February 20, 2003

Inspectors Fault Iraqi Follow-Up

President Saddam Hussein's government, apparently emboldened by antiwar sentiment at the U.N. Security Council and in worldwide street protests, has not followed through on its promises of increased cooperation with U.N. arms inspectors, according to inspectors in Iraq.
[...]One U.N. official here said that since Friday's Security Council meeting, "we have not seen any positive moves on the part of Iraq." Another charged, "They are not fulfilling their promises."
[...]In news conferences and interviews, Iraqi officials have glossed over warnings from Blix -- and from governments of Security Council members opposed to war -- that Iraq must take additional steps to satisfy a disarmament resolution the council passed unanimously on Nov. 8. The overriding analysis among officials here is that Iraq has complied and that everyone, save the U.S. and British governments, now views Iraq as the aggrieved party.
[...]The U.N. official here said he expects Iraq eventually to relent on the interviews and perhaps the missiles only if demands from Blix and Security Council members are aggressive enough. "What we've seen is that without pressure[and by this he mean nothing less than military "pressure"--Jen], Iraq is not going to cooperate with the inspectors," he said.

Well, I hope that idiot de Villepin and those "peace" marchers are happy!
All they've done is to give the Stalinist murderer Saddam positive feedback for playing the "victim," a strategy used by Arafat to defend the terrorism of the "Palestinians" and now of late by North Korea to excuse their nuclear proliferation.
Good work, you Leftist appeasement-pushers!