Excerpt from report by Iraqi TV on 13th January

An official spokesman of the Ministry of Culture and Information has commented on America's escalation of its anti-Iraq media campaign as soon as Iraq declared its legitimate decision to suspend the work of the inspection team that arrived on 11th January under the American Scott Ritter with an overwhelming majority that represents the US position.

Inspection team leader Scott Ritter

The spokesman said statements of Clinton, his secretaries, employees and British allies stressed that Iraq wanted to choose the members of the inspection teams and that the United Nations was the only side that decided that.

In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency today, the spokesman added that Iraq did not ask during or before this crisis to choose the members of the [UN] Special Commission [Unscom] or its inspection teams.

All that Iraq requested, and was supported in that by a large number of world states, including the UN Security Council permanent member states, was that the Special Commission and its inspection teams should be balanced in their composition and should represent genuinely the United Nations in their missions in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

They should not represent the policy of the United States which seems to have authorized itself to speak on behalf of the UN Security Council, the United Nations and the international community.

US trying to "delude" UN

The spokesman added that by prompting the Special Commission to continue the inspection missions in Iraq and to falsify the facts related to the results of these missions, the United States sought to delude the UN Security Council, the United Nations and the world public opinion into believing that it was necessary to continue searching for the alleged weapons, something which necessarily required the perpetuation of the unjust sanctions imposed on the Iraqi people.

Madeleine Albright: "Boastful", says Iraq

Boastfully, the US secretary of state described these sanctions today as the most comprehensive in the history of the world.

The spokesman indicated that the flimsy pretexts defended by Clinton, his secretaries and [Unscom Chairman Richard] Butler about including a large number of Americans in the composition of the Special Commission and its inspection teams focused on the special technical expertise requirement, alleging that it was rare among non-Americans.

The spokesman said: This requirement is available among a considerable number of experts from other countries, especially the permanent UN Security Council member states, including Russia.

Valeriy Nesterushkin, the official spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, today declared that Russia recently supplied the Special Commission with 60 experts specialized in weapons and that it was eager to bolster its role in these inspection missions.

UN commission "biased"

The spokesman added: It seems that the Unscom, which is biased in favour of the US hostile stance towards Iraq, chose one expert from the 60 to be a member of the 16-member team which arrived in Baghdad on 11th January.

As for the other 15 experts, they all adopt the US stance in one way or another. They are nine US nationals, five British and one Australian.

Concluding his statement, the Culture and Information Ministry official spokesman referred to [US Secretary of State] Albright's statement that it was necessary for Iraq to fulfil its commitments, that it must stop what she termed as the threat Iraq poses to the region, and that the United States, for this reason, continued to be alert, to insist on and reject any other option.

US threatening Iraqi people

The spokesman said it was the United States which ought to respect its obligations, given that it is a permanent member of the UN Security Council whose duties under the UN charter dictate that it to safeguard peace, security and stability in the world.

Therefore, the United States should refrain from threatening security in the region through its aggressive military buildups and its threats to launch aggression on the Iraqi people...

Source: Iraqi TV, Baghdad, in Arabic 2043 gmt 13 Jan 98

Inspection team composition "unbalanced" - letter to UN

Excerpts from Iraqi government letter to UN Security Council president Alain Dejammet, delivered by Nizar Hamdun, Iraq's permanent envoy to the United Nations, as broadcast by Iraqi TV

Your Excellency Alain Dejammet, president of the Security Council

Nizar Hamdun, Iraqi UN envoy

Sir: Upon the instructions of my government and with reference to the letter addressed to you by Richard Butler, the executive chairman of the US Special Commission [Unscom], on 12th January 1997 regarding the composition of the inspection team led by the American Scott Ritter, I should like to clarify the following ...

- The main reason for Iraq's suspension of the work of this team until it is reorganized in a balanced manner has nothing to do with the nature of the locations it had inspected as we permitted it to continue its inspection work until 12th January.

The reason is because of its unbalanced composition.

This unbalanced composition has an important political meaning.

It means that as long as the composition of the Unscom and its inspection teams which submit reports to the UN Security Council remain as they are, then the siege will remain to kill the Iraqis in service of the declared US policy on Iraq.

I would be grateful if you would circulate this letter as an official UN Security Council document.

[signed] Ambassador Nizar Hamdun, permanent representative

Source: Iraqi TV, Baghdad, in Arabic 1805 gmt 13 Jan 98

TV says Unscom team "confused"

Excerpt from report by Iraqi TV on 13th January

Dear viewers: Following Iraq's announcement that it will suspend the activity of the inspection team led by the US national, Scott Ritter, which provides clear evidence of the lack of balance in the composition of the UN Special Commission [Unscom] and its methods of action in Iraq, and after Iraq officially informed Unscom Chairman Richard Butler of its decision to suspend the activity of this team as of today, Tuesday, the decision was put into practice today:

Iraqi Television correspondents were present outside the Unscom headquarters in Baghdad and observed the measures to implement the decision.

Members of the team, which is led by the US national Scott Ritter, did not do anything, except to demonstrate their confusion and inability to do anything of significance ...

Source: Iraqi TV, Baghdad, in Arabic 1110 gmt 13 Jan 98

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