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Charges fly thick on drone

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

United Nations march 11. The top weapons inspector, Hans Blix, has taken Iraq to task for not declaring the pilotless drone but has refused to go to the extent of saying that this could indeed be the "smoking gun'' as what some in the Bush administration believe.

"We're not at this stage yet,'' Dr. Blix told reporters after a closed door meeting of the Security Council on late Monday evening while talking about the `legality' of whether this drone confined to the stipulations of the U.N. resolutions. Senior U.S. officials and analysts have openly said that Dr. Blix's report to the Secuity Council last Friday should have highlighted the drone and not have it `tucked' away somewhere in the 170-page report.

"Iraq should have declared this vehicle...and they did not,'' was all that the top U.N. official would say on Monday evening. In his report, Dr. Blix said that his team had discovered the drone with a wingspan of about 25 feet that immediately suggested to some of an `illegal' range which would not only threaten Iraq's neighbours but also with a capability of carrying chemical and biological weapons. The maximum range allowed under U.N. stipulation is 150 km. There were some who maintained that Iraq could use the illegal pilotless aircrafts to attack American and allied troops in the event of a military showdown and perhaps unleash weapons of mass destruction such as nerve gas or anthrax through this vehicle.

Yet another finding of the weapons inspectors that administration officials in Washington were pointing to was the discovery of at least 100 Iraqi cluster bombs that could be used for chemical and biological weapons attack. Officials are said to be `angry' at the failure of Dr. Blix to highlight these findings. After the closed door meeting of the Council on Monday, Dr. Blix shrugged off complaints that he had not been tough enough on Iraq.

"Everyone tries to squeeze us to get as much mileage out of us as they can,'' said the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) said. But the Bush administration seized on the drone and cluster bomb `findings' to further marshall its case at the Security Council and in the international community to get support for its resolution.

"This information on drones...should be of concern to everyone,'' maintained the Secretary of State, Colin Powell. "Iraq continues to demonstrate that it has not really changed its strategic intent, which is the case we have been making all along.'' But France and other opponents to a war are making the point that the unanswered questions in the report of Dr. Blix are precisely why the inspections process must continue.

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