‘Bunny-Huggers’ Win a Round in Battle With Iraq Weapons Inspectors

When U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan left this capital Monday with an accord with the Iraqi government that averted U.S. military action, the jubilation at the United Nations’ field headquarters here was not just over his role as peacemaker: Many agency employees were happy because they felt that their colleagues who work as weapons inspectors finally got their comeuppance.

The U.N. Special Commission on Iraq, which runs the inspection program that triggered the confrontation with Baghdad, emerged intact after Annan’s visit, but its reputation has been sullied, and it seems that its working methods will be altered. One reason might be that some of the toughest criticism of the arms inspectors and their methods came from the U.N.’s own employees here.

Call it a case of the commandos versus the bunny-huggers.

The U.N. field office in Baghdad, in a former hotel on the outskirts of town, is divided into two worlds.

Most employees do humanitarian work, mainly in the “oil for food” program, which allows Iraq to sell limited amounts of petroleum in order to purchase food and medicine that are distributed under close U.N. supervision.

These U.N. workers--normally numbering about 400--spend their days dealing with the human wreckage wrought by economic sanctions imposed on Iraq as a result of President Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the Persian Gulf War that followed.

They tend to malnourished babies in disease-ridden villages far from the bustle of Baghdad. They have watched the erosion of Iraq’s once-sizable middle and professional classes and the rise of gangsterism and corruption. They try to maintain their idealism amid despair.

“I’ve seen the U.N. do a lot of good around the world. I’ve seen it save the lives of a lot of people,” one food worker said.

But some of those associated with the weapons inspection program--which consists of about 40 resident staff members but has swelled to more than 100 at times--refer to the humanitarian workers as “bunny-huggers” and call their clients “SIPs”--Suffering Iraqi People.

This is intended as an ironic comment on the supposedly cynical pleadings Iraqi leaders make about their country’s impoverishment--which U.S. officials, among others, argue could be swiftly alleviated if the Hussein regime would comply with U.N. resolutions.

But to many U.N. workers here, the name-calling illustrates insensitivity on the part of the weapons inspectors, who include former military types and are led by Nils Carlstrom, a Swedish general, the resident head of the Special Commission.

One U.N. employee grumbled that some weapons inspectors seem to regard the Iraqis as “not human.”

The mind-set at the Special Commission is akin to that of a military unit operating behind enemy lines. Emerging each day from their third-floor offices, secure behind a double set of fortified doors, the arms inspectors hunt for Iraq’s deepest military secrets--its biological and chemical weapons programs.

The Iraqis they meet, they say, include some of the nastiest characters in the regime, which has a history of spying on them and thwarting their work.

Some inspectors’ lives have been endangered, as when Iraqi observers tried to seize the controls of U.N. helicopters in flight over military and intelligence facilities.

The inspectors’ camaraderie, which has grown out of these stressful conditions, has spilled over into swagger and paranoia, some people here say.

When the U.N. hosted a party Tuesday night for U.S. and European reporters covering Annan’s trip to Baghdad, employees of the Special Commission not only were largely absent, there was a guard posted to ensure that anyone venturing beyond the ground floor of the U.N. office here be accompanied by an escort.

And then there was the T-shirt incident: As U.N. employees here tell it, one arms control official was seen walking around the office in a T-shirt emblazoned with a drawing of a squashed rabbit with tire tracks on it. Underneath were the words “Bunny Huggers. Just Say No.”

The differing views have created a social gulf in the U.N. community here that is rarely bridged.

“There’s definitely a red line between the two sides,” said one on the bunny-hugger end. “But [the inspectors] are interesting to talk to. They have some great stories.”

At least some of this animosity leaked to Annan before and during his visit. He got the usual earful of complaints from Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz. Annan’s surprising reaction was to join the criticism: In a Cable News Network interview, he suggested that the inspectors had been discourteous and bore some responsibility for their poor relationship with Iraqis.

Privately, some members of his visiting delegation were even more critical, going so far as to assail even the inspectors’ casual dress.

Annan was also notably lukewarm in his defense of Richard Butler, who heads the Special Commission from New York and who has become a bete noire of Aziz.

“Mr. Butler will continue to do his work, but I think that what we are discussing here is better and enhanced cooperation between Iraq and the . . . inspectors,” Annan told a news conference.

Butler has been under attack for weeks now by the Russian and Chinese delegations at the U.N. They regard him as a loose cannon.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Wednesday that Annan had assured the United States that Butler will retain “operational control” of the inspections, and Butler appeared at a news conference Thursday to endorse Annan’s deal with Hussein.

Under that accord, when eight Iraqi “presidential sites” undergo scrutiny, Butler will work with Jayantha Dhanapala, 59, a Sri Lankan diplomat who is undersecretary-general for disarmament. Washington will watch that relationship to make sure Butler still is calling the shots.