Why did Iraq resist international inspections of its weapons of mass destruction?

Answer 1

There are a few possible reasons:

Violation of Sovereignty: Any international inspections are a violation of national sovereignty. Of course, there are requirements for signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to open themselves up to inspection. However, such requirements are not applied to the five nuclear powers recognized by the treaty (US, USSR - now Russia, Britain, France, China) nor is it required of the non-signatories to the treaty such as India, Pakistan, or Israel. As a result, Iraq resisted because of the unequal requirements of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Intimidating Iran: Iraq was also using the ambiguity of whether or not it had weapons of mass destruction to deter Iranian aggression. Even though the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988, relations had not been restored between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq and there was still incredible enmity between the countries. The possibility that Iraq may have still had weapons of mass destruction would make the Iranian leadership more hesitant about invading Iraq if they were considering doing so.

Angering the United States: Due to the recent history between the US and Iraq, especially the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1992, there was an incredible amount of animosity between the US and Iraq. As a result, Iraqis slowness in complying with international norms was designed to anatagonize the United States. Iraqi leadership did not seriously believe that the United States would launch a ground invasion of the country.