The Hindu : Iraq for private interviews of its scientists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2003

International

International

Iraq for private interviews of its scientists

By Atul Aneja

JERUSALEM Jan. 20. Faced with a virtual ultimatum from the United States on Sunday that insufficient cooperation with weapons inspections could trigger war, Iraq today said it would encourage its scientists to be interviewed by United Nations officials privately. "Persons asked for interviews in private will be encouraged to accept,'' the presidential adviser, Amir al-Saadi, told reporters at the end of two days of talks with the chief inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohammad ElBaradei.

Iraq also promised more help to the U.N. weapons experts and said it was even forming its own teams of inspectors to search for banned weapons. The decision marks a significant softening of its stance as all interviews conducted by the U.N. inspectors have been, so far, held in the presence of Iraqi officials. Reports in the Turkish media suggest that the U.N. has listed 16 names of Iraqi scientists for interviews, but has been unable to contact them so far. There are suspicions that these scientists may have been already funnelled, or are in the process of being sent abroad.

Consequently, the list of these scientists has been passed to Jordan, Turkey and Kuwait. A joint statement that was read out by Mr. Al -Saadi in the presence of Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei said that Iraq would supplement a list of around 500 scientists involved in its past banned weapons programmes. According to the statement, Iraq had handed more documents to inspectors, was clarifying others and was forming its own teams to search for suspicious items. The U.N. inspectors discovered empty chemical warheads last week, which Iraq had failed to report to the U.N.

The statement said Iraq would also encourage inspections of "private sites'' — an apparent reference to places like the homes of leading scientists — and "private interviews.'' However, there was no mention in the statement of taking scientists outside Iraq for interviews, as Washington has demanded on the grounds that the interviewees need protection from reprisals. Mr. Blix on his part said he was "fairly confident'' that Iraq would honour its pledges. "We have solved a number of practical issues, not all,'' he told the news conference.

Iraq's interaction with Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei is likely to strongly influence a decision on a U.S.-led war against Iraq. The report of the U.N. inspections team to the U.N. Security Council on January 27, which the two lead inspectors will influence, is likely to set in motion a chain of events that could culminate in a war. Meanwhile, the "peace camp", comprising Iraq's neighbours and Egypt have stepped up efforts to avert a possible war.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to participate in a summit in Ankara— most likely on Thursday — where heads from Jordan, Egypt and Syria have also been invited. Syria is also keen to host a preparatory meeting of Foreign Ministers of these countries prior to the Ankara summit. Out of Iraq's neighbours, Turkey and Jordan have some leverage on influencing the timing of the war. Without their cooperation, the U.S. troops cannot open a northern and western front in Iraq and will have to depend only on Kuwait as staging post for launching an attack from the South. Thousands of protestors, many of whom are supporters of the Turkey's newly elected Justice and Development Party, held anti-war demonstrations which coincided with the visit to Turkey by the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers, on Sunday.

Realising that conflict can be averted only if the Iraqi President agrees to go into exile, the search for a suitable location for this purpose appears to have gathered momentum. Libya is a possible destination, and, it is not surprising, that the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, and the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, were reportedly in Tripoli during the weekend.

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