Iraq Only ‘Contravened’ Pact, Source Says

The United Nations so far regards Iraq as only having “contravened” an accord signed in February, a senior U.N. Security Council source said Friday.

Iraq was warned this year of the “severest consequences” in the event of any “violation” of the agreement it concluded with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

But Iraq had so far only “contravened” the pact because its announcement Wednesday that it was suspending cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors had not so far led to any concrete action by Baghdad, the source said.

Iraq said it would no longer cooperate with the U.N. Special Commission, also known as UNSCOM, in charge of scrapping its weapons of mass destruction until UNSCOM was “reformed” and moved from New York to Geneva or Vienna.

Iraq says such a move would reduce alleged U.S. influence.

The chief U.N. weapons inspector insisted Friday that sanctions against Iraq won’t end until the nation disarms completely--even though one of his bosses has suggested progress alone may be enough.

Richard Butler said he understands the frustration and desperation of the Iraqis after eight years of debilitating trade sanctions.

Butler said he backs Annan’s initiative for a “comprehensive review” of the international community’s relationship with Iraq.

U.N. arms monitors went out for work as usual Friday for the second straight day since the Iraqi announcement.

Baghdad says Washington is responsible for artificially prolonging the disarmament process so sanctions imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait remain in force indefinitely.

Under Baghdad’s new decision, a confrontation would occur if and when UNSCOM experts were instructed to carry out an intrusive inspection, rather than just continuing with passive monitoring.

No one is saying when that might occur.