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Nation & world briefing
Blix says Iraq search
finds ‘no smoking gun’
Diego Ibarguen
and Jonathan S. Landay
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
UNITED NATIONS — The chief
U.N. weapons inspector told the U.N.
Security Council on Thursday that a
two-month search for banned chem
ical, biological and nuclear weapons
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programs in Iraq has produced “no
smoking guns.”
But Hans Blix said that “the ab
sence of ‘smoking guns’ and the
prompt access which we have had so
far, and which is most welcome, is
no guarantee that prohibited stocks
or activities could not exist at other
sites, whether above ground, under
ground or in mobile units.”
White House spokesman Ari Fleis
cher was even more emphatic. “The
problem with guns that arc hidden is
you can’t see their smoke,” he said.
“We know for a fact there are weapons
there. ... The heart of the problem is
Iraq is very good at hiding things.”
Still, the lack of proof that Bagh
dad has chemical and biological
weapons presents a fresh hurdle to
the Bush administration’s hope of
winning strong domestic and inter
national support for an invasion to
topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Bush administration may
find it difficult to win Security
Council support for an attack un
less U.N. inspectors unearth evi
dence of illicit weapons programs
that violate a series of U.N. resolu
tions passed since Iraq’s defeat in
the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
At least two Security Council
members — France and Syria —
indicated following Blix’s briefing
that they are far from ready to au
thorize invasion.
French Ambassador to the U.N.
Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said that the
inspections are going well, and “there
is no reason to give now a time limit.”
Syrian Ambassador to the U.N.
Mikail Wehbe took issue with U.S.
and British assertions that Iraq is
hiding banned weapons, saying
“they are just an excuse for more ac
cusation against the Iraqi people.”
Wehbe said an invasion would
destabilize the entire Middle East.
While President Bush has said
that the United States is prepared to
invade Iraq alone if need be, polls
show that a majority of Americans
will not support an attack that is not
authorized by the United Nations
and is not mounted by an interna
tional coalition.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Ibarguen reported
from the United Nations, Landay
from Washington.
Some immigrants
must be registered
with INS by Friday
Thomas Ginsberg
and Gaiutra Bahadur
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
PHILADELPHIA — A Syrian im
migrant, Khattar Aizookv, said he
felt a chill while being fingerprinted
and questioned by the U.S. govern
ment last month, a decade after leav
ing his authoritarian homeland.
It reminded him of Syria.
“This is one of the most open and
accepting societies,” said the 33-year
old Pittsburgh physician. “We hate to
see it changing for the worse.”
Today is the next deadline for
thousands more men from selected
Middle Eastern, African and Asian
countries — almost all of them Mus
lim — to undergo “special registra
tion” by the Immigration and Natu
ralization Service.
The fingerprinting, photographing
and questioning, which started in
September at border crossings na
tionwide, is provoking outrage as it
expands to people already admitted
into the country.
Immigration advocates are urging
men to comply but also are fanning
out to monitor the process at INS of
fices. An Arab American group has
filed a class-action lawsuit to stop
the registration. Other Arab and
Muslim groups and at least three
members of Congress are demand
ing a halt. A protest network has
called for actions at INS offices na
tionwide Friday.
Eventually, millions of foreign
visitors — Muslim or not — are to
be registered under the National
Security Entry-Exit Registration
System, or NSEERS, ordered by
Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks
and intended to track most of the
35 million foreign nationals who
annually enter and stay temporari
ly in the United States.
The Justice Department has de
fended its system, saying it started
with males from certain countries
known to harbor terrorists. Initially,
there were few complaints from im
migration advocates, civil libertari
ans, and Arab-Muslim activists.
But the three-week-old process
now is angrily criticized largely for
being unfair in its implementation.
While accepting the need for better
record-keeping on foreigners, the
critics complain that some men run
the risk of being detained and face
deportation after voluntarily walking
in to register.
© 2003, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
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