Dozens of flights followed the French and Russian lead, some making a pretext of carrying humanitarian aid, others carrying passengers who openly scouted possible business deals with Iraq. Under U.N. resolutions, the sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors report Iraq has surrendered all weapons of mass destruction weapons. Iraq says it has already done so and insists the sanctions be lifted. U.N. weapons inspections ended abruptly in December 1998, just before the United States and Britain launched air strikes to punish Baghdad for failing to cooperate with U.N. weapons searches. Attempts to resume inspections have repeatedly stalled.
Some experts worry Iraq, free of inspections for more than a year, has resumed weapons programs.
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