Russia Asks U.N. About Iraq Inspectors

[Rose Siding]

UNITED NATIONS -- Russia called on the U.N. Security Council Tuesday to discuss the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq following the disappearance of 377 tons of powerful explosives. But the United States said American inspectors are investigating the loss and there is no need for U.N. experts to return.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov, whose country has been pushing for the return of U.N. inspectors since the U.S.-led war in Iraq ended, insisted that raising the issue in the council was "practical," not political, saying the explosives posed a dangerous threat.

The disappearance, confirmed Monday by the U.N. nuclear agency, raised questions about why the United States didn't do more to secure the former Iraqi military installation at Al-Qaqaa south of Baghdad where the explosives were stored, and why it refused to allow U.N. inspections to resume after the March 2003 invasion.
............
Danforth, who takes over the Security Council presidency on Nov. 1, was clearly reluctant to bring the missing explosives issue to the council.

"I think that this is more of a matter of tracking down the facts than to just have a debate about it ... and we have in place the Iraq Survey Group, which is equipped to look into all of this," he said when asked why the issue shouldn't be discussed in the council.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-un-nuclear-iraq,0,3657816.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. The US Words above translate as:

"We don't need the inspectors. We can formulate a cover-up on our own"