Excerpts from previous political updates, by subject

June 6, 2003

U.S. troops struggle with unrest

Along with controversy over the weapons search, the Bush administration has struggled to quell rising criticism of the apparent administrative vacuum in Iraq and the lack of security across the country. In Iraqi cities, U.S. troops continue to struggle with unrest. The town of Falluja, a stronghold of the Ba'ath Party, has been a flashpoint for violence against coalition forces. One June 5, a day after 1,500 soldiers from the Army's Third Infantry Division moved into Falluja, an attack on a checkpoint left one U.S. solider dead and five wounded. In May, two U.S. soldiers were killed and nine others were wounded, and in late April, two separate conflicts between demonstrators and U.S. forces left fourteen Iraqis dead and seven American soldiers injured.

U.S.-led inspection teams

The agreement in early June 2003 to allow IAEA nuclear experts back into Iraq on a limited basis confirms the Bush administration's desire to assign a small role to U.N. inspectors. At most, the administration appears to want the United Nations to provide a post facto verification of what the U.S.-led disarmament teams manage to find. Both Hans Blix, the chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director General of the IAEA, oppose such a role, calling for the full return of U.N. inspectors as soon as possible. In his comments after speaking before the Security Council on April 22, Blix argued that the return of U.N. inspectors would provide a credible and "independent" imprimatur on the inspection and verification process in Iraq. However, even before Blix addressed the Security Council, a spokesperson for the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations warned, "we see no immediate role for Dr. Blix and his inspection teams."

The Pentagon teams now searching Iraq include former U.N. inspectors with experience there, as well as government specialists from the Energy Department, Pentagon, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Justice Department. The Pentagon has also been recruiting staff from UNMOVIC. The new Pentagon teams, unlike UNMOVIC, are required to have U.S.-recognized security clearances. The teams have been deployed to the U.S. Army's new Weapons of Mass Destruction Intelligence Exploitation Base in Kuwait, run by Maj. Gen. James A. Marks. These disarmament teams, working under U.S. command, are following up on "finds" made by U.S. forces and investigating sites from a list of suspect facilities. So far, their investigations and tests at about 300 suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons sites have turned up no definitive proof of banned programs. U.S. planners reportedly estimate that some eight months will be required to disarm Iraq, including site surveys at some 1,000 to 1,400 facilities.

Behind these search teams, special units organized by the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency will be used to disable and destroy any prohibited weapons and "dual use" factories or materials that are found by the Task Force or the Iraq Survey Group. Two private companies have been awarded contracts to assist in this effort: the Raytheon Corporation and the Kellogg, Brown & Root Corporation.