UN official told it late Thursday.
“We take this issue seriously,” the official continued, “and we hope the international community would also attach the same importance to the issue.”
Meanwhile, thousands of faithful filled up Baghdad’s mosques during the Friday prayers yesterday to hear calls for mobilization against the United States and all “infidels” on the second day of Eid.
More than 5,000 worshipers flocked to Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the capital’s most prestigious, where the imam prayed for victory for President Saddam Hussein and “the defeat and crushing” of his enemies.
In another development, Iraqi officials put the finishing touches yesterday to a key declaration of their banned weapons programs that is likely to determine whether the renewed UN disarmament process ends in peace or war. (AFP)
WASHINGTON, 7 December 2002 — The Bush Administration is pressuring chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to spirit key Iraqi weapons scientists out of Iraq and offer them asylum in exchange for telling what they know, US officials said yesterday.
The Pentagon and the White House want the UN team to be aggressive in identifying scientists and demanding that they leave the country, perhaps without their consent, unnamed US and UN officials told The New York Times.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix is arguing that the United Nations cannot, in effect, abduct people against their will, and his view is backed by most UN officials and the US State Department, the officials said.
Discussions on how UN weapons inspectors should handle the issue began Monday in New York when President George W. Bush’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice met with Blix, the officials said.
The United States has offered to set up a witness protection program for defecting Iraqi scientists and help them resettle in any country willing to take them.
In exchange the scientists would provide information on where Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is hiding his weapons of mass destruction, the officials added.
The Times report comes a day ahead of Iraq’s announced disclosure to the United Nations of its weapons program, and amid US charges that UN inspectors are not aggressive enough in their searches — Washington believes Saddam is lying about not having any weapons of mass destruction.
Under US pressure, the UN Security Council on Nov. 8 issued a resolution demanding that Iraq come clean about its weapons program. The United States is pressing for military action if Iraq is found to have such weapons.
The UN resolution set a Dec. 8 deadline for full Iraqi disclosure, but Baghdad has promised to provide a declaration a day earlier, making it understood it will confirm it has no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
The UN resolution demands that Iraq provide unimpeded access “to all officials and other persons” whom UN inspectors decide to interview “inside or outside Iraq.”
It is this clause the United States would like the UN inspectors to implement fully, officials told the Times, adding that the message given to Blix was that he should “make it a priority.”
The chief aim of getting Iraqi scientists to talk, the daily said, is to achieve a breakthrough in gathering fresh evidence about Iraq’s weapons program.
“The United States is concerned with the safety, welfare and non-intimidation of people who may wish to cooperate” with inspectors, the daily said an unidentified senior UN official told it late Thursday.
“We take this issue seriously,” the official continued, “and we hope the international community would also attach the same importance to the issue.”
Meanwhile, thousands of faithful filled up Baghdad’s mosques during the Friday prayers yesterday to hear calls for mobilization against the United States and all “infidels” on the second day of Eid.
More than 5,000 worshipers flocked to Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the capital’s most prestigious, where the imam prayed for victory for President Saddam Hussein and “the defeat and crushing” of his enemies.
In another development, Iraqi officials put the finishing touches yesterday to a key declaration of their banned weapons programs that is likely to determine whether the renewed UN disarmament process ends in peace or war. (AFP)