Unscom

OF COURSE the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) spied on Iraq. How else could it fulfill its mission?The organization of technical experts from several countries tried valiantly to discover Iraq's chemical and biological weapons and missile delivery systems. Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator, threw every obstacle in its path.On its face, Iraq's spying charges were always true. That's why UNSCOM was created by the U.N. Security Council.But the spying charge was never a reason to drop UNSCOM or to end the sanctions that respond to the continued concealment of weapons of mass destruction.

"Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and For All," by Scott Ritter. Simon & Schuster. 240 pages. $22.Eight years after it began, an ambitious United Nations scheme to eliminate Saddam Hussein's most dangerous weapons lies in shambles, its inspectors barred by Baghdad and its political support eroded by disclosure of a too-cozy relationship with U.S. intelligence and military planners.Scott Ritter's "Endgame" offers the first insider's account of this failure. It's a sobering story of how a clever, brutal Iraqi regime rebounded from defeat in war to outwit and outflank a U.N. agency, even one supported by a superpower.

WASHINGTON -- In March, in a last-ditch attempt to uncover Saddam Hussein's covert weapons and intelligence networks, the United States used the U.N. inspection team to send a U.S. spy into Baghdad to install a highly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping system.The spy entered Iraq in the guise of a U.N. weapons inspector and left the eavesdropping device behind.For 10 months, the device let the United States and a select elite within the U.N. inspection team monitor the cell phones, walkie-talkies and other communications instruments used by the military and intelligence officers who protect Saddam and conceal Iraq's weapons.

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States threw its support yesterday behind a Canadian plan that would convene three expert panels to review all aspects of Iraq's relations with the United Nations in an effort to break a Security Council policy stalemate.The exercise sounds much like the comprehensive review proposed last year as a reward to Iraq for cooperating with inspectors. Now, it appears to be the minimal course of action the council may be able to agree on after U.S. and British airstrikes last month.

SADDAM HUSSEIN keeps his eye on the prize, looks for opportunities, forgets nothing and maintains endless patience. The United States, and the United Nations, should do no less.He apparently wants to maintain Iraq's core ability to produce disease and nerve gas and missiles capable of transporting them hundreds or thousands of miles. The U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) charged with dismantling such capabilities suspects so and is unable to recommend an end to (( its mission.Saddam's objective also includes isolating the U.S. from allies and from moderate Islamic states and driving wedges between them.

THE BUILDUP of forces to bomb Iraq had the desired effect at the last minute on dictator Saddam Hussein. He agreed to comply with United Nations' monitoring for weapons of mass destruction, on which he had reneged.The good-cop, bad-cop routine of President Clinton, threatening destruction, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, seeking reconciliation, worked. Neither had a chance without the other.The outcome restores the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) and its relentless leader, Richard Butler of Australia.

The 7-year-old United Nations program to ferret out and destroy Iraqi arms may well be finished off by the current round of airstrikes, leaving the United States even less able to prevent Saddam Hussein from threatening his neighbors and the world, according to experts in the field.The program was praised yesterday by former U.N. inspectors and other experts as a unique experiment in arms control that will leave a trove of invaluable intelligence on Iraq and an important technological legacy.

"Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and For All," by Scott Ritter. Simon & Schuster. 240 pages. $22.Eight years after it began, an ambitious United Nations scheme to eliminate Saddam Hussein's most dangerous weapons lies in shambles, its inspectors barred by Baghdad and its political support eroded by disclosure of a too-cozy relationship with U.S. intelligence and military planners.Scott Ritter's "Endgame" offers the first insider's account of this failure. It's a sobering story of how a clever, brutal Iraqi regime rebounded from defeat in war to outwit and outflank a U.N. agency, even one supported by a superpower.

THE UNITED STATES and its coalition partners must keep the pressure on Iraq to open up fully to United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspectors. This includes the 63 installations that Iraq claims to be out of bounds to inspection as "presidential sites."The Iraqis' claim is nonsense. This crisis exists because Iraq has stonewalled and played cat-and-mouse and retained biological and chemical weapons of mass death and missiles to carry them -- if not its nuclear weapons program -- in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions ending the 1991 gulf war.There can be no compromise on weapons inspection.

WASHINGTON -- Defying nearly five years of intense world pressure, Iraq has preserved a weapons arsenal powerful enough to wreak mass destruction in the Middle East and is trying to improve it, according to U.S. and United Nations officials.U.S. officials believe that Iraq is hiding warheads containing chemical and biological agents, as well as dozens of Scud missiles capable of reaching Persian Gulf adversaries and Israel. Iraq has 7,000 skilled technicians ready to resume development of nuclear weapons once international pressure eases, the officials say.Iraq has managed to hang on to that arsenal in the face of nearly five years of economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations and the most intrusive arms inspections ever conducted.

