The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was created through the adoption of

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

resolution 1284 of 17 December 1999 and its mission lasted until June 2007. UNMOVIC was meant to replace the former United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to carry on with the mandate to disarm

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

of its

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...

(WMDs), and to operate a system of ongoing monitoring and verification to check Iraq's compliance with its obligations not to reacquire the same weapons banned by the Security Council.

Background and UNMOVIC's predecessor UNSCOM

UNSCOM was created with the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 in April 1991. Lack of cooperation between UNSCOM and the Iraqi government, plus

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

's failure to provide unfettered access to UN arms inspectors, led the United States and the United Kingdom to launch air strikes during Operation Desert Fox. Along with founded suspicion of the CIA interference and infiltration in UNSCOM, military intervention in Iraq in 16–18 December 1998 marked the virtual end of UNSCOM's legitimacy. Those facts led to its closing down and to, at least, one-year hiatus regarding weapon inspections in Iraq.

UNMOVIC

Organisation

UNMOVIC was created with the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1284 in December 1999. In addition to the Office of the Chairman with executive, legal and liaison functions, UNMOVIC comprised four divisions (Planning and Operations, Analysis and Assessment, Information, Technical Support and Training) as well as an administrative service. The Commission maintained its headquarters at the United Nations in New York.

Operations

In December 1999 UNMOVIC was to take the token and even though Resolution 1284 required its inspection teams allowance to "immediate and unconditional access to any weapons sites and facilities", Iraq rejected the resolution. UNMOVIC could not send inspections to Iraq well into November 2002 after Resolution 1441 was passed. In 2000, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed Dr.

Hans Blix Hans Martin Blix (; born 28 June 1928) is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978–1979) and later became the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Blix wa ...

of Sweden to be the Commission's Executive Chairman. He served from 1 March 2000 until the end of June 2003, roughly 3 months after Iraq had been invaded. With no ongoing inspections on the ground in Iraq, political tension escalated in the period 2000-2002 and, in the aftermath of

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001 Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq became the spotlight of the ongoing War on Terror policies in Washington. Following the mandate of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, The president of Iraq,

, was forced to allow UN inspectors back to his country in November 2002. UN Resolution 1441 was an actual enhancement of previous United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 and provided: "that Iraq shall provide UNMOVIC and the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...

(IAEA) immediate, unimpeded, unconditional, and unrestricted access to any and all, including underground, areas, facilities, buildings, equipment, records, and means of transport which they wish to inspect, as well as immediate, unimpeded, unrestricted, and private access to all officials and other persons whom UNMOVIC or the IAEA wish to interview in the mode or location of UNMOVIC's or the IAEA's choice pursuant to any aspect of their mandates". Along with IAEA, UNMOVIC led inspections of alleged chemical and biological facilities in Iraq until shortly before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Findings and conclusions

UNMOVIC never found any operative

in Iraq and although its inspectors were withdrawn in March 2003, continued to operate with respect to those parts of its mandate it could implement outside of Iraq and maintained a degree of preparedness to resume work in Iraq. It maintained a roster of more than 300 experts ready to serve and continued to conduct training. Its Executive Chairman,

, commented in March 2004 that

"in the buildup to the war, Saddam Hussein and the Iraqis were cooperating with UN inspections, and in February 2003 had provided UNMOVIC with the names of hundreds of scientists to interview, individuals Saddam claimed had been involved in the destruction of banned weapons. Had the inspections been allowed to continue, there would likely have been a very different situation in Iraq."Bonnie Azab Powell.
U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix faults Bush administration for lack of 'critical thinking' in Iraq
,
Hans Blix Hans Martin Blix (; born 28 June 1928) is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978–1979) and later became the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Blix wa ...
interviewed by
Christiane Amanpour Christiane Maria Heideh AmanpourStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', 22 January 2019 (; ; born 12 January 1958) is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and host of CNN International, ...
,
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
NewsCenter, 18 March 2004. Retrieved 16 April 2018.

Blix also said that America's pre-emptive, unilateral actions "have bred more terrorism there and elsewhere". He accused President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

and Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

of acting not in bad faith, but with a severe lack of

critical thinking Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to make sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, ...

. The mandate of UNMOVIC was terminated on 29 June 2007.

References