To the Point

UN Weapons Inspector Blix Leads Team to Iraq

UN Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix has been reassured by Iraqi officials that, this time, -things will work much better than before.- While UN Security Council Resolution 1441 has given weapons inspectors new powers, backed by the threat of all-out war, skeptics contend that Saddam Hussein has already begun more delays and deceptions. Just what has Iraq agreed to, and who will decide if the rules have been broken? We hear more about the challenge facing Blix, the inspection of known and suspected weapons sites, and preparations for war in Iraq, with the deputy director of the Carnegie Institute-s Non-Proliferation Project, a Middle East expert from the Royal United Services Institute for Defense Studies, Arab News columnist Amir Taheri, and a Time magazine correspondent who met with Blix last night. Newsmaker: What-s Next for the Office of Homeland Security? Originally proposed by Democrats, President Bush seized on the idea of a Department of Homeland Security and pushed it through. Now 170,000 employees from 22 agencies will refocus their efforts to serve a common mission. Paul Light, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says that the most complicated government reorganization in history will unite organizations as disparate as the Coast Guard, INS, and FEMA. Reporter-s Notebook: Colorado Looks beyond Ski Resorts for Cloud Seeding This summer, Colorado was ravaged by some of the most devastating wildfires in US history. Now, after three years of below-average rainfall, watering Denver lawns and gardens may be prohibited next year. Jerd Smith, who reports for the Rocky Mountain News, reports that Denver Water and several other regional utilities are inaugurating a $700,000 cloud-seeding project that they hope will ensure an increased winter snow pack.