UNMOVIC Criticises USA

Washington has managed to add the United Nations Organisation to the growing list of entities offended by the arrogance of its rhetoric. A senior weapons inspector on the UNMOVIC team has declared that it is this organism which dictates how the inspections should be carried out, not Washington.

Demetrius Perricos, the leader of the team searching for biological and chemical weapons, rejected the calls by Washington for the teams to be more aggressive. “The people who sent us here are the international community, the United Nations. We are not serving any the US. We are not serving the UK”, he declared.

The inspector added that if the USA shared its intelligence with the UNMOVIC and IAEA teams, perhaps gaps in information could be bridged. Yesterday the White House declared that it has a “solid base” for believing that Iraq has hidden its Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Should Iraq fail top mention all of its weapons of mass destruction in the report it is to present to the UN Security Council this weekend, this would constitute what it termed as a “serious breach”, which would automatically involve a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss possible paths of action to follow.

Which path is followed by the USA is a question which is dividing the administration. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, the hawks, would use any material breach as justification for a war, which would depose Saddam Hussein’s regime and impose a puppet regime as in Afghanistan, while at the same time Washington would tele-command the vast oil resources of Iraq. Yesterday, Deputy Defence Secretary paul Wolfowitz declared in the NATO headquarters in Brussels that NATO countries could take part in a post-Saddam coalition peace-keeping force. Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Rumsfeld is set to announce a call-up of 10,000 more reservists, to add to the 50,000 already in service since September 11th.

Colin Powell, on the other hand, has made it clear that he is in favour of using diplomacy and collaborating with the United Nations Organisation, a policy which is echoed by Moscow and one which is in line with the norms of international law.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru