Inspectors Visit Iraqi ‘Presidential Site’

UNITED NATIONS — Weapons inspectors charged with dismantling Iraq’s illegal arms programs visited one of eight previously off-limits “presidential sites” Thursday in the first test of new investigative procedures negotiated by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Iraqi government.

Diplomats accompanying the inspectors told reporters in Baghdad that the visit was uneventful and that Iraqi officials were cooperative. The group surveyed the buildings and grounds of Radwaniyah Palace, a sprawling complex adjacent to a civilian airport about nine miles west of Baghdad. It is one of the presidential compounds Iraq declared out-of-bounds to inspectors last fall in a dispute that threatened to lead to war between the United States and Iraq until Annan brokered a compromise.

Under the Annan plan, the inspectors, part of a team of more than 70 investigators now on duty in Baghdad, were escorted into the buildings by diplomats selected by the United Nations.

“Teams saw everything they wanted to see,” said Horst Holthoff, a German diplomat. “I am personally impressed by the spirit of cooperation of the Iraqi side.”

President Clinton also expressed satisfaction. “I’m glad that they’re inspecting the sites,” he said during a visit to South Africa. “I think that’s a good thing, and it means that so far the agreement is holding. And that’s all we ever wanted.”

Although the Iraqi government has known for weeks that the presidential complexes were targeted for inspection, it was not until Thursday morning that inspectors announced they were headed to Radwaniyah. The visit was part of what Richard Butler, the chief inspector, has called a “baseline inspection” of all eight sites--which contain more than 1,000 buildings.

The initial visits are intended to prepare for future inspections by determining what kinds of activities take place in each building, which government agencies control the structures and which rooms might be the most likely hiding places of evidence of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs.

U.N. officials believe that the Iraqis have removed any evidence that might have existed but want to establish the principle that no place in Iraq is beyond the reach of the investigators.

The inspection team Thursday visited two of three sectors of the Radwaniyah complex, which includes a large artificial lake as well as warehouses, bunkers and guest houses. During Annan’s visit to Baghdad, the Iraqi government threw him a farewell luncheon at Radwaniyah Palace, which boasts ostentatious displays of carved marble, large chandeliers and high-ceilinged rooms, according to an Annan associate who attended the lunch.

Under the cease-fire that ended the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the inspectors must certify that Iraq has destroyed all its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and its long-range missiles before the U.N. Security Council can consider eliminating economic sanctions imposed on Baghdad.

The Iraqi government contends that it has destroyed all its illegal weapons and that the sanctions should be lifted.