UN inspectors say entry denied

[leftchick]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/10/30/un_inspectors_say_entry_denied/


~snip~

WASHINGTON -- United Nations weapons inspectors pressed for permission to return to Iraq to help monitor weapons sites on the heels of the US-led invasion but were denied entry by the US-led coalition, according to a former inspector, UN officials, and a letter from the International Atomic Energy Agency obtained by the Globe.


The sites included Al Qaqaa, a sprawling facility about 30 miles south of Baghdad. At least 377 tons of powerful explosives, including the particularly dangerous substance known as HMX, have vanished from that location.

"They wanted to go. They were begging to go," said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who now heads the Institute for Science and International Security and who lobbied in vain for the UN agency in April 2003 to be allowed to resume work in Iraq. "They would have gone to Al Qaqaa and said, 'Here's the HMX. Burn it.' They would have been a driver of efforts to find these things. . . . They would have provided a tremendous service."

Yesterday, a US official said the inspectors' request to return to Iraq was denied because of "logistics and timing" and because the United States and Britain took on the inspections-related work.

[trotsky]

1. Oh I know why.

<Freeper Mode On>

its cuz them furriners wanted to hide the evudense of there oil-fer-food scandel. yup, bring em on! yee haw!

<Freeper Mode Off>

[cubsfan forever]

2. Well said! n/t

Professor 2

[rustydog]

3. cuz the UN, according to Bush, was irrelevant, not needed...

oops, cluster fuck again.

[sasquatch]

4. Does that mean we'll be bombed next?

:shrug:

[leftchick]

5. The US stopped them at every turn...

~snip~
Although the IAEA officials were most concerned about protecting nuclear sites, they also were eager to get back to Al Qaqaa because inspectors wanted to investigate the discrepancy between the amount of HMX reported by Hussein's government in 2002 and the amount they recorded and sealed in January 2003, according to Albright and an IAEA official.

Albright said he recalls a phone conversation in May 2003 with a senior IAEA official who wanted to return to Al Qaqaa.

"He talked of the need for inspectors to go back to Iraq because they had an intimate knowledge of Iraqi facilities and felt an obligation to resume monitoring," Albright said. "He then mentioned the explosives at Al Qaqaa in the context of worrying that someone would take it and make truck bombs."

[UL_Approved]

6. Seem familiar?

"Iraq has stopped UN inspectors from conducting investigations into Weapons of Mass Destruction". It would seem as though the Bush administration has beat their former pet at his own game. The have perpetrated the exact same offense that Saddam himself is guilty of. Question: does the UN have a reason to invade the United States now?

[damntexdem]

7. Oh yeah, the Bushistas 'took on the inspections-related work.'

And the piece of work turned out to be the same kind of piece of work that the Bushistas are.

Don't make that work a priority, send in too few troops to even contemplate their doing the work, don't train the troops for the work, and don't even tell the troops to try to do the work. Then, several weeks later, after having let things go to hell all over Iraq, belatedly send in some troops to find out that the site has been looted.

The only Bushista plan about the Al Qa Qaa explosive seems to be to let the insurgents blow the explosive up -- under U.S. troops. Par for the course.

[obiwan]

8. That's okay. Laura has denied W entry for years...

...ever since the Caesarian and the twins. (That's the REAL reason we are in Iraq.)

Did you know they invented Valium for her?

The closest thing W will ever get to a hard-on is rigor mortis.

[leftchick]

9. kick for Sunday....

I am surprised this has not gotten more attention...

:kick:

[Zorra]

10. Hey, it's tough to have a long, profitable war unless you first insure

that the enemy is armed and dangerous.

UN weapons inspectors, including those from IAEA, left Iraq ahead of the US-led invasion of the country in March 2003. They have since been denied entry into Iraq to continue their inspection work by the US-led coalition.

http://english.people.com.cn/200407/08/eng20040708_148836.html