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Iraq's cooperation active: Blix

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

United Nations March 7. In what is a further setback to the Bush administration, the top United Nations weapons inspector, Hans Blix, has informed a deeply divided Security Council that the destruction of the Al Samoud missiles constituted a "substantial measure of disarmament" and argued that Baghdad's recent cooperation can be "seen as active or even proactive."

"We are not watching the destruction of toothpicks. Lethal weapons are being destroyed'', he said.

Dr. Blix said Baghdad had recently furnished additional documentation on anthrax and the VX nerve gas agent but that "many have been found to restate what Iraq has already declared."

He said that he would be presenting to the Council later this month, the remaining disarmament tasksbutthen it would take some time to ensure that the process was complete. "It will not take years nor weeks, but months", he noted going on to make the point that even after all this had been completed, Iraq should be subject to inspections and monitoring of its facilities. Dr. Blix told the Council that he will soon be seeking interviews with Iraqi scientists outside the country and criticised Baghdad for not being more forthcoming in producing documents. "Only few such documents have come to light so far and has been handed over since we began inspections...I hope that efforts in this respect...will give significant results," he said. He said the "process" of weapons inspections faced few difficulties and that weapons inspectors have been able to go about their task with relative ease. Dr. Blix said Iraq has till date destroyed 34 Al Samouds, even as the legality of the Al Fatah missiles was being determined.

In an indirect dig at the Bush administration, which has been saying that Iraq has indeed underground weapons and mobile laboratories, the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, UNMOVIC, said inspections have found no evidence to the effect. He once again asked for more information on any suspect sites.

The Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad ElBaradei, also took issue with the United States' intelligence agencies by maintaining that the suspect aluminium tubes were not destined for any equipment that could be used to refine uranium for nuclear weapons use. The Council was also informed that the IAEA found no evidence to support reports that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger.... these specific allegations are unfounded,'' he said.

The U.S. has labelled the Blix report as a "catalogue of non-cooperation" by Iraq. The Secretary of State, Colin Powell, told the Council that Iraq was refusing to offer immediate, active and unconditional cooperation it was being demanded by the world body and mandated by Resolution 1441. Any cooperation from Iraq is only coming in a ``grudging manner'' against the backdrop of the threat of military force.

The reaction of the Foreign Ministers from Germany, France, Russia and China was along expected lines — appreciation to what Dr. Blix had said in terms of the changed cooperative environment from Baghdad and conviction that the inspection process must continue. The Ministers were either opposed to a second Resolution or any Resolution that had automaticity in the use of force. "France will not allow a Resolution to pass that will authorise the use of force,'' the French Minister, Dominique de Villepin, said. "We see no need for a second Resolution,'' remarked the German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, which found support from the Foreign Ministers of Russia, France and China. Meanwhile, it is said that the U.S. and Britain have revised the second Resolution authorising the use of force. The amended draft, according to an agency report, will now give Saddam Hussein a specific date — March 16 or 17 — to fully disarm.

More reports on Page 14

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