Former UN arms inspector finds a new calling
South News commentary, July 31 2000
by Dave Muller
Former UN arms inspector Scott Ritter is back in Baghdad. This time on the
invitation of the Iraqi leadership. He visited four suspected UNSCOM
weapons sites in the Iraqi capital on Saturday on the first day of his
assignment to achieve a breakthrough towards a lifting of decade-old
sanctions linked to disarmament
But Ritter is now calling on the UN Security Council to "redefine Iraq's
disarmament obligation along more meaningful - and politically and
technically viable - qualitative standards"
Ritter blames UNSCOM's failure on a misinformed interpretation of
disarmament obligation set forth in Resolution 687, where there was no
latitude for qualitative judgments. UNSCOM's inability to verify that every
aspect was fully accounted for was based on "that anything less than 100
percent quantitative finding of compliance disarmament precluded closure on
disarmament" .
"Quantitative disarmament (the accounting of every last weapon, component,
or bit of related material) took precedence over qualitative disarmament
(the elimination of a meaningful, viable capability to produce or employ
weapons of mass destruction)", Ritter recently assesed for UNSCOM
failure...... (1)
Ritter said his aim was "to initiate some action to break through this
impasse"as there was "irresponsible speculation about what Iraq is doing
today now that weapons inspectors are not in Iraq."
Iraq has agreed to provide Ritter and a documentary film crew access to
weapons facilities throughout the country, the Washington Post newspaper
reported on July 27. "My personal feeling is that Iraq is qualitatively
disarmed and the Security Council should reassess its position," Ritter
told the paper. "It is time for the world body to do what is right, to do
what is just."
"I think what we plan to do with this documentary film will go a long way
toward de-demonizing Iraq in the eyes of the American people and in the
eyes of the European people," he said.
He also plans to interview Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz and Oil
Minister Amer Rashid, and visit existing and destroyed weapon facilities to
investigate new charges by former UNSCOM chief Richard Butler that Iraq is
developing new viral warfare agents.
The former US Marine is now agreeing with UN humanitarian programme chiefs
that the embargo has backfired with the Iraqi population of 22 million
paying a tragic price.
(1) See: The Case for Iraq's Qualitative Disarmament in the June 2000
edition of Arms Control Today
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