Inspectors Search Iraqi Complex for Weapons

05/01/2003| IslamWeb

U.N. experts Sunday sprang a surprise inspection on a complex housing Iraq's own weapons Monitoring Directorate while U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East sought a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis. Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul was in Egypt on a Middle East tour to push for a peaceful resolution, while a Turkish newspaper said dozens of Turkish tanks were already in northern Iraq.

Greece, the current president of the European Union , called on EU countries to take a united stance on Iraq and urged them to work to avoid a war.

"The most important (development) at this time is for United Nations  efforts to conclude in a positive result and to avoid a war," Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis said in an interview with the Sunday Vima newspaper.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein  announced plans for a speech to the Iraqi people at 8 a.m. GMT Monday. It would be a "pan-Arab and historic" speech to mark Army Day.

Inspectors, enforcing a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in November, focused on the Al Basil Company in the Iraqi Monitoring Directorate complex, Iraqi officials said.

But witnesses said once inside, inspectors closed the main gate and blocked the entrance to the entire complex to prevent movement in or out, trapping Baghdad's U.N. envoy and a senior official for several hours.

During more than six hours, the experts inside the complex stopped personnel and cars, filmed cars, searched moving vehicles and employees going out of the buildings.

IMD chief General Hussam Mohammed Amin said he was trapped inside with visiting U.N. Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri.

"It is unacceptable behavior," Douri told reporters. "They can behave better and people should be allowed to go in and out in a more civilized way."

Amin, clad in military fatigue, said: "They wanted to exercise their maximum intrusiveness, maximum hardness of implementation of (Security Council) resolution 1441." A man walking out with a small envelope in his hand was asked to show it to an inspector. Women showed their bags.

The U.N. inspectors have not said what they were looking for at the complex and it was unclear whether the Basil Company was linked to Al Basil Narawan, east of Baghdad, which was visited by a U.N. chemical team Friday.

U.N. experts Sunday scoured a number of suspect sites, also pouncing on a graphite facility, a hospital and a university.

The IMD is the Iraqi government body that liaises with U.N. inspectors hunting for alleged weapons of mass destruction. IMD officials have accompanied the experts on every inspection since they resumed work in Iraq on Nov. 27.

U.N. inspections are in their sixth week, but the experts have yet to disclose any evidence of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs. The inspectors must report their findings to the Security Council by Jan. 27.

U.S. ALLIES SEEK PEACEFUL SOLUTION

Traditional U.S. allies Greece and Turkey were seeking a peaceful resolution to the crisis, fearing war with Iraq would have devastating results.

Asked for his reaction to differences between EU nations on Iraq, Simitis replied: "The aim of the Greek (EU) presidency is to have a common stance among all the members of the Union."

EU member Britain, for instance, has been preparing for a possible war with Iraq while Germany has said it will not take part in any military action against the oil-rich country.

Gul, on the first Middle East tour by a senior member of the new Turkish government, met Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid Sunday and was due to meet President Hosni Mubarak  to discuss developments in the region, including Iraq.

After the meeting with Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Gul will head to Cairo for talks with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

Gul has decried a possible U.S.-led war with Iraq as opening a Pandora's box.

Turkey is concerned that Iraq could break apart as a result of a war, leading to possible efforts to set up a Kurdish state on Ankara's southeastern border.

Turkey strongly opposes such a Kurdish state, fearing it would encourage its own large Kurdish population to rebel.

TURKISH TANKS IN IRAQ?

The Turkish newspaper Milliyet printed a picture showing as many as 14 tanks at what it said was the disused Bamerni airbase in an enclave of northern Iraq that has been controlled by Iraqi Kurds since the 1991 Gulf War .

NATO  member Turkey is one of Washington's closest allies and is under pressure to commit to military support in the event of a war against Iraq.

Turkey has a military presence in northern Iraq to pursue Turkish Kurd rebels based there. In recent weeks, witnesses have reported more Turkish troops crossing the border.

Milliyet said its reporter saw 30 tanks at the airstrip, where several helicopters flying in and out of the base.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi soldier looks from a window as U.N International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors arrive to search the Saddam Company graphite facility in the city of Falluga, about 60 miles north of Baghdad on Jan. 5, 2003. U.N. arms inspectors also paid a surprise visit to a complex housing Iraq's own weapons Monitoring Directorate on Sunday. The IMD acts as the Iraqi government body liaising with U.N. inspectors hunting for alleged weapons of mass destruction. (Faleh Kheiber/Reuter