International responsibility

International arms inspectors have a serious and difficult mission in Iraq and the reasons that this is so are clearly more political than technical.

The success or failure of the mission will determine whether there will be war or peace. The outcome of the inspections will determine whether Iraq will once again be admitted into the international community.

The success of the mission of international arms inspectors in Iraq will require more than the full cooperation and good faith of the Iraqi government. It will require an equal amount of cooperation and good faith on the part of the arms inspectors themselves. If they conduct their mission with integrity, and report to the Security Council alone, then things will be on the right track. But if the inspectors are back to Iraq to provoke the Iraqi government and pick on Iraqi officials then their mission is doomed to failure and the entire region is probably doomed to chaos.

The international community has a moral responsibility to guarantee the inspection mission is conducted properly. It also has a role to play in encouraging mutual respect and cooperation between the inspectors and the Iraqi government. This means that all concerned governments and organisations must refrain from making antagonistic statements.

US officials have been particularly busy provoking the Iraqi government. If Washington is serious about this mission then it must stop issuing threats and accusations against the Iraqi government. What such rhetoric reveals is that what the US really wants is for the inspectors to cry material breach of 1441 so that it can start its military assault against Iraq while telling the world that it is only attempting to disarm Saddam Hussein.