Rep. Wexler Confronts Condoleezza Rice On Iraq War Lies; Demands Contempt Vote
By Nicole Belle Wednesday Feb 13, 2008 12:45pm
From an email sent by Wexler's office:
Today, in hearings on Capitol Hill, I confronted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her role in the lies, exaggerations, and misdirection that led us into the Iraq war.
During my questioning, Secretary Rice falsely stated that she never saw intelligence casting doubt on the Bush Administration claims that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. This unbelievable statement is flatly contradicted by numerous government reports and CIA testimonials.
Secretary Rice's responses demonstrate once and for all that we need aggressive oversight over this out of control Administration. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has ignored the constitutional right of Congress to provide such oversight.
It is time Congress took aggressive action to assert our rights on behalf of the American people.
The House of Representatives must immediately hold former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress for their failure to respond to congressional subpoenas.
I have been aggressively lobbying Members of Congress to support a vote on contempt, and I am thrilled to report that Speaker Pelosi told me directly that she agrees it is well past time to vote on contempt. I am anticipating that the House will shortly vote on resolutions of both civil and criminal contempt for both Miers and Bolten.
No one should be immune from accountability and the rule of law.
I think it's wonderful that Wexler is showing more spinal fortitude than almost all of his House colleagues. The one thing that bothers me in this exchange was Rice's continued defense that "other countries believed it" and that the intelligence on Iraq was the consensus of various intelligence agencies when we know that isn't the truth and was cherry picked and weighted from questionable sources like Ahmad Chalabi and "Curveball". I don't know if there's an enterprising C&Ler out there that would like to put together for Wexler's benefit a fact sheet that can cite sources that show Rice's continued lying on this, something like this great piece by A Tiny Revolution. If there is one, let us know and I'll make sure to get your work to Wexler's office.
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The entire war was a mistake.
Oops.
Why is this woman still in our service?
Thank you for sharing this.
Weve been following the subpeanas ignored very carefully.
http://www.democrats.com/subpoenas
THE OATH OF OFFICE IS NOT A JOKE
NEITHER IS
LYING ABOUT IRAQ, SEPT11, HIGH CRIMES AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION, TREASON, ILLEGALLY SPYING ON CITIZENS & SOILDIERS, CRIMINAL COVERUP, THE LOOTING OF OUR TREASURY OR THE ENABLING OF PROFITEERING ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
On the election..
The superdelegates need to support the will of the people.
Petition
http://pol.moveon.org/pac/superdelegates/
Thank you Rep. Wexler. It's about time someone went after that lying bitch. Now all of you Obama haters here's a black politcian that has gotten a free ride.
Wexler must have a bullet-proof vest to keep Pelosi from sticking that shiv into him for defying her.
Best confrontation was during those 9/11 Commission hearings and Boxer tore a strip off Condi. I bet she didn't react to Wexler the way she did to Boxer. She's more submissive towards men....and what does that say about Condi as a perceived powerful woman in the global foreign policy community?
Confronts? How about a charge of perjury?
Thank you Rep. Wexler. It’s about time someone went after that lying bitch. Now all of you Obama haters here’s a black politcian that has gotten a free ride.
Co-sign, Left & Left - and the only reason she got that free ride is because she's screwing Dear Leader.
Don't think for a minute that Obama would get that sort of free pass - hell, Colin Powell got dissed and he was hand picked by Bush to serve as Secy of State.
Sorry, that is not 'spinal fortitude'. Just more blah blah. It won't be spinal fortitude until there is some action.
Many say that if there is an impeachment that there is not a majority in congress to convict. I say let's present the evidence and see where the chips fall. If we can waste our time and money grilling Roger Clemens, well...
I'm proud to have Wexler from my neck of the woods. SOMEBODY needs to put this lying sack of shit, and all the others in BushCo, behind bars!!!!!!
And Nicolle, I think Wexler is well aware of all the lies spewed by Kindaliesalot!
the Republican members of the House have all walked out to protest the Democrats not giving Bush what he wants on the Telecom Bill. What a totally pathetic bunch. Of course, they're warning us if we allow the Bill to elapse we are in danger of being blown upand they are the ones who want to save us!
if the vote fails it's just another example how democracy is dead in america...
I mean, Nicole.
