[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12239-S12240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONCERN OVER RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN IRAQ

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, today, along with Senators McCain, 
Lieberman, Hutchison and twenty-three other Senators, I am sending a 
letter to the President to express our concern over Iraq's actions and 
urging the President ``after consulting with Congress, and consistent 
with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions 
(including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi 
sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to 
end its weapons of mass destruction programs.''
  At the outset, I believe it would be useful to review the events that 
led up to the requirement for the destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction programs. At the time that Iraq unlawfully invaded and 
occupied its neighbor Kuwait, the UN Security Council imposed economic 
and weapons sanctions on Iraq.
  After Iraqi forces had been ousted from Kuwait by the U.S.-led 
coalition and active hostilities had ended, but while coalition forces 
were still occupying Iraqi territory, the UN Security Council, acting 
under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, conducted a review of Iraq's 
history with weapons of mass destruction and made a number of decisions 
in April 1991 to achieve its goals, including a formal cease fire.
  With respect to Iraq's history, the Security Council noted Iraq's 
threat during the Gulf War to use chemical weapons in violation of its 
treaty obligations, Iraq's prior use of chemical weapons, Iraq's use of 
ballistic missiles in unprovoked attacks, and reports that Iraq 
attempted to acquire materials for a nuclear weapons program contrary 
to its treaty obligations.
  After reviewing Iraq's history, the Security Council decided that 
``Iraq shall unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or 
rendering harmless, under international supervision'' of its weapons of 
mass destruction programs and all ballistic missiles with a range 
greater than 150 kilometers and conditioned the lifting of the economic 
and weapons sanctions on Iraq's meeting its obligations, including 
those relating to its weapons of mass destruction programs.
  To implement those decisions, the Security Council authorized the 
formation of a Special Commission, which has come to be known as 
UNSCOM, to ``carry out immediate on-site inspection of Iraq's 
biological, chemical and missile capabilities, based on Iraq's 
declarations and the designation of any additional locations by the 
Special Commission itself'' and requested the Director General of the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to carry out similar 
responsibilities for Iraq's nuclear program. Additionally, the UN 
Security Council decided that Iraq shall unconditionally undertake not 
to use, develop, construct or acquire weapons of mass destruction and 
called for UNSCOM to conduct ongoing monitoring and verification of 
Iraq's compliance. The detailed modalities for these actions were 
agreed upon by an exchange of letters in May 1991 that were signed by 
the UN Secretary General, the Executive Chairman of UNSCOM and the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq.
  Thus, Iraq unconditionally accepted the UN Security Council's demands 
and thereby achieved a formal cease-fire and the withdrawal of 
coalition forces from its territory.
  Mr. President, UNSCOM has sought to carry out its responsibilities in 
as expeditious and effective way as possible. UNSCOM Executive Chairman 
Richard Butler and his teams, however, have been confronted with Iraqi 
obstacles, lack of cooperation and lies. As UNSCOM has noted in its own 
document entitled ``UNSCOM Main Achievements'': ``UNSCOM has uncovered 
significant undeclared proscribed weapons programmes, destroyed 
elements of those programmes so far identified, including equipment, 
facilities and materials, and has been attempting to map out and verify 
the full extent of these programmes in the face of serious efforts to 
deceive and conceal. UNSCOM also continues to try to verify Iraq's 
illegal unilateral destruction activities. The investigation of such 
undeclared activities is crucial to the verification of Iraq's 
declarations on its proscribed weapons programmes.''
  Mr. President, I will not dwell on the numerous instances of Iraq's 
failure to comply with its obligations. I would note, however, that in 
accepting the February 23, 1998 Memorandum of Understanding that was 
signed by the UN Secretary General and Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister, 
that ended Iraq's prior refusal to allow UNSCOM and the IAEA to perform 
their missions, the UN Security Council warned Iraq that it will face 
the ``severest consequences'' if it fails to adhere to the commitments 
it reaffirmed in the MOU. Suffice it to say that on August 5, 1998, 
Iraq declared that it was suspending all cooperation with UNSCOM and 
the IAEA, except some limited monitoring activities.

[[Page S12240]]

