U.S., Europe split on U.N. inspectors' Iraq report

By JOHN YAUKEY
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and some leading European members of the United Nations Security Council reached vastly different conclusions to a report Monday by international weapons inspectors citing evidence that Iraq is not fully cooperating with orders to disarm.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the inspectors' report clearly indicates Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is in flagrant violation of U.N. Resolution 1441, which passed in November ordering Iraq to disarm and readmit weapons inspectors.

''To this day, the Iraqi regime continues to defy the will of the United Nations,'' Powell said. ''It has not given the inspectors and the international community any concrete answers. Iraq's chance for choosing peaceful disarmament is fast coming to an end.''

France and Germany, meanwhile, acknowledged that Iraq has not cooperated as much as it should, but said inspections are working and should be allowed to continue indefinitely. France is a permanent member of the Security Council with power to veto any future resolutions to use force against Iraq. Britain has backed Bush, but has also worked behind the scenes to give inspections more time.

''As long as our common goal is to disarm Iraq peacefully, inspections should go on,'' said Security Council President Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, France's ambassador to the United Nations. ''There is no time limit in Resolution 1441.''

In their much-anticipated report Monday, weapons inspectors asked the Security Council for more time to continue their work, while citing a litany of potentially troubling findings and record-keeping omissions they said Iraq must explain to show more proactive cooperation.

The report, delivered by the United Nation's top weapons inspectors exactly two months after inspections resumed, did not contain any smoking-gun evidence of weapons caches or active facilities. But it characterized Iraq as strategically dragging its feet, hoping to bog down inspections with ''grudging'' cooperation.

''Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance - not even today - of the disarmament that was demanded of it,'' said chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix. ''It is not enough to open doors. Inspection is not a game of catch-as-catch-can.''

Still, Mohammed El Baradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is conducting the inspections for nuclear weapons in Iraq, asked the Security Council for several more months to continue searching the California-sized country.

''I trust the council will continue its unified and unequivocal support for inspections in Iraq,'' El Baradei said. "These few months, in my view, will be an invaluable investment in peace.''

Inspectors are due to report to the Security Council again Feb. 14, but they can request a special meeting anytime events warrant.

Monday's report sets the stage for what is likely to be a heated debate over how much international support the United States needs to confront Iraq and how much more time inspections should be given.

Bush is expected to assess the case against Iraq and the threat Saddam poses during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, but will not likely go into great detail or reveal timetables.

''I think the president will continue to consult with our allies and evaluate the information he has,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday.

Iraqi officials echoed their claims that they have fully cooperated with inspectors, and they are willing to answer any questions inspectors have and clarify any discrepancies in record keeping.

''Iraq has actively cooperated by facilitating interviews and by providing access to 440 inspections at 220 sites,'' said Mohammed Aldouri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations ''The results have proved Iraq is clear of weapons of mass destruction. We will answer any, any, any questions Mr. Blix wants to discuss.''

Unanswered questions
Blix raised many of those questions in his report, citing numerous instances of Iraq's noncompliance with U.N. resolutions dating back more than a decade.

Some of the most urgent points:

— Iraq apparently did more research on VX nerve agent than it has admitted.

— Iraq has failed to account for 6,500 chemical bombs.
- Iraq has produced ''no convincing evidence'' it has destroyed the anthrax toxin it produced before 1991.

— Iraq has not declared all of its biological growth media, which could be used to make biological weapons.

— Iraq has not reported all the technical data on its missile programs. Under the most recent U.N. resolution, Iraq is permitted to have rockets with a range of less than 150 kilometers. Some evidence suggests Iraq may have tested liquid and solid fuel missiles that exceed that range.

— Iraq illegally imported rocket engines in violation of U.N. resolutions passed in the 1990s.

— Iraq has been slow to provide inspectors with the names of scientists for interviews.

''There were cases in which the interviewees were intimidated,'' Blix said.

Making the case
The spotlight now shifts to Capitol Hill where Bush, in his State of the Union speech, is expected to sum up the administration's position that Saddam is refusing to disarm and that the United States is willing to lead a coalition to force disarmament.

John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, started laying the groundwork immediately after Monday's report, accusing Iraq of ''an active program of denial and deception.''

''Nothing we have heard today gives us hope Iraq intends to comply (with inspections),'' he said.

Negroponte also touched on concerns that the Security Council might not move as aggressively against Iraq as the Bush administration would like.

''What we have seen from Iraq is that Iraq is back to business as usual,'' he said. ''The problem is that the council may return to business as usual as well.''
In the past, Saddam has been able to divide the Security Council, often forestalling resolution enforcement measures.

Security Council members plan to meet with Blix and El Baradei behind closed doors starting Wednesday to further dissect their findings.

''We're hoping to tease out more than they might have wanted to deliver in public,'' said Britain's U.N. ambassador Jeremy Greenstock.

On Friday, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet and discuss developments in Iraq and the Security Council.