What a Difference Four Years Makes
Why U.N. inspectors left Iraq--then and now




"The U.N. orders its weapons inspectors to leave Iraq after the chief
inspector reports Baghdad is not fully cooperating with them."

-- Sheila MacVicar, ABC World News This Morning, 12/16/98


"To bolster its claim, Iraq let reporters see one laboratory U.N.
inspectors once visited before they were kicked out four years ago."

--John McWethy, ABC World News Tonight, 8/12/02




"The Iraq story boiled over last night when the chief U.N. weapons
inspector, Richard Butler, said that Iraq had not fully cooperated with
inspectors and--as they had promised to do. As a result, the U.N.
ordered its inspectors to leave Iraq this morning"

--Katie Couric, NBC's Today, 12/16/98


"As Washington debates when and how to attack Iraq, a surprise offer
from Baghdad. It is ready to talk about re-admitting U.N. weapons
inspectors after kicking them out four years ago."

--Maurice DuBois, NBC's Saturday Today, 8/3/02




"The chief U.N. weapons inspector ordered his monitors to leave Baghdad
today after saying that Iraq had once again reneged on its promise to
cooperate--a report that renewed the threat of U.S. and British
airstrikes."

--AP, 12/16/98


"Information on Iraq's programs has been spotty since Saddam expelled
U.N. weapons inspectors in 1998."

--AP, 9/7/02




"Immediately after submitting his report on Baghdad's noncompliance,
Butler ordered his inspectors to leave Iraq."

--Los Angeles Times, 12/17/98


"It is not known whether Iraq has rebuilt clandestine nuclear
facilities since U.N. inspectors were forced out in 1998, but the
report said the regime lacks nuclear material for a bomb and the
capability to make weapons."

--Los Angeles Times, 9/10/02




"The United Nations once again has ordered its weapons inspectors out
of Iraq. Today's evacuation follows a new warning from chief weapons
inspector Richard Butler accusing Iraq of once again failing to
cooperate with the inspectors. The United States and Britain repeatedly
have warned that Iraq's failure to cooperate with the inspectors could
lead to air strikes."

--Bob Edwards, NPR, 12/16/98


"If he has secret weapons, he's had four years since he kicked out the
inspectors to hide all of them."

--Daniel Schorr, NPR, 8/3/02




"This is the second time in a month that UNSCOM has pulled out in the
face of a possible U.S.-led attack. But this time there may be no
turning back. Weapons inspectors packed up their personal belongings
and loaded up equipment at U.N. headquarters after a predawn evacuation
order. In a matter of hours, they were gone, more than 120 of them
headed for a flight to Bahrain."

--Jane Arraf, CNN, 12/16/98


"What Mr. Bush is being urged to do by many advisers is focus on the
simple fact that Saddam Hussein signed a piece of paper at the end of
the Persian Gulf War, promising that the United Nations could have
unfettered weapons inspections in Iraq. It has now been several years
since those inspectors were kicked out."

--John King, CNN, 8/18/02




"Russian Ambassador Sergei Lavrov criticized Butler for evacuating
inspectors from Iraq Wednesday morning without seeking permission from
the Security Council."

--USA Today, 12/17/98


"Saddam expelled U.N. weapons inspectors in 1998, accusing some of
being U.S. spies."

--USA Today, 9/4/02




"But the most recent irritant was Mr. Butler's quick withdrawal from
Iraq on Wednesday of all his inspectors and those of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iraqi nuclear programs, without
Security Council permission. Mr. Butler acted after a telephone call
from Peter Burleigh, the American representative to the United Nations,
and a discussion with Secretary General Kofi Annan, who had also spoken
to Mr. Burleigh."

--New York Times, 12/18/98


"America's goal should be to ensure that Iraq is disarmed of all
unconventional weapons.... To thwart this goal, Baghdad expelled United
Nations arms inspectors four years ago."

--New York Times editorial, 8/3/02




"Butler ordered his inspectors to evacuate Baghdad, in anticipation of
a military attack, on Tuesday night--at a time when most members of the
Security Council had yet to receive his report."

--Washington Post, 12/18/98


"Since 1998, when U.N. inspectors were expelled, Iraq has almost
certainly been working to build more chemical and biological weapons."

--Washington Post editorial, 8/4/02




"Butler abruptly pulled all of his inspectors out of Iraq shortly after
handing Annan a report yesterday afternoon on Baghdad's continued
failure to cooperate with UNSCOM, the agency that searches for Iraq's
prohibited weapons of mass destruction."

-- Newsday, 12/17/98


"The reason Hussein gave was that the U.N. inspectors' work was
completed years ago, before he kicked them out in 1998, and they
dismantled whatever weapons they found. That's disingenuous."

--Newsday editorial, 8/14/02