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November 6, 2003
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Thursday
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Ramazan 10, 1424
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UN inspectors should return to Iraq: Russia: US opposes move
MOSCOW, Nov 5: Russia said on Wednesday it was in favor of seeing UN arms inspectors return to Iraq, a move that has already been opposed by the US State Department.
Russia’s foreign ministry said that “we support the points of view” presented Sunday by International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei, who told CNN the UN inspectors should be allowed to return as quickly as possible to “finish the job.”
“The question about weapons of mass destruction will not be answered until (inspectors) report that there are no weapons of mass destruction, or means for their delivery, on the territory of Iraq,” the ministry said in a statement.
But the United States took a critical view of ElBaradei’s statement.
“We don’t think it’s needed at this time,” a US State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
“The inspectors’ purpose was to ensure compliance with the UN security council resolutions, and those resolutions are sort of (overtaken by events). There might a role for UN inspectors at some point in the future, but that debate is way down the road.”
US OPPOSES CALL: The United States would not like to see the return of UN arms inspectors to Iraq, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.
“We don’t think it’s needed at this time,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“The inspectors’ purpose was to ensure compliance with the UN security council resolutions, and those resolutions are sort of (overtaken by events). There might a role for UN inspectors at some point in the future, but that debate is way down the road.”
The official’s comments were in response to remarks Sunday by International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei, who told CNN the UN inspectors should be allowed to return as quickly as possible to “finish the job”.
All the information made public up to now “supports our tentative conclusion before the war that we haven’t seen any evidence that Iraq was trying to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program,” ElBaradei said.
“I think it would be prudent for us to go back to Iraq and, frankly, finish the job.” —AFP
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