All the slurs and angst in this thread aside, it very well could be that Dr. Rice never personally saw it.
missmarple,
Yet they will leave us open to protect the telcomms.
Kudos (snaps) to Rep Wexler for his continued integrity, please keep pushing. Condi should stay where she is, in the shadows and continued irrelevance. You will always be most known for your shoe-shopping spree in NY. Keep shopping.
Sorry, Nicole but even the large font won't do diddly to make this Congress take any action against the most corrupt, criminal and immoral administration of all time.
Never, ever happen.
Here is a video outlining all the criminal charges brought against George Bush in the impeachment resolution:
Some good stuff going on, on the floor of the House of Reps. I think all the repubs have walked out. Hoyer is giving one hell of a speech. The repubs are all pissy.
From a post at kos
"Right in the middle of the Statuary Hall service for the late Tom Lantos, a Republican [Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL)] went to the floor -- just steps from the solemn proceedings -- and called a procedural vote, apparently out of pique."
It's been going down hill since then.
The house dems seem to be feeling their oats.......at least a little and finally at last.
Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie... or are you gonna bite?
It's really hard to take these kind of things seriously when they NEVER follow through.
missmarple @ 10:
Hoyer just threw water on the repubs bs. He says FISA will still be in business no matter what. So the repubs and the prez are just blowing smoke
This excuse for a human being needs to shut up and go shoe shopping on fifth ave.
there was a war in 98? i musta missed that one
oh thats right...there was the bombings that the wingnuts called wag the dog
this woman just sat in front of wexler and with indignation lied to his face
and again she blames tenant and others
she has no shame
I agree with Wexler's point but without elaborating the supporting proof, Wexler allows Rice the "we BELIEVED what we said" get-out-of-jail-free card. She always talks a lot to kill time. He has to START with the PROOF she knew and that others knew. So, even though it's BS, based SOLELY on this exchange, she won the argument. Too bad to. These guys have to get a lot sharper.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Only a dozen House members and six senators refused to seek home state "pork barrel" projects last year, a Washington-based watchdog group disclosed Wednesday.
More than 500 others in Congress got more than $18 billion worth of these so-called earmarks, according to a database assembled by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group that advocates sharply curbing the practice.
Nothing will change until THIS stuff stops.
"Other countries believed it" - WTF kind of excuse is that? The other countries believed it because the Bullsh** administration told them the same lies that they told congress and the American people. Last I looked you don't get to commit a crime then explain that it's OK because there were other victims.
Thank you : )
Yo, Condi is a terrible liar. This reminds me of when I would deny stealing a cookie before dinner.
"I wasn't AWARE we were having dinner, ok? My integrity is on the line here, I thought it was dessert first night for God's sake!"
I LOVE YOU REPRESENTATIVE WEXLER!!!
Biggest Cajones in Congress, bar-none.
I knew snaggletooth was lying the minute the bitch (with a capital 'C') opened her mouth.
Since all the repubs seem to have vacated the House chamber this is a great time to hold a contempt vote regarding Miers and Bolton refusing to respond to subpoenas. So that's just what the dems are doing. So far only two Repubs have voted.
lvogt @ 23:
That's what I saw, too Ivogt. Wexler's right, but an argument like this is won by more than being right. For 9 out of 10 people who see this, it'll look like he's getting his ass handed to him. Good for him for climbing into the ring, though.
in regards to sadaam shooting at our planes, someone needs to ask condi why not one plane ever came close to being hit
sadaam even lacked the ability to hit high flying aircraft
ya, he sure was a threat
if i take a pop gun and start shooting at a jet flying above my home, am i now a terrorist?
Vice President Rice?
Nicholas von Hoffman | If John McCain picks Condoleezza Rice as his running mate, Democrats should be afraid. Very afraid.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080225/howl2
Remember at first Condi wasn't going to appear before the 9-11 commission. I can't remember if she appeared under oath or not. Remember also that bush would not appear before them without cheney.
Would Condi lie? Would fresh dog poo stink?
the facts of her lies are now in the congressional record for history to record.
pissed off patricia @ 29:
Really? Are you watching this on CSPAN?
