Iraq crushed missiles, sliced casting chambers, unearthed bombs and sent scientists to talk with UN weapons inspectors Monday, all in a desperate effort to prove it is disarming before a crucial UN report at the end of the week.
France, Russia and China urged Iraq to meet every UN demand in hopes of staving off war, but the United States–which might wage war even without UN authorization–said the actions were too little, too late.
“Iraq is not cooperating,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday. “Despite whatever limited head-fakes Iraq has engaged in, they continue to fundamentally not disarm.”
U.S. officials said a vote on a new UN resolution authorizing force would likely come next week, after chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei address the Security Council on Friday.
As U.S. generals commanding about 225,000 troops in the region declare themselves ready to attack Iraq, weapons inspectors are suddenly receiving Iraqi cooperation on a swarm of issues that have dogged them for months.
Iraq met a Saturday deadline to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missile system, banned because its range may be slightly greater than allowed. It is slicing up banned casting chambers used to make another missile, the Al Fatah.
Workers have unearthed buried bombs they say are loaded with anthrax, aflatoxin and botulin toxin, and inspectors are analyzing the contents. Iraq is readying a letter to the United Nations that proposes verifying it has gotten rid of anthrax and the deadly VX nerve agent.
Even Iraqi scientists who helped make missiles and chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction have begun to give private interviews to inspectors, something all but three had refused to do since December. Another scientist was interviewed on Monday, the fourth in as many days. The United Nations has asked to speak to more than 30 scientists since December.
Clearly Iraq is appealing to members of the UN Security Council, who are considering a draft resolution by the United States, Britain and Spain that would declare Iraq to be evading inspections, a step that would likely lead to war.
IRAQI, U.S. STUDENTS DISCUSS WAR IN BROADCAST: If he could be anything in the world, Sari said, he would be a computer engineer. Farsad said he would be a pharmacist, like his father and grandfather. Raid, a teenager wearing a brown suit and a mustache, said he wanted something a little more ambitious. “I wish I were the president of the United States, to keep war away from Iraq,” he said.
High school students held a live videoconference from Baghdad to Bloomfield, Conn., on Monday, talking about life, relationships–and war. The 90-minute gathering of about two dozen students on each side of the world was surprisingly apolitical.
Key developments
– The U.S.-led military mobilization entered a critical stage, with B-52 bombers landing in Britain and soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division setting up camp in Kuwait.
– The Turkish government showed no signs that it would quickly ask parliament to reverse its refusal to allow in more than 60,000 U.S. troops ahead of an Iraq war.
– U.S. warplanes patrolling a “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq reported coming under anti-aircraft artillery fire and responded by attacking four military communications facilities and one air defense facility.
