Steve Quayle News Alerts

January 16, 2003

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The United Nations top weapons inspectors have issued a cooperate or face war message to Iraq, which is accused of not doing enough to help inspection teams on the ground.

Hans Blix, speaking in Brussels, and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who is in Russia, demanded more cooperation from Baghdad -- a call supported by the European Union.

Blix also accused Baghdad of illegally importing arms-related material to the country but added it was not yet clear whether the items were related to weapons of mass destruction.

White House officials said they were pleased to hear Blix's remarks, noting that they are more consistent with what Washington has been saying -- only the pressure and threat of miiltary force will get Iraq's attention.

Blix said: "Everyone wants to see a credible and verified disarmament of Iraq.

"We feel Iraq must do more than it has so far in order to make inspections a credible avenue (to disarmament).

"The other major avenue is in the form of armed action against Iraq. For my part we are trying our best to make inspections effective so we can have a peaceful solution."

He added: "It's clear Iraq has violated the bans of the United Nations in terms of imports. We have found things that have been illegally imported, even in 2001 and 2002."

After the talks in Brussels with Blix, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed his solidarity with the chief weapons inspector.

Solana told reporters: "He (Blix) has conveyed to me his concern that the cooperation with Saddam Hussein, the cooperation with Iraq, is not sufficient.

"We are demanding a more pro-active cooperation from the regime of Saddam Hussein so that the world, the Security Council, the inspectors, are convinced that he has disarmed from all weapons of mass destruction."

Solana said he and Blix agreed that time was running out. "He has told me very clearly the time is not very long that he has in front of him."

"The time is not infinite," said Solana. However he said: "The war in Iraq can be averted and the responsibility is basically on the side of Saddam Hussein."

A visibly upset Iraqi nuclear scientist talks to U.N. weapons inspectors before they search his house.

Meanwhile in Russia, ElBaradei, who is in charge of searching for Iraq's nuclear capabilities, also said Iraq must do more to dispel doubts that it held weapons of mass destruction.

Speaking in Moscow, after two days of talks with Russian officials, ElBaradei said: "Iraq should understand that if we continue to report that there are open questions and we cannot exclude the possibility that they still have some weapons of mass destruction, that will not satisfy the Security Council."

U.N. weapons inspectors on Thursday made their first search of a private home -- owned by an Iraqi nuclear scientist -- in the hunt for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi officials said. (Full story)

ElBaradei is due to visit Iraq next week with Blix ahead of their report to the U.N. Security Council on January 27. Blix plans to tell Iraq to submit new weapons evidence or face possible war.

As he left U.N. headquarters in New York for Brussels, Blix said he would tell Iraq the situation was "very dangerous."

On Friday, Blix and ElBaradei are due to hold talks with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

Blair will travel to Camp David near Washington for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on January 31, the White House has announced.

U.S. forces are gathering around Iraq

Blix met U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at the United Nations on Tuesday and said Rice focused on the importance of Iraqi cooperation and the January 27 report.

Sources tell CNN that Rice also pressed Blix and other senior U.N. officials to demand that Iraq allow certain scientists and their families for travel outside the country for interviews about weapons of mass destruction programs.

The move would reflect a more muscular interpretation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1441, which said that inspectors "may at their discretion conduct interviews inside or outside of Iraq, (and) may facilitate the travel of those interviewed and family members outside of Iraq."

To date, U.N. weapons inspectors have only asked Iraqi scientists whether they would be willing to be interviewed outside of the country, or interviewed without the presence of Iraqi government representatives. None have agreed so far, U.N. officials say.

-- CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor and CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/01/16/sproject.irq.blix/index.html