The chief UN arms inspector on Tuesday accused Iraq of failing to cooperate with inspections of its weapons programs, pushing President Saddam Hussein toward a possible new military confrontation with the U.S. and Britain.
Only a month after Iraq averted an American-led attack by pledging at the last minute to resume full cooperation, Richard Butler, the chairman of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) overseeing the disarmament of Iraq, declared in a report delivered to the Security Council on Tuesday night that Hussein’s government continues to obstruct inspections.
He accused Iraq of failing to turn over documents that would shed light on the development of chemical and biological weapons, and also of barring surprise inspections at a headquarters of Hussein’s Baath Party in Baghdad.
In Washington, officials responded grimly to Butler’s report, reiterating the administration’s warnings that it was prepared to respond to Iraqi non-compliance with force if necessary.
On the eve of the House of Representatives’ consideration of four articles of impeachment against him, Clinton now faces a decision on whether to order U.S. forces into action against Hussein. Clinton, returning to Washington late Tuesday from a four-day trip to Israel, is to meet with his senior national security aides Wednesday to decide how to respond.
“We understand this report is very troubling,” a senior administration official said. “It finds a lack of compliance.”
Asked about the timing of
any strikes, the official replied, “We’ll set the timetable; not the United Nations and not Saddam Hussein.”
Anticipating Butler’s conclusions, the president’s national security aides already had held a series of meetings, beginning Sunday. Secretary of Defense William Cohen and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Henry Shelton, postponed their departures on separate trips to Europe over the weekend, though their aides cited budget negotiations as the reason.
One government official said the White House had asked military commanders on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. Central Command to reactivate plans that were put on hold Nov. 14, only 15 minutes before an attack was to begin.
The United States, with Britain, had been prepared to launch a first strike of nearly 300 cruise missiles from eight warships in the Persian Gulf, followed by bombing raids from dozens of F-14 and F-18 fighters aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight Eisenhower and then from B-52 and B-1 bombers sent to the region.
Clinton called off that attack against the advice of most of his national security team, including Cohen and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who argued that Iraq could not be trusted to keep promises it had made and broken before.
All the firepower the United States was prepared to let loose on Iraq in November remains in the Persian Gulf.
In fact, the Pentagon has taken steps in recent days that have had the effect of increasing the amount of weaponry, coinciding with Butler’s review.
Last week, the Pentagon announced it was sending eight B-52s to replace seven based on Diego Garcia, the British isle in the Indian Ocean. Between now and Christmas, all 15 B-52s will remain in the region.
Nine warships led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson are expected to arrive in the Persian Gulf by the end of the week, joining the carrier Enterprise and 14 other combat warships in the gulf, eight of them able to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Butler was asked to report to the Security Council on Iraq’s cooperation with his inspectors since they returned to Baghdad on Nov. 14. Iraq had curtailed inspections on Aug. 5 and then shut them off entirely on Oct. 31.
Butler said Iraq initiated new forms of restrictions on the commission’s work since the inspectors had returned.
“Finally, in the light of this experience, that is, the absence of full cooperation by Iraq, it must regrettably be recorded again that the commission is not able to conduct the substantive disarmament work mandated to it by the Security Council and thus to give the council the assurances it requires with respect to Iraq’s prohibited weapons programs,” Butler said.
