S P E C I A L:

The Standoff with Iraq

Why so many U.S. and British inspectors?

UNSCOM inspection teams at work in Iraq

January 14, 1998
Web posted at: 12:15 p.m. EST (1715 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Richard Butler, who heads the U.N. Special Commission charged with ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, said he had no intention of changing the makeup of a team lead by Scott Ritter, an American whom Iraq has branded a spy.

Meanwhile, the United States said it was not insisting on the presence of any U.S. national on U.N. weapons inspection teams -- but it said that was a decision for the United Nations, not Iraq.

The composition of the team "depends on expertise and it's up to the United Nations to decide (the members of the team)," U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin said on Wednesday. "The more often that other experts come forward in the world, the less the United States will have such a dominant percentage."

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A L S O :

Did Iraq test biological weapons on humans?

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Washington has maintained that the disproportionate number of U.S. and British experts on the teams is due to expertise -- and not politics. Iraq accuses the United States and Britain of deliberately slowing down the inspection process to maintain international Gulf War sanctions.

"You pick inspectors according to their competence," said David Kay, a former U.N. inspector who helped monitor the dismantling of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

"If you want to know who makes nuclear weapons it doesn't do any good to pick people who have never made nuclear weapons. If you are interested in biological and chemical weapons or missiles, the same thing. The fact is, the Americans by and large have had the bulk of the experience in dealing with these weapons," Kay said.

And that is exactly the point made by officials in Washington. While the U.S. and British experts figure prominently -- accounting for about half of the 50 U.N. inspectors at any given time -- permanent Security Council members China, Russia and France are underrepresented for several reasons.

In the case of France, officials say, it is mainly a question of language: most of the relevant French experts are not comfortable with English, which is the language the disarmament experts use for their work.

In the case of China and Russia, language is only a secondary barrier. The officials say that China and Russia volunteer few inspectors because their own alleged work on chemical and biological weapons might unwittingly be disclosed.

That only leaves the United States and Britain, the other two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. And that's why the two nations are disproportionately represented, the officials argue.

Other countries are randomly represented on the inspection teams. The Germans, for instance, played a big role when the teams were dealing with Iraq Scud missiles, which is an area of German expertise.

And the Australians, including Butler who is the chief U.N. weapons inspector -- do considerable work on chemical weapons issues.

State Department Correspondent Steve Hurst and Reuters contributed to this report.

Iraq Standoff Main  |  Latest Stories  |  Message Board

Related stories:

• Did Iraq test biological weapons on humans? - January 14, 1998
• Iraq stymies U.S.-led inspection team again - January 14, 1998
• Security Council prepares statement backing inspectors - January 13, 1998
• 14 U.S. warships in Persian Gulf region - January 13, 1998

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