Iraq Must Offer More Active Cooperation, say UN Inspectors

Broadcast: Jan 19, 2003

 

The top two United Nations arms inspectors² have arrived in Baghdad saying Iraq must offer more active cooperation in the search for banned weapons if it is to avoid possible armed conflict. The visit to Baghdad comes one week before the two men are to report to the U.N. Security Council on their ¹⁾assessment³ of Iraq's claim that it has no weapons of mass destruction.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector¹ Hans Blix and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei arrived in Baghdad Sunday concerned about 3,000 pages of documents discovered in the home of a former Iraqi nuclear scientist.

The two arrived in the Iraqi capital saying Baghdad is still not fully⁴ cooperating with inspectors two months after the U.N. inspection⁵ team resumed their hunt for weapons of mass destruction.

Sunday Mr. ElBaradei said the possibility of war very much depends on progress the inspectors make during the next several weeks.

Last Thursday weapons inspectors investigated the home of a former Iraqi nuclear scientist and said they found thousands of pages of documents possibly related to ²⁾uranium enrichment that could be used for nuclear weapons.

Mr. Blix said the discovery was troubling because Iraq has an obligation to give a full declaration of its weapons systems that includes all related documents. The discovery caused Mr. Blix to ask why the documents were in the scientist's home, why they hadn't been turned over and if there are more such documents.

Mr. ElBaradei said the inspectors shouldn't have to find such documents on their own.

The two men are expected to press Iraq for greater cooperation and discuss several issues including the recently discovered documents, empty chemical warheads also discovered last Thursday and Iraq's 12,000 page weapons declaration which U.N. inspectors have said provided no new information.

The inspectors are due to leave the Iraqi capital Monday. One week later, they are scheduled to deliver a progress report to the U.N. Security Council.

In the meantime U.N. arms experts in Iraq fanned out across the country Sunday, some wearing protective chemical suits, in their search for banned weapons systems.

U.N. teams traveled to a military complex south of the capital, a solar energy research center associated with Baghdad University and the medical facility at the university in Babel, also south of Baghdad.

Greg LaMotte VOA news, Cairo.

 

1)    assessment [E5sesmEnt]n.估价,估定,

2)    uranium[juE5reiniEm]n.铀

1 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

2 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。