15 March 2002
The standard line is that this is a crisis about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programmes, caused by Iraqi non-compliance with UN resolutions. Therefore, the argument goes, Iraq will only comply if major military threats are made, and anyway as Saddam has never complied so far, we have to be prepared to go to war to get rid of him.
However, in December 1998, the UN weapons inspectors reported that
- Iraq's nuclear weapon programme had been eliminated 'efficiently and effectively'
- the elimination of Iraq's chemical weapon and missile capabilities was almost complete
- disarmament work remained in the biological weapon area
- Iraq had still to provide further information in all areas
- Iraq had agreed in principle to long-term monitoring but not to a specific system.
[On the other elements of UN Security Council Resolution 687, Iraq has recognised Kuwait, has returned some but not all Kuwaiti property, has returned some but not all missing persons, is paying compensation though it has denied liability in principle, has not sponsored international terrorism for 10 years according to the CIA but has denied ever sponsoring it and has not fully agreed to servicing all of its external debt]
The standard line is that this is a crisis about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programmes, caused by Iraqi non-compliance with UN resolutions. Therefore, the argument goes, Iraq will only comply if major military threats are made, and anyway as Saddam has never complied so far, we have to be prepared to go to war to get rid of him.
However, in December 1998, the UN weapons inspectors reported that
- Iraq's nuclear weapon programme had been eliminated 'efficiently and effectively'
- the elimination of Iraq's chemical weapon and missile capabilities was almost complete
- disarmament work remained in the biological weapon area
- Iraq had still to provide further information in all areas
- Iraq had agreed in principle to long-term monitoring but not to a specific system.
[On the other elements of UN Security Council Resolution 687, Iraq has recognised Kuwait, has returned some but not all Kuwaiti property, has returned some but not all missing persons, is paying compensation though it has denied liability in principle, has not sponsored international terrorism for 10 years according to the CIA but has denied ever sponsoring it and has not fully agreed to servicing all of its external debt]