BY MEGAN ARNEY
The United Nations "weapons inspections" team in Iraq issued a report April 15 that threatens to serve as a pretext for future imperialist intervention in the Mideast.

"The evidence in the report of Iraq's failure to provide any new information on its weapons, coupled with a new outburst of defiance today from Baghdad, raises once again the prospect of confrontation between Iraq and the United States, which has twice threatened military action against Iraq," declared the New York Times the next day.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said April 16, "We need to bear in mind that even if the inspections of the palaces went reasonable well, that is not the issue. The issue is about compliance" with the terms dictated by Washington last February in a UN-brokered agreement to avert massive bombing of Iraq by U.S. and British forces.

Since 1990 the UN Security Council has imposed an embargo on Iraq. After the 1990-91 Gulf War slaughter organized by Washington under the figleaf of UN resolutions, it anointed a U.S.-led "inspection" team called UNSCOM to investigate that country under the pretext of threats of "weapons of mass destruction."

The latest report, written by top UN snooper Richard Butler, details inspections of eight government sites and some 1,000 buildings in an eight-day period, which revealed no signs of weaponry. "In all the sites outside of Baghdad, there were no documents and no computers. The buildings were largely empty," an annex to the report stated. The annex to the UN report is by Deputy Executive Chairman Charles Duelfer, who headed the recent UNSCOM team. The searches have "turned up no evidence of secret Iraqi nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs," the Washington Post reported April 15.

"The last time we released a report like this [six months ago], it triggered the crisis in the Gulf," Butler, who is Australian, said in an interview published April 18. The most recent inspections, like all those carried out since 1991, have been extremely provocative, heightening tensions between Baghdad and Washington, and Washington and other governments. "Document and computer searches were...intended to set a precedent," the UN annex read. The inspectors have also accused Baghdad of removing any "incriminating material" before the UN team arrives, a charge the Iraqi government denies.

The UN report complains about "the procedures and stated requirements for the presence of senior diplomats at specific locations. Iraq stated that UNSCOM...could not enter buildings without a diplomat being present.... In the future this may be problematic since no-notice visits require quick movement.... Assuring the presence of several diplomats at all locations will inhibit the possibility of surprise."

Butler and other UN snoops have complained that they have been escorted by Iraqi officials into that country's government buildings. And several times the U.S.-led team has been questioned about their inspections. Duelfer also complained in his report that foreign "diplomats engaged in argumentation and challenges to the work of UNSCOM... supporting the Iraqi views against those of UNSCOM." Duelfer's annex also asserts, without citing any facts, that Baghdad may return to obstructing the inspections, the Washington Post reported.

Pointing to activities that directly defy Iraqi sovereignty, Duelfer states, "The most contentious issue was the overflight and photography of the presidential sites by the UNSCOM helicopter.... Iraq initially denied permission for such activity.... Ultimately, the Secretary- General [Kofi Annan] supported the UNSCOM position and Iraq relented."

The U.S-dominated team continues to assert the right to conduct "open-ended" searches. "The matter of continuing access is unsettled...as the Iraqi side clearly feels that the phrase in the [UN agreement on February 23] referring to `initial and subsequent visits' means for a limited period only." Baghdad has stated it is opposed to any "open-ended" searches.

Another recently released UN report accuses the Iraqi regime, headed by President Saddam Hussein, of executing 1,500 people last year. This report, written by Max van der Stoel, former foreign minister of The Netherlands and a UN "specialist" in human rights since 1995, is based on interviews with Iraqis outside the country. Van der Stoel has never been to Iraq.

In the 1991-92 Gulf War, the U.S. government led an assault on the Iraqi people, killing more than 150,000. The UN embargo has been responsible for the deaths of more than 500,000 people since it was first imposed. While it is not front-page news in the big-business press at the moment, Washington maintains an armada of weaponry, war ships, and planes in the region. This includes some 36,000 U.S. troops, 2 aircraft carriers, 30 warships, 400 attack planes, and 6 navy vessels capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles.  
 
 
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