Would the last Republican out of the WhiteHouse please shut out the lights? Nothing to see here. Same old. Bush and gang lie, CONgress knows for years, CONgress does NOTHING. Phone 'em, email 'em, snail mail 'em, send it to them by carrier pigeon, and still NOTHING will be done about it. In less than a year, the most corrupt, unethical, fraudulent government in American history will slink into the background of politics, and pull the strings from the shadows until next time.
From missmarple @10
"the Republican members of the House have all walked out to protest the Democrats not giving Bush what he wants on the Telecom Bill. ...snip..."
It's too bad the Democrats haven't dont that very same thing. Even though I abhor the R's, they are sticking together and showing spine. Maybe the Ds ought to pay attention to how it's done.
Kudos to Mr. Wexler. He a champion voice against the current regime. His spirit is willing, but the body he part of is not.
HIGH CRIMES!!!!
When are our democratically elected officials in Washington going to grow a spine and throw these bums behind bars? I for one am sick and tired of Nancy and Harry and every other DEMOCRAT sitting on their bums and letting these crooks get away with all this. Introduce Impeachement and get them out of there while we still have some assemblance of a name although dragged through shit by George Bush and the likes of Condi. Theres a special place for these people and its not behind bars.
goatsage @ 35:
Yep that's where it is and that's how I understand it according to what Nancy is saying.
peaceful easy feeling @ 13:
Excuse me, PEF, but she was the head of the National Security Agency. If she didn't see the evidence, she was negligent in her duties. What the lying bitch doesn't say here is that the 2002 NIE came out only after Cheney personally interceded in the drafting process an unprecedented number of times. International intelligence estimates did not match the 2002 NIE, in fact information from Italian and British sources that was ruled not credible was in the 2002 NIE.
http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern06272003.html
*yawn* This lame duck Congress couldn't charge a dog catcher with contempt, much less Condi Rice. So much for Democrats taking charge and actually doing something.
The CIA operation that should have prevented the Iraq war
When Saad Tawfiq watched Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations on February 5 2003 he shed bitter tears as he realised he had risked his life and those of his loved ones for nothing.
As one of Saddam Hussein's most gifted engineers, Tawfiq knew that the Iraqi dictator had shut down his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes in 1995 -- and he had told his handlers in US intelligence just that.
And yet here was the then US secretary of state -- Tawfiq's television was able to received international news through a link pirated from Saddam's spies next door -- waving a vial of white powder and telling the UN Security Council a story about Iraqi germ labs.
"When I saw Colin Powell I started crying. Immediately. I knew I had tried and lost," Tawfiq told AFP five years later in the Jordanian capital Amman.
Now in his fifties, a round-faced man with a small moustache and lively eyes behind delicate spectacles, Tawfiq described how the CIA set up an elaborate operation to recruit Iraqi weapons scientists and then ignored the results.
From the end of 2002 the US spy agency had sources inside Iraq's weapons plants telling them clearly what the whole world now knows -- that Saddam had ended efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction.
Nevertheless in March 2003 the United States and Britain invaded Iraq to disarm Saddam of this non-existent arsenal and in the process triggered the effective collapse of the Iraqi state, plunging it into chaos and bringing thousands of deaths.
Saad Tawfiq's role in this drama began in June 2002 with calls from his sister Sawsan, a doctor who lives with her husband Ali in Moreland Hills, a pleasant suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in the mid-western United States.
"Our Abu Mahmuds are putting pressure on me," she told him, using the nickname they shared for Saad's secret police minder as a makeshift code for the US intelligent agent who had contacted her, "Chris."
"Chris was very nice, very polite," Sawsan, a small energetic woman, told AFP. Chris wanted Sawsan's help to discover the status of Saddam's weapons programme, and in particular his efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
She joined one of the most successful attempts by the CIA to penetrate Saddam's Iraq, a programme dreamt up by agency veteran Charlie Allen to target Iraqi weapons technicians through their relatives.
The scientists were well known to the UN weapons inspectors who had been keeping tabs on Iraq's arms plants since 1991, and the Americans were able to draw up a list of 30 who had relatives in the United States.
The American relatives were to be sent to Iraq and ask about weapons.
"I was nervous, and we even discussed with Ali what to do if something happened to me," Sawsan said. "It was a very emotional visit back home, because I had not been there for years and I had not seen my brother for years."
