1.1 | UK
Iraq strategy 1990 to 2000
775.
An
intelligence report issued in 1999 stated that the informant was
unaware of any
Iraqi work
on plague as a BW agent.303
776.
In late
January 1999, the Security Council established three panels chaired
by
Mr Amorim,
who was the President of the Security Council at that
time:
•
a panel on
disarmament and current and future ongoing monitoring
and
verification
issues which would “assess all the existing and
relevant
information
available … relating to the state of disarmament in Iraq”, and
make
recommendations
to re‑establish an effective regime;
•
a panel on
humanitarian issues to “assess the current humanitarian situation
in
Iraq and
make recommendations” for improvements; and
•
a panel on
prisoners of war and Kuwaiti property which would “make
an
assessment
… of Iraqi compliance” and make recommendations.304
777.
The panel on
“disarmament and current and future ongoing monitoring
and
verification”
reported on 27 March.305
778.
The report
stated that the panel’s “main objective” was “to make
recommendations
… on how …
to reestablish an effective disarmament/ongoing monitoring and
verification
[OMV]
regime in Iraq”. To meet that remit, it had considered “refocusing
… the approach
towards
disarmament/ongoing monitoring and verification, without departing
from the
existing
framework of rights and obligations laid down in Security Council
resolutions” as
a way “to
enlarge the scope of policy options” for the Council. While the
panel “could not
ignore the
political and … legal context”, its recommendations were
technical.
779.
The report
briefly rehearsed the panel’s discussions on what UNSCOM
and
the IAEA
had achieved and the priority issues which remained, noting that
“different
shades of
opinion were expressed”. It concluded that it would be possible to
pursue
“the resolution
of remaining issues” within an OMV framework.
780.
The panel
acknowledged that “some uncertainty” would be “inevitable”, and
the
extent to
which that would be acceptable would be “a policy
judgement”.
781.
The panel
suggested changes to the practices and procedures of
UNSCOM
to ensure
an effective and credible system, including:
303
Review of
Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction [“The
Butler Report”], 14 July 2004, HC 898,
page
135.
304
UN Security
Council, 30 January 1999, ‘Note by the President of the
Security Council’ (S/1999/100).
305
UN Security
Council, 30 March 1999, ‘Letter dated 27 March 1999, from
the Chairman of the panels
established
pursuant to the note by the President of the Security Council of
30 January 1999 (S/1999/100)
addressed
to the President of the Security Council’
(S/1999/356).
171