Straw: Iraq is in 'material breach' of resolution 1441
The UN weapons' inspectors report on Iraq is 'damning and disturbing', Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today (28
January). The Iraqi regime was engaged in a 'consistent pattern of concealment and deceit' he said.
Jack Straw said he has reached the 'inescapable conclusion' that Iraq is now in material breach of Resolution 1441. He
said:
"War is not inevitable. But the responsibility to avoid conflict rests with Saddam Hussein."
And he published a list of ten key questions posed by the UN's Chief Inspector Hans Blix in his report to the Security
Council of 27 January. This would enable the public to make their own assessment of whether Iraq is complying with the
United Nations. The questions include:
How does Iraq account for 6,500 missing bombs which could carry up to a thousand tonnes of chemical agent?
What is Saddam's answer to Dr Blix's suggestion that he may have retained anthrax and weaponised VX and that the
inspectors have found mustard gas precursor?
Why has he been testing missiles with a range beyond the 150 kilometres permitted by the UN Resolutions?
How will Saddam address Dr Blix's concerns that the chemical rocket warheads unearthed by inspectors could be 'the tip
of a submerged iceberg'?
The Foreign Secretary said:
"The United Nations is now facing a fundamental challenge to its authority. Paragraph 4 of Resolution 1441 lays down two
tests that 'false statements or omissions' in Iraq's declaration 'and failure by Iraq at any time to comply with, and
co-operate fully in the implementation of this Resolution, shall constitute a further material breach'."
Mr Straw said that Iraq has failed both tests and concluded that Iraq is now in material breach of Resolution 1441. He
said:
"No country can be disarmed peacefully by guesswork and game playing. It can be done only with Iraq's active
co-operation. The regime does not have long to change its behaviour fundamentally. We cannot let Saddam Hussein get away
with never-ending deceit and delay."
ENDS
Read the statement in full below:
Statement by the Foreign Secretary on the Chief Weapons Inspector's report
The report which the Chief Weapons Inspector, Dr Hans Blix, gave to the United Nations Security Council yesterday is
damning and disturbing. It shows beyond doubt that the Iraqi regime is responding to Resolution 1441 not with active
co-operation but with a consistent pattern of concealment and deceit.
Dr Blix has listed a number of questions which Saddam Hussein has failed to answer.
The onus is now on Saddam to answer those questions not with bluster and delay, not with evasion, but with credible
evidence that Iraq's terrible weaponry either has been destroyed or will be destroyed in full and active co-operation
with the UN inspectors.
Saddam Hussein must answer these questions. He has already wasted 60 days since the inspections began and 600 weeks
since the first of the many Resolutions which he has flouted. Minor concessions, dragged reluctantly from the Iraqi
regime, will not do.
The world can now see what Saddam is working so hard to conceal and the pattern of non-co-operation with which he aims
to hide his weapons. I am today publishing a list of 10 key questions from Dr Blix's report, so that the British public
can judge for itself whether Saddam is complying with the United Nations. For example:
How does Iraq account for 6,500 missing bombs which could carry up to a thousand tonnes of chemical agent?
What is Saddam's answer to Dr Blix's suggestion that he may have retained anthrax and weaponised VX and that the
inspectors have found mustard gas precursor?
Why has he been testing missiles with a range beyond the 150 kilometres permitted by the UN Resolutions?
How will Saddam address Dr Blix's concerns that the chemical rocket warheads unearthed by inspectors could be 'the tip
of a submerged iceberg'?
These questions, raised by Dr Blix, point to a persistent programme to equip the world's most aggressive rogue state
with some of the deadliest weapons known to man.
The United Nations is now facing a fundamental challenge to its authority. Paragraph 4 of Resolution 1441 lays down two
tests that 'false statements or omissions' in Iraq's declaration 'and failure by Iraq at any time to comply with, and
co-operate fully in the implementation of this Resolution, shall constitute a further material breach'.
Iraq has failed both tests and the inescapable conclusion is that Iraq is now in material breach of Resolution 1441. War
is not inevitable. But the responsibility to avoid conflict rests with Saddam Hussein.
No country can be disarmed peacefully by guesswork and game playing. It can be done only with Iraq's active
co-operation. The regime does not have long to change its behaviour fundamentally. We cannot let Saddam Hussein get away
with never-ending deceit and delay.
ENDS