The UN inspectors report
“Iraq unwilling to give up weapons, U.N. inspector says.” – LA Times headline.
Tell me, how can Iraq give up weapons when inspectors haven’t yet found any weapons?
“‘Inspection is not a game of catch-as-catch-can,’ Blix declares. But nuclear chief ElBaradei has found no proof of an atomic arms program.”
Indeed. Let me repeat that. No one has found any weapons. None. Zero. Zip.
However, the report has changed no opinions –
“Despite a tough report by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix on Iraq, few members of a split U.N. Security Council changed their positions on war or peace, leaving Washington Tuesday scrambling for support.”
The Guardian comments
“Two main conclusions may be drawn from the interim reports delivered to the UN security council yesterday.
One is that while Iraq has shown a previously unexpected degree of cooperation in creating a “workable environment”, it still has many serious questions to answer and has very much more to do in helping the inspectors to fulfil their mandate.
The second conclusion to be drawn from this high drama in New York is that there are good reasons both to hope that the inspections can succeed and to persevere with them, for as long as it takes.”