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Iraq bars more U.S. weapons inspectors
November 4, 1997
Web posted at: 5:55 a.m. EST (1055 GMT)BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- For the third consecutive day, Iraq on Tuesday barred American weapons inspectors working with a U.N. team from entering several weapons sites. The United Nations responded by halting all inspections.
The move came as U.N. negotiators rushed to Baghdad in an attempt to defuse the crisis. It also came hours after chief weapons inspector Richard Butler said Americans would remain on the teams and that inspections would be carried out as planned Tuesday, despite Iraq's objections.
Three inspection teams arrived at sites near Baghdad around 9 a.m. (0600 GMT/1 a.m. EST) when Iraq said it would not grant access to teams with U.S. inspectors.
"All three chief inspectors were told they could continue their inspections but without Americans," said Alan Dacey, special assistant to the director of the U.N. Baghdad Monitoring and Verification Center. "The chief inspectors then canceled their inspections."
"There were no hostilities and no threat, and everything was conducted in a professional manner," Dacey said.
Iraq announced last week that it wanted all American members of the U.N. weapons inspection commission out of the country by Wednesday. The inspectors are there to oversee the dismantling of Iraq's long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction, as required by the terms ending the Gulf War in 1991.
Economic sanctions leveled against Iraq by the U.N. cannot be lifted until the inspectors certify that the weapons have been destroyed, and Iraq charged last week that the Americans are trying to prevent its certification.
A U.S.-led coalition drove Iraq from Kuwait in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
On Monday, Iraq told members of a U.N. missile inspection team, which included at least one American, that it was no longer allowed to work in the country. The missile team and two other inspection groups that were sent out Monday morning were subsequently called back to U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan then dispatched a three envoys to Baghdad to find a way out of the impasse. The envoys are expected in Baghdad on Tuesday or Wednesday.
U-2 flights stay on course
Dacey said American U-2 reconnaissance planes continued flying over Iraqi territory "without interruption," despite an Iraqi threat to shoot them down.
The U-2 reconnaissance planes fly at an altitude of about 60,000 feet, within range of Iraqi missiles.
Iraq says the surveillance missions serve U.S. intelligence, and Baghdad has repeatedly called for the U-2 flights to be halted.
U-2 planes, based in Saudi Arabia, have for years provided information to U.N. teams seeking to find and neutralize Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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- United Nations Home Page
- ArabNet - Iraq
- U.S. State Dept. - Iraq - Consular Information Sheet
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