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Iraq's
firing on U.S. and British aircraft in no-fly zones not violation
of UN resolution, says Annan
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PRISTINA,
Yugoslavia, November 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq did
not breach a tough U.N. disarmament resolution by firing on U.S. and
British warplanes this week, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said
Tuesday, November 19, during a visit to the Balkans.
Annan
said the U.N. Security Council would not view the ground fire at
coalition warplanes enforcing "no-fly" zones in Iraq as a
"material breach" which could trigger war under the terms of
U.N. resolution 1441, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"Let
me say I don't think the Security Council will say that this is in
contravention of the resolution," he told reporters during a trip
to a village in the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo.
White
House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday, November 18, that the
Iraqi firing constituted a violation of the Security Council
resolution and that Washington could use it as a first step toward
military intervention.
However,
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later said that "someone's
characterization of that as something that would trigger an action is
incorrect."
"We've
made our position clear on the issue," White House national
security spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday as U.S. President
George W. Bush made his way to Prague for a NATO summit clouded by
possible action against Iraq.
Repeatedly
asked whether Washington would seek action from the U.N. Security
Council, McCormack would only say: "We have that option."
U.S.
warplanes patrolling the so-called no-fly zones – an action not
authorized by any U.N. declaration -- came under fire Monday for the
fifth time since the passage of the disarmament resolution on Friday,
November 8.
Speaking
later at a press conference here, Annan also said the Security Council
was prepared to consider Iraqi concerns about the timeframe it has
been given to declare its alleged weapons of mass destruction.
UN
chief arms inspector Hans Blix reported "progress" Monday
during the first day of his mission to launch new arms inspections
under Resolution 1441.
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Iraqis
pledged "full cooperation and full transparency"
with inspectors, says Baradei
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One
of the topics discussed during Monday's meeting was the December 8
deadline for Iraq to declare its weapons programs, according to Blix's
spokesmam Ewen Buchanan.
Iraqi
officials have pledged to give "full cooperation and full
transparency" to disarmament inspectors, the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohammad El-Baradei said
Tuesday.
"All
Iraqi officials have committed to provide us full cooperation and full
transparency," he told a press conference after a second day of
talks in Baghdad.
"The
Iraqis said they will do everything that is humanly possible to
cooperate with the two organizations," he said referring to the
IAEA and the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC).
Blix
and ElBaradei met with Foreign Minister Naji Sabri late Tuesday
followed by talks with the same Iraqi officials they saw in a first
round the previous night.
"We
have pledged to the Iraqi side to progress towards resolving the Iraqi
issue," El-Baradei said after the meeting.
A
top adviser to President Saddam Hussein told reporters Iraq would meet
the December 8 deadline to issue a report declaring all its weapons
programs.
Asked
if Iraq would hand over the report in time, General Amer al-Saadi, a
weapons expert, said: "Yes, within 30 days as the resolution
says, a report from Iraq will be submitted and all the files, nuclear,
chemical, biological and missile files."
"The
Iraqis said they are compiling the declaration and committed
themselves to producing it by December 8," El-Baradei confirmed.
UN
Security Council Resolution 1441 gives Iraq until December 8 to make a
complete and accurate declaration of its alleged programs to develop
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and other
delivery systems.
Baradei
noted at the press conference that Iraq has repeatedly affirmed it no
longer has any weapons of mass destruction.
"But
we told them that many governments are convinced that the Iraqis still
have some weapons of mass destruction left," Blix said.
Disarmament
in the areas of "missile, biological and chemical weapons has not
so far been convincingly done," he added.
"We
found through analysis that many questions remained open."
Blix
arrived in Baghdad Monday leading an advance team to kick-start arms
inspections armed with sweeping powers under Resolution 1441.
