US searches alone for WMD?

bug

I heard this morning on TV3 news that the US has decided that the UN will not take part in the search for WMD and that they are indeed searching themselves. The UN are annoyed at this.
I tried to do a search on google to find the article in print and unfortunatley this is the closest I could come up with. The Brits still seem to think that it will be independantly verified.
Ananova
In my opinion this increases the ability for the US to "justify" its so-called war by possibly planting WMD or biological weapons. Does Mr Hoon really think that independant verification of chemical/biological weapons means sending samples of stuff labelled "from Iraq" to some lab in the middle of Munich?

hallelujajordan

Originally posted by bug

In my opinion this increases the ability for the US to "justify" its so-called war by possibly planting WMD or biological weapons. Does Mr Hoon really think that independant verification of chemical/biological weapons means sending samples of stuff labelled "from Iraq" to some lab in the middle of Munich?

I agree . . . you have to question the US motives in not allowing Blix et al back into IRAQ. . . If there are WMD's in Iraq, surely it would suit the US far more on the world stage if they were discovered by UN-sanctioned inspectors.... . even if the US accomanied them / showed them where to look. Before this war, we were led to believe that the coalition had significant intelligence that the iraqis were developing WMD's. Their failure to demonstrate this several weeks after the removal of the Iraqi regime throws up serious doubts about the veracity and integrity of these claims and hence the legality of the current occupation of Iraq.

bonkey

Well, the US have insisted for a long time that the UN inspectors were there to verify disarmament, not to hunt for WMDs - there being a subtle distinction between the two....

One of their basic arguments for abandoning the weapons inspection process was that it was not working and could not work.

For them to allow the UN back in now would be tantamount to saying that there were other options available to the UN which the US was not willing to consider.

Instead, it makes more sense for them to hold onto the reins, and insist that its their job to search for the WMDs themselves. What happens if/when they find them is open to speculation...whether they will verify them themselves and/or allow independant veriofication.

It is also worth noting that the UN would not be able to reinstate the wi process while Iraq remains relatively uncontrolled - just as there are problems in releasing full humanitarian aid. The US military, on the other hand, do not need any such guarantees of safety, and thus can begin their search immediately.

I'm not entirely convinced that its a good idea, but its not exactly a terrible one either. I would have preferred to see the US initiating the search, and liasing with the UNMOVIC team (or whoever) and ideally handing over to them somewhere down the line, but we dont always get what we want....

And face it lads...if you think the Us can plant WMDs well enough to fool the world and use them as proof, then they could just plant them, and step back and allow the UN inspectors to find the same stuff. Letting the UN in or not does not change this, so its a bit of an empty argument there....and you could just as validly argue that the UN team might now have a motive to not find anything in order to show up the US for having defied the UN.

jc

hallelujajordan

Originally posted by bonkey

And face it lads...if you think the Us can plant WMDs well enough to fool the world and use them as proof, then they could just plant them, and step back and allow the UN inspectors to find the same stuff. Letting the UN in or not does not change this, so its a bit of an empty argument there....and you could just as validly argue that the UN team might now have a motive to not find anything in order to show up the US for having defied the UN.

jc

This boils down to "Who do you trust more?" It would be more difficult for the UN to conspire not to find weapons given that they comprise a number of nations of which the US and UK make up 40% of the veto-holding power (and quite a few inspectors).

On the other hand the US have a strong motive, they have form in this regard and in my opinion, they will do whatever they need to in order to convince the international community.

My problem with this is that the logical thing to do if you believe there are WMD's is to work with UNMOVIC as you have suggested but they have refused to do this. Their refusal raises serious suspicions !

Chaos-Engine

Isn't the US by not allowing the UN into inspect actting as Saddam did and in fact worse than he did???

Surely there should be a "food for oil" program imposed on the US because of this??

just a thought..