    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [August 5, 1994]
    [Pages 1437-1440]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Letter to Congressional Leaders Reporting on Iraq's Compliance With
    United Nations Security Council Resolutions
    August 5, 1994

    Dear Mr. Speaker:  (Dear Mr. President:)
        Consistent with the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against
    Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1), and as part of my effort to keep the
    Congress fully informed, I am reporting on the status of efforts to
    obtain Iraq's compliance with the resolutions adopted by the U.N.
    Security Council.
        The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has effectively
    disbanded the Iraqi nuclear weapons program at least for the near term.
    The United Nations has destroyed Iraqi missile launchers, support
    facilities, and a good deal of Iraq's indigenous capability to
    manufacture prohibited missiles. U.N. Special Commission on Iraq
    (UNSCOM) teams have reduced Iraq's ability to produce chemical weapons.
        Notably, UNSCOM's Chemical Destruction Group (CDG) concluded its
    activities on June 14 after establishing an excellent record of
    destroying Iraq's stocks of chemical munitions, agents, precursor
    chemicals, and equipment procured for chemical weapons production. With
    as many as 12 nations participating at any one time, the CDG destroyed
    over 480,000 liters of chemical warfare agents, over 28,000 chemical
    munitions, and over 1,040,000 kilograms and 648 barrels of some 45
    different precursor chemicals for the production of chemical warfare
    agents.
        Significant gaps in accounting for Iraq's weapons of mass
    destruction (WMD) programs remain, however. This is particularly true in
    the biological weapons area. Due to Iraq's insistence that the relevant
    documentation on its past programs has been destroyed, UNSCOM has had to
    resort to other, more time-consuming procedures to fill in the gaps.
        The United Nations is now preparing a long-term monitoring regime
    for Iraq as required by U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 715.
    This program must be carefully designed if it is to be so thorough that
    Iraq cannot rebuild a covert program, as it did before the Gulf War,
    when it claimed to be in compliance with the Nonproliferation Treaty.
    Continued vigilance is necessary because we believe that Saddam Hussein
    is committed to rebuilding his WMD capability once sanctions are lifted.
        It is, therefore, extremely important that this monitoring regime be
    effective, comprehensive, and sustainable. A program of this magnitude
    is unprecedented and will require continued, substantial assistance for
    UNSCOM from supporting nations. Rigorous and extensive trial and field
    testing will be required before UNSCOM can judge the program's
    effectiveness. The Secretary General's report of June 24 has detailed
    those areas where work remains to be done.
        Rolf Ekeus, the Chairman of UNSCOM, has told Iraq that it must
    establish a clear track record of compliance before he can report
    favorably to the Security Council. Chairman Ekeus has said he expects to
    be able to report by September on the start-up of the long-term
    monitoring program. We strongly endorse Chairman Ekeus' approach and
    reject any attempt to limit UNSCOM's flexibility by the establishment of
    a timetable for determining whether Iraq has complied with UNSCR 715. We
    insist on a sustained period of complete and unquestionable compliance
    with the monitoring and verification plans.
        The ``no-fly zones'' over northern and southern Iraq permit the
    monitoring of Iraq's compliance with UNSCRs 687 and 688. Over the last 3
    years, the northern no-fly zone has deterred Iraq from a major military
    offensive in the region. Tragically, on April 14, 1994, two American
    helicopters in the no-fly zone were shot down by U.S. fighter aircraft
    causing 26 casualties. The Department of Defense has completed

