[R-G] Questions Submitted by Iraqi Foreign Minister to UN Secretary-General

[solrde]

http://usmlo.org/archive/2002-10/06-33-14.htm
FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Questions Submitted by Iraqi Foreign Minister to UN Secretary-General

On March 7, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri submitted 19 questions to
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in preparation for talks between
the UN and Iraq. Mr. Annan, in turn, grouped the questions and passed them
on to the President of the UN Security Council on March 19. The Secretary
General categorized the questions as pertaining to disarmament/inspection
issues, relations between Iraq and the Security Council, and those relating
to compensation and Iraq's right to self-defense. Voice of Revolution is
printing below the text of some of the questions.

I. Disarmament / inspection issues

Many the first group of questions spoke to the United Nations Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission in Iraq (UNMOVIC). UNMOVIC was
established by Security Council Resolution 1284 on December 17, 1999. It
replaced the notorious UN Special Commission, better known as UNSCOM, that
was used by the United States to spy on Iraq. Iraq has consistently rejected
the new inspection regime and Resolution 1284, which offered a renewable
suspension of sanctions in exchange for its cooperation with UNMOVIC. The
last weapons inspection team under UNSCOM in Iraq departed in December 1998
on the eve of U.S. and British airstrikes, launched to "punish Iraq for
failing to cooperate with the inspectors."

Among questions in this group were:

. How long would it take UNMOVIC to reach a degree of certainty that Iraq
has retained no WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and to present a report to
the Security Council appropriately?

. What kind of inspections is UNMOVIC planning to conduct?

. Would inspections be conducted with the necessary respect of the
sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Iraq and in
accordance with the relevant international conventions?

. What are the guarantees that UNMOVIC would not use the same inspection
formula which led to the bombing of Iraq in 1998?

. How could U.S. and UK inspectors fulfill a neutral international mandate?

II. Issues relevant to relations between Iraq and the Security Council

. Do threats to invade Iraq and to change the national government by force
violate Security Council resolutions, rules of international law, Charter of
the United Nations and Iraq's sovereignty, independence and territorial
integrity?

. Could one permanent member of the Security Council have a right to its own
interpretation of resolutions in order to take unilateral decisions
regarding Iraq?

. Is it possible to normalize relations between the Security Council and
Iraq under the circumstances when calls are made for invading Iraq and
overthrowing its national government by force?

. Could the elimination of the no-fly zones be guaranteed?

. What are the views of the Security Council on declarations that the
economic sanctions imposed on Iraq would not be lifted in accordance with
relevant resolutions as long as the current national government remains in
place?

. Has the Security Council implemented its obligations pursuant to
resolution 687 (1991) regarding the lifting of the sanctions, respect of
Iraq's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and the
establishment in the Middle East of a zone free from weapons of mass
destruction (paragraph 14)?

III. Iraq's requests for compensation and right of self-defense

. Would Iraq be compensated for the destruction of its economic, educational
and other infrastructure caused by the embargo and violations of Iraq's
sovereignty?

. Is there an intention to dispatch a team of experts to Iraq to assess the
cost of reconstruction in order to submit a report, which would help the
Security Council to consider the issue of compensation?

. Does the Security Council agree with Iraq's legitimate right to
self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter and whether this
right allows Iraq to acquire conventional defensive weapons?

==============
Joshua M.
soilride at yahoo.com