OF COURSE the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) spied on Iraq. How else could it fulfill its mission?The organization of technical experts from several countries tried valiantly to discover Iraq's chemical and biological weapons and missile delivery systems. Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator, threw every obstacle in its path.On its face, Iraq's spying charges were always true. That's why UNSCOM was created by the U.N. Security Council.But the spying charge was never a reason to drop UNSCOM or to end the sanctions that respond to the continued concealment of weapons of mass destruction.

WASHINGTON -- In March, in a last-ditch attempt to uncover Saddam Hussein's covert weapons and intelligence networks, the United States used the U.N. inspection team to send a U.S. spy into Baghdad to install a highly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping system.The spy entered Iraq in the guise of a U.N. weapons inspector and left the eavesdropping device behind.For 10 months, the device let the United States and a select elite within the U.N. inspection team monitor the cell phones, walkie-talkies and other communications instruments used by the military and intelligence officers who protect Saddam and conceal Iraq's weapons.

The 7-year-old United Nations program to ferret out and destroy Iraqi arms may well be finished off by the current round of airstrikes, leaving the United States even less able to prevent Saddam Hussein from threatening his neighbors and the world, according to experts in the field.The program was praised yesterday by former U.N. inspectors and other experts as a unique experiment in arms control that will leave a trove of invaluable intelligence on Iraq and an important technological legacy.

THE BUILDUP of forces to bomb Iraq had the desired effect at the last minute on dictator Saddam Hussein. He agreed to comply with United Nations' monitoring for weapons of mass destruction, on which he had reneged.The good-cop, bad-cop routine of President Clinton, threatening destruction, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, seeking reconciliation, worked. Neither had a chance without the other.The outcome restores the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) and its relentless leader, Richard Butler of Australia.

WITH PRESIDENT Clinton on the phone and Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Ambassador Bill Richardson fanning out to United Nations Security Council members, the United States is trying to show Iraq that the U.N. stands by its resolution.Iraq must disarm in the areas of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, or suffer the consequences. That is the stick. The carrot would be lifting the economic sanctions once the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) has confirmed the required disarmament, though some Americans are reluctant.

THE UNITED STATES and its coalition partners must keep the pressure on Iraq to open up fully to United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspectors. This includes the 63 installations that Iraq claims to be out of bounds to inspection as "presidential sites."The Iraqis' claim is nonsense. This crisis exists because Iraq has stonewalled and played cat-and-mouse and retained biological and chemical weapons of mass death and missiles to carry them -- if not its nuclear weapons program -- in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions ending the 1991 gulf war.There can be no compromise on weapons inspection.

WITH PRESIDENT Clinton on the phone and Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Ambassador Bill Richardson fanning out to United Nations Security Council members, the United States is trying to show Iraq that the U.N. stands by its resolution.Iraq must disarm in the areas of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, or suffer the consequences. That is the stick. The carrot would be lifting the economic sanctions once the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) has confirmed the required disarmament, though some Americans are reluctant.

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States threw its support yesterday behind a Canadian plan that would convene three expert panels to review all aspects of Iraq's relations with the United Nations in an effort to break a Security Council policy stalemate.The exercise sounds much like the comprehensive review proposed last year as a reward to Iraq for cooperating with inspectors. Now, it appears to be the minimal course of action the council may be able to agree on after U.S. and British airstrikes last month.

THE LIKELIHOOD of American bombing of Iraq diminished yesterday when Iraq and Russia announced their agreement that Iraq would allow the United Nations weapons inspectors to return on their own terms. What Russia promised to Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein was less clear, but in the long run it means use of the Russian veto in the Security Council to prevent extensions of sanctions and to speed Iraq to full standing in the community of nations.The United States was not party to this deal. It welcomed the step forward but continued the buildup of planes.

SADDAM HUSSEIN keeps his eye on the prize, looks for opportunities, forgets nothing and maintains endless patience. The United States, and the United Nations, should do no less.He apparently wants to maintain Iraq's core ability to produce disease and nerve gas and missiles capable of transporting them hundreds or thousands of miles. The U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) charged with dismantling such capabilities suspects so and is unable to recommend an end to (( its mission.Saddam's objective also includes isolating the U.S. from allies and from moderate Islamic states and driving wedges between them.