UNITED NATIONS — The chief U.N. weapons inspector told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that a two-month search for banned chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs in Iraq has produced “no smoking guns.”
But Hans Blix said that “the absence of ‘smoking guns’ and the prompt access which we have had so far, and which is most welcome, is no guarantee that prohibited stocks or activities could not exist at other sites, whether above ground, underground or in mobile units.”
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was even more emphatic. “The problem with guns that are hidden is you can’t see their smoke,” he said. “We know for a fact there are weapons there. … The heart of the problem is Iraq is very good at hiding things.”
Still, the lack of proof that Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons presents a fresh hurdle to the Bush administration’s hope of winning strong domestic and international support for an invasion to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Bush administration may find it difficult to win Security Council support for an attack unless U.N. inspectors unearth evidence of illicit weapons programs that violate a series of U.N. resolutions passed since Iraq’s defeat in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
At least two Security Council members — France and Syria — indicated following Blix’s briefing that they are far from ready to authorize invasion.
French Ambassador to the U.N. Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said that the inspections are going well, and “there is no reason to give now a time limit.”
Syrian Ambassador to the U.N. Mikail Wehbe took issue with U.S. and British assertions that Iraq is hiding banned weapons, saying “they are just an excuse for more accusation against the Iraqi people.”
Wehbe said an invasion would destabilize the entire Middle East.
While President Bush has said that the United States is prepared to invade Iraq alone if need be, polls show that a majority of Americans will not support an attack that is not authorized by the United Nations and is not mounted by an international coalition.