Hans Blix, the United Nation's top arms inspector, gave Iraq high marks for process but not substance in his required 60-day report to the U.N. Security Council Monday. Blix said Iraq gave the inspectors access to the requested sites but did not provide enough evidence of a commitment to disarmament.
\It is not enough to open doors,"" Blix told the Security Council, adding, ""Inspection is not a game of catch-as-catch can. Rather, as I noted, it is a process of verification for the purpose of creating confidence.""
Even on the subject of process, Blix found fault with some aspects of Iraqi behavior. He said Iraq should guarantee protection of U.N. inspectors to use planes to take photographs of the sites.
Blix asked the Iraqi government to provide more documentary evidence that chemical and biological weapons have been destroyed. For example, he said Iraq may still have anthrax.
As for documentary evidence, Blix asked Iraq for credible individuals to interview. He also mentioned the increased capability of the U.N. inspection team to continue its work in Iraq.
Whether that work will continue is questionable amid the threat of war from the United States. A few hours after Blix's announcement, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States was not satisfied with the inspection results.
""Iraq's time for choosing peaceful disarmament is fast coming to an end,"" he said.
President Bush is expected to discuss the situation in Iraq at his State of the Union address tonight. Jim Lindsay, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C. think tank, said he thinks Bush will give the weapons inspectors some time, but war is likely.
""I think President Bush will say that war is regrettably the choice now before us, but the question of when the war begins is still up in the air,"" Lindsay said.
Donald Kettl, a UW-Madison professor of political science, said he did not think the President would talk about giving the inspectors more time in his speech.
""If there is time it won't be much,"" Kettl said, adding, ""Bush will take a very firm line to try and build support among the American people.""
Kettl also acknowledged the importance of international allies in making it easier for the United States to win a potential war and increasing public support at home. Lindsay said allies are as important after the war as they are before and during it.
""Once he wins the war he needs to win the peace,"" Lindsay said. ""He doesn't want to keep a large number of U.S. troops there after peace is established.""
