The return of inspectors ?

Khalid Al Saffar

Not a day passes without one or more of American officials threatening Iraq with a military strike unless Iraq allows the weapons inspectors to come back and inspect weapons of mass destruction.

For those who have been following the verbal offensive and war hysteria against Iraq, it sounds like a well-orchestrated campaign to prepare world public opinion for Mr. Bush's next mishap. Mr. Bush, and the rest of US officials claim that Iraq is still in possession of WMDs, and as such the inspection teams have to be allowed back. But the problem is not in allowing them back, because Iraq did not expel them in the first place. Rather, they were withdrawn by the then head of the infamous UNSCOM, Richard Butler, who, acting in collusion with the US administration, cooked up the crisis and conspired with America and the Zionists to launch air and missile strikes against Iraq in December, 1998.

UNSCOM, for those who may have forgotten, operated in Iraq for 8 years during which it crisscrossed the country hundreds of times, searched every corner, and inspected schools, hospitals, universities, and even mosques and churches, to find and scrap WMD. UNSCOM, with Iraqi government cooperation through the provision of information about stockpiles, inventories, and so on, did its job, and there was nothing more to be done, except to create crises, to delay the lifting of sanctions by the Security Council.

Now, after 4 years on the sidelines, the US wants UNSCOM successor, UNMOVIC, to come back and start again from square one, as if none of what took place between 1990-1998 is of any relevance. UNSCOM had completed its job, and under its former head Rolf Ekeus, set up its monitoring system over 588 industrial-scientific-military installations using the most modern, state of the art technology, which included 130 cameras and 30 sensors connected via satellite to its headquarters in New York. This monitoring network was in place and functioning normally when the US launched its aggression in 1998 as the Security Council was discussing the Iraqi question.

Indeed the past record of UNSCOM and the bitter experience with the inspection teams make it unlikely that the new body, UNMOVIC, will be any better, whether in makeup or in performance, than the decrepit.

UNSCOM, which was highly infiltrated by the CIA. And had a disgraceful record of cheating, fabrication, and collusion with the Zionist Mossad, providing them with information, and sharing data on Iraq's security. For this reason, it would be illogical to expect that a body, such as UNMOVIC, nurtured and guided by the US administration would be neutral, professional, and impervious to American pressures and manipulations.

The return of the inspectors is unnecessary, and cannot be justified, in view of past experience, and the atmosphere of suspicions, and distrust.

Furthermore, there is nothing to be inspected after the marathon inspections carried out by UNSCOM. The International Atomic Energy Agency, and other bodies. If, for argument sake, the inspectors are allowed back, make their inspections, and come up with nothing, what will happen then ? will the UN Security Council lift sanctions?

America's hidden objectives out of its latest media campaign against Iraq, is to fabricate an excuse, or a convincing alibi to target Iraq, since it failed to find anything that connects Iraq to the September 11 attacks on New York World Trade Center. Mr. Bush, and his coterie of spokesmen. Advisers, and stooges tried very hard to link their so-called war against terrorism with Iraq. But many Arab, European, and Asian leaders ridiculed this attempt, and called for a more logical diplomatic approach to solve the problem.

America is in no position to champion the cause of combating terrorism, while it acts as the biggest terrorist, threatening peoples lives, and world peace. We may in this regard, point out that in the last 12 years only, at least four major wars were initiated by the US against other countries ( Iraq Somalia. Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan ). That alone stands as a big, solid proof of the war mentality dominating American leaders, their institutions, and their foreign policy.