United Nations-led inspections of areas where Iraq is suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction have resumed after a hiatus of four years. On the first day, last Wednesday, an 11-member team from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission, or UNMOVIC, as well as a six-member group from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, separately inspected two facilities without warning.
The inspections reportedly went smoothly without any interference from the Iraqi side. From now on, though, difficult and detailed inspections are expected to be conducted in a highly charged atmosphere. There is a danger that differences in opinion between the U.N. and the United States concerning the focus of the inspections and the contents of inspection reports will rise to the surface.
On the first day, the IAEA team inspected a factory located about three hours north of Baghdad, while the UNMOVIC team went to a graphite rod factory about six hours to the south of the capital. According to Mr. Dimitri Perricos, the leader of UNMOVIC, graphite can be used in the head cones of missiles. The Iraqi side was cooperative. As U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan commented, "I think it [the inspection] got off to a rather good start."