DATE=12/6/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQ/WEAPONS INSPECTIONS (L)
NUMBER=2-256901
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

INTRO:  The deputy head of the United Nations Special 
Commission on Iraq says Baghdad may succeed in 
preventing U-N arms inspectors from ever returning to 
the country and finishing the task of declaring Iraq 
free of weapons of mass destruction.  Correspondent 
Nick Simeone reports Baghdad wants a decade of U-N-
imposed sanctions lifted before allowing weapons 
inspectors to return.

TEXT:   No weapons inspections have been conducted in 
Iraq in nearly a year, and they may never resume if 
President Saddam Hussein's government and the U-N 
Security Council cannot agree on a formula allowing 
weapons experts to return.  Charles Duelfer is deputy 
chairman of UNSCOM, the U-N body charged with ensuring 
Iraq is disarmed.    

            /// 1st DUELFER ACT ///

      There's now a standoff between Iraq and the 
      Security Council on this and some other issues.  
      It may well be that one concludes that the last 
      part of this task is not able to be achieved.  

            /// END ACT ///

// OPT //  All UNSCOM staff were withdrawn from Iraq a 
year ago when Baghdad refused to cooperate with 
weapons experts.  That led to several days of bombing 
by American and British jets, and a hardened attitude 
by Iraq.  Baghdad said it would not allow weapons 
inspections to resume until the lifting of sanctions, 
which were first imposed after its invasion of Kuwait 
in 1990.  // END OPT //

The Security Council is now struggling to find a 
formula that would get inspectors back on the job in 
exchange for a lifting of sanctions.  State Department 
Spokesman Jim Foley: 

            /// FOLEY ACT ///

      We believe discussions among the permanent five 
      members in the Security Council have made a good 
      deal of progress in recent weeks.  We also 
      believe that a Security Council vote on the 
      omnibus draft is likely this week. 

            /// END ACT ///

Still, closing the file on Iraq may be no closer now 
than it has been over the past decade.  UNSCOM's 
deputy chairman Charles Duelfer explains why:

            /// 2nd DUELFER ACT ///

      Well, a) to a put inspectors back, b) convince 
      ourselves that Iraq has finally gotten rid of 
      all these things, and c) sustain that level of 
      ... intrusive monitoring to assure that Iraq 
      does not reconstitute these programs.  Those are 
      very tough tasks, and you can only expect them 
      to be implemented if there is an adequate 
      consensus in the Council and the right set of 
      carrots and sticks for Iraq to achieve these 
      things.

            /// END ACT ///

If there is no consensus, Iraq may succeed to some 
degree in its decade-long battle with the world, by 
exhausting all United Nations efforts to close the 
final chapter on what has been the most intrusive 
weapons inspection regime in modern history.   
(Signed)

NEB/NJS/WTW



06-Dec-1999 17:03 PM EDT (06-Dec-1999 2203 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.