End to Crisis--for the Moment

Firmness of political purpose by the United States and Britain, backed by a readiness to use force, and some timely face-saving diplomacy by Russia appear to have defused the latest crisis with Iraq. But the root cause of that confrontation, Iraq’s unremitting effort to deceive U.N. inspectors trying to uncover hidden weapons of mass destruction, remains an unresolved and urgent problem. Until the inspectors certify that Iraq is no longer making and hiding nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles, the sanctions lodged against it in 1990 must remain in place. That is what U.N. resolutions require, and that is what Washington and London are right to demand.

Just a few hours before Thursday’s early-morning announcement in Geneva that Iraq would allow international inspectors--including Americans--to resume their monitoring work, U.N. inspectors briefed the Security Council on what prohibited weapons and equipment they have found and what they know is still being kept hidden. The fact is that Iraq still has a formidable arsenal of terrifying chemical and biological warfare agents. That probably includes tons of VX, the most toxic chemical agent known, and thousands of liters of anthrax, a deadly bacillus.

Richard Butler, the Australian diplomat who chairs the weapons inspection commission, thinks that the suspension of monitoring over the last three weeks was seized upon by Iraq to produce more of these toxins and to move and hide the laboratories used. Presumably Iraq sabotaged the inspections by barring Americans from taking part precisely because its secret weapons sites and the extent of its cheating were about to be uncovered.

This game of hide-and-seek is seemingly without end, as U.N. reports on Iraqi deceit have repeatedly made clear. By insisting on continuing that game Saddam Hussein ensures that economic sanctions against his country will remain in force and that Iraq will forfeit yet more billions in oil revenues, condemning the mass of Iraqis to a virtual subsistence existence. Compassion for the sufferers could lead to a further easing on food and medicine imports. What can’t be compromised is the demand that Iraq give up all of its secret weapons and remain subject, as U.N. resolutions require, to ongoing monitoring. The fate of the criminally misled Iraqi people prompts pity. The fate of all those who are potential victims of Hussein’s terror weapons--Americans included--must take precedence.