Inaction is not an option

米国務長官の国連への報告

Mr. Powell's appearance at the U.N. had been anticipated since U.S. President George W. Bush outlined his Iraq policy to the American people in his State of the Union address last week. U.S. officials tried to dampen expectations about the "proof" that Mr. Powell would provide. While some anticipated a replay of the dramatic confrontation between America's U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson and his Soviet counterpart during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Mr. Powell cautioned that he had no "smoking gun." Maybe not, but the evidence he did provide was striking.

Mr. Powell made several key points. He argued that Iraq continues efforts to procure and develop weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. He demanded that Iraq account for the tons of chemical and biological weapons it declared it possessed in the past but has no record of destroying. He claimed that Baghdad has made systematic efforts to hinder U.N. and International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. Mr. Powell called it "a policy of evasion and deception that goes back 12 years, a policy set at the highest levels of the Iraqi regime."

Some of the efforts cited by Mr. Powell were ingenious. Papers and materials were dispersed to the homes of facility staff members. Scientists were instructed on ways to mislead inspectors. Entire staffs at suspect facilities were replaced. Documents were put in cars and driven around the country for days to keep them from being found. One scientist was sent into hiding by the Iraqi government after being given a false death certificate to keep inspectors from interviewing him. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told scientists that they were not to agree to be interviewed outside Iraq and said that anyone participating in such a meeting — or meeting inspectors without an official minder — would be considered guilty of treason.

More chilling was the revelation that Iraq had tested weapons on 1,600 convicts; autopsies were conducted to verify results. Equally disturbing was Mr. Powell's claim that Baghdad had established links to al-Qaeda. He asserted that al-Qaeda groups were operating in northern Iraq and working with Iraqi agents. He claimed that Iraq, either acting alone or through al-Qaeda, would have no qualms about using weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Powell's evidence was compelling. He provided telephone intercepts of what he claimed were Iraqi officers discussing ways to hide nerve agents and "modified vehicles." He showed satellite photographs said to reveal chemical-weapons sites that were bulldozed to hide evidence, ballistic missile sites being sanitized days before inspections and alleged al-Qaeda training camps.

Iraq's response to the charges was predictable. Baghdad dismissed the evidence as "another Hollywood show" and said that Mr. Powell provided no proof of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. A more important response came from other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Judging from their statements, France, Russia and China did not feel the presentation was sufficient to change their positions. They admit that Iraq has not provided full cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors, but they are willing to give Baghdad more time.

The point is not whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, however. Rather, as Mr. Powell noted, Iraq's efforts to frustrate the will of the United Nations are the "casus belli." Last year, the U.N. demanded, and Baghdad agreed, to comply with the weapons-inspections program. The attempts to hinder the inspectors are the "material breach" that Mr. Powell warned could trigger "serious consequences." As British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw argued, playing "bad cop" to Mr. Powell, the U.N. must accept a painful choice: Admit the obvious — that Iraq is frustrating the will and the work of the U.N. — and take action, or turn away from that grim fact and allow Baghdad to flout the will of the international community. As Mr. Straw warned, the latter course is no less risky than the former. A failure to act would condemn the U.N. to the fate of its predecessor, the League of Nations. That should sober U.N. members, if Mr. Powell's evidence did not already do so.

The Japan Times:
February 7, 2003
(C) All rights reserved

      長官は、イラクは生物・化学兵器、核兵器の開発を続けているとして、過去に保有していた大量の兵器の行方を明らかにするよう求めた。長官はまた、イラクは国連、国際原子力機関の査察を組織的に妨害したと非難した。

      長官によれば、イラクは大量破壊兵器の資料、原料などを関係者の自宅に隠匿させたり、研究者に査察団を欺かせたり、疑惑のある研究施設のスタッフを全部交代させたという。また、フセイン大統領は科学者に対し、査察団による国外での聴取を拒否するよう命じたといわれる。 驚くべきことに、イラクは1,600人の囚人を使って大量破壊兵器の人体実験をしたという。また、イラクはテロ組織アルカイダと関係があり、大量破壊兵器使用を躊躇しないといわれる。

      パウエル長官はさらに、査察前の兵器隠匿を示すイラク軍将校の会話の盗聴記録、化学兵器施設の衛星写真などの情報を開示した。

      イラクは開示された情報を「ハリウッド式のショー」と決め付け、パウエル長官は大量破壊兵器の存在を証明できなかったと反論した。

      一方、安保理常任理事国のフランス、ロシア、中国は今回の情報開示にもかかわらず、対ライク攻撃に慎重な従来の立場を変えていない。

      問題はイラクが大量破壊兵器を保有しているか否かではない。査察を妨害することにより、イラクはパウエル長官の言う「重大な結果」につながる義務違反をしている。

      国連は対イラク軍事行動を支持するか、イラクによる国際社会の無視を許容するのかの決断をしなければならない。後者を取れば、国連は国際連盟と同じ道をたどるだろう。

The Japan Times Weekly
February 15, 2003
(C) All rights reserved