Mixed Signals On Iraq

The chief United Nations weapons inspector Thursday gave the Security Council a mixed review of Iraq's compliance with U.N. resolutions concerning weapons of mass destruction.
Hans Blix said Iraq had violated U.N. sanctions by importing missile engines and raw material for the production of solid missile fuel. But he said his inspectors had yet to find direct evidence that Iraq was actually developing weapons of mass destruction.

"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," Hans Blix told reporters at the United Nations.

Blix also told the Security Council that Iraq has not made a "serious effort," to respond to his request for the names of Iraqi scientists who were involved in weapons of mass destruction programs.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iraq needed to provide "proactive cooperation," with regards to interviews inspectors want to conduct with the scientists. The United States has pressed the inspectors to conduct such interviews.

"We are not able to have interviews in Iraq in private and that does not show the proactive cooperation we seek," ElBaradei said.

During Blix's briefing to the Security Council on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte called on Iraq to admit to weapons programs "it maintains, even today."

"Anything less is not cooperation and will constitute further material breach," Negroponte said, using diplomatic language that could pave the way for war.

In Baghdad, Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer to the inspection teams, said that a U.N. inspector had raised the possibility — without making a formal request — of taking Iraqi scientists to Cyprus for questioning. He said scientists could decide for themselves whether to go but that they were expected to refuse.

Blix told reporters earlier that he hadn't heard of such a request but planned to conduct interviews in the near future. Negroponte said the United States expected inspectors to "to begin out-of-country interviews."

"The burden remains on Iraq to demonstrate compliance," Negroponte said, adding that inspectors are there to "verify Iraqi disarmament, not to serve as detectives working to overcome elaborate concealment mechanisms."

Blix also repeated concerns he voiced at an earlier briefing that Iraq's weapons declaration was incomplete.

"We think that the declaration failed to answer a great many questions," he said. "Iraq may have more to say. I hope so."

Washington has cited nine areas in which it said Iraq's declaration fails to give a complete picture of weapons holdings. These include thousands of pounds of unaccounted-for materials for producing anthrax, and the chemical precursors for manufacturing mustard gas.

Blix has said his inspectors need intelligence from other nations because the declaration leaves so many unanswered questions that it's impossible to verify Iraq's claim of having no weapons of mass destruction.

Blix said the United States and Britain have given briefings to inspectors on what they think the Iraqis have, but what inspectors really want to know is where weapons-related material is stored.

Some have criticized the United States for failing to provide such information. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the United States has begun sharing some — but not all — intelligence with the inspectors.

Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Post that the United States has handed over the intelligence in order to help the inspection teams be "more aggressive and to be more comprehensive."

But Powell said that some information was still being withheld while the U.S. waited to see if the inspectors "are able to handle it and exploit it" in a way that does not pose a risk to U.S. sources. The secretary did not specify what types of information had been shared or withheld.

Blix is due to present his final report to the Council on Jan. 27. Since that date falls during the coolest months in the Iraqi desert — when war-fighting conditions are best — its been seen as a key point in the timetable to possible war. The United States and Britain have dispatched thousands of troops to the Gulf region for a possible military showdown.

"At that point, we will have to make some judgments as to what to do next. What's the next step," Powell told the Post. "But it is not necessarily a D-day for decision-making."