  In response, on September 9, 1998, a unanimous UN Security Council 
condemned Iraq's action and suspended its sanctions' reviews until 
UNSCOM and the IAEA report that they are satisfied that they have been 
able to exercise their full range of activities. Within the last week, 
Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister refused to rescind Iraq's decision. 
Throughout this process and despite the unanimity in the UN Security 
Council, Iraq has depicted the United States and Britain as preventing 
UNSCOM and the IAEA from certifying Iraqi compliance with its 
obligations.
  To review, Iraq unlawfully invaded and occupied Kuwait, it's armed 
forces were ejected from Kuwait by the U.S.-led coalition forces, 
active hostilities ceased, and the UN Security Council demanded and 
Iraq accepted, as a condition of a cease-fire, that its weapons of mass 
destruction programs be destroyed and that such destruction be 
accomplished under international supervision and permanent monitoring, 
and that economic and weapons sanctions remain in effect until those 
conditions are satisfied.
  Mr. President, by invading Kuwait, Iraq threatened international 
peace and security in the Persian Gulf region. By its failure to comply 
with the conditions it accepted as the international community's 
requirements for a cease-fire, Iraq continues to threaten international 
peace and security. By its refusal to abandon its quest for weapons of 
mass destruction and the means to deliver them, Iraq is directly 
defying and challenging the international community and directly 
violating the terms of the cease fire between itself and the United 
States-led coalition.
  Mr. President, it is vitally important for the international 
community to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal 
to allow UNSCOM and the IAEA to carry out their missions. To date, the 
response has been to suspend sanctions' reviews and to seek to reverse 
Iraq's decision through diplomacy.
  Mr. President, as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan noted when he 
successfully negotiated the memorandum of agreement with Saddam Hussein 
in February, ``You can do a lot with diplomacy, but of course you can 
do a lot more with diplomacy backed up by fairness and force.'' It is 
my sincere hope that Saddam Hussein, when faced with the credible 
threat of the use of force, will comply with the relevant UN Security 
Council Resolutions. But, I believe that we must carefully consider 
other actions, including, if necessary, the use of force to destroy 
suspect sites if compliance is not achieved.
  Mr. President, the Iraqi people are suffering because of Saddam 
Hussein's noncompliance. The United States has no quarrel with the 
Iraqi people. It is most unfortunate that they have been subjected to 
economic sanctions for more than seven years. If Saddam Hussein had 
cooperated with UNSCOM and the IAEA from the start and had met the 
other requirements of the UN Security Council resolutions, including 
the accounting for more than 600 Kuwaitis and third-country nationals 
who disappeared at the hands of Iraqi authorities during the occupation 
of Kuwait, those sanctions could have been lifted a number of years 
ago. I support the UN's oil-for-food program and regret that Saddam 
Hussein took more than five years to accept it. In the final analysis, 
as the Foreign Ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 
and the United Arab Emirates, comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council 
stated at the time of the February crisis: ``responsibility for the 
result of this crisis falls on the Iraqi regime itself.''
  I ask that the letter to the President be printed in the Record.
  The letter follows:
                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                  Committee on Armed Services,

                                  Washington, DC, October 9, 1998.
     The President,
     The White House, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: We are writing to express our concern 
     over recent developments in Iraq.
       Last February, the Senate was working on a resolution 
     supporting military action if diplomacy did not succeed in 
     convincing Saddam Hussein to comply with the United Nations 
     Security Council resolutions concerning the disclosure and 
     destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. This 
     effort was discontinued when the Iraqi government reaffirmed 
     its acceptance of all relevant Security Council resolutions 
     and reiterated its willingness to cooperate with the United 
     Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the International 
     Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a Memorandum of Understanding 
     signed by its Deputy Prime Minister and the United Nations 
     Secretary General.
       Despite a brief interval of cooperation, however, Saddam 
     Hussein has failed to live up to his commitments. On August 
     5, Iraq suspended all cooperation with UNSCOM and the IAEA, 
     except some limited monitoring activity.
       As UNSCOM Executive Chairman Richard Butler told us in a 
     briefing for all Senators in March, the fundamental historic 
     reality is that Iraq has consistently sought to limit, 
     mitigate, reduce and, in some cases, defeat the Security 
     Council's resolutions by a variety of devices.
       We were gratified by the Security Council's action in 
     unanimously passing Resolution 1194 on September 9. By 
     condemning Iraq's decision to suspend cooperation with UNSCOM 
     and the IAEA, by demanding that Iraq rescind that decision 
     and cooperate fully with UNSCOM and the IAEA, by deciding not 
     to conduct the sanctions' review scheduled for October 1998 
     and not to conduct any future such reviews until UNSCOM and 
     the IAEA, report that they are satisfied that they have been 
     able to exercise the full range of activities provided for in 
     their mandates, and by acting under Chapter VII of the United 
     Nations Charter, the Security Council has sent an unambiguous 
     message to Saddam Hussein.
       We are skeptical, however, that Saddam Hussein will take 
     heed of this message even though it is from a unanimous 
     Security Council. Moreover, we are deeply concerned that 
     without the intrusive inspections and monitoring by UNSCOM 
     and the IAEA, Iraq will be able, over time, to reconstitute 
     its weapons of mass destruction programs.
       In light of these developments, we urge you, after 
     consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. 
     Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, 
     if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraq 
     sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's 
     refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.
           Sincrely,
         Carl Levin, Joe Lieberman, Frank R. Lautenberg, Dick 
           Lugar, Kit Bond, Jon Kyl, Chris Dodd, John McCain, Kay 
           Bailey Hutchison, Alfonse D'Amato, Bob Kerrey, Pete V. 
           Domenici, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara A. Mikulski.
         Thomas Daschle, John Breaux, Tim Johnson, Daniel K. 
           Inouye, Arlen Specter, James Inhofe, Strom Thurmond, 
           Mary L. Landrieu, Wendell Ford, John F. Kerry, Chuck 
           Grassley, Jesse Helms, Rick Santorum.

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