EU pressurises Saddam over admission of UN inspectors

Date: 05/09/02

By Martin Banks

THE EU yesterday (4 September) stepped up pressure on Saddam Hussein to allow UN weapons inspectors into Iraq.

External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten told the European Parliament that they should be allowed back into the country immediately.

'If Saddam does not have weapons of mass destruction, what is the problem in allowing the inspectors back?' he argued. 'The question we have to ask ourselves is: what do we do if Saddam refuses and then ignores further UN resolutions? Do we just shrug our shoulders or wring our hands? Or, maybe, write a letter to Le Monde and sign a petition?'

Patten stressed that a UN Security Council Resolution (no. 1284) adopted in December 1999 made it clear that Iraq should cooperate with the arms inspectors 'in all respects'.

'This means that Iraq should give full unrestricted access...to any site, any area, any equipment, and any installation at any moment, without any conditions.

'Yet Iraq never complied with this Security Council Resolution - just as it had failed to cooperate with the UN throughout the 1990s.'

The commissioner called Saddam's regime 'as ruthless as it is reckless' but said that the Commission would continue to provide humanitarian aid for its population. Since the 1991 Gulf War it has contributed €270 million - €30 million in the past three years.

Patten's comments were endorsed by Spaniard Enrique Barón Crespo, the Socialist group leader, but some MEPs expressed concern about a lack of restraint being shown in the US in considering a possible military strike.

Graham Watson, Liberal group leader, said that while he agreed Saddam posed a real threat to world peace, military action should only be used as a 'last resort' - and that any action needed UN backing.

The Scot also took a swipe at US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent remarks comparing President Bush to Winston Churchill.

'That's as absurd as Dan Quayle comparing himself to John F. Kennedy. Donald, George Bush ain't no Winston Churchill,' he said.

'The real lesson of history is this: Churchill correctly identified the Nazi threat at an early stage, but when he acted, it was not unilaterally and pre-emptively; he drew a line in the sand and acted with moral authority and international backing when this line was crossed.'

Bertel Haarder, European Affairs minister for Denmark, holder of the EU's rotating presidency, said that while he supported 'strong' international pressure being imposed on Iraq, the US should hold 'broad, inclusive' consultation with Iraq's Arab neighbours before taking military action.

The European Union stepped up pressure on Saddam Hussein to allow UN weapons inspectors into Iraq, 4 September 2002.