Aziz: They killed UNSCOM
The Russian ambassador in Cairo, Vladimir Godiev, announced that Egypt and Russia agreed during consultations that took place between the two countries' foreign ministers in the last few days on ending the Iraqi crisis.
They stressed the importance of reconsidering of the work style of UNSCOM, the UN organization in charge of Iraq's disarmament from weapons of mass destruction, and linking the supervision operations in the future with a timetable for lifting the sanctions from Iraq.
Godiev called for removing United Nations' chief weapons inspector, Richard Butler and for UNSCOM adjusting its work style to perform its mission without politics. Russia strongly condemned Richard Butler for his most recent report to the UN that the US said was proof of Iraqi non-compliance and the reason for the recent military strikes against Iraq.
United Arab Emirates Defense Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum said that Butler's return has become impossible, stating that the missiles launched at Iraq and its people destroyed the Iraqis' trust in UNSCOM, making it impossible for Butler to return to Iraq.
But Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz today was plain as he said that the US and the UK "killed UNSCOM" by their strikes putting an end to the fate of this organization. He said they killed 62 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 180 by their "4 days of intensive bombings" with advanced missiles.
Aziz said about the future that "we shall never accept any conditions made by Clinton or by Blair, " adding that they acted according to the law of the jungle. Aziz said that the attack reminded him of the statement of Former Secretary of State James Baker who told him in 1991 "we will bring you back to the preindustrial age" referring to the bombing of the Iraqi industrial sites.
Aziz said that all the sites struck had been under UNSCOM monitoring and "had been inspected by them hundreds of times."
The presence of UNSCOM had been one of the main policy foundations of containing Iraq according to US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. There is early evidence that the lack of UNSCOM's return will force a reevaluation by the US on how to contain Iraq in light of these new developments.