Iraqis 'Staggered' By Exhaustive List of Demands From UN Inspectors...

[The Finman]

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<h2><font color=#003399>Iraqis 'staggered' by exhaustive list of demands from UN inspectors</font></h2>
The dinner between one of Saddam Hussein's closest aides and Hans Blix was meant to smooth the thorny path for the renewed United Nations weapons inspections.

Factories producing such items were just two of the examples of the array of sites the UN chief weapons inspector said his team intended to search in its efforts to discover whether Saddam Hussein is hiding weapons of mass destruction.

Such is the scale of information the UN is demanding, Iraqi officials told Mr Blix's team they may have difficulties meeting the 8 December deadline by which they must submit a detailed report.

Mr Blix said yesterday the Iraqis had assured him they would do "everything humanly possible" to comply with the new UN resolution on its supposed arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

The Iraqis were reminded that a failure to meet the deadline would, almost certainly, be seen by the United States as a "material breach" of the resolution and clear the way for an attack.

"That seemed to concentrate their minds," said a diplomatic source.

It followed a two-hour meeting between the UN team and Iraqi officials at the weapon monitors reopened headquarters at the Canal Hotel, Baghdad.

According to diplomatic sources the Iraqis were "staggered" by the range of what the UN proposes to explore in seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, as well as facilities that can be used for civil or military needs.

The new UN team of inspectors has been told by the Iraqis that they have not been seeking material to build a nuclear bomb.

Mr Blix was meeting other Iraqi ministers yesterday and will fly back to New York to give his initial impressions to the UN before the bulk of inspectors arrive in Baghdad on 25 November.

Those inspectors returning to their sealed offices in the Canal Hotel on Monday found unmade beds, and cases that were hastily abandoned when they left in December 1998, just before American and British war planes unleashed attacks on Iraq.

Attempts to kick-start the inspections were complicated yesterday by what Iraqis, publicly, and UN officials, privately, say are attempts by the Bush administration to undermine the mission on the outset.

The focus on firing in the no-fly zones -- a regular event since they were established after the Gulf War -- was seized upon by the Iraqi government as an attempt by the Bush administration to scupper the UN mission.

The UN mission stressed the process of inspection was a long-term one and preliminary findings, or lack of them, should not be an excuse to launch a military attack on Iraq.

Full Story <font color="red"><u>Here</u></font>

[Sweetpea]

Yeah, well, they're going to be more than "staggered" if they don't comply.

How many times do we give them a chance to cough it up before we blow it up?

Enough is enough.

[Belle]

Exactly, Sweetpea! We keep hearing about "zero tolerance"... well, it's time to put it into action. Enough of this dance we're doing with Saddam!

[The Finman]

Originally posted by Belle:
Exactly, Sweetpea! We keep hearing about "zero tolerance"... well, it's time to put it into action. Enough of this dance we're doing with Saddam!

It's time to bomb Saddam!

[Dutch]

I just had to start a poll on this...