United Nations weapons inspectors arrive in Baghdad and
plan their first inspection on Nov. 27.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said the first inspections will take place on Nov. 27 and he
would not tolerate any Iraqi delays, Middle East Newsline reported. Blix has 60 days from the first
inspection to report back to the Security Council on Iraqi compliance. He
said the team will review some 700 sites for inspection.
The team will include members of the UN Monitoring, Verification and
Inspection Commission as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Blix and IAEA director Mohammed El Baradei
will lead the team.
"Denial of access, even for a short time, concerns something essential,"
Blix said. "We will report factually on what has happened, and then it is
for the Security Council to assess whether in its view it constitutes a
material breach. After having drawn such a conclusion, it is up to the
council to decide what will
they do about it."
By Dec. 8, Iraq is required to declare the status of its weapons of mass
destruction. At that point, those who have solid evidence of Iraqi WMD must
present their case.
The UN weapons inspection team will be aided by new technologies that
were not available in the mid-1990s. They include radar to search for
underground bunkers, commercial spy satellites to monitor suspected Iraqi
weapons sites, miniature sensors that can monitor the air, water and soil
and portable germ detectors that can quickly check installations for
anthrax, plague and other biological weapons agents.
