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| Axis of Evil |
| Iraq inspectors hit back at criticism |
| 2002-12-05 |
| UN weapons inspectors in Iraq have defended themselves after accusations by Baghdad of spying and suggestions by Washington that searches are not "aggressive" enough. Baghdad had launched a scathing attack on the experts currently searching sites in Iraq, accusing them of providing intelligence to the US and Israel to help with preparations for a military offensive. Pressure has also mounted on the inspection team from the White House, which has indicated yet again that it feels the searches are unsatisfactory. "We believe we are doing the job we need to be doing. We have been unannounced and thorough," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are helping with the search. Ms Fleming rejected allegations of espionage, but added that if any inspector were found to be a spy, he would be immediately dismissed. "We have always said there is no room for any spies on our inspection teams," she told the BBC. Guess it all depends on what your definition of a spy is. By the Iraqi definition, they're all spies. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #8 This is a no-win job from the get go. We have the documentation and we can't share it with a bunch of unqualified UN geeks or it will show Sammy how much we know and how we obtained it. They are unqualified simply because there are only 2 countries in the world with the resources, expertise and experience in dealing with development and production of WMD - us and the ex-soviet union now Russia - everyone else including the Chinese are way behind us. Then you have the topographical-geographical coverage that needs to take place (almost impossible without the benefit of US spy satellite coverage)and its further compounded. I can understand the Greek's frustration - its borne of his knowledge that he is in an inferior position - thus the cry for us to give up the data. This is why we went to the UN - it gives us a western movie front to work behind and mobilize while everyone is focused on the inspections. Still starts February 4th - new moon. |
| Posted by: Jack 2002-12-06 03:58:02 |
| #7 pot is starting to boil and the party line rhetoric starts to fracture. Wonder how much more pressure it will take to panic the iraqis. If I was a weapons inspector right now, I'd be planning for a fast track out of town before somebody decided to treat me as a spy. |
| Posted by: john 2002-12-05 20:10:17 |
| #6 Oh, I'm sure he really is well-qualified. It's just that the situation is so ridiculous to begin with, it just adds to the irony. |
| Posted by: Tripartite 2002-12-05 17:53:40 |
| #5 I think we are being too hard on the S&M inspector. He might be the most qualified and competent one. He has 20 yr old munitions experience, a community college degree in security and has shown the gumption to run a small business. I don't know much about S&M, but I think his being 'dominant' implies some propensity to be assertive. Compared to the treaty lawyer Hans Blix, or that Greek guy who mouthed off today, he is well qualified. |
| Posted by: John 2002-12-05 16:53:51 |
| #4 And the elite CIA sadomasochists are just elite CIA sadomasochists. [cues theme song]Whip it! Whip it good! |
| Posted by: Tripartite 2002-12-05 12:40:56 |
| #3 Luckily, according to Fisk, we were gonna get our tails kicked in Afghanistan. The man's a paragon of accuracy, infallible in his prognostications. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-12-05 12:38:47 |
| #2 Well according to Fisk Mossad's spies are practically amateurs so I'm not really sure what the Iraqi's have to worry about, except the super competant CIA sadomasochists working with Mossad. On the other hand if Mossad was able to pull of 9/11 you would think they'd be a bit better at harrassing Saddam than the old inspector gambit, except perhaps the amateurish CIA that tried to kill Castro with exploding cigars. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and an inspector is just an inspector. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-12-05 11:00:36 |
| #1 (Frau Unibrow voice): SPIES!! ALL SPIES!! |
| Posted by: Raj 2002-12-05 10:38:48 |