UNMOVIC head Hans Blix visited Washington to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. They told him to “not take no for an answer,” and demand to inspect whatever he liked, whenever he liked, in Iraq. They also told him to wait until the quickly-evolving UN Security Council resolution was passed before he began inspections. Blix has said that despite the talks with Iraq in Vienna, there were “loose ends” that a new Security Council resolution would resolve. The Security Council has basically agreed that new inspection rules are necessary, but there is a strong disagreement over whether the rules should be enforced by threat of force — France, China and Russia would all like to leave the military option for a second resolution to be enacted only if Iraq proves uncooperative.
Reuters has Blix amenable to the delay: “We are ready to go but we have not booked our tickets yet.”
ABC News gives a nice set of bullets on the “loose ends” that Blix mentioned:
- access to all sites, including presidential palaces
- freely conducted interviews, without Iraqi minders present
- total overflight rights, with security guaranteed
- the right to take any samples out of Iraq.
a technology job is no excuse 