How weapons inspectors try to get to the truth.
Continuation,...
..."Iraqis made a declaration we didn't believe so we had to come up with evidence to prove that they were wrong and then they would give us a new story," he says.
In situations like this where trust is lost, Trevan says you need to study documents dating back decades. This requires a further set of skills.
"You need people who are experts in export documentation so that you can find the companies who were the suppliers and ask them what the country imported," he says.
When following the paper trail, it also helps to know whether a document supposedly from the 1970s really is 40 years old, or something knocked up yesterday.
Chemical attacks
*.The modern use of chemical weapons began in WWI, when poisonous gas killed 100,000 people
*.In 1925 the Geneva protocol banned the use of chemical and biological weapons
*.Since WWI, chemical weapons have injured more than a million people
*.In 1988 Saddam Hussein used mustard gas, sarin and tabun to kill 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja
*.As well as death, chemical weapons can cause vomiting, convulsions, blurred vision, burns and breathing difficulties
Read more: Why chemical weapons provoke outrage
This is where forensic experts come into play. "You have got to be able to ascertain whether the paper is of the age it's supposed to be and whether the ink is of the age it's supposed to be," says Trevan.
Investigators will usually conduct numerous interviews, so an inspection team would also need reliable translators along with people skilled in interrogation techniques and the psychology of body language.
For Trevan the small details can be the keys to the truth. In Iraq they would ask lots of questions about dates, colleagues and even the colour of the paint on the lab walls. "Very silly little details like that can get you to a stage where... you can prove that they are trying to tell a lie," he says.
When he looks at the impact the inspections had on himself and his colleagues, Tim Trevan says their work was not as traumatic as that done by military personnel.
But everyone was different afterwards, he says. "It does change things, yes. There is a psychological price."
Ake Sellstrom agrees and worries about the impact it may have on him as a husband and father.
"I use both my brain and my heart in my professional work but I think the danger is that you are exposed to situations that make you hard".
But he thinks the risks he took in Syria last time were worth it. "Before this we just had indicators that wouldn't stand scrutiny," he says. "We now have evidence that could stand in court, evidence that chemical weapons were used in Syria."
..."Iraqis made a declaration we didn't believe so we had to come up with evidence to prove that they were wrong and then they would give us a new story," he says.
In situations like this where trust is lost, Trevan says you need to study documents dating back decades. This requires a further set of skills.
"You need people who are experts in export documentation so that you can find the companies who were the suppliers and ask them what the country imported," he says.
When following the paper trail, it also helps to know whether a document supposedly from the 1970s really is 40 years old, or something knocked up yesterday.
Chemical attacks
*.The modern use of chemical weapons began in WWI, when poisonous gas killed 100,000 people
*.In 1925 the Geneva protocol banned the use of chemical and biological weapons
*.Since WWI, chemical weapons have injured more than a million people
*.In 1988 Saddam Hussein used mustard gas, sarin and tabun to kill 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja
*.As well as death, chemical weapons can cause vomiting, convulsions, blurred vision, burns and breathing difficulties
Read more: Why chemical weapons provoke outrage
This is where forensic experts come into play. "You have got to be able to ascertain whether the paper is of the age it's supposed to be and whether the ink is of the age it's supposed to be," says Trevan.
Investigators will usually conduct numerous interviews, so an inspection team would also need reliable translators along with people skilled in interrogation techniques and the psychology of body language.
For Trevan the small details can be the keys to the truth. In Iraq they would ask lots of questions about dates, colleagues and even the colour of the paint on the lab walls. "Very silly little details like that can get you to a stage where... you can prove that they are trying to tell a lie," he says.
When he looks at the impact the inspections had on himself and his colleagues, Tim Trevan says their work was not as traumatic as that done by military personnel.
But everyone was different afterwards, he says. "It does change things, yes. There is a psychological price."
Ake Sellstrom agrees and worries about the impact it may have on him as a husband and father.
"I use both my brain and my heart in my professional work but I think the danger is that you are exposed to situations that make you hard".
But he thinks the risks he took in Syria last time were worth it. "Before this we just had indicators that wouldn't stand scrutiny," he says. "We now have evidence that could stand in court, evidence that chemical weapons were used in Syria."
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