| Summary/Abstract |
The multilateral disarmament of Iraq represents the first time since the 1918 Treaty of Versailles that victors in war imposed disarmament upon another country. In many ways, the disarmament efforts of the UN Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) in the 1990s were highly successful, resulting in the discovery and elimination of most of Iraq's biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons programs, as well as their delivery systems. This article discusses the origins of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the establishment of UNSCOM, and UNSCOM's operational structures, capabilities, and results, as well as its eventual replacement by the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission—a result of political strife within the body that created it, the UN Security Council.
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