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-- Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz says, \u201cWe are not gambling and we are not seeking confrontation\u2026 If the Security Council is serious about lifting the sanctions, if the Security Council is serious about restructuring UNSCOM and about creating a real international, cooperational, honest body to deal with the question of disarmament and to follow up the monitoring mission, OK. In principle we are not against implementing UN resolutions. We are not against working with the international body for the purpose of disarmament. If they change their position and they give Iraq its rights by reducing and lifting the sanctions we will immediately resume cooperation. (UNSCOM) \u201cis a subsidiary organ of the Mossad and the CIA. UNSCOM is not an honest impartial professional international agency. It\u2019s an instrument in the hands of the CIA and the Mossad.\u201d
-- Butler says Aziz\u2019s contentions are \u2018nonsense\u2019 and that if Iraq were to fully cooperate, the weapons monitoring would quickly end. You are quite close to getting towards the end of most of the disarmament issues. Secondly you know exactly what we need: the truth. You own it. You can give it to us. We will be objective. We will get the job of verification done and get to the end of this if you cooperate. That\u2019s a true and clear promise. I have to respond I think to the point where the deputy prime minister says that my organization somehow works for the U.S. or Israeli intelligence. This is nonsense. If that\u2019s the seriously contended point, leading to restructuring of UNSCOM, then I fear the worst because it rests on contentions that are simply not true.\u201d
-- U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen warns Iraq that it could face military attack if Baghdad does not return to compliance with UN arms inspections. \u201cI think everybody is getting weary of dealing with (Iraq President) Saddam Hussein,\u201d He says the U.S. prefers that any action against Iraq be taken in concert with the UN and allies, but that unilateral attack by U.S. forces \u201chas always been an option that we could pursue.\u201d
-- Iraq\u2019s parliament supports a decision to stop cooperating with a UN disarmament commission. The 250- member National Assembly votes to end cooperation until the sanctions are lifted and the UN commission is overhauled. The vote comes after Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz says Iraq won\u2019t back down from its decision to stop cooperating with the UN disarmament commission, even if threatened with military strikes. \u201cWe are not afraid of any reaction or threats. There is no situation worse than the present one.\u201d
-- Britain and Germany on Monday call on Iraq to comply with UN resolutions. The new German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says, \u201cI must underline that it is not a matter of a conflict between the U.S. and Iraq. Iraq is violating decisions of the international community, decisions of the Security
-- Iraq allows UN technicians to change video cassettes on a surveillance camera, although UN officials said it didn\u2019t represent a significant change in Baghdad\u2019s decision to stop cooperating with weapons inspectors.
-- Iraq announces it is considering asking the UN to extend the current oil-for-food plan until it reaches its $5.25 billion target rather than re-negotiate the entire program. The program, which expires on Nov. 25, allows Baghdad to sell up to $5.25 billion worth of oil over six months in order to buy food, medicine and other necessities. Low crude oil prices mean Iraq is only expected to sell about $3 billion worth in the six months ending on Nov. 6.
-- Richard Butler calls the new standoff with Iraq the most serious confrontation with the UN to date, and says his teams could no longer carry out any meaningful operations in a letter to Security Council President Peter Burleigh of the United States. Butler reports Iraq had permitted inspectors from his UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) to maintain surveillance cameras by changing tapes. It also permitted maintenance work on the commission\u2019s L-100 transport planes. but he says such activities are, \u201cby themselves, minor in terms of providing credible monitoring. The commission is not in a position to provide the council with any level of assurances regarding Iraq\u2019s compliance with its obligations not to re-establish proscribed activities.\u201d
98-11-3 Nizar Hamdoon, Iraq\u2019s ambassador to the UN, says he believes there is no support in the Gulf for military action against Baghdad in its latest standoff with the international community over weapons inspections.
-- The UN Security Council\u2019s 661 sanctions committee approves 36 more contracts for spare parts to repair Iraq\u2019s sanctions-hit oil industry, a UN report said on Tuesday. Up to this time, 111 contracts worth $88 million for spare parts for the oil industry had been approved. Another 78 contracts worth $39 million were on hold or were sent back to suppliers for more information. Most of the contracts on hold are due to American objections. This committee now approves 36 new contracts for the supply of spare parts and equipment for Iraq\u2019s oil industry,\u201d it said. The value of these contracts is $15, 468,813 bringing the total approvals for the oil sector to $87.9 million. The contracts are with firms from China, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Switzerland, Italy and Jordan. They range from pipeline to pump spare parts.
-- U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen flies to London to discuss the Iraqi crisis with his counterparts Britain\u2019s George Robertson and France\u2019s Alain Richard. Cohen warns that \u201call options remain open\u201d for ending the Iraqi blockade of arms inspections. A British Defense Ministry spokeswoman says that the defense ministers agreed that the decision by Iraq to end cooperation with the UN special commission on disarmament was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and breached his pledge at the beginning of the year to UN Secretary General Annan, and that Iraq \u201cmust comply with the agreement or face the consequences.\u201d The spokeswoman says they agreed that they preferred a diplomatic solution \u201cbut we can\u2019t rule out a military option. The international community\u2019s patience with Saddam isn\u2019t infinite.\u201d They also said they \u201ccan\u2019t look at lifting\u201d trade sanctions in place against Iraq since the end of the Gulf War until Saddam complies fully with UN recommendations on disarmament and full cooperation with the inspectors.
-- British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook states it to Parliament that Iraq \u201cappears to be gambling that the world will grow weary of his constant evasion and his repeated confrontation. ... We must remain ready and resolute to prove him wrong.\u201d We want to find a diplomatic solution, but we have always made clear that all options remain open.
Iraq in Crisis: A History from
Desert Fox to June 1999
