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IAEA: No Iraq 'material breach'
LONDON, England -- The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says that, in his view, Iraq as yet is not in material breach of a U.N. resolution on disarmament -- contrary to what Britain and the United States have said. Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said he wanted another four to five months to carry out searches for suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before deciding whether he could declare the country clean of such weapons. "If they (the U.N. Security Council) decide that this is a material breach, then that is their prerogative," he told the BBC. "We are not going to say that this is a material breach unless we see a gross violation of the resolution. But even then it is for the Security Council to pronounce on that." Britain and the United States have declared Iraq in material breach of U.N. resolution 1441, which demands that Baghdad come clean of suspected banned weapons or face "serious consequences," widely viewed to mean military action. ElBaradei said IAEA inspectors were still investigating aluminum tubes found in Iraq for signs that they were being readied as part of banned weapons, but he said the agency's preliminary conclusion was that they were being used for conventional arms. "We are investigating that," he said. ElBaradei spoke as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein struck a defiant tone a day after U.S. President George W. Bush gave his annual State of the Union address, in which he said Saddam "aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda." Saddam said Iraq was ready to "destroy and defeat" any American attack. (Full story) In a televised meeting with his military commanders on Wednesday, Saddam said the United States had no right to attack his country, and that every American soldier is coming "as an aggressor." "If they have illusions, by God, America will be harmed," the Iraqi leader said. "[It is] not in the American people's interest that such harm come to it, its reputation and economy." A leading Iraqi newspaper condemned Bush's Tuesday night speech as "Hollywood commotion." "The speech was nothing but nonsense and full of word clamour and Hollywood commotion," the ruling Baath Party newspaper al-Thawra said. "It is full of accusations but without concrete evidence," the paper said in a front-page editorial. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is to meet with Bush at the White House on Thursday, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives for consultations Friday and Saturday at the Camp David presidential retreat. The meetings come as eight European nations declared their solidarity with Bush's stance on Iraq. (Full story)
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