IRAQ: THE MARCH TO WAR: WHY INSPECTORS MUST GO IN:Inspections will

AS a former weapons inspector in Iraq, I know what a difficult job it is.

I have been on the ground with Saddam's secret service thugs following me around.

I and my colleagues have had to camp for days in the car park of the Ministry of Agriculture as guards put all kinds of obstacles in our way while they smuggled evidence of bio-weapons research out the back.

We had to argue to enter sensitive sites, and when we finally did get in, we knew they had been sterilised.

It was a constant battle, the Iraqis always lied.

You had intelligence information that the Iraqis didn't know you had, so you would quiz the people.

You'd go back to check and find they had lied. You'd go back and challenge them. Then they'd grudgingly admit well, maybe we didn't tell you the whole thing.

Then they'd say, "That's all there is". And you'd go back repeatedly and tell them: "We've checked. We know you're lying." Their demeanour changed with different confrontations. Sometimes they tried to bluff it by screaming and yelling.

Other times they were co-operative and charming. But always, they lied.

Scientists and technicians had obviously been coached on what to say and were too terrified to deviate from the script even when they were caught in blatant lies.

We were a small team of 15 or 16 people in a hostile environment. We always had between six and 12 minders with us videotaping everything.

These secret service guys all looked like Saddam Hussein junior. They all wore white shirts, dark slacks and Saddam moustaches.

In addition they would have people sitting in the hotel lobby, anonymous men in dark glasses, who followed us everywhere.

Sometimes when the inspectors were in the swimming pool at the hotel, beer bottles were thrown from top floors of the hotel. We communicated with walkie-talkies and of course they monitored those all the time. We never said anything confidential unless we were in a special room at our hotel.

A team of UN security specialists swept that for bugs all the time. The Iraqis couldn't even get into that part of the hotel. But despite all this, I believe it is vital to send in the inspectors again. It is the only sensible way forward now.

We are going to get into a quagmire if there's a war. It will lead to chaos in the region. If you get rid of Saddam, what comes next? The opposition is poorly organised. It's a recipe for disaster.

The ideal would be for the Iraqis to co-operate. With co- operation inspections could be finished in three or four months, then it would simply be a question of monitoring the situation.

You will not find all the hidden weapons stores and research laboratories. Of course Saddam has had time to build secret underground facilities since 1998. It is possible that there is a huge bio-weapons or nuclear facility under one of his palaces.

But once the inspectors go in, the Iraqis are at risk of discovery if they have built new facilities. Even if they don't co-operate inspectors can find out a great deal. The $64,000 question is will inspectors get the same run-around this time. We don't know. But we must give it a try.

Our inspections have kept Saddam bottled up for 10 years. A new round of inspections should contain him for another 10 years.

And by then, perhaps the Iraqi opposition will have overthrown him.

-Dr Ray Zilinskas works at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.

Copyright 2002 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.