[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [Peace] NYTimes.com Article: Why We Know Iraq Is Lying

[Ricky Baldwin]

Good, Ms Rice, now let's see the US behave the way you
describe, yes?
Ricky
--- scarsey at uiuc.edu wrote:
> From: scarsey at uiuc.edu
> To: peace at lists.groogroo.com
> Subject: [Peace] NYTimes.com Article: Why We Know
> Iraq Is Lying
> Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 09:44:22 -0600
> 
> 
> >Why We Know Iraq Is Lying
> >
> >January 23, 2003
> >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. 
> >
> >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.
> >
> >http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/23/opinion/
> 23RICE.html?ex=1044421087&ei=1&en=
> 4c75b102af4d5a6b
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> 
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