Kathleen Baily wrote The UN Inspections in Iraq, Lessons for On-Site Verification in the midst of the United Nations weapons inspections in Iraq in the 1990s. Her goal was to review what the U.N. had found, how Iraq responded and provided recommendations for future inspections. That means not all parts of the book are of interest to the average reader but it does cover a wealth of information about what transpired in Iraq.
Under a U.N. resolution Iraq was required to declare all of its chemical, biological, nuclear and missile programs and dismantle them after it lost the Gulf War. Iraq carried out an extensive deception and concealment plan to hide what it did. The book doesn’t cover the reasons why because that was not apparent in 1995 when it was published but Saddam initially believed the inspections would only last a short while and he could return to his projects afterwards. Eventually Baghdad saw the U.N. as a threat to the regime because it was demanding access to sensitive areas like presidential palaces which could provide intelligence to the United States for military strikes.
Despite resistance from Iraq the United Nations proved to be highly successful. It discovered that Iraq had a nuclear weapons programs and worked on several methods to enrich uranium for a bomb. It found an offensive biological weapons program and the extent of its chemical weapons capabilities. It destroyed equipment and facilities. It discovered Baghdad’s networks it used to buy foreign equipment. Bailey goes through each inspection team from 1991-1992, where they went, what they uncovered and how the Iraqis reacted. It then provides a series of lessons learned for future inspectors. That last part is not really relevant to a casual reader.
What is interesting is things like a review of how Iraq tried to stymie the U.N. For instance, it tried to deny most of its weapons programs and only admitted to things when confronted with an overwhelming amount of evidence. It only allowed a small number of people to talk to the inspectors and many of them were coached on what to say. Minders videotaped all the interviews as an intimidation tactic against its own people. Baghdad would try to delay inspections by doing things like not giving them air clearance to use helicopters to travel to sites. The teams were only in Iraq for a limited time so this was done to block them from doing their work. Some sites were demolished, many were sanitized by removing documents and equipment. At one site the Iraqis removed the concrete floor and laid down a new one to prevent samples being taken. Baily thought these were very effective. The U.N. came to believe that they did not know the full extent of Iraq’s work and that it was hiding papers, equipment and most importantly weapons and chemical and biological agents. This was very important because it provided the ammunition the U.S. and U.K. used to argue for overthrowing Saddam in 2003.
The U.N. Inspections in Iraq is a good background book for details about the early inspection process in the 1990s. There are other books that give more of the politics behind the U.N.’s work and insights into the Iraqi perspective that provide the larger picture of what happened. Bailey’s work goes into the fine points of the early teams.
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s book reviews listed by topic
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