[Nasional-e] 'No nuclear or biological or chemical weapons'

[Ambon]

 'No nuclear or biological or chemical weapons'

Mohammed Aldouri The New York Times Friday, October 18, 2002

Iraq states its case

NEW YORK After so many years of fear from war, the threat of war and
suffering, the people of Iraq and their government are eager for peace. We
have no intention of attacking anyone, now or in the future, with weapons of
any kind. If we are attacked, we will surely defend ourselves with all means
possible. But bear in mind that we have no nuclear or biological or chemical
weapons, and we have no intention of acquiring them.
.
We are not asking the people of the United States or of any member state of
the United Nations to trust in our word, but to send the weapons inspectors
to our country to look wherever they wish unconditionally.
.
This means unconditional access anywhere, including presidential sites in
accordance with a 1998 signed agreement between Iraq and the United
Nations - an agreement that ensures respect for Iraq's sovereignty and
allows for transparency in the work of the inspectors.
.
We could never make this claim with such openness if we did not ourselves
know there is nothing to be found.
.
Still, we continue to read statements by officials of the United States and
the United Kingdom that it is not enough that Hans Blix, head of the United
Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and his team of
inspectors have unconditional access. They say this is because the Iraqi
government may be hiding weapons that will not be found, or is moving
weapons from place to place, or is developing new weapons in roving vans or
in underground locations.
.
The UN officials with whom our government has worked on these matters know
that these concerns have no foundation. In December 1998, when the UN
weapons inspection team left Iraq on the orders of Richard Butler, it had
exhausted all possibilities after seven years of repeatedly examining all
possible sites; only small discrepancies existed. It is now widely conceded
that Iraq possesses no nuclear weapons and that we could not develop them
without building facilities that could be spotted by satellite.
.
Since 1999 we have allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit
Iraq. If it wishes, it can inspect any building anywhere. The agency's
inspectors will find nothing untoward.
.
Scott Ritter, who led many UN inspections, has said he questions whether
Iraq possesses biological weapons. He also has been on CNN in recent months
explaining that his inspection team destroyed plants that could produce
chemical weapons. If these plants were reconstructed, Blix and his team
would quickly find them out.
.
Building such weapons costs billions of dollars and requires enormous
facilities and huge power sources. The idea that such projects could be
moved around in trucks or stashed away in presidential palaces stretches the
bounds of imagination.
.
It is my belief that the American people are not aware of this history
because, in my opinion and the opinion of my government, no American
political figure has been seriously interested in discussing these matters
with our government.
.
The United Nations was created in 1945 to provide a forum for nations in
conflict to come together to work out their disagreements. It was designed
expressly for the purpose of making the use of force an absolute last
resort.
.
For more than 11 years, the people of Iraq have suffered under United
Nations economic sanctions, which have been kept in place largely by
American influence. According to statistics compiled by the Iraqi Ministry
of Health, these sanctions have caused the death of more than 1.7 million of
our citizens. The embargo has been so severe that we have been prevented
from importing chemicals needed for our sewage, water and sanitation
facilities.
.
At the same time, the last three American presidents have stated that these
sanctions could not be lifted as long as our president, Saddam Hussein,
remains the nation's leader.
.
Iraq is not a threat to its neighbors. It certainly is not a threat to the
United States or any of its interests in the Middle East. Once the United
Nations inspection team comes back into my country and gets up to speed, I
am confident that it will certify that Iraq has no weapons of mass
destruction - be they chemical, biological or nuclear.
.
Such certification, we hope, will remove the shadow of war and help restore
peace between our nations. The writer is the Iraqi ambassador to the United
Nations. He contributed this comment to The New York Times.