[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 138 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A DANGEROUS GAME IN IRAQ

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 6, 1998

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, one of the most persistent and dangerous 
foreign policy dangers that America faces today is in Iraq where Saddam 
Hussein persists in frustrating efforts by the United Nations to 
eliminate his program to develop weapons of mass destruction and the 
means to deploy them.
  I ask unanimous consent that an editorial, entitled ``A Dangerous 
Poker Game With Iraq,'' which appeared in the October 4, 1998, issue of 
the New York Times be printed in the Record. The editorial applauds the 
efforts of Major Scott Ritter to warn the world about Saddam's weapons 
program. The editorial rightly calls on the United States to intensify 
efforts to force Saddam to comply with UN resolutions. As the editorial 
states, ``only the credible threat of force can keep Iraq from resuming 
its weapons programs.''
  This is a stark but true statement with dire consequences. Neither 
this Congress nor this Administration is as focused today as they 
should be on the foreign policy crises in the Middle East, Asia, or 
Russia, which are at our gates. We should be paying more attention 
before these problems move within our walls. I urge all my colleagues 
to read this editorial.

                    A Dangerous Poker Game With Iraq

       In altering its approach to Iraq, the Clinton 
     Administration is blundering into a policy that allows Saddam 
     Hussein to rebuild a deadly arsenal of chemical and 
     biological weapons. That makes it all the more repugnant that 
     the Administration is trying to discredit and intimidate 
     Scott Ritter, a former top United Nations weapons inspector 
     in Iraq who is rightly sounding an alarm about the 
     developments in Baghdad.
       Seven years of economic sanctions and contested arms 
     inspections in Iraq since the end of the Persian Gulf war 
     have fatigued the Security Council. Mr. Hussein has several 
     times manipulated the simmering confrontation to force 
     Washington to reinforce its military presence in the region, 
     at considerable expense. But for all the frustration, the 
     clear lesson from these encounters is that only the credible 
     threat of force can keep Iraq from resuming its weapons 
     programs.
       Washington has now muted that threat even as Mr. Hussein 
     has blocked the most critical avenues of inspection. Though 
     cameras and censors continue to operate at suspected weapons 
     sites, nearly all spot inspections have been banned by the 
     Iraqis. Baghdad's scientists and engineers are essentially 
     free to concoct biological and chemical toxins at unmonitored 
     sites and install them in bombs and missiles. The Clinton 
     Administration, in effect, has suspended its effort to keep 
     Iraq from rearming.
       The Clinton Administration maintains that its restraint has 
     allowed the Security Council to deal directly with Iraq, 
     giving members a better appreciation of Mr. Hussein's 
     defiance. The Council, in turn, has rebuffed Iraqi appeals to 
     lift the embargo on most oil sales. That is fine, but the 
     embargo is just one piece of the puzzle and the Security 
     Council shows little desire to deal with the rest. Even 
     without oil revenues, Mr. Hussein has more than enough money 
     to finance new weapons. Absent aggressive inspection, he will 
     do just that.
       Mr. Ritter, an American who directed and conducted 
     inspections in Iraq, has correctly warned that the world has 
     largely lost its ability to hunt down Iraqi weapons projects. 
     He resigned in protest, disclosing that the United States 
     blocked several inspections to avoid a new confrontation with 
     Baghdad. Mr. Ritter also reported that many of the best 
     intelligence tips about Iraqi activities came from Israel, an 
     understandable source given Israel's vulnerability to Iraqi 
     attack.
       Mr. Ritter has been rewarded for this truth telling with a 
     stern warning from the United Nations, a Federal criminal 
     investigation into his association with Israel and the 
     ludicrous assertion of American officials that he does not 
     know what he is talking about. This treatment is an 
     embarrassment to the country.
       Every day that passes without spot inspections gives Iraq 
     more time to rearm. While Washington is toasting its success 
     in uniting the Security Council behind the embargo, Mr. 
     Hussein is busy building weapons that can threaten the entire 
     Middle East.

     

                          ____________________