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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, January 28, 2003

EDITORIAL
U.N. inspectors' reports present no surprises

The reports presented to the U.N. Security Council yesterday by Hans Blix, chief weapons inspector, and his nuclear counterpart, Mohamed ElBaradei, will change no one's mind over the need for war against Iraq.

The inspections stem from a Security Council resolution adopted in 1991 as part of Iraq's surrender in the Gulf War. It called for declarations by Iraq of its programs of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles; verification of those declarations by U.N. inspectors; and supervision by inspectors of the destruction or the elimination of prohibited programs and weapons.

These conditions were accepted by Iraq then, but only partially observed, despite numerous subsequent Security Council resolutions.

Still, Blix pointed out yesterday that large quantities of chemical weapons were destroyed under U.N. supervision before 1994, that large biological weapons production facilities were destroyed in 1996 and extensive nuclear infrastructure was destroyed and the fissionable material was removed from Iraq.

Since inspectors returned to Iraq in November, Blix reports, cooperation has been better — but cooperation is not the point.

The U.N. resolution requires Iraq to "disarm and verify," said Blix. Instead what's occurring is that Iraq is playing "hide and seek" with inspectors.

Blix implied, and ElBaradei said outright, that more time for inspections might induce Iraq to disarm. The support of the French, Russians and Chinese for more time for inspections seems quite perishable.

Because these nations don't deny that Iraq is failing to "disarm and verify," the question for them becomes how soon they finally agree with the Bush administration that inspections will never make Iraq comply.

Other opponents of a war against Iraq sidestep the U.N. resolutions. The question for them is not whether Iraq is in technical compliance with U.N. resolutions — it clearly is not — but whether evidence exists that Saddam Hussein constitutes a threat both real and grave enough to justify war. This is a question that the administration, fixated on the resolutions, has not answered.

But the administration now claims — with scant evidence — a solid link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein. Said Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz in a speech last week:

"Iraq's weapons of mass terror and the terror networks to which the Iraq regime are linked are not two separate themes, two separate threats — they are part of the same threat."

Even as it ratchets up the rhetorical pressure for war, the Bush administration appears content to give its Security Council colleagues a few weeks to come on board, as it completes its military buildup. On the eve of Bush's State of the Union address, it appeared the chances of avoiding war were between slim and none.