UN inspectors have yet to turn up any sign of prohibited weapons in Iraq, complicating the Bush administration’s task of justifying an armed invasion.
Allies already are expressing misgivings, and the inspectors’ first comprehensive report, due Jan. 27, could further cramp the timing of any attack.
Even as the Pentagon presses ahead with a massive military buildup in the Persian Gulf, U.S. and British officials are assessing the potential consequences should the report prove inconclusive. That could force the White House into accepting more delay–or risk the wrath of allies by going it alone.
President Bush asserted Monday that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein does not appear to be complying with UN demands that he disarm. “But he’s got time,” Bush said.
Iraq says it has no weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration and Britain insist it does–and is merely concealing them.
In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw suggested the possibility of war had slipped below 50-50. With the North Korean crisis taking international attention, some support for armed conflict with Iraq seemed to be fading.
HUSSEIN SAYS INSPECTORS ARE SPIES: Saddam Hussein accused UN arms inspectors Monday of conducting “intelligence work” instead of searching for evidence of banned weapons and blamed the United States for pushing the UN teams to overstep their legitimate mandate.
The inspectors are collecting names of Iraqi scientists, putting questions to them that mask “hidden agendas” and gathering information about conventional arms not restricted by UN resolutions, Hussein said in a taped speech televised on Iraq’s Army Day. “All or most” of these activities “constitute purely intelligence work,” Hussein said. He did not offer any specific evidence of spying.
THREE AGREE TO EXTRADITION: Three men agreed Monday to surrender to the United States on charges they conspired to trade drugs for anti-aircraft missiles they allegedly wanted to sell to Al Qaeda.
Surprising even their own lawyer, the two Pakistanis and an Indian-born U.S. citizen said they would not fight an extradition battle that had been expected to carry on for weeks. The men were caught in an FBI sting operation in Hong Kong by undercover agents who alleged the three had agreed to provide hashish by the ton and heroin by the kilo in exchange for four shoulder-fired Stinger missiles.
Key dates on Iraq
Upcoming Security Council meetings on Iraq and travel schedules for the chief UN weapons inspectors:
Thursday: Hans Blix, head of the UN Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission, and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, brief Security Council on assessments of Iraq’s arms declaration.
Jan. 21: Commission’s board of directors meets at UN headquarters.
Jan. 27: Blix and ElBaradei submit their first report to the Security Council detailing Iraq’s cooperation with weapons inspections.
