Considering that
UNSCOM and the IAEA have the right to go anywhere in Iraq -- to private as well as public locations -- without prior notification, that they are supported by full aerial surveillance, that they can take samples anywhere and can make use of the information provided by defectors, how is it that in eight years these organisations have not reported that they have completely mapped the weapons programmes and neutralised all relevant installations, material, and equipment, etc?
In chemical weaponry,
UNSCOM inspectors found and destroyed about 28,000 filled and 12,000 empty chemical munitions as well as 690 tons of chemical weapons agent and 3000 tons of chemicals used in their production.
In August he suspended co-operation with
UNSCOM, breaking the agreement he had reached with the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in February.
A rapid deterioration of the economy could be expected since oil could not be exported under these conditions, and the
UNSCOM inspection mechanism would likely evaporate as well.
Mr Blair answered: "Following his defection, Hussein Kamal was interviewed by
Unscom and by a number of other agencies.
The UN Security Council tasked the IAEA to verify the destruction of Iraq's nuclear weapons program, and it created a new organization,
UNSCOM, to conduct inspections and verify compliance with the other three elements of the WMD program.
The White House spent another day getting further clarifications from Baghdad, and on November 16, in a televised press conference, Clinton announced the United States would not attack Iraq, even as few believed any Iraqi cooperation with
UNSCOM would last long.
If so,
UNSCOM was still a tool that served multiple other purposes.
Many defence sites containing
UNSCOM monitoring equipment were destroyed in the strikes, launched after Iraq refused to co-operate with weapons inspections.
Duelfer rejected Iraqi claims that
UNSCOM chiefs were US spies.