For years, UNSCOM suspected that the remote, 10-square-mile facility was producing more than just pesticide and chicken-feed supplement, as the Iraqi government claimed. Some inspectors were certain it was a biological-weapons factory.

But this visit, like those before, failed to resolve the question.

"The Iraqis became very skilled over the years at deception and denial techniques," says Jonathan Tucker, a member of a UN inspection team that visited Al Hakam in 1995. "At the time of our visit, there was still some uncertainty about whether Al Hakam was, in fact, a bioweapons production facility."

It took a several teams of weapons inspectors – from the US, France, Sweden, Britain, Russia, and other nations – a year of digging before Iraq admitted that Al Hakam was producing biological weapons.

With a new UN resolution expected to pass this week, inspectors will be back in Iraq later this month armed with new technology and the lessons learned at Al Hakam. The UN estimates there some 700 sites to examine. But if Al Hakam is any indication, the Iraqi inspection games are just beginning.