Online NewsHour: Undersecretary Pickering -- January 11, 1999



	UNDERSECRETARY PICKERING

January 11, 1999

According to recent press reports, the United States used the U.N. weapons inspection program to spy on Iraq. Following a background report, Margaret Warner talks with Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering about the charges.

Full coverage of Iraq

Jan. 11, 1999:
Amb. Pickering on UNSCOM and the U.S.

Dec. 31, 1998:
Phil Ponce leads a discussion on the battles over the Iraqi no-fly zones.

Dec. 28, 1998:
A discussion on current U.N. sanctions, the future of weapons inspections and the latest military action.

Dec. 22, 1998:
Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering talks about U.S. efforts to keep those sanctions in place.

Dec. 21, 1998:
Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski on the recent air strikes against Iraq.

Dec. 17, 1998:
The Secretary of State on the goals of the military action in Iraq.

Dec. 17, 1998:
Members of Congress discuss the attack on Iraq and the impeachment debate.

Dec. 16, 1998:
An historical perspective on the military attack on Iraq ordered by President Clinton

More NewsHour Middle East and United Nations coverage.

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PHIL PONCE: Ever since it was created at the end of the Gulf War, the U.N. inspection program has tried to find out what Iraq might be hiding - the potential to produce and deploy chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

In public and on television, it has sometimes looked like a game of cat and mouse or cops and robbers. Inspectors would make unannounced visits to Iraqi sites only to get turned away or to see evidence of what they might be looking for taken out the back door. But out of the public eye, the inspection process also involved an array of high-tech monitoring and surveillance equipment provided by the United States and other U.N. member nations.

U.N. inspectors come from 40 countries and are employees of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq, known as UNSCOM. But unlike most U.N. agencies, UNSCOM reports directly to the U.N. Security Council, not to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Since 1997, its executive chairman has been Richard Butler, an Australian diplomat and arms control expert. Like Butler, many of the inspectors also have a background in arms controls. Others are scientists and engineers, and some, like former American inspector Scott Ritter, are military officers. In October, Iraq refused to allow so-called "intrusive inspections." Months of confrontations over inspections came to a head in December with U.S. and British bombing raids.

For two years Iraq had complained that UNSCOM was really an espionage tool for the United States. Butler and UNSCOM had denied it. But last week, American newspapers carried stories alleging that the U.S. had used the U.N. and UNSCOM to spy on Iraq. Today at a conference on arms and arms proliferation in Washington Chairman Butler again denied the spying charges.

Amb. Butler refutes the charge.

RICHARD BUTLER, Chief U.N. weapons inspector: I would ask you to be very careful in drawing a distinction between the facts and perceptions or characterizations or spin or propaganda. UNSCOM has not been used as a spy organization. UNSCOM personnel have never conducted any work, other than that of their disarmament and monitoring mandate.

PHIL PONCE: Also today, Secretary-General Annan said the press reports were based only on rumors and that he believed Butler's statements.

U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN: I would hope that this issue can be put to rest. I don't think the issue is Butler, and I don't think the issue is UNSCOM in the scheme of things - we are dealing with much larger issues about compliance of Iraq and stability in the region, that which you have focused on. I have absolutely no evidence, and I think Mr. Butler's statement has been forthright, and the U.S., itself, has said they give him support that he required for his work.

PHIL PONCE: Annan's aides also denied reports that he's trying to force Butler to resign, even though Butler's come under increasing criticism from Russia and other nations friendly to Iraq. Today, when asked if he would resign, Butler said, "Absolutely not." But last week Iraq's ambassador to the U.N. said that the press reports bear out Iraq's repeated claim that UNSCOM was a cover for U.S. spying.

A final blow for UNSCOM?

NIZAR HAMDOON, U.N. Ambassador, Iraq: Well, this latest confirmation by the Washington Post on that issue I think is the final blow for UNSCOM. So I think we have to consider this as the official declaration for the death of UNSCOM.