U.N. inspectors landed in Iraq on Monday to resume the search for weapons of mass destruction.
"We are here to do a job and we will do it professionally and, I hope, competently," chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix told reporters upon landing. He added credible inspections were "in the interest of Iraq and the interest of the world."
On Sunday, Blix landed in Cyprus to assemble his team for a return to Baghdad after a nearly four-year absence and said the "question of war and peace" awaits an answer from Saddam Hussein. Iraq faces a three-week deadline to reveal weapons of mass destruction or provide convincing evidence it no longer has any.
Blix, who will lead the overall mission, said his team was prepared to meet the challenge of ensuring Iraqi compliance. But he said he hoped Iraq would not try to hide anything.
According to AP, the 74-year-old Swedish diplomat said inspectors would be taking along much more sophisticated equipment than was available when the inspection program was suspended in December 1998. "We do of course expect to get tips from the (U.N.) member states," Blix said. "We also have modern equipment that is superior to what we had in the past. But...we would like the Iraqis to declare, and this is an opportunity for them to do so and we hope that they will seize that opportunity."
Meanwhile, Washington is waiting to see Baghdad's response to inspections before going to the Security Council for debate of military action, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday. "It seems to me that what will happen is a pattern of behavior will evolve and then people will make judgments with respect to it," Rumsfeld told reporters.
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, who oversees the International Atomic Energy Agency, pledged inspections would be tough, thorough and leave no space for deceit. "We do not take 'no' for an answer," ElBaradei said. "We have to verify to make sure a 'no' is actually a 'no.'"
The U.N. team planned to reopen the Baghdad offices that inspectors abandoned in 1998, set up secure phone lines and arrange transportation ahead of the first inspections, which Blix has said would begin as early as Nov. 27.
Full-scale checks are to begin after Iraq files a declaration of its banned weapons programs by a Dec. 8 deadline.
Blix then has 60 days to report back to the U.N. Security Council with his findings.
Aziz
Tareq Aziz, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, gave his clearest warning yet that Baghdad would launch strikes against Israel if it was attacked by Britain and America.
Aziz's threat came as he repeated his government's denial that it was developing weapons of mass destruction and said full access would be given to UN weapons inspectors.
Interviewed on British TV, Aziz said that any military action against Iraq would endanger not just Britain and America but also their allies such as Israel.
Asked what the Iraqi strategy might be if, as suspected, it is militarily weaker than it was in the 1991 Gulf War, Aziz replied that his government was "capable of defending our nation". He added: "We are an old nation and we could survive. But I tell you, if the US and UK wage a war against Iraq, the consequences will be very bad to them and their friends in the region.
"If they don't care about their friends, then that gives you an idea about their real intentions. This is going to be devastating, not only to Iraq, but to them also. The aggressors will also suffer a great deal of losses."
According to The Independent, Aziz said he was not convinced the return of weapons inspectors would save Iraq from attack. "I have to be objective and honest in saying that we in Iraq do not feel that the possibility of the American aggression on Iraq has been totally removed," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
