What is the nature of the evidence against Iraq?
US Secretary of State Colin Powell says it is “persuasive”. Iraq says it is non-existent. Before going into the detail, the general point has to be made that the case against Iraq does not depend on weapons of mass destruction, or a “smoking gun”, being found. What is required under Security Council Resolution 1441 is simply a finding that Iraq has not “fully co-operated” with the weapons inspectors. Warheads uncovered by inspectors were never listed by Iraq This may not be regarded as adequate by opponents of any war but it is the line strongly pursued by the United States and Britain. The case that Iraq is not fully “co-operating” was laid out by the chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, to the Security Council on 9 January. News Online has seen copies of their written statements. They followed this up with a visit to Baghdad to raise the specific points of complaint and will report back to the Council
