Inspectors: We'll Look At Everything

September 30, 2002

"We are not going to be negotiating here. We're going to be laying on the table the requirements we're going to have as inspectors." - Melissa Fleming, International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman

(CBS) Pressing a tough stance, U.N. weapons inspectors opened talks Monday with Iraq over a return to Baghdad by holding Saddam Hussein to his pledge of unfettered access to suspect sites.

Chief inspector Hans Blix told reporters at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency that the talks would operate under the assumption that nothing in Iraq — including Saddam's palaces — will be off-limits to inspectors hunting for nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry.

"The purpose of the talks is that if and when inspections come about, we will not have clashes inside" over what the inspectors will do, Blix said. "We'd rather go through these things outside in advance."

Both sides will discuss "practical arrangements" with the Iraqis for inspections, he said, such as where the inspectors would be based, their accommodations and security, and how samples would be taken out of the country for analysis. Blix said he would report back to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the success of a new weapons inspection mission would hinge on Saddam's promise of full cooperation.

Nearly four years ago, inspectors hunting for evidence of nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry withdrew from Iraq on the eve of U.S.-British airstrikes amid allegations that Baghdad wasn't cooperating with the teams.

"We're certainly aware of what happened last time," Fleming said Sunday. "But we uncovered Iraq's secret nuclear program, and we dismantled it. We were successful last time. If we get unfettered access, we will be successful again."

"We're looking for Iraqi cooperation here, but these are not political talks," she added. "We are not going to be negotiating here. "We're going to be laying on the table the requirements we're going to have as inspectors."

The Bush administration, seeking to build support for an invasion of Iraq, has cast doubt on the inspectors' main requirement: that they be given freedom to examine whatever they wish, including Saddam's eight sprawling presidential palaces, which up to now have been off-limits.

Under a 1998 deal worked out between Iraq and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to keep the on-and-off mission going, the inspectors were shut out of the palaces, which encompass a total of 12 square miles.

The United States has been drafting a resolution which would redesign the inspections regime and give the inspectors the power to enter Saddam's palaces and other closed facilities and block the Iraqi leader's movements in their hunt for weapons.

Congressional leaders are also hoping to reach agreement on a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

Senators remain at odds over the wording of the proposed resolution with Democrats voicing concerns that the language proposed by the Bush Administration is too strong. Republican leaders counter by saying the administration has done enough to ease concerns about the scope of the resolution.

The clamor of opposition to the U.S.-sponsored U.N. resolution continues to pour in as France once again said a Security Council resolution threatening Iraq with military force could threaten international stability.

Russia also criticized the U.S. and Great Britain for launching air attacks against Iraq, saying they hindered a settlement of the crisis.

The Russian foreign ministry in a statement suggested the new U.S. and British air raids had been timed to coincide with talks due to take place in Vienna over procedures for allowing U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq.

"The surge of activity by allied aviation which has come at a time when representatives...prepared to go to Vienna to discuss procedures for renewing U.N. inspections in Iraq causes regret," the statement said.

The weapons inspectors' closed-door talks, which will run through Tuesday, could provide the first glimpse into whether Saddam, who denies that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, is serious about letting the inspectors go where they please.

Blix, whose New York-based team handles the U.N. hunt for biological and chemical agents, will be joined by Jacques Baute, head of the IAEA's nuclear team, and a midlevel Iraqi delegation.

Both sides will discuss where the teams will be based in Iraq, how they will operate once on the ground, what types of sites they will demand access to and technical issues such as aircraft landing rights and visas, Fleming said.

Though the U.N. Security Council still must give final approval to the mission, the inspectors are gearing up for a mid-October deployment, Fleming said. Both inspection teams have been preparing to leave together from Vienna on Oct. 15, but the date could change, she said.

By the end of the 1991 Gulf War, IAEA assessments indicated Saddam was six months away from building an atomic bomb. Inspectors discovered that the oil-rich nation had imported thousands of pounds (kilograms) of uranium, some of which was already refined for weapons use, and had considered two types of nuclear delivery systems.

Over the next six years, inspectors seized the uranium, destroyed facilities and chemicals, dismantled over 40 missiles and confiscated thousands of documents.

Since then, the inspectors have developed new sleuthing technology, more powerful software and better analytical methods, and those should help make up for lost time, Fleming said.

"Our methods are even better," she said. "We have better equipment and we have a lot of expertise and experience from what took place in the '90s. We believe that if given unfettered access and full cooperation, we would have a very good chance of finding out the truth."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/24/world/main523053.shtml