Blix: Inspection Team Might Include Arabs

The desire expressed by Iraq that the UNMOVIC inspection team should include more Arabs, as it accepted Security Council Resolution 1441 allowing the return of the weapons inspectors to Iraq, did not fall on deaf ears. Hans Blix, the leader of the team, has stated that if Arabs want to enrol for membership of the team, they will be welcome.

Hans Blix said that there were currently 49 trained inspectors, including six Jordanians and one Moroccan, and another five Turks, making seven Arabs and 12 Moslems. He stated that his office did not receive many applications from Arabs but that whoever wished to enrol would be welcome and added that “We always follow the path of peace”.

Meanwhile, the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed El-Baradei, declared that his agency had had in the past many inspectors from many Arab nations and that it would not be a problem to include some in the current inspection in Iraq, because it would broaden the basis of understanding.

As the hawks in the Pentagon shuffle away muttering under their breath, the sun shines on the Persian Gulf. Diplomacy has won the day, understanding has taken the place of arrogance and bullying and blackmail belong to the annals of the failed diplomacy of yesterday. The dawn of a New World Order has broken and this is one marked by two clear benchmarks: it is based upon diplomacy, with the central forum of discussion being undeniably the UNO and it is multilateral.

President Putin and his team can claim responsibility for a large part of this considerable achievement due to the hard work they have put in over the last two years, bringing Moscow back onto the central stage of world diplomacy after too many years of the staggering gait and drunken antics of his predecessor.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru