NEW YORK, 22 December 2002 — Hans Blix, the United Nations’ chief weapons inspector, was preparing this weekend to begin a new, more invasive phase in the hunt for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, making use of intelligence from Washington and London, and new military hardware ranging from helicopters to flying drones.
The stepped-up effort, involving more than 100 inspectors in Iraq, will be in stark contrast to the inspections of the past few weeks, which have been short of manpower and equipment.
After weeks of hesitation, Washington has now indicated readiness to start feeding Blix, and his opposite number at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El-Baradei, its own intelligence on where Saddam Hussein may be storing prohibited armaments. London is also expected to make its own intelligence available to the inspectors.
US officials hinted that some of the information, mostly gleaned from satellites, may be transmitted to the UN and IAEA in installments.
Blix had made an appeal for access to American and British intelligence on Friday, arguing that it would facilitate finding any hidden stockpiles of banned chemical, biological and nuclear materials.
Reportedly, Washington had been concerned that Blix’s UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) would be unable to ensure information did not leak to the Iraqis.
But yesterday Ari Fleischer, a White House spokesman, said: “It is entirely in the interests of the United States...to give the inspectors the tools they need to do their job, and we will do so.”
Nuclear experts yesterday re-visited Al-Nassr Al-Atheem Company, an engineering plant at Daura refinery, south of Baghdad. Other inspectors searched Al-Raya Company, owned by Iraq’s military industrialization commission.
Blix also expects to interview Iraqi scientists on the alleged weapons programs. It remains to be seen, however, whether Blix will respond to Washington’s urging to try to remove some scientists from Iraq to interview them beyond the gaze of Saddam’s government.
Washington and London, meanwhile, indicated that the prospect of a ground and air war to topple Saddam in early 2003 was now increasingly likely. President George W. Bush canceled a trip to Africa at a few weeks’ notice and the US military forged ahead with a buildup that could have more than 100,000 troops in the Gulf in weeks.
Washington has alerted 30,000 reservist soldiers in the US to prepare to report for duty and tens of thousands more reservists and National Guard soldiers are likely to receive word to activate in several weeks.
A galaxy of hardware, most importantly in the air power arena, is also being readied for deployment to the region. It will include aerial bombers and fighter jets. America already has two aircraft carriers in the area, which are preparing for war.
The movement of weaponry would include the dispatching of B-52 and B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia in the central Indian Ocean; B-1 bombers possibly to Oman, F-15 and other fighter jets to Kuwait, and refueling and other support aircraft to Turkey and Qatar.
Also expected to join are F-117 stealth fighter-bombers.
America called on its key Muslim ally Turkey to make up its mind over its position in the Iraq crisis. Turkey, a NATO country, is reluctant to extend military support to Washington, fearing economic and political damage.
“I believe they will make their decision in the shortest possible time,” US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency after a meeting with Prime Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday.
Gul denied earlier that his government had committed itself to helping the US attack Iraq by letting it use Turkish airbases. “At the moment we have no commitment,” Gul told the CNN-Turk channel late Friday. (The Independent)
