IRAQ: UN INSPECTORS VISIT MORE SUSPECT SITES/ PROTEST OUTSIDE UN DEVELOPMENT BUILDING / BAGHDAD CITIZENS BUY GUNS AND AMMUNTION
Record ID:
647252
IRAQ: UN INSPECTORS VISIT MORE SUSPECT SITES/ PROTEST OUTSIDE UN DEVELOPMENT BUILDING / BAGHDAD CITIZENS BUY GUNS AND AMMUNTION
- Title: IRAQ: UN INSPECTORS VISIT MORE SUSPECT SITES/ PROTEST OUTSIDE UN DEVELOPMENT BUILDING / BAGHDAD CITIZENS BUY GUNS AND AMMUNTION
- Date: 10th March 2003
- Summary: (U3) AL-TAJI, IRAQ (MARCH 10, 2003)(REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS, INSPECTORS LEAVING UN COMPOUND FOR INSPECTIONS (2 SHOTS) 0.04 4. SLV CONVOY OF UN CARS ARRIVING ATAL TAJI SITE (2 SHOTS) 0.15 (U3) AL-NAHRAWAN, IRAQ (MARCH 10, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. HAV, UN CARS PARKED AT THE MABAYNA AL-NIHRAYEEN ENTERPRISE, ONE OF THE SUSPECTED SITES 0.17 6. CLOSE OF SIGN FOR SITE, PULLOUT OF INSPECTORS AT THE SITE (6 SHOTS) 1.02 7. SLV CONVOY OF UN CARS TRAVELLING ALONG ROAD 1.09 (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 10, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. VARIOUSM PROTESTERS MARCHING, CARRYING BANNERS AND POSTERS (2 SHOTS) 1.21 9. PAN DOWN OF PROTESTERS ARRIVING AT UNDP HEADQUARTERS 1.28 10. VARIOUS, MORE OF STUDENTS AND SCHOOL CHILDREN PROTESTING AND CHANTING (2 SHOTS) 1.33 11. CLOSE OF SIGN "UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROIGRAMME " 1.41 12. VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATION (2 SHOTS) 1.48 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 10, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. SLV EXTERIOR OF THE GUN SHOP, MAN WITH BIRD OF PREY WALKING INTO SHOP 1.57 14. VARIOUS, GUN DEALER REPAIRING WEAPONS (5 SHOTS) 2.26 15. SCU SOUNDBITE (Arabic) FADHIL SUEHIL, GUN DEALER SAYING: "As a precautionary measure, people buy arms and stock up on ammunition in case the war starts" 2.41 16. VARIOUS, OF GUNS AND RIFLES IN THE SHOP/ GUN DEALER AT WORK 2.48 17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) FALAH WALEED A CUSTOMER SAYING: "I am searching for a pistol smaller and lighter than this." 3.01 18. CLOSE OF GUNS ON SHOP COUNTER 3.06 19. CLOSE OF RIFLES ON DISPLAY ON WALL OF SHOP 3.09 20. VARIOUS OF AMMUNITION 3.14 21. PULLOUT FROM PICTURES OF SADDAM HUSSEIN ON WALL TO RIFLES 3.23 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 10, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 22. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 3.26 23. SMV HUMAN SHIELDS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 3.28 24. SCU SOUNDBITE(English) JUDITH EMPSON, ONE OF THE HUMAN SHIELD SAYING: "The purpose of being here is to stop war on the people of Iraq and to protect important humantarian sites around Baghdad by our physical presence at these sites, that is why we have all chosen to stay here." 3.48 25. VARIOUS, BUDDHIST MONKS IN THE AUDIENCE (2 SHOTS) 3.53 26. WIDE/ PAN OF THE PRES CONFERENCE 3.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th March 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA3V3TN0KBSQNXF0Y7P4YQLCU32
- Story Text: The UN weapons inspectors have continued their work
visiting suspect sites in and out of Baghdad.
Faced with the growing threat of war, hundreds of students
staged one of the largest yet anti-war protests in the Iraqi
capital while others prepared themselves for the attack buying
guns and and stocking up on ammunition.
United Nations weapons inspectors continued their work
on Monday (March 10), a day before a possible U.N. vote on a
U.S.-backed draft that sets a March 17 deadline for Iraq to
destroy all weapons of mass destruction, or face war.
The showdown vote could come as soon as Tuesday (March 11)
and the outcome is far from certain.
A Security Council resolution needs a minimum nine votes
for adoption and there must be no veto by any of the five
permanent members: the United States, Britain, France, Russia
and China.
Washington hopes nine or 10 states in the 15-member
Council will vote for the draft but the resolution may be
blocked by a veto coming from France, Russia or China which
oppose any resolution implicitly or explicitly authorizing
war.
But as diplomatic pressures across the world intensified,
the UN inspectors in Baghdad were back at work on Monday
morning visiting sites in and outside the capital.
A group of inspectors drove to Al-Taji military base, 20
kilometres (13 miles) north of Baghdad, the site where
Al-Samoud 2 missiles are being destroyed under the supervision
of UN weapons inspectors.
Last month chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix demanded
that Iraq destroys all its Al-Samoud 2 missiles which United
Nations experts say exceed the allowed range of 150 kilometres
(93 miles) allowed by UN resolutions.
Iraq said on Sunday (March 9) it had scrapped 46 since the
start of the eliminating programme on March 1. Iraq has around
120 al-Samoud missiles.
Another group of inspectors travelled to Al-Nahrawan, 20
kilometres (13 miles) south of Baghdad to visit a suspect
site.
Meanwhile, in the capital, hundreds of school children and
students took to the streets of Baghdad in protest at the
impending war.
In one of the largest demonstrators yet, the protesters
marched to UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
headquarters in the centre of the city to present a memo of
protest to the United Nations representative.
Waving banners and posters the protesters chanted anti-war
slogans and demanded the international body takes action to
prevent war.
Others prepared themselves for the war buying guns and
rifles and stocking up on ammunition.
With the imminent war and gun culture deeply ingrainded in
Iraq where anyone over the age of 25 can carry weapons without
any licence, Baghdad's 45 shops selling guns and ammunition
are doing a brisk business.
Despite the U.S. vow that the military will go to
extraordinary lengths to minimize the number of civilians
killed in the possible war, the authorities admit that no war
is pristine and deaths of innocents as well as damage to
civillian targets will occur.
The U.S. military's increasing reliance on
precision-guided bombs, careful selection of targets and
munitions, and use of non-lethal weapons when possible should
limit civilian casualties and damage to civilian facilities,
officials said.
But human rights groups warn of a possible humanitarian
catastrophe in Iraq if hostilities break out.
A group of foreign civilian volunteers willing to serve as
human shields at sites that could be bombed in a war said they
were determined to stay hoping to prevent attacks.
"The purpose of being here is to stop war on the people of
Iraq and to protect important humantarian sites around Baghdad
by our physical presence at these sites, that is why we have
all chosen to stay here, " Judith Empson, one of the volunteers
told a news briefing in Baghdad on Monday (March 10) .
The Pentagon is reluctant to make public predictions of
the number of Iraqi civilians likely to be killed in a war.
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