Anticlimatic UN Presentation

There were no surprises at Blix’s presentation today. Those holding both positions will claim their stance has been validated. According to this summary:

Blix told the council that no weapons of mass destruction were found in the country, but did not rule out the possibility of some existing. He said the main problem lay in locating such chemical weapons as the deadly VX nerve agent Iraq was known to have had in 1998, which are not on the Iraqi declaration.

Blix also reported findings by experts that one of Iraq's new missile systems, Al Samoud-II, exceeds the range limit set by Security Council resolutions. "The experts concluded that, based on the data provided by Iraq, the two declared variants of the Al Samoud-II missile are capable of exceeding 150km in range. This missile system is therefore proscribed for Iraq," Blix said.


It will be interesting to see how things unfold from here. The Chirac crowd will say that inspections are working (now that Saddam is actually worried) and the Bush alliance will say that Saddam is still not cooperating and the absence of information on the VX nerve agent is further proof. The next few days should be quite interesting at the UN as the various parties negotiate.

I am also quite interested in what NATO will do now. Will Germany, France, and Belgium continue to block Turkey’s request for aid? Germany had said all along they would help Turkey if needed, but would not release NATO forces for even planning purposes until after Blix’s report. We live in interesting times.

 
 
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