WILL IRAQ DESTROY ITS MISSILES?….UN inspectors have decided to demand that Iraq destroy missiles that exceed allowed limits:
“The letter should be going out today,” said Ewen Buchanen, a spokesman for the inspectors. Before now, the inspectors had declared the missiles to be illegal but had not said what they intended to do about that.
We are getting very close to the end here. It seems unlikely that Iraq will agree to destroy the missiles, but this refusal would surely be enough to convince even the Security Council holdouts that inspections are not working.
Or so it seems. It’s getting harder every day to penetrate the boxes within boxes of diplomatic maneuvering that’s going on at the UN. More to come, I’m sure.
UPDATE: John Quiggin has a different view, and he may be right. The problem is that Saddam is caught in a trap: if he’s convinced the U.S. will attack anyway, why would he give up his missiles? But if he doesn’t give up the missiles, then we’ll attack. It’s a serious dilemma for him.