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    and made public the unclassified portions of the investigation into the
    circumstances surrounding this incident.
        In southern Iraq, the no-fly zone has stopped Iraq's use of aircraft
    against its population. However, Iraqi forces still wage a land-based
    campaign in the marshes, and the shelling of marsh villages continues.
        In the spring of 1994, the Iraqi military intensified its campaign
    to destroy the southern marshes, launching a large search-and-destroy
    operation. The operation has included the razing of villages
    concentrated in the triangle bounded by An Nasiriya, Al Qurnah, and
    Basrah. Iraqi government engineers are draining the marshes of the
    region while the Iraqi Army is systematically burning thousands of
    dwellings to ensure that the marsh inhabitants are unable to return to
    their ancestral homes. The population of the region, whose marsh culture
    has remained essentially unchanged since 3500 B.C., has in the last few
    years been reduced by an estimated three-quarters.
        As a result of the ``browning'' of the marshes, civilian inhabitants
    continue to flee toward Iran, as well as deeper into the remaining
    marshes. This campaign is a clear violation of UNSCR 688. In northern
    Iraq, in the vicinity of Mosul, we continue to watch Iraqi troop
    movements carefully. Iraq's intentions remain unclear.
        Iraq still refuses to recognize Kuwait's sovereignty and the
    inviolability of the U.N. demarcated border, which was reaffirmed by the
    Security Council in UNSCRs 773 and 833. Iraq has not met its obligations
    concerning Kuwaitis and third-country nationals it detained during the
    war and has taken no substantive steps to cooperate fully with the
    International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as required by UNSCR
    687. Indeed, Iraq refused even to attend the ICRC meetings held in July
    and November 1993 to discuss these issues. While Iraq did attend such a
    meeting in July 1994, it provided no substantive information on missing
    individuals. Iraq also has not responded to more than 600 files on
    missing individuals. We continue to press for Iraqi compliance and
    regard Iraq's actions on these issues as essential to the resolution of
    conflict in the region.
        The Special Rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights
    (UNHRC), Max van der Stoel, continues to report on the human rights
    situation in Iraq, particularly the Iraqi military's repression against
    its civilian populations in the marshes. The Special Rapporteur asserted
    in this February 1994 report that the Government of Iraq has engaged in
    war crimes and crimes against humanity, and may have committed
    violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Regarding the Kurds, the
    Special Rapporteur has judged that the extent and gravity of reported
    violations place the survival of the Kurds in jeopardy.
        The Special Rapporteur has noted that there are essentially no
    freedoms of opinion, expression, or association in Iraq. Torture is
    widespread in Iraq and results from a system of state-terror
    successfully directed at subduing the population. The Special Rapporteur
    repeated his recommendation for the establishment of human rights
    monitors strategically located to improve the flow of information and to
    provide independent verification of reports.
        We are pressing for the deployment of human rights monitors and we
    strongly support their placement. We are gratified that the United
    Nations recently hired a part-time staffer for the Special Rapporteur.
    This is an important step, though not the full program of monitors we
    seek. Van der Stoel's mandate has been extended through February 1995.
    We will file additional reports to the U.N. General Assembly in the fall
    and to the UNHRC in early 1995. We are also pursuing efforts to
    investigate and publicize Iraqi crimes against humanity, war crimes, and
    other violations of international humanitarian law.
        Examples of Iraqi noncooperation and noncompliance continue in other
    areas. For instance, reliable reports have indicated that the Government
    of Iraq is offering reward money for terrorist acts against U.N. and
    humanitarian relief workers in Iraq. And for 3 years there has been a
    clear pattern of criminal acts linking the Government of Iraq to a
    series of assassinations and attacks in northern Iraq on relief workers,
    U.N. guards, and foreign journalists. Ten persons have been injured and
    two have been killed in such attacks this year. The offering of bounty
    for such acts, as well as the commission of such acts, in our view
    constitute violations of UNSCRs 687 and 688.
        The Security Council maintained sanctions at its July 18th regular
    60-day review of Iraq's compliance with its obligations under relevant
    resolutions. Despite ongoing efforts by the Iraqi government to convince
    Security Council members to lift sanctions, member countries were

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    in agreement that Iraq is not in compliance with resolutions of the
    Council, and that existing sanctions should remain in force unchanged.

        The sanctions regime exempts medicine and, in the case of
    foodstuffs, requires only that the U.N. Sanctions Committee be notified
    of food shipments. The Sanctions Committee also continues to consider
    and, when appropriate, approve requests to send to Iraq materials and
    supplies for essential civilian needs. The Iraqi government, in
    contrast, has continued to maintain a full embargo against its northern
    provinces and has acted to distribute humanitarian supplies throughout
    the country only to its supporters and to the military.

        The Iraqi government has refused to sell $1.6 billion in oil, as
    previously authorized by the Security Council in UNSCRs 706 and 712, to
    pay for humanitarian goods. Talks between Iraq and the United Nations on
    implementing these resolutions ended unsuccessfully in October 1993.
    Iraq could use proceeds from such sales to purchase foodstuffs,
    medicines, and materials and supplies for essential civilian needs of
    its population, subject to U.N. monitoring of sales and the equitable
    distribution of humanitarian supplies (including to its northern
    provinces). Iraq's refusal to implement UNSCRs 706 and 712 continues to
    cause needless suffering.

        Proceeds from oil sales also would be used to compensate persons
    injured by Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Of note
    regarding oil sales, discussions are underway with Turkish officials
    concerning the possible flushing of Iraqi oil now in the Turkish
    pipeline that extends from Iraq through Turkey. The flushing is
    necessary to preserve the pipeline that would then be resealed. The
    proceeds would be deposited in a U.N. escrow account and used by Turkey
    to purchase humanitarian goods for Iraq.

        The U.N. Compensation Commission (UNCC) has received about 2.4
    million claims so far, with another 100,000 expected. The United States
    Government has now filed a total of 8 sets of individual claims with the
    Commission, bringing U.S. claims filed to about 3,200 with a total
    asserted value of over $205 million. One panel of UNCC Commissioners
    recently submitted its report on the first installment of individual
    claims for serious personal injury or death. The UNCC Commissioners'
    report recommended awards for a group of about 670 claimants, of which
    11 were U.S. claimants. The Governing Council of the UNCC approved the
    panel's recommendations at its session in later May. This summer the
    first U.S. claimants are expected to receive compensation for their
    losses. The UNCC Commissioners are expected to finish reviewing by the
    end of the year all claims filed involving death and serious personal
    injury.

        In the fall, the UNCC Commissioners are also expected to issue
    reports on two other groups of claims. The first group involves persons
    who were forced to depart suddenly from Kuwait or Iraq during the
    invasion and occupation. The second group involves claimants who
    sustained itemized individual losses; e.g., lost salary or personal
    property. Panels of Commissioners have been meeting this summer to
    prepare their recommendations on those claims.

        With respect to corporate claims, the United States filed two more
    groups of claims with the UNCC in June. Along with our initial filing in
    early May, the United States Government has filed a total of
    approximately $1.4 billion in corporate claims against the Government of
    Iraq, representing almost 140 business entities. Those claims
    represented a multitude of enterprises ranging from small family-owned
    businesses to large multinational corporations.

        The United States Government also expects to file five Government
    claims with the UNCC this August. The five claims are for non-military
    losses, such as damage to Government property (e.g., the U.S. Embassy
    compound in Kuwait) and the