U.N. still paralyzed in talks with Iraq

UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council remained paralyzed yesterday in its effort to force Iraq to resume cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors as it became clear that the latest confrontation with Baghdad has evolved into a waiting game.

The Iraqis appear to be betting that regardless of their noncompliance with disarmament inspections, the international community is exhausted by the issue and will permit the economic sanctions imposed on the country to gradually break down.

Meanwhile, the United States and Britain, which found themselves virtually isolated last winter in calling for military strikes against Iraq, apparently hope that continued Iraqi intransigence eventually will prompt some countries sympathetic to Baghdad - notably France and the Arab states - to lose their patience with the government of President Saddam Hussein and endorse a tougher policy toward him.

So far, diplomats here acknowledge, there is no evidence of such a shift in Paris or in Arab capitals. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine recently suggested that Hussein's military machine has been effectively defanged, and he referred to Iraq as "a broken country in that respect."

Arab envoys, meanwhile, profess less concern about the threat posed by Iraq than about reports that Israel is among the countries that has provided intelligence information to U.N. weapons inspectors. They have taken up Iraqi suggestions that the inspectors may be unduly influenced.

by Israel.

Yesterday, the council heard briefings by chief weapons inspector Richard Butler and Mohammed Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Both men said Iraq's decision in August to cut off most cooperation with inspectors had crippled their disarmament efforts and postponed when they could certify that Baghdad has disposed of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

Butler's report also provided a detailed description of Iraqi evasions, lapses and deceptions and the questions they raise about the extent of Baghdad's arsenal. Under U.N. resolutions that ended the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Security Council cannot lift economic sanctions against Iraq until it has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction.

The Security Council repeatedly has admonished Baghdad to resume working with the inspectors and has held out the prospect of a "comprehensive review" of its relationship with the Iraqis in return. But the Iraqi government has refused to budge.

According to Peter Burleigh, the chief U.S. delegate to the United Nations, the possibility of taking additional action aimed at forcing Iraq into compliance did not come up during yesterday's closed-door meeting. The council's current strategy is to continue the sanctions indefinitely while urging Hussein to change his mind.

According to Butler's report, the most troubling questions about Iraq's potential arsenal continue to center on biological weapons. Independent experts have been unconvinced by Iraq's claims that it has discontinued its biological warfare program, and inspectors have been unable to verify Iraq's assertions that it has destroyed components for producing toxic agents and the missile warheads, bombs and aerosol generators capable of delivering them.

10-14-98