Foreign Press Center, Tokyo, Japan
“Unwilling to address UNSCOM’s remaining concerns over its suspected supply of prohibited weapons, lacking any effective military options, faced with a more united and less sympathetic Security Council, frustrated by Washington’s new policy approach that is less vulnerable to Iraqi manipulation, and seeing no near-term prospect of having the sanctions lifted, Iraq did what it has done several times before in such situations – it engineered yet another crisis. By showing no interest in negotiating the resumption of UNSCOM’s mission, Iraq has directly challenged the new US. policy by forcing Washington to carry out its traditional role of backing up the United Nations’ diplomatic efforts with a credible threat of force.”