How weapons inspectors try to get to the truth

A team of weapons inspectors will return to Damascus on Wednesday following Syria's pledge to give up its chemical arsenal. The last time they were in the country they were shot at and lied to. So what does it take to be a weapons inspector?

If all goes according to plan, we will be hearing a lot about international weapons inspectors in Syria in the coming months, following the country's pledge to give up its chemical weapons. A UN team lead by Ake Sellstrom is expected to return to Damascus on Wednesday, but what exactly is a weapons inspector, and how do they do their job?
Last month, Ake Sellstrom and his team of 20 weapons inspectors negotiated a ceasefire between the warring parties in Damascus and set off for Mou'adamiya, in the suburb of Ghouta, to check whether reports of a chemical weapon attack were true.

"We had quite a few sniper shots in the windows - the windows of the armoured vehicle almost collapsed," he says.
"We were warned by security people working with us that this normally happens, that snipers could put a bullet here and there just to mark that this is their area - they are in power."
Sellstrom's team changed into another armoured vehicle and eventually arrived at the site to gather evidence.

 The episode illustrates the kind of determined mindset that Tim Trevan, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, says is one of the main requirements for the job.

"You want people who... are very persistent. You definitely want a sort of terrier - the type dog who won't let go of the bone," he says.

In Saddam Hussein's Iraq, officials would sometimes tell Trevan and his fellow inspectors blatant lies.
"What they were supposed to give us were called full, final and complete declarations, and on occasion we used to joke that what they were giving us were full, final and complete fairy tales," he says.
On one occasion a team of UN inspectors in Iraq had to camp outside the Ministry of Agriculture for three weeks before they were allowed into the building.
By then the documents they wanted to see had been spirited away, but the inspectors could see that furniture and filing cabinets had been moved, which gave further weight to their suspicions.
But a stubborn refusal to be hoodwinked, and an insistence on gaining access to the necessary sites,
"On 26 August we went to the Syrian town of Mou'adamiya, in Western Ghouta, having negotiated a five-hour ceasefire with the government and the opposition. It had been completely isolated for nine months and as our cars drove in, crowds gathered round to sing songs and bless us.
"Before we went to the sites where chemical weapons had been used, the team put on their masks, suits, gloves and boots to protect them from toxic substances. The temperature was over 40C and they had to wear all this protective gear as well as bullet-proof clothing and helmets, so it was tough for them to work.
"Under stress a team could crack and go different ways but we became an even tighter team. It was quite an emotional experience and as head of the mission I was tired for some time afterwards."
Ake Sellstrom, weaponis only the beginning.
When inspectors are dealing with a country at war they need on their team a wide range of abilities, some of which have nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction.
Trevan reels off a long list of experts he would want on his team - a civil engineer to c
Medical experts are required to record precise information from local doctors who have treated injured people. Knowledge of the effects of substances and how they are broken down in the body is crucial at this stage.
When an inspection team is investigating an entire chemical weapons programme, there will also be a chemical engineer and an industrial chemist who understand how to turn chemicals into weapons. They may also have to determine the real purpose of an industrial facility - whether it has been designed to produce large quantities of chemicals for a weapons programme.
heck whether the buildings he is entering are structurally safe, an explosive ordnance expert who can check for unexploded bombs and mines, as well as people who can look after his personal security.
Only once security is taken care of can you get down to the nitty-gritty of site inspection.
If inspectors are investigating a site where a chemical attack is thought to have taken place, samples need to be collected from bodies, the soil and the water supply. The evidence then needs to be meticulously recorded and stored to make sure its reliability cannot be questioned.