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December 8 is Saddam's Moment of Truth

(Time) Tony Karon - In meetings with top Iraqi officials in Baghdad, Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, head of the UN inspection team, stressed the importance of a full and accurate accounting by the December 8 deadline of all Iraqi facilities potentially involved in the production of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq, in its letter accepting Resolution 1441, restated its claim that it has no such weapons programs. Blix pointedly urged them to reexamine their inventories to make sure that any offending items were declared, because any undeclared programs or stocks revealed in the course of subsequent inspections would put Iraq squarely in breach of 1441 - and almost certainly trigger a military response. The U.S. and Britain believe they have evidence of active Iraqi nuclear, chemical, and biological programs. If these are not declared by Baghdad on Dec. 8, the next step by Washington and London will likely be to provide Blix's team with their hottest intelligence to point them to the locations where they'll catch Iraq red-handed. If that happens, an invasion will likely be inevitable.
2002-11-25 00:00:00
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