The Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, set himself on an early collision course with the US and Britain yesterday by defiantly continuing to insist he has no weapons of mass destruction.
As expected, he bowed to international pressure by sending a letter to the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, reluctantly accepting a security council resolution that will allow weapons inspectors to return to Iraq.
But the letter, in the name of the Iraqi foreign minister, Naji Sabri, vociferously denied that Iraq has developed weapons of mass destruction, ”whether nuclear, chemical, or biological, as claimed by evil people”.
The denial will be tested when Iraq, as required by the resolution, hands to the weapons inspectors by December 8 a full list of all components in its possession that could be used to make such weapons.
That declaration could prove the crunch time for Iraq. The US and British claim to have intelligence that Iraq has continued to develop biological and chemical weapons and are insisting that Iraq comes clean. A British official said last night: ”The British would not accept a statement that [Saddam] has no weapons. We don’t believe that.”
Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, is to fly to Baghdad from Cyprus on Monday for two days to discuss arrangements with the Iraqi government. His trip will mark the return of the inspectors after an absence of four years, and he will be accompanied by an advance team from their New York headquarters.
Ewen Buchanan, Blix’s representative, said the advance team will sort out living quarters, headquarters, transport and communications in preparation for the arrival of the inspectors on November 25. He said no inspections, surprise or otherwise, would be carried out before that date.
Iraq, referring in its letter to the US and Britain’s claims that it has developed illegal weapons, said that provided the inspectors went about their work in a fair and professional way, the ”liars’ lies” would be exposed.
Both Washington and London welcomed Iraq’s agreement to allow the inspectors to return to the country but emphasised a need for continued caution.
A White House representative said Iraq would be judged by its actions in the coming weeks, and that what President Saddam did, as opposed to what he said, was what mattered.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said: ”Iraq’s intentions are notoriously changeable. The next step is for Iraq to provide an accurate, full and complete declaration of all aspects of its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programmes by December 8. Let there be no doubt that any failure by Iraq to comply with its obligations will lead to serious consequences.”
The Iraqi letter did not specifically say that it unconditionally accepted the resolution. Instead, Sabri said that Iraq ”will deal with resolution 1441”. Sabri added: ”We are prepared to receive the inspectors, so that they can carry out their duties.”
In often lurid language, the letter accused Washington of using the UN to obtain ”international cover with which to camouflage its falsehood” and condemned other members of the security council for adopting the resolution last week ”under the pretext that it would be better to take the kicks of a raging bull in a small circle than to face its horns in an open space”.
No other government, the letter said, ”including the fathers of old colonialism”, had ever generated as much worldwide hatred as America, which Iraq accused of being motivated by ”their own greed, by Zionism, as well as by other known factors”.
Sabri said he would send Annan another letter, at an unspecified later date, explaining where Iraq believes the resolution to be contrary to international law.
The letter warned the inspectors that Iraq will be monitoring their conduct.
The Iraqi letter is ambiguous, saying the inspectors will be treated with courtesy if they are fair.
But if the inspectors are tinged by ”the whims of the American administration, the Zionist desires, their followers, intelligence services, threats, and foul temptation, the resulting commotion will distort the facts and push the situation into dangerous directions”.
Those who have spoken to the Iraqi leadership recently insist that Iraq will do nothing to obstruct the inspectors, knowing that any such behaviour will provoke war. – Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001