THE UN/IRAQ: The chief UN weapons inspector, Dr Hans Blix, is to fly from Larnaca to Baghdad this morning to begin the task of finding and eliminating any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Dr Blix arrived in Cyprus yesterday, accompanied by Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who will deal with nuclear material and weapons while Dr Blix focuses on chemical and biological agents, bombs and warheads.
Dr Blix said he hoped Iraq would not renege on its commitments. "This is an opportunity for peace," he asserted. "I hope Iraq makes full use of it" so Baghdad can "come back as a full member of the international community" and secure the lifting of the crippling sanctions imposed in 1990.
While admitting that the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) had a key role to play, he said: "The question of war and peace remains first of all in the hands of Iraq, then the Security Council and then \ members."
He defined UNMOVIC's task as reporting "co-operation and lack of co-operation". Dr Blix expected inspections to resume on November 27th. UNMOVIC will report to the council 60 days later.
Iraq is required to submit a complete inventory of banned weaponry on December 8th.
Iraq's Deputy Premier, Mr Tareq Aziz, who is set to receive Dr Blix and Dr ElBaradei today, reiterated his government's position that Iraq does not possess weapons of mass destruction.
"We will provide immediate access" to the 700-1,000 sites identified by the inspectors, he pledged, and added that all departments in the government and administration had been instructed to co-operate.
But, he admitted, "I have to be objective and honest in saying that we in Iraq do not feel that the possibility of an American aggression on Iraq has been totally removed" by Security Council 1441 and by Baghdad's agreement to readmit inspectors. Mr Aziz said he hoped members of the Security Council would prevent the hawks in Washington from mounting a military campaign on a slight pretext.
In an open letter to the Iraqi parliament published on Saturday, the Iraqi President, Mr Saddam Hussein, said he hoped the weapons inspectors would enable the Security Council to "see the truth . . . about Iraq being completely free of weapons of mass destruction". He told the National Assembly that he had accepted the return of the inspectors because Iraq's enemies, the US and Israel, had "decided to wage war . . . against our people".
With the aim of maintaining maximal pressure on Baghdad to co-operate with the inspectors, President Bush said: "The dictator of Iraq will give up his weapons of mass destruction or the United States will lead a coalition to disarm him. Any act of defiance [towards the inspectors] or delay [in the performance of their tasks] will indicate that he is taking the path of deception once again."
However, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, attempted to soften the President's tough language, saying, "Of course, there is . . . a difference . . . between some technical, inadvertent breach and some material breach, and that is reflected in the language" of resolution 1441.