.  CNN
Leaves 750 Words Out Of Blix Transcript.
Now, this is pretty much what we're talking
about here.
How in the world do you trust a 'news' organization like CNN, when they
offer what purports to be a full transcript of Hans Blix' address to the
UN Security Council but they leave out nearly 800 words - and those words
just happen to be the ones where Blix refutes Colin Powell's 'smoking gun'
presentation from earlier this week?
Here
is CNN's transcript. - Here
is the BBC's.
In the public interest, here is the section of the Blix address that CNN
chose not to put on their web site:
""I trust that the Iraqi side will put together a similar list
of names of persons who participated in the unilateral destruction of
other proscribed items, notably in the biological field.
The Iraqi side also informed us that the commission, which had been
appointed in the wake of our finding 12 empty chemical weapons warheads,
had had its mandate expanded to look for any still existing proscribed
items.
This was welcomed.
A second commission, we learnt, has now been appointed with the task of
searching all over Iraq for more documents relevant to the elimination of
proscribed items and programs.
It is headed by the former minister of oil, General Amer Rashid, and is to
have very extensive powers of search in industry, administration and even
private houses.
The two commissions could be useful tools to come up with proscribed items
to be destroyed and with new documentary evidence.
They evidently need to work fast and effectively to convince us, and the
world, that this is a serious effort.
The matter of private interviews was discussed at length during our
meeting.
The Iraqi side confirmed the commitment, which it made to us on 20
January, to encourage persons asked to accept such interviews, whether in
or out of Iraq.
So far, we have only had interviews in Baghdad. A number of persons have
declined to be interviewed, unless they were allowed to have an official
present or were allowed to tape the interview.
Three persons that had previously refused interviews on Unmovic's terms,
subsequently accepted such interviews just prior to our talks in Baghdad
on 8 and 9 February.
These interviews proved informative. No further interviews have since been
accepted on our terms.
I hope this will change. We feel that interviews conducted without any
third party present and without tape recording would provide the greatest
credibility.
At the recent meeting in Baghdad, as on several earlier occasions, my
colleague Dr ElBaradei and I have urged the Iraqi side to enact
legislation implementing the UN prohibitions regarding weapons of mass
destruction.
In a letter just received two days ago, we were informed that this process
was progressing well and this morning we had a message that legislation
has now been adopted by the Iraqi National Assembly in an extraordinary
session.
This is a positive step.
Mr President, I should like to make some comments on the role of
intelligence in connection with inspections in Iraq. A credible inspection
regime requires that Iraq provide full co-operation on "process"
- granting immediate access everywhere to inspectors - and on substance,
providing full declarations supported by relevant information and
material.
However, with the closed society in Iraq of today and the history of
inspections there, other sources of information, such as defectors and
government intelligence agencies are required to aid the inspection
process.
I remember how, in 1991, several inspections in Iraq, which were based on
information received from a government, helped to disclose important parts
of the nuclear weapons program.
It was realized that an international organization authorized to perform
inspections anywhere on the ground could make good use of information
obtained from
governments with eyes in the sky, ears in the ether, access to defectors,
and both eyes and ears on the market for weapons-related material.
It was understood that the information residing in the intelligence
services of governments could come to very active use in the international
effort to prevent
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
This remains true and we have by now a good deal of experience in the
matter.
International organizations need to analyze such information critically
and especially benefit when it comes from more than one source.
The intelligence agencies, for their part, must protect their sources and
methods.
Those who provide such information must know that it will be kept in
strict confidence and be known to very few people.
Unmovic has achieved good working relations with intelligence agencies and
the amount of information provided has been gradually increasing.
However, we must recognize that there are limitations and that
misinterpretations can occur.
Intelligence information has been useful for Unmovic.
In one case, it led us to a private home where documents mainly relating
to laser enrichment of uranium were found.
In other cases, intelligence has led to sites where no proscribed items
were found.
Even in such cases, however, inspection of these sites were useful in
proving the absence of such items and in some cases the presence of other
items - conventional munitions.
It showed that conventional arms are being moved around the country and
that movements are not necessarily related to weapons of mass destruction.
The presentation of intelligence information by the US secretary of state
suggested that Iraq had prepared for inspections by cleaning up sites and
removing evidence of proscribed weapons programs.
I would like to comment only on one case, which we are familiar with,
namely, the trucks identified by analysts as being for chemical
decontamination at a munitions depot.
This was a declared site, and it was certainly one of the sites Iraq would
have expected us to inspect.
We have noted that the two satellite images of the site were taken several
weeks apart."
Let CNN know you've
spotted an error on their web site. Source:
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