Sawsan was right to be nervous. Saddam's notorious secret police dealt with spies mercilessly. She was taking a risk with her life and that of her brother, but was determined to help rid her original homeland of a tyrant.
The CIA provided her with a detailed questionnaire about Iraq's weapons programmes. Fearing she would forget it, Sawsan disguised it in sketches and crosswords in a kind of homemade code.
Tawfiq picked his sister up from Baghdad airport on September 9, 2002. Her homecoming was emotional, but the pair had work to do. They met secretly at night in the family garden and took walks together in the city.
The weapons engineer was astonished by the CIA's questions, which he thought showed the depths of the agency's ignorance about events in his country.
"I went crazy. The questions were dumb. She was telling me: 'They know you have a programme,' and I was saying: 'There is nothing. Tell them there is nothing, absolutely nothing. They have left us with nothing'," Tawfiq said.
"She was taking notes. There were 20 major questions, and to all of them the answer was: 'No, no, no...' I kept swearing on the grave of my mother."
According to Tawfiq, Saddam Hussein gave the order to dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programmes in 1995, after his brother-in-law and arms chief Hussein Kamel defected and briefed the UN inspectors.
"I was Saddam's scientist," Tawfiq declared, with an ironic smile. "In 1991 if you exposed something you were killed. In 1995 if you hid something you were killed!"
Sawsan dutifully gathered this information and returned to the United States to pass it on to her handlers. But the CIA was unimpressed.
"Saad told me there was nothing left," she told AFP. "That everything had been either destroyed or dismantled by the UN and the regime has abandoned its nuclear programme. And he begged me to explain all that back in the States.
"I went back and I reported what he had told me in full detail. I even went personally to Washington. In the beginning they listened to me but then they told me that my brother was lying," she said.
Of course Tawfiq and other colleagues approached by the CIA were telling the truth, as the United States would discover after it had launched a bloody war that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
Paul R. Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia at the time of the operation to question Tawfiq, said weapons scientists had not been ignored, but had been contradicted by other sources.
"To the extent that the debriefings did not have more of an effect in Washington, it probably was not because the effort came too late but instead because there were other indications that seemed to contradict what the individuals were saying, and that suggested Iraqi unconventional weapons programmes were continuing," he told AFP.
But as Saddam's scientist lamented five years later: "You don't have to destroy a country for that."
Mr. Stoopid @ 30:
As soon as she was allowed to speak, she went on a tirade about her integrity and ran out the clock. I hate this lying bitch. If I ever get an Exxon tanker named after me, do me a favor and shoot me in the freaking head.
You have got to love this administration...Lie until your blue in the face and magically that same wonderful 30% of the population follows you, Faux News promotes you as a patriot and true american, and the democrats lose there spine...Bravo to Rep. Wexler for showing that we are not all spineless and dumb. Let's hope this gets some traction on the MSM, but I doubt it.
Since all the repubs seem to have vacated the House chamber this is a great time to hold a contempt vote regarding Miers and Bolton refusing to respond to subpoenas
OUTSTANDING!
pissed off patricia @ 40:
Some repubs are zipping back in to vote against it, but from the looks of the numbers, they aren't going to be able to block it. I would like to know which dem voted against it.
pissed off patricia @ 40:
Don't they still need a majority? Why does it matter if the Republicans are there or not? Serves the Republicans right for not reading history. I guess they don't know about the UN's role in the Korean War because they couldn't fit it into their "6000 year-old earth" timeline.
Impeachment is the only way to stop these criminals. They will ignore subpoenas, laugh at contempt citations, and pardon their own lawless behavior (that is what retroactive immunity amounts to) as long as there are no real consequences. If they refuse to testify or lie during an impeachment trial, that is prima fascia evidence for removal. Remember that rummy and gonzo were thrown under the bus to protect tinpot. Rice and chainy are expendable. The bushdogs yellow streak will be neon when they see 70% of their constituents want impeachment (and they look at the fate of Al Wynn). This can happen. Pelosi and Conyers must be made to understand that if they do not hold forceful impeachment hearings, the left-net will make them pay. If the lefty oligopoly would speak with one voice, loud and unrelentingly, promising real, personal electorial consequences if these two cowards do not do their duty, they will fold.
There has to be a better way to corner Condi on stuff - breaking it down more. Get her lying on record. Good for Wexler, though.
