International arms monitors from from Australia, Britain, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Russia and the United States headed out early Wednesday on their first Iraq inspections.
Their first destination was the military-run Graphite Rod Factory, some 40 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.
In Baghdad, UNMOVIC team leader Demetrios Perricos said his experts would "freeze" sites they chose to inspect to prevent their mission being disturbed. "We do not want cars and people to go out of this site carrying things. We do not want cars entering this site bringing things. We want to see the status of the site as it is, and this is what we call freezing of that particular site."
Earlier, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan underlined that war was "avoidable if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein honours his commitments made at the United Nations and cooperates fully with the inspectors."
Annan said that if Iraq acts as it should, "the arguments in favour of war will be considerably weakened." "But should Saddam Hussein defy the inspectors and the UN, then the (Security) Council will assume its responsibilities," Annan said in an interview with a french newspaper.
He urged the United States not to be over-hasty in its determination to go to war, warning this could split a now-united Security Council. (Albawaba.com)
