WASHINGTON – Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix last night put Saddam Hussein on the spot by demanding that Iraq start destroying its illegal longer-range missiles by March 1, setting up a potential trigger for war.
The demand, in a letter to Baghdad, poses a Catch-22 for Saddam because Iraq would want the missiles to attack a U.S.-led coalition if it comes to war, but defying explicit U.N. orders to destroy them would provide justification for war.
The news came as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there are now enough troops in the Gulf for an Iraq attack and Turkey reached “broad agreement” on providing the launching pad for a key northern front if it comes to war.
March 1 is the due date for Blix’s next report to the U.N. Security Council, and his letter suggests Iraq risks a very tough report unless it complies – and Iraqi defiance could also help U.S. and British efforts to win a new get-tough U.N. resolution against Saddam.
Blix demanded that Iraq produce all Al-Samoud 2 missiles, as well as 380 illegally imported engines, all software, research and manufacturing capacity for “verifiable destruction” in time “so that the destruction process can commence by 1 March.”
He said U.N. weapons inspectors would oversee the destruction and decide on methods “such as demolition, crushing, melting and other physical and chemical methods.”
Blix told the U.N. Security Council a week ago that the Al-Samoud 2 missiles were “proscribed” because their range exceeds the 93-mile U.N. limit set to keep Iraq from being able to attack its neighbors. Experts say Iraq may have more than 100 of them.
Blix also said that Iraq illegally rebuilt plants to make long-range missile motors that had been destroyed by U.N. inspectors in the late 1990s; yesterday, he said those plants also “remain proscribed and are to be destroyed.”
Iraq contended the missiles weren’t really in violation of the limits, but an international panel unanimously concluded they were – the panel included experts from France and Germany, which are outspoken opponents of President Bush’s call for military action.
At least 150,000 troops from the United States and Britain – America’s closest ally – are now believed to be in the Gulf, with more streaming in.
President Bush yesterday welcomed Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar – one of his closest allies – to his Crawford ranch to map strategy.
Bush is seeking to pull together a “Coalition of the Willing” that is ready to attack Iraq if need be and to back a new get-tough resolution that might, against all odds, trigger a coup against Saddam or a surprise decision by the Iraqi leader to go into exile.
France is leading opposition to military action or a new U.N. resolution. U.S. officials concede right now they have just four sure votes on the 15-member U.N. Security Council – America, Britain, Spain and Bulgaria – but insist they are hopeful of getting the needed majority of nine.
“The endgame hasn’t even begun,” said a U.S. official, who suggested that if the resolution does win nine votes, France may hesitate to use its veto. With Post Wire Services