World News

Iraq OKs return of U.N. weapons inspectors

Baghdad agreed Oct. 1 to a plan that would let U.N. weapons inspectors return for the first time in nearly four years, but the pact would provide no new access to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's palaces and other contested sites.

U.N. chief inspector Hans Blix said Oct. 1 that the logistics agreement hammered out in talks with an Iraqi delegation preserved the inspectors' insistence on "immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access" to most suspect sites. Blix said an advance team of inspectors could deploy in as early as two weeks if it gets the go-ahead from the U.N. Security Council.

But eight so-called presidential sites that encompass 32 sq. km would remain off-limits to surprise inspections unless the Security Council bends to U.S. demands that all sites be subject to unannounced visits.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, clashing with Blix, later said that the search for hidden arsenals in Iraq should be held up until the Security Council adopts tough new rules.

Powell said in Washington that sending inspectors back to Iraq now after a lapse of nearly four years would risk further deception by the Hussein regime.

Under a 1998 deal worked out between U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Baghdad, the inspectors are not allowed to visit the presidential sites unannounced and must be accompanied by a team of international diplomats when they do conduct visits.

Meanwhile, the White House chief spokesman Ari Fleischer broached the idea of assassinating Saddam Hussein as a way to avoid war with Iraq, saying that "the cost of one bullet" would be cheaper than military action.

Shukan ST: Oct. 11, 2002

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