From: "Geo." 

I happened upon the below today and found the perspective, umm.. unique? It
shows a pov that may explain why the US is a little reluctant to turn over
intelligence.

Geo.

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After a month of playing cat-and-mouse with Baghdad's Mad Dog, the weapons
inspectors of the United Nations Monitoring Inspection and Verification
Commission (UNMOVIC) are basking in the glow of global acclaim for their
sterling work. According to the UN, the inspectors have "earned the
cooperation" of the Iraqi regime and even gone "unannounced and
unopposed" into one of Saddam's palaces. Kofi Annan thinks they're
doing a great job. So far they haven't found a thing. It's unlikely that
they ever will.

As with most UN undertakings, the UNMOVIC mission began with a na‹ve hope -
that Saddam Hussein would voluntarily fess up to possessing nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons. Security Council Resolution 1441, passed
unanimously with great fanfare last month, requires that Iraq provide
weapons inspectors with "immediate, unimpeded, unconditional, and
unrestricted access" to suspected weapons sites. The much-hyped Iraqi
"cooperation" has thus far postponed a reckoning with reality and
deterred joint U.S.-British action to remove the threat of Saddam
accumulating more weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering
them.

Meanwhile, Saddam's UN ambassador defiantly insists that his country has
"nothing hidden." Everyone knows that's a lie. But you won't hear
that from any of the inspectors or their intrepid leader-in absentia, Hans
Blix. The ever-so-courteous, always smiling Mr. Blix is intent on
inspecting Iraq from his luxurious UN offices in New York City. It is,
after-all, holiday season in the Big Apple. And in Iraq, it's Ramadan -
when it's tough to get a glass of wine and good cheese - even at the Al
Rashid Hotel - the best in Baghdad.

But it's not just his penchant for the good life that has raised concerns
about Mr. Blix. It's his competence. He is after all the same Swedish
diplomat who served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy
Agency during the very years that Iraq's blooming nuclear weapons program
went undetected. But just to show that he doesn't play favorites and prove
that he's an "equal opportunity arms inspector," Mr. Blix also
ignored the North Korean atomic bomb building program as well. Some have
compared him to Inspector Cleusou in the old Pink Panther movies. But
that's unfair - to French cops.

In his zeal to avoid offending the brutal regime in Baghdad - Mr. Blix
refers to them as his "hosts" - he has minimized the involvement
of experienced American and British inspectors with UNMOVIC because the
Iraqis complained that they are "too aggressive in their disarmament
searches." To replace the U.S. and U.K. scientists who were experts on
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Mr. Blix launched an
international affirmative action hiring program that has recruited Chinese,
Russian, and Chilean inspectors - but few with specialized expertise in the
arcane sciences of "bugs, gas and nukes." Apparently Mr. Blix is
looking for inspectors with know-how in other disciplines. One of the few
Americans he did find attractive enough to put on his team has a two-year,
community college degree in "Security
 Management" and a resume that includes sadomasochistic sex groups, teaching
courses on "sex slaves" and proficiency in "bondage"
techniques. Given what we now know of Saddam's torture chambers, one
wonders at the reaction of the Iraqi despot when he learned of this
particular inspector's extra curricular activities.

While the so-called inspectors and S&M aficionados wearing UNMOVIC ID
badges bumble about the Iraqi countryside like the Keystone Kops, President
Bush is talking tough. "The inspectors are not in Iraq to play
hide-and-seek with Mr. Saddam Hussein," he declared last week. But
that's not the point. There is considerable question as to whether this
gang that couldn't shoot straight would even know what they were seeing if
Saddam left it all on display.

Dr. Raymond Zilinskas, who directs the Chemical and Biological Weapons
Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies told my
nationwide radio audience last week that, "If UNMOVIC lacks
specialized scientific expertise in biochemistry, nuclear physics,
microbiology, and
'weaponization' of biological and chemical agents, they might never know
what the Iraqis have or don't have." When I asked if his advice had
been sought for UNMOVIC he replied, "No." Perhaps it's
understandable why Hans Blix doesn't want to hear from "Dr. Z."
He's not only an expert on bio-weapons. He also knows his way around Iraq.
In 1994, as part of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM), he inspected 61
Iraqi biological research and production facilities and built a database on
Iraq's "dual use" biological equipment. In short, he knows what
he's talking about. No wonder Dr. Zilinskas is in Monterey, California
instead of Baghdad.

Thankfully, Hans Blix and Kofi Annan aren't the only ones with a say over
what's to happen in Iraq. On 2 December the British government released a
chilling, well-sourced report on crimes and human rights abuses in Iraq.
Its conclusions are horrific: "Torture is systematic."
"Executions are carried out without due process of law."
"Relatives are often prevented from burying the victims.and have even
been charged for the bullets used." An appendix chronicles some of the
methods of torture including rape, eye gouging, piercing hands with an
electric drill, acid baths, and electric shock.

Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, is using this
report to stimulate unity among other opposition leaders in the region.
Scores of defectors from Saddam's military arrive daily in camps along
Iraq's borders, professing a willingness to fight for liberty in their
homeland. Contractors have been seen at the abandoned Iraqi embassy in
Washington, preparing it for "new management." And the American
and British military build up in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean grows by
the day. When the Iraqi opposition takes up arms against Saddam Hussein and
calls for our help - as surely they will - are we going to sit idly by and
wait for a pronouncement from Hans Blix? Let us hope not.

by Oliver North
December 6, 2002

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