BAGHDAD/VIENNA, 14 January 2003 — UN arms experts said yesterday they wanted up to a year to complete their inspections in Iraq, even as Washington masses a force in the Gulf that will be ready to wage war within weeks. The UN inspectors’ comments were likely to further fuel an anti-war camp that includes much of the public in Europe and the Middle East, many of their governments, and the pope, who declared yesterday war would be a “defeat for humanity”.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington’s closest ally, said there should be no “arbitrary time scale” and added Iraq had to be disarmed peacefully or else by force. “We have complete and total determination to do this,” he said.
Treading a tightrope between domestic disquiet and a desire to keep up pressure on Baghdad, Blair also predicted the United Nations would authorize military action against Iraq if Saddam was proved to be in breach of its resolution on disarmament. “Let the inspectors do their task. I don’t think there is any point putting an arbitrary time scale on it,” Blair told a news conference at his Downing Street home in London.
Blair challenged Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to take the “peaceful route” and bow to UN demands to give up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. “I passionately believe we must disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction,” said Blair. “Saddam should take the peaceful route and disarm. If he does not, he will be disarmed by force,” he said.
Top UN inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei go to Baghdad next weekend to demand Iraq account for missing stocks of such items as chemical bombs, nerve gas and missile engines. Iraq says it will answer their questions. The UN experts appeared anxious to slow the timetable of the attack the United States threatens to launch if Iraq’s answers fail to satisfy.
International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told reporters in Vienna UN resolutions gave timelines of “somewhere between six and 12 months” for inspections. IAEA chief El-Baradei said in Paris: “We need to take a few months... How long depends on the cooperation of Iraq.” Asked if the time frame of a year quoted by his spokesman was conservatively lengthy, El-Baradei replied, “Yes”.
President George W. Bush’s spokesman reacted guardedly to those comments. “The president thinks it remains important for the inspectors to do their job and have time to do their job,” he said. “The president has not put an exact timetable on it.” Tens of thousands of US troops are already in the Gulf or on their way, and analysts say military chiefs want any attack on Iraq to be launched within the next two or three winter months, before temperatures in the desert region rise.
“It is a far better option to wait a little bit longer than to have to resort to war,” Gwozdecky told CNN separately. He stressed that Jan. 27, when inspectors are scheduled to report to the UN Security Council on Iraq’s compliance with disarmament demands, was not a final deadline. “There’s a little bit of misunderstanding about this Jan. 27 reporting date. The Security Council is asking us to report but not to have all the answers at that point,” Gwozdecky said.
Inspectors briefed the Security Council last week on the Iraq inspections. “We heard unanimous support from the council members that they were four-square behind us, and we believe that they’re willing to give us the time that we need,” he said.
The newspaper USA Today said the US force in the Gulf would not be ready for full-scale war until late February or early March because of logistical complications. It said the delayed timetable had made Bush’s administration more willing to accept extending arms inspections beyond the Jan. 27 report.
The United States announced new troop deployments over the weekend amid signs most governments in Europe and the Middle East are nervous about war and want all other options explored.
“No to war!” Pope John Paul said in an address yesterday. “What are we to say of the threat of a war which could strike Iraq, the land of the prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than 12 years of embargo?” he said.
Germany, a new Security Council member, is strongly opposed. A German official was quoted as saying France and Germany must vote together on any new council resolution on Iraq if they are to realize their goal of a common European foreign policy.
Bush and Blair, who say they have solid intelligence Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, will meet soon after the Jan. 27 report to discuss what to do next on Iraq. But even in Britain, a poll showed only 13 percent of people would support a war waged without UN approval.
The US military said Western warplanes bombed an anti-ship missile launcher in south Iraq yesterday, deeming it a threat to its vessels in the Gulf. (Agencies)