I hope we get more news about what's going on in the House right now....I'd love to see some CSpan footage...
ConcernedCanuck @ 24:
If they don't bring home the pork, they don't get re-elected. The whole system needs changing.
I don't know what just passed. But as I turned on CSPAN.org, the announcement was "the motion has passed".
Somenone tell me what happened.
Left&Left @ 3:
Obama is not black, he is half white and half black.
Enough with all this nonsense, maybe one day people in this country will try to classify humans into neat well delimited boxes.
john in california @ 49:
Yeah, maybe they'll appeal the subpoenas and contempt citations to the SCOTUS. Bush v. Gore anyone?
I want to know what Sandra Day O'Conner thinks about that decision now.
SadButTrue @ 25:
Let us not forget The Downing Street Memo, my friends.
It's all too little too late. These thugs have gotten a free pass for seven years now, they're just riding out the clock until they're out of office, they'll skate off to their cushy private sector jobs, after dumping the whole mess on another administration, and taking up their traditional role of loudmothed backseat driver until another generation is stupid enough to let them take the wheel again.
The contempt citation passed 223 to 32.
The repubs were mad because they wanted to pass bush's amnesty bill for telecoms and all that bs. The dems didn't want to bring it up so the repubs walked out.
It was also well past time to draft Articles of Impeachment, but Pelosi for some unknown reason takes that off the table. Pelosi has been talking about allowing a floor vote on contempt citations for months now. Until that vote is actually scheduled, the possibility remains the leadership is playing Wexler for a fool.
Agreed. At the same time, even alleged crooks in the government who are allegedly abusing our Constitution are legally entitled to the same presumption of innocence as everyone else in this country.
Wexler got owned by a social darwinist - not surprising.
You need to line up your ducks before you attack this evil woman.
thanks, pissed off patricia.
This is why the FISA bill is so important to this administration : so they can continue spying on Wexler until they get some dirt on him to make him STFU .
pants on fire.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/Search/Results.aspx?SearchTerms_A...
What a good little americon ......... lying to protect her profit, you should all be proud, living the dream.
She has to lie. If she tells the truth...then our enemies know EVERYTHING...and then....THE TERRORISTS WIN!!!
LOLOL!
I's just practicin'...gotta stay on top of the Rovian way of life in "Merrica".
pissed off patricia @ 57:
So the GOP got mad and stomped out and the Speaker brought the Contempt citation to the floor in their absence? If so, good one, Madame Speaker. What is good for the goose...
House Repugs on the captal steps beating their chests about the political stunts of democrats and fear mongering. A little more fortitude and the meltdown just might begin.
They voted for citation?
That horse has been dead for generations. What's next...a resolution to honor the dodo bird?
I'm sorry...I just can't take ANY of this serious anymore. Our country is a joke. Our laws don't mean anything. Shit, just call it a monarchy, an oligarchy...a freakin' theocracy...whatever you want...just drop the sham already.
The House repubs are before the cameras screaming and hollering that we are all gonna die if the bill the senate passed is not passed by the house. As Hoyer said earlier, no matter what expires, FISA will still be in effect so if they want to spy on someone, they can go thru FISA the way they should have done all along. Bush has said he will delay his trip to Africa if the house doesn't pass his bill. I guess he will take Nancy to the wood shed or something.
peaceful easy feeling @ 58:
Your alleged concern for due process is noted.
You radical, unpleasable, left-wing, pie-in-the-sky idealists just don't get it. So long as the Republicans are able to exercise any power whatsoever, the Democrats simply cannot be bothered to waste their time with "accountability," "the rule of law" or any other dreamland fairyboat you want.
But don't blame them. They're doing the best they can do about this. They best they can do is continue to capitulate until they have unitary rule.
Then we will live in paradise.
Che's Lounge @ 1:
The Smiths - Expose the Crooks @ 2:
This is why:
Thursday, 14 February 2008
It'll Never, Ever, Ever Happen Here
by Cliff Carson
I was reading about the rise of Hitler to power and found that there were eight things he asked the German people to give him (Each of the eight were a surrender of a right they enjoyed per their Rule of Law) so that he and his administration could "protect" the German people from their enemies.
