January 27, 2003

Iraq breaching UN resolutions: PM

Prime Minister John Howard said a report by United Nations weapons inspectors showed Iraq was in material breach of UN security council resolutions and could be arming terrorists.

And Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the report by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to was "blacker than expected".

The Blix report said Iraq had not accepted international demands to disarm and potentially had stocks of anthrax and the US immediately responded that Iraq had little intention of disarming.

Mr Howard said that while Iraq may have cooperated in a process sense, in substance it had not cooperated.

"Therefore on my reading of it, (Iraq) is in further material breach of ... earlier resolutions," he told Sydney radio 2GB.

Mr Howard warned Iraq could begin arming terrorists if it was not disarmed.

Exactly!
Some things may be "backwards" Down Under, but there's obviously nothing wrong with their thought processes or skills of perception and they're not afraid to call a spade a spade.
Good on you, Mr. Howard!