Powell, “Iraqi War Is Possible without a Physical Evident”

The US Secretary of State Collin Powell said on the 9th that a ‘smoking gun’ is not necessarily needed to start a war against Iraq. His statement was out right after the statement of the Head of the UN Weapons Inspectors Hans Blicks as an interim report of the weapons of massive destruction (WMD) inspection saying “There has been no smoking gun.” It means that it is possible to start the Iraqi War without a physical evident, so it is remarkable.

▽Strong statement of Powell=The Secretary Powell said during an interview with the NBC News about the statement of the Head Blicks, “There is no smoking gun does not mean that there is no gun.”

He, then, said although the gun was not found, “if the international society concludes that Sadam Hussein is not cooperative to the fact-finding, then he is violating the UN Resolution (Issue No. 1441), and in that case, we do not need a definite evident.”

The White House Spokesman Erry Flisher devaluated the meaning of the Head Blicks` statement by saying, “The problem of the hidden weapons is that we cannot see the smoke, but we know that there are weapons.”

The Secretary Powell also said that the 27th, when the Head Blicks and the General Secretary of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed Elbaradei would submit the final inspection report about Iraq to the UN Security Council, was not the ‘D-Day’ of attack. He did not exclude the possibility of continued inspection after the 27th.

Prior to this, the Head Blicks said through the interim report to the UN Security Council, “We could not find a smoking gun about the WMD of Iraq so far; however, there are still many doubtful points in the report of Iraq.” He said, “Things like the importation of missile engines that Iraq acknowledged at the report are violation of the UN embargo on the importation.”

▽Hussein says, “We will fight.”=The Iraqi government-operated INA press reported that the Iraqi President Sadam Hussein, who was being said to exile, said, “The Iraqi people have experience to fight against the enemy, so they will never be intimidated,” and “Iraq will not be scared of the American threat of war.” He said like that at the occasion where his oldest son Udai, who was leading the semi-military organization ‘Pedain’, and his second son Kusai, who was the commander of the crack Garrison of the Republic, were with him and said, “The Iraqi people, armed forces, and all of us are ready.”

Kwan-Hee Hong konihong@donga.com