Iraq: We have no more patience with the sanctions

Relations between UN weapons inspectors and Iraq have taken a new direction after the collapse of this week's talks between UNSCOM chief Richard Butler and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Baghdad on Tuesday. Iraq yesterday decided to fully suspend its cooperation with the committee, while the US and Britain said Iraq's actions would produce no movement on lifting sanctions.

During its meeting on Wednesday, the Iraqi leadership took a clear decision to suspend cooperation with UNSCOM. On Wednesday, the Iraqi National Council held an emergency meeting in the presence of several Iraqi Cabinet ministers and officials in charge of the issue of relations with UNSCOM, during which they discussed the failure of talks between Iraq and UNSCOM.

In a speech he delivered before the council, the council's chairman Sadoun Hammadi called for suspending cooperation with UNSCOM's inspectors unless sanctions imposed on Baghdad are lifted. He, in this respect, indicated a decision taken by the Iraqi Parliament in November 1997 calling for halting inspection operations if sanctions are not lifted within six months. Hammadi added that the solution lies in implementing this decision by Iraq. He added " the decision should be implemented now."

However, both the US and Britain showed no movement on the issue of sanctions relief due to the Iraqi decision. White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "If Iraq thinks that this is the way to get sanctions relief, once again they are sadly mistaken." Crowley, who characterized President Hussein's position as "in a very tight box," said, "At the end of the day, he knows what he needs to do in order to get sanctions relief, and that is to fully comply with the Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations, to fully comply with all relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The way forward is clear for him."

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said that Iraq must continue to honor the memorandum of understanding arrived at earlier this year with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, adding, "This latest move will only delay the moment when the Security Council can consider the removal of sanctions." He called Iraq's suspension of cooperation with the UNSCOM inspectors "the latest example of Iraq reneging on undertakings it has given to the UN."

Secretary -General Annan postponed a scheduled trip to Portugal in order to be available as the Security Council began its meeting today at 10:45 am to hear Butler's report and discuss Iraq. Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson said of the Iraqi decision that "they are repuding the Scurity Council" by their action.

In the Iraqi letter of complaint to the UN Security Council explaining its decision to suspend cooperation, Iraq said Butler "had refused to inform the Security Council of the essential facts of the situation. Instead, the special commission had continued with its old and well-known methods of concentrating on details of no value with respects to the requirements of of section c of resolution 687 (1991)." The letter went on to say that Butler has continued "obfuscation and misinformation by referring to marginal issues, and misleading the council.. into thinking that those issues were of some importance with respect to the requirements of disarmaments."

Iraq asked Butler on the August 3rd trip "Are you prepared to inform the Security Council that Iraq has entirely disposed of all the weapons prohibited.. in the three areas (missiles, chemical, biological), or have you tangible proof to the contrary?"

Butler was asked "Are you prepared to inform the Security Council that the factories, equipment and devices which the special Commission regarded as being connected with weapons have been destroyed? And that the factories, sites equipment and devices that remain, which are referred to as being 'dual use', are all being strictly and comprehensively monitored?"

Butler was asked "are you prepared to inform the Security Council..." that since 1994, Iraq has not observed any serious violation with respect to the resumption of weapons production?

Iraq asked Butler "Why are you not able to do so? Are they facts? in that case, why not notify them to the Security Council?". Butler replied "because more verification was needed" according to the same letter addressed to the UN Security Council.

Iraq dispatched two messages dealing with the current status of the situation to the Arab League [AL], elaborating on the reasons behind Butler's departure from Baghdad. The messages stressed, "Iraq has no more patience with the committee," and asked the AL to appeal to the UN Security Council to lift the sanctions.

The message said that the number of inspection groups that have visited Iraq since 1991 reached 260 groups comprising 3,520 inspectors who carried out various missions, including discussions, interviews and establishing protocols, as well as dismantling sites and taking samples of air, soil, plants and water.

The AL, on the other hand, expressed regret over the failure of talks between Iraq and UNSCOM. It attributed the failure to US stubbornness and desire to perpetuate the sanctions against Baghdad. Wednesday, AL's assistant secretary general for political affairs, Zakaraya Ismael, said "This incident does not please any Arab. We wished to have understanding maintained between UNSCOM and Iraq so as to lift sanctions. Regrettably, there is an inclination towards continued sanctions against Iraq."

In UN's Richard Butler report that is being reviewed today, Butler reported that Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said that since Butler would not declare Iraq in compliance now, there was no reason to believe that things would be different when the sanctions are reviewed in October and in that light, further meetings would be "useless."

At the conclusion of today's Security Council meeting, the Security Council called on Iraq to resume cooperation with the inspection team and that its demands on changing the structure and location of the UN inspection team demanded by Iraq are "unacceptable" and called for Iraqi compliance. Outgoing US ambassador to the UN said that Iraq has to comply if it wants to see the sanctions off.

The Security Council also decided to consider a proposal by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to "more closely engage the Iraqis" and consider their concerns about the intrusiveness of the whole inspection process and acknowledging the progress that has been made so far in terms of Iraqi compliance. Annan said that he talked to Iraq's Aziz this morning and that the Iraqi position is not as final as it sounded, opening the way for negotiations between the concerned parties in the days to come.