[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 17 (Friday, February 27, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1134-S1135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, the latest confrontation with Iraq 
shines a harsh light on an important truth. The collapse of the Soviet 
Union consigned to the ash heap of history has not created a world safe 
for democracy. The ``Evil Empire'' may have vanished but, alas, the 
world remains a dangerous and unpredictable place.
  In Iraq, we are confronted with a dictator as evil as Hitler. Saddam 
has killed thousands of his own citizens, licensed acts of terrorism, 
and produced and stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. It is a reign 
of terror unmatched in the post-cold war era.
  And how has this administration responded? Rather than draw a bright 
line in the sand, the President has been relegated to the role of 
spectator.
  The Commander in Chief has surrendered his moral authority at home 
and found himself ill-equipped to defend American interests abroad.
  At the moment of truth, America's acting Secretary of State--Kofi 
Annan--cut a deal with the devil and, tragically, a weakened, uncertain 
President endorsed the settlement before the ink had even dried.
  Today, we hear reports that there is no final consensus on what to do 
if Iraq violates the settlement. Have we known Saddam to keep his 
promises? What if he does not adhere to the agreement as in previous 
cases? The United Nations apparently cannot come to an agreement on 
what to do about it.
  The President's failure to lead has handed America's foreign policy 
to a cast of functionaries at the United Nations. Mr. President, U.S. 
foreign policy should not be subcontracted to Kofi Annan or written at 
the United Nations. America should not sacrifice one ounce--any other 
ounce--of her sovereignty to the architect and acolytes of one world 
government.
  This ill-conceived transfer of sovereignty has left America and her 
allies with an emboldened Saddam. In Iraq today, Saddam has a firmer 
grip on power, carries more regional prestige and can sell more oil. 
Some dare call this a triumph of diplomacy.
  As I indicated to Secretary Albright this week: ``Preservation of the 
status quo is not a diplomatic triumph, Madam Secretary, it's a 
tragedy. The clear winner of this round is Saddam Hussein.''
  Instead of being penalized for his defiance, Saddam is winning bonus 
points: more oil sales, heightened standing, and new momentum to end 
the sanctioned regime. Ironically, in agreeing to agree, Saddam has 
committed to do nothing more than he was obliged to do all along.
  Mr. President, by the grace of God, America won the cold war. We 
triumphed over the ``Evil Empire'' of Lenin and Stalin. It is time for 
us to stand again for liberty and freedom.
  Saddam is a brutal dictator, a tyrant whose actions at home betray 
his intentions abroad.
  Let us sound a certain trumpet for America's vital national 
interests--in the Middle East and around the world. Let us not be 
governed by the whims and the will of Kofi Annan and the United 
Nations. Let America lead the world by the force of our principles and 
the power of our ideas, with the hope that one day the long tug of 
memory might look favorably upon us as we look approvingly on those who 
answered freedom's call in decades past.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a column which appeared 
in the Washington Post, Friday, the 27th of February, by Charles 
Krauthammer be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

      A Deal That's Worse Than Worthless--Peace in Our Time--Again

       Two days before Kofi Annan made his ``breakthrough'' in 
     Baghdad, the U.N. Security Council, with U.S. approval, 
     authorized a huge increase in the amount of oil that Iraq can 
     sell. In a stroke, this ``humanitarian'' gesture doubled 
     Iraq's oil income to $10.5 billion a year. Iraq can now sell 
     nearly 2 million barrels a day--about two-thirds of the oil 
     it was selling when producing at peak capacity before the 
     embargo. And that number does not even count the oil that we 
     know Saddam is illegally smuggling through Iranian coastal 
     waters.
       At this U.N.- and U.S.-authorized level, Iraq--under 
     sanctions!--becomes the eighth-largest oil exporter in the 
     world.
       This embargo-buster passed with little fanfare. It barely 
     made the back pages of the newspapers. All hands pretended, 
     moreover, that there was no linkage between this bonanza and 
     the subsequent Saddam-Annan deal in Baghdad.
       But remember that last November, when the administration 
     was desperately looking for a way out of the last Iraq 
     crisis, the State Department said we'd be willing to offer 
     Saddam a ``carrot'' to get him to be nice. Such as? Such as a 
     sharp increase in the amount of ``humanitarian'' oil that 
     Iraq could sell.
       So last time, when Saddam broke the Gulf War agreements and 
     kicked out U.S. arms inspectors, the carrot was offered. This 
     time, when Saddam broke the Gulf War agreements and stymied 
     all the arms inspectors, the carrot was delivered.
       Last time, President Clinton flapped about threateningly, 
     then watched meekly as the Russian foreign minister brokered 
     a ``compromise.'' This time, Clinton flapped about 
     threateningly, then watched meekly as the U.N. secretary 
     general brokered a new ``compromise.''
       Last time, Clinton's U.N. ambassador crowed that Saddam had 
     ``blinked.'' This time, Madeleine Albright's spokesman deemed 
     the deal ``win-win'' for us.
       Last time, the deal turned out to be completely worthless, 
     giving Saddam four more months to hide his nasty stuff. This 
     time, the deal is worse than worthless, giving Saddam crucial 
     victories on the two issues he cares most about: economic 
     sanctions and weapons inspections.
       1. Sanctions. Not only did Saddam incur no penalty for his 
     open defiance of the United Nations and open provocation of 
     the United States, he was treated by Annan with a deference 
     and flattery that bordered on the indecent. Moreover, the 
     Annan-Saddam Memorandum of Understanding breathes not a word 
     of criticism about Iraq's violating previous agreements, nor 
     about its creating this crisis. On the contrary, Annan 
     trashed his own arms inspectors (UNSCOM) as unruly 
     ``cowboys'' and undertook, in writing, to bring Saddam's 
     ultimate objective, the lifting of sanctions, ``to the full 
     attention of the members of the Security Council.''
       Sure enough, upon his return to New York, Annan began 
     emphasing the need to show Iraq ``the light at the end of the 
     tunnel,'' the Iraqi code phrase for ending sanctions. Like 
     Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who brokered the 
     first nonagreement in November, Annan has become Saddam's 
     sanctions-lifting advocate to the world. Unlike Saddam buddy 
     and ex-KGB biggie Primakow, however, Annan is an effective 
     shill.
       2. Inspections. The United States had demanded no retreat 
     from free and full access and no tampering by Iraq with the 
     composition and authority of UNSCOM teams. Annan came back 
     with a radical change in the composition of the inspection 
     teams and a serious erosion of their authority. Inspection of 
     ``presidential sites,'' those huge complexes with hundreds of 
     buildings where Saddam could be hiding anything, is taken 
     away from control of UNSCOM, the tough inspectors whose 
     probity we can rely on.
       These sites are instead entrusted to a new body, headed by 
     an Annan appointee. It will comprise political appointees, 
     including diplomat-spies from Iraq-friendly France, Russia 
     and China, as well as inspectors who presumably possess the 
     requisite delicacy and sensitivity to Iraqi feelings. Iraqis 
     can be so

[[Page S1135]]

     touchy about their stores of poison gas and anthrax.
       How do you carry out a spot inspection--the only kind that 
     has any hope of finding anything--when you first have to 
     notify and await the arrival of, say, the Russian appointee, 
     who has a hot line to the very Iraqi regime he is supposed to 
     inspect? Inspector Clouseau has a better chance of finding 
     concealed nerve gas than this polyglot outfit of compromised 
     politicians and handpicked inspectors.
       So tote it up. For Saddam: No penalty. Annan shilling for 
     his demand to end all sanctions. UNSCOW undermined. 
     Presidential palaces secure for storing anthrax and such. And 
     his oil output doubled.
       Another triumph of Clinton diplomacy.

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