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a couple quick little points wads - 23/01/2003 04:25:34 PM

as I don't have the time right now

it's not all that difficult, is it?

it's not all that easy either

January 23, 2003

Why We Know Iraq Is Lying

By CONDOLEEZZA RICE



WASHINGTON

Eleven weeks after the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding — yet again — that Iraq disclose and disarm all its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, it is appropriate to ask, "Has Saddam Hussein finally decided to voluntarily disarm?" Unfortunately, the answer is a clear and resounding no.

There is no mystery to voluntary disarmament. Countries that decide to disarm lead inspectors to weapons and production sites, answer questions before they are asked, state publicly and often the intention to disarm and urge their citizens to cooperate. The world knows from examples set by South Africa, Ukraine and Kazakhstan what it looks like when a government decides that it will cooperatively give up its weapons of mass destruction. The critical common elements of these efforts include a high-level political commitment to disarm, national initiatives to dismantle weapons programs, and full cooperation and transparency.

In 1989 South Africa made the strategic decision to dismantle its covert nuclear weapons program. It destroyed its arsenal of seven weapons and later submitted to rigorous verification by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Inspectors were given complete access to all nuclear facilities (operating and defunct) and the people who worked there. They were also presented with thousands of documents detailing, for example, the daily operation of uranium enrichment facilities as well as the construction and dismantling of specific weapons.

Ukraine and Kazakhstan demonstrated a similar pattern of cooperation when they decided to rid themselves of the nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles and heavy bombers inherited from the Soviet Union. With significant assistance from the United States — warmly accepted by both countries — disarmament was orderly, open and fast. Nuclear warheads were returned to Russia. Missile silos and heavy bombers were destroyed or dismantled — once in a ceremony attended by the American and Russian defense chiefs. In one instance, Kazakhstan revealed the existence of a ton of highly enriched uranium and asked the United States to remove it, lest it fall into the wrong hands.

yeah and they also had a gun held to their heads at the time

I'll wait for the UN, not Condoleeza Rice. Nice to know that most of the rest of the world however tend to recognise that this isn't just about the US showing concern for the safety of the world and others. Try to tell me that oil isn't a consideration. Oh wait, you probably will

Iraq's behavior could not offer a starker contrast. Instead of a commitment to disarm, Iraq has a high-level political commitment to maintain and conceal its weapons, led by Saddam Hussein and his son Qusay, who controls the Special Security Organization, which runs Iraq's concealment activities. Instead of implementing national initiatives to disarm, Iraq maintains institutions whose sole purpose is to thwart the work of the inspectors. And instead of full cooperation and transparency, Iraq has filed a false declaration to the United Nations that amounts to a 12,200-page lie.

For example, the declaration fails to account for or explain Iraq's efforts to get uranium from abroad, its manufacture of specific fuel for ballistic missiles it claims not to have, and the gaps previously identified by the United Nations in Iraq's accounting for more than two tons of the raw materials needed to produce thousands of gallons of anthrax and other biological weapons.

Iraq's declaration even resorted to unabashed plagiarism, with lengthy passages of United Nations reports copied word-for-word (or edited to remove any criticism of Iraq) and presented as original text. Far from informing, the declaration is intended to cloud and confuse the true picture of Iraq's arsenal. It is a reflection of the regime's well-earned reputation for dishonesty and constitutes a material breach of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, which set up the current inspections program.

Unlike other nations that have voluntarily disarmed — and in defiance of Resolution 1441 — Iraq is not allowing inspectors "immediate, unimpeded, unrestricted access" to facilities and people involved in its weapons program. As a recent inspection at the home of an Iraqi nuclear scientist demonstrated, and other sources confirm, material and documents are still being moved around in farcical shell games. The regime has blocked free and unrestricted use of aerial reconnaissance.

The list of people involved with weapons of mass destruction programs, which the United Nations required Iraq to provide, ends with those who worked in 1991 — even though the United Nations had previously established that the programs continued after that date. Interviews with scientists and weapons officials identified by inspectors have taken place only in the watchful presence of the regime's agents. Given the duplicitous record of the regime, its recent promises to do better can only be seen as an attempt to stall for time.

Last week's finding by inspectors of 12 chemical warheads not included in Iraq's declaration was particularly troubling. In the past, Iraq has filled this type of warhead with sarin — a deadly nerve agent used by Japanese terrorists in 1995 to kill 12 Tokyo subway passengers and sicken thousands of others. Richard Butler, the former chief United Nations arms inspector, estimates that if a larger type of warhead that Iraq has made and used in the past were filled with VX (an even deadlier nerve agent) and launched at a major city, it could kill up to one million people. Iraq has also failed to provide United Nations inspectors with documentation of its claim to have destroyed its VX stockpiles.

Many questions remain about Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and arsenal — and it is Iraq's obligation to provide answers. It is failing in spectacular fashion. By both its actions and its inactions, Iraq is proving not that it is a nation bent on disarmament, but that it is a nation with something to hide. Iraq is still treating inspections as a game. It should know that time is running out.

Condoleezza Rice is the national security adviser.


wads

Onwards the Aussie Spam Invasion!
TwoWongs rocks my world
campaiging for vitamin S
Quai Master is my muffin




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Condoleeza Rice on Compliance 101..... - 23/01/2003 01:03:21 PM 205 Views
Was hoping someone would post this article... - 23/01/2003 01:18:03 PM 38 Views
I expect the silence to be deafening.... - 23/01/2003 02:03:46 PM 25 Views
i'd vote for her instead of a LOT of others who might run *NM* - 23/01/2003 03:51:14 PM 3 Views
Alright then, question... - 23/01/2003 03:40:22 PM 27 Views
Well... - 23/01/2003 03:45:59 PM 22 Views
I never knew your name was Earnest! - 23/01/2003 03:57:59 PM 20 Views
Ah, I see. - 23/01/2003 05:36:47 PM 12 Views
There are many differences between the USA and Iraq - 23/01/2003 04:11:14 PM 17 Views
Re: Alright then, question... - 23/01/2003 05:04:13 PM 16 Views
a spectacular example of why.... - 23/01/2003 03:53:54 PM 19 Views
a couple quick little points - 23/01/2003 04:25:34 PM 28 Views
*taps wadsies patella tendon....watches leg jump* - 23/01/2003 04:33:09 PM 24 Views
actually........ - 23/01/2003 04:54:39 PM 20 Views
Re: actually........ - 23/01/2003 06:08:51 PM 18 Views
ooooooh - 23/01/2003 09:08:29 PM 18 Views
Thank you - 23/01/2003 09:32:03 PM 16 Views
Oil - 24/01/2003 04:00:46 AM 18 Views
Short answer Iraq, long answer same but I use more words *NM* - 24/01/2003 07:47:18 AM 5 Views
All nations with a lot to gain by doing it - 24/01/2003 07:55:14 AM 10 Views
Iraq hasn't been ostracized like South Africa? *NM* - 24/01/2003 11:28:37 AM 4 Views
Not for as long or as heavily, also SA had a ruling class with - 24/01/2003 12:08:57 PM 7 Views
agreed...but still analogous. Iraq wants sanctions lifted *NM* - 24/01/2003 12:16:28 PM 3 Views
Ignore, double post, I hate computers they're the tool of satan - 24/01/2003 07:55:14 AM 9 Views
Understanding Something... - 24/01/2003 10:40:56 AM 18 Views
Helping you understand - 24/01/2003 10:50:20 AM 22 Views
Re: POW - 24/01/2003 12:54:28 PM 17 Views
No problem - 24/01/2003 01:00:08 PM 18 Views
Helping me understand - 24/01/2003 04:08:46 PM 15 Views
Indeed - 24/01/2003 04:26:33 PM 16 Views
Re: Indeed - 29/01/2003 03:22:43 PM 11 Views
Re: Indeed - 29/01/2003 04:05:05 PM 13 Views
Rule breaking - 30/01/2003 04:53:26 AM 8 Views
Re: Rule breaking - 30/01/2003 06:59:12 AM 14 Views
To be honest - 30/01/2003 07:31:20 AM 6 Views
I took him to mean - 30/01/2003 07:36:45 AM 9 Views
Re: I took him to mean - 30/01/2003 08:08:35 AM 6 Views
Conversing - 30/01/2003 09:04:31 AM 10 Views