THE UN: The key to avoiding war in Iraq is "a changed attitude on the part of the Iraqis", said chief UN weapons inspector Mr Hans Blix yesterday, one day after presenting the UN Security Council with a report criticising Iraq's failure to co-operate fully on disarmament.
The Security Council meets this morning to discuss the report, compiled by Dr Blix, head of UNMOVIC (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission), and Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The 15-member Security Council is deeply split over the next step in the crisis. The US and Britain say time is running out fast for Iraq to comply fully with Resolution 1441, which requires pro-active co-operation on disarming.
However, the other three permanent council members, Russia, France and China, as well as elected members Germany and Syria and UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan, say the inspections are working and should be given more time.
French diplomats focused yesterday on Dr ElBaradei's conclusions that inspectors should be allowed more months to establish fully that Iraq had no nuclear weapons programme.
Dr Blix said it was up to the Security Council to decide if more time should be given to inspectors. A US official said the administration might go along with inspections for about two weeks, according to an Associated Press report. This would fit in with a proposal by Germany, currently holder of the presidency of the Security Council, that the inspectors be asked to make a further report on February 14th. Britain has backed this idea.
The timeframe would give the US two weeks for a flat-out diplomatic drive for support for war. It also needs until at least mid-February to be fully ready for an invasion of Iraq, diplomats say.
The Blix assessment of the first 60 days of inspections gives added credence to the US assertion that the 12,200-page arms declaration by Baghdad on December 7th is incomplete and misleading.
US officials have promised to produce new evidence by next week to substantiate the claim that Iraq is in continuing violation of the resolution. White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said Iraq has hidden thousands of chemical and biological weapons in palaces, mosques and private homes.
Pressing the case that prolonging inspections is futile, US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell has been quoting to UN diplomats Dr Blix's assertion that "Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament that was demanded of it". The US argument will be strengthened if Baghdad does not switch to the pro-active co-operation Dr Blix needs, and much will depend on what happens in Iraq in the coming days.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tariq Aziz held out some hope to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that Baghdad would increase its level of co-operation. Iraq has fully co-operated with inspectors and "we promise to be more forthcoming in the future replying to all their needs in a way that will satisfy them", he said.
Dr Blix told the Security Council on Monday that Iraq failed to answer crucial questions over chemical and biological weapons programmes; it had not provided scientists for interviews without minders, and had failed to produce evidence of the destruction of old stock of banned arms.
Dr ElBaradei said yesterday he was asking for more time for inspections "on the assumption that Iraq will hear the message and come forward with evidence so we can move forward". Dr Blix said his findings were more critical than Dr ElBaradei's due to the different nature of their tasks. His colleague was tackling a field where there were no longer any real disarmament questions. "We have many more questions and real disarmament questions," he told reporters. "Nuclear things leave fingerprints," he added. "Our stuff doesn't necessarily do that."
US diplomats have not yet said if they will seek a new resolution authorising force against Iraq. Mr Powell said on Monday that the US would not show its hand until after the Camp David summit on Friday between President George Bush and British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair.
Technically Resolution 1441 requires a member-nation only to consult with the UN body before applying "serious consequences" over a material breach by Iraq. Asked yesterday if the US administration would return to the council for a second resolution before going to war, Mr Fleischer said: "It's desirable but it is not mandatory."