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Evidence from one witness on Saddam’s, weapons program will be enough to trigger a military strike: Perle
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WASHINGTON,
November 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - With the United
Nations poised to resume weapons inspections in Iraq, the U.S. Senate
is dangling green cards in front of up to 500 Iraqi scientists willing
to expose President Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass
destruction programs.
The
not-so-subtle offer is contained in a bill passed by senators by voice
vote late Wednesday, November 21, shortly before they adjourned until
early next year, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
If
the Iraqi Scientists Immigration Act of 2002 is approved by the House
of Representative, which may happen as early as Friday, November 22,
Iraqi arms specialists could find themselves on the fast track to a
new life in America.
That
is if their information is “good enough” to catch the Iraqi
president red-handed in his alleged attempt to build or acquire
chemical, biological and nuclear arms.
Those
falling short of this target apparently would not qualify.
The
bill is openly predicated on the assumption that Iraq has hidden
weapons of mass destruction and the only problem is finding them.
No
other scenario is being contemplated.
“Today,
Iraq continues to withhold important information about its nuclear
program: weapons design, procurement logs, experiment data, an
accounting of nuclear materials, and documentation of foreign
assistance,” says the preamble to the bill.
It
alleges Iraq possesses “a force” of Scud-type missiles with ranges
greater than the 150 kilometers permitted by U.N. Gulf War ceasefire
resolutions, and accuses Baghdad of failing to account for more than
15,500 rockets and artillery shells possibly filled with nerve agents.
The
charges have been repeatedly denied by Baghdad, which insists it has
no weapons of mass destruction.
To
help prove the Iraqis wrong, the Senate bill gives the U.S. secretary
of state and the attorney general the right to bypass normal
immigration procedures and offer permanent U.S. residence to Iraqis
“in possession of critical reliable information concerning any such
Iraqi program.”
But
it limits the number of those eligible for the resettlement program to
no more than 500 scientists, plus their immediate family members.
Still,
Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, one of the sponsors of the
legislation, believes Congress is making a tangible contribution to
the success of the UN mission in Iraq.
“With
this bill, the United States can help ensure that weapons inspectors
and the United States have access to crucial information, by
protecting the people who can provide it and by safeguarding their
families,” Biden said in a statement.
Under
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 adopted earlier this month, the
government of Saddam Hussein has until December 8, 2002, to present to
the United Nations a full report about it weapons program.
The
account will be verified by weapons inspectors, who will have the
right to interview Iraqis inside or “outside” the country.
But
President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials have made it clear
that the discovery of any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction will be
viewed as a “material breach” of the Security Council resolution,
a finding that could trigger U.S. military action.
Reflecting
the insistence of the U.S. on attacking Iraq, Bush’s top security
adviser admitted on Wednesday that the U.S. would attack Iraq even if
U.N. inspectors fail to find weapons, reported the Daily Mirror
on Thursday, November 21.
Richard
Perle stunned MPs by insisting a “clean bill of health” from U.N.
chief weapons inspector Hans Blix would not halt America’s war
machine, it added.
Evidence
from one witness on Saddam Hussein's weapons program will be enough to
trigger a fresh military onslaught, he told an all-party meeting on
global security, the paper reported.