They gave up the rights gladly because Hitler preached that Germany would once again be a great nation if they would be a Christian Nation and trust him to pull them up out of their poverty. Over 90% of the Germans supported him. Once they had given up their rights, they woke up one morning to find that they, the people, were the enemies of the Government.
Every one of those eight have been usurped by this Administration here in the U.S., and way too many people state "If you're doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear". That's exactly the rationale that the Germans used to give up those rights.
One day it was too late to disagree.
It is now time to examine some of the actions the Third Reich took and the individual liberties they removed from German Law during this period, and then compare them to our "War against Terrorism Law" Remember our Constitution bans the practice of these items :
1. Denial and Restriction of habeas corpus
2. Un Authorized Rampant militarism without Congress Approval
3. Warrantless Spying on all citizens
4. Arrest and indefinite imprisonment without trial
5. Secret detention
6. Secret Prisons
7. Torture
8. Unfair Trial Practices
George Bush already has claimed a right to adopt, and has put into practice, every last one of the eight Constitutional protections listed above. He has claimed the right to ignore these banned practices.
The Germans never thought it could happen to them. Neither do a majority of Americans.
goatsage @ 65:
I know. It was a thing of beauty. Much more fun than watching a baseball player talk about steroids. Did I mention much more important too?
John F A @ 56:
The new admin won't stop the building of 50+ bases in Iraq and the murder, rape and pillaging of it's people for americons profit.
john in california @ 49:
And that is going to stop the military industrial complex how ? It's what the finances of the whole country is now built on, aggressive imperialistic warmongering, greed, murder and occupation.
Condi should have been fitted with a ball gag and made to listen to Wexler review all of her f*cking lies.
Liberal AND Proud @ 67:
Yep.
...
Michael Moore's website has an article on thie hearing and includes a listing by The Center for Puiblic Integrity about the times Dr. Rice spoke of the alleged WMDs and links to Al Qaeda.
JasonS @ 70:
Wait, does that mean I get some virgins?
What has bothered me for some time, and continues on to this date is the claim that other countries - and they list about a dozen countries - had the same wrong intelligence. It almost seems that Iraq under Saddam was a nest of spies that Saddam didn't know about.
Statistically it seems highly improbable that all these countries all had bad information and none had the correct info. This looks more like filtered intelligence than anything else
I don't think anyone needs to look very hard for the evidence that "other countries" STOPPED BELIEVING that Saddam Hussein had WMD weeks before the invasion as a result of what the international inspectors were telling the world.
Below are the INTERNATIONALLY REPORTED responses from various countries that had formerly suspected Hussein had WMD but, because of what the international inspectors were NOT finding and the way Hussein was "PROACTIVELY COOPERATING" with the inspections, NO LONGER felt he was enough of a threat to anyone's national security to warrant an invasion and were asking Bush to reconsider:
Reactions to interim Iraq weapons report
February 14, 2003
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/14/sprj.irq.un.quotes/
-------------------------------------------------------
The above was in response to the INTERNATIONAL REPORTS of what the international inspectors were NOT finding and how Hussein was PROACTIVELY COOPERATING with the inspections...weeks before Bush invaded anyway.
Blix welcomes accelerated cooperation by Iraq, but says unresolved issues remain
http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID=6383&Cr=iraq&Cr1=inspect
7 March 2003 – Top United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Security Council today that over the past month Iraq has displayed "active" or even "proactive" cooperation, which has allowed the inspection process to make significant progress, although a number of key disarmament tasks remained to be resolved.
Addressing a ministerial-level meeting of the Council, Mr. Blix cited in particular Baghdad's move to begin UN-supervised destruction of the Al Samoud 2 missiles, which had been declared by Iraq last year, but were later found to be outside the permissible range by UN experts.
"The destruction undertaken constitutes a substantial measure of disarmament - indeed the first since the middle of the 1990's," Mr. Blix said. "We are not watching the breaking of toothpicks. Lethal weapons are being destroyed."
But at the same time Mr. Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), said that the recent acceleration of initiatives from Iraq, while welcome, should be judged by how many questions marks they had actually succeeded in straightening out. He also noted that Baghdad should be able to provide more documentary evidence about its proscribed weapons programmes, and expressed hope that the appointment of a government commission would help to produce results.
Turning to biological and chemical weapons, Mr. Blix said there was a signi