Inspections in Iraq Back on Track

BAGHDAD — When United Nations weapons inspectors went back to work here Wednesday, their day was so normal that it seemed as though the last two weeks of high tension never happened.

The six white vehicles from the U.N. Special Commission investigating Iraq’s hidden arms pulled out of UNSCOM headquarters on Baghdad’s eastern edge. Accompanying them were half a dozen cars full of Iraqi escorts.

The escorts were the first evidence that Iraq was complying with the U.N. They were deemed necessary by agreements Baghdad has signed with the world body, but in the past the government has denied they were a means of blocking inspections.

The weapons inspectors would not talk to reporters or TV crews, as usual. And their spokeswoman, Caroline Cross, would not say where the inspectors were going or what tasks they would perform.

Asked about the first day of work by UNSCOM inspectors, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard in New York said: “They did a normal day’s work and came back--no problems.”