UNSCOM United Nations Special Commission

UNSCOM United Nations Special Commission on Iraq... 

UNSCR UNSCOM USAAF WMD United Nations Security Council Resolution United Nations Special Commission United States Army Air Force Weapons of Mass Destruction... 

The Persian Gulf War and continuing problems with Iraq resulted in the creation of a unique United Nations organization known as The United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM).3 UNSCOM was established specifically by a United Nations Security Council resolution that spelled out conditions for cease-fire and the destruction, removal, or rendering harmless of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 km. UNSCOM unilaterally defined the terms for its inspections of Iraqi facilities and has continued to direct and support compliance inspections. 

The Iraqi recalcitrance underscored the limitations of what can be legitimately expected of an inspection regime. In spite of the unprecedented powers of the inspectors, sustained political support, the imposition of extensive economic sanctions and flagrant violations of Iraqi sovereignty, UNSCOM officials were still not certain after two years that they had fulfilled their mission completely. As Rolf Ek us concluded, if there was anything to be learnt from this experience, it was that only intrusive, short notice, non-refusal inspections of declared or non-declared locations of the type which the United Nations Special Commission has carried out, would be effective against deliberate concealment and deter potential violators... 

KAMAL, HUSSEIN AL-. A son-in-law of Saddam Hussein whose 1995 defection to Jordan apparently caused Saddam Hussein to decide to admit to the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) that Iraq had pursued an offensive biological weapon (BW) program. Iraqi government officials claimed that Kamal had unilaterally overseen the program in secret without authorization. In 2004, the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) concluded that Kamal s defection resulted in a decision by Saddam Hussein to reorganize the Iraqi BW-related infrastructure. Kamal was killed immediately upon his return to Iraq, despite his having been promised clemency for his 1995 defection. 

ZUBAIDY DEVICE. During the course of its work, the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) learned of a helicopter-borne spraying system known as the Zubaidy device. This apparatus, named for an Iraqi military officer associated with its development, had been modified by Iraq in the late 1980s to disperse biological warfare (BW) agents. As such, it showed the extent to which Iraq was taking steps to bolster its capabilities for offensive BW. 

A related issue is how sensitive information should be handled by an organization within the framework of the United Nations (UN), such as by the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) and the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC). This includes how Iraqi declarations and political and technical assessments of them are to be shared within the respective organizations, with individual UN member states, and with members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) (including distinctions made between the P-5 and other members of the UNSC). For example, the final declaration submitted by Iraq in 2003 to try to satisfy obligations deriving from UNSC Resolution 687 was deemed to be prolifera-... 

South Africa s Project Coast ends. 20 March Aum Shinrikyo releases sarin in the Tokyo subway. Twelve people die as result, while another 500 require medical attention or hospitaUzation. Approximately 5,500 people are examined for ill effects. 7 August Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein s son-in-law, Gen. Hussein al-Kamal, defects to Jordan, where he provides the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) with evidence that Iraq has produced VX. His defection helps prompt Iraq to admit having had an offensive biological weapons program. 

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