Editing Iraq disarmament crisis (section)

==2002–2003==
{{Main|United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441}}
[[File:Powell UN Iraq presentation, alleged Mobile Production Facilities.jpg|thumb|300px|Diagram of alleged Mobile Production Facility For Biological Agents, presented by [[Colin Powell]] before the [[United Nations]].]]
During late 2002 and into 2003, the [[United States government]] continued to call for "[[regime change]]" in [[Iraq]] and threatened to use military force to overthrow the Iraqi government unless Iraq rid itself of all [[weapons of mass destruction]] (WMD) it supposedly possessed and convinced the UN that it had done so.

US diplomatic pressure to bring Iraq to compliance quickly created a diplomatic crisis in the UN, where some members were in agreement with the U.S. position, while others dissented, notably the permanent Security Council members [[France]], [[Russia]] and the [[People's Republic of China]], and fellow [[NATO]] members [[Germany]] and [[Belgium]].

The [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]] began a military buildup in the region, and after pushing hard gained passage of [[UN Security Council Resolution 1441]]. Led by [[Hans Blix]], Head of the [[United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission]] (UNMOVIC) and [[Mohamed ElBaradei]] [[Director General]] of the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] (IAEA), the Resolution brought weapons inspectors back to Iraq in November 2002.

Inspectors began visiting sites where WMD production was suspected, but found no evidence of such activities, except for 18 undeclared empty 122&nbsp;mm chemical rockets that were destroyed under UNMOVIC supervision. [https://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/new/documents/quarterly_reports/s-2003-580.pdf P. 30] Inspectors also found that the Al-Samoud-2 and Al-fatah missiles violated the UN range restrictions, the former also being partially destroyed under UNMOVIC supervision.

On March 7, 2003 Hans Blix reported accelerated cooperation throughout the month of February but it was still not "immediate" and "unconditional" as called for by UN Security Council Resolution 1441.<ref>
[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0303/S00109.htm Blix welcomes accelerated cooperation by Iraq] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214012428/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0303/S00109.htm |date=2007-12-14 }} [[Scoop (news website)|Scoop]] March 7, 2003
</ref> He informed the UN security council that "it will not take years, nor weeks, but months" to verify whether Iraq had complied with its disarmament obligations.<ref>
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2829213.stm Blix: Inspectors 'need months'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060309004101/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2829213.stm |date=2006-03-09 }} [[BBC News]] March 7, 2003
</ref><ref>
[http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/07/sprj.irq.un.transcript.blix/index.html Transcript of Blix's U.N. presentation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109052347/http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/07/sprj.irq.un.transcript.blix/index.html |date=2016-11-09 }} [[CNN]] March 7, 2003
</ref>

U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] and [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]] met in the [[Azores]] islands for an "emergency summit" over the weekend of March 15–16, 2003, after which Bush declared that, despite Blix's report, "diplomacy had failed" to compel Iraq to comply with UN Resolution inspection requirements, and stated his intention to use military force to attack Iraq in what was, according to the Bush administration, compliance with the threat of "serious consequences" in UN 1441.