MILNET: Quick Fact Sheet on UNSCOM
| Name: | United Nations Special Commission on Iraq |
| History: | Agreed upon as part of agreement concluding the Gulf War, UNSCOM was formed by resolution U.N. 687 to police the weapons of mass destruction terms of the Gulf War Peace Accord. U.N. Resolution 1134 is also in effect requiring Iraq to comply to the original resolution requirements...for Iraq to declare and destroy its weapons of mass destruction. UNSCOM inspection teams are to be allowed to verify that Iraq has and continues to comply with the Resolution. |
| Mission: | Inspect for weapons of mass destruction, either production facilities, storage, or means of delivery. Where found, destroy. Dual use sites (equipment can be used for peaceful means, continued verification of non-military use or production. |
| Started: | April 1, 1991 |
| Destroyed: | UNSCOM supervised the destruction
of some:
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UNSCOM has destroyed more WMD in Iraq than was destroyed in the Gulf War, and is capable (cameras and monitoring facilities) of monitoring some 63 munition factories, 110 chemical facilities, 40 biological facilities, as well as dual use facilities thorughout Iraq.
Events in November of 1997 caused ceasation of inspections for nearly 30 days, and some cameras were moved creating blind spots or were covered.
Below is the text from a slide presented by the U.S. Secretary of Defense as he distributed the 1997 version of the annual report Proliferation: Threat and Response
In November of 1998, UNSCOM once again announced they could not continue with their work and were removed from Iraq. As diplomatic efforts failed, air strikes were en route before Iraq agreed to reinstate inspection privileges. However, UNSCOM inspectors found conditions unacceptable and by December 15, 1998, announced failure again and withdrew.