[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 19 (Tuesday, March 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A DEAL THAT'S WORSE THAN WORTHLESS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL G. OXLEY

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 3, 1998

  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend a recent column by 
Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post to the attention of my 
colleagues.

               [From the Washington Post, Feb. 27, 1998]

                   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 an 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 
     emphasizing 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 Primakov, 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 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. UNSCOM undermined. 
     Presidential palaces secure for storing anthrax and such. And 
     his oil output doubled.
       Another triumph of Clinton diplomacy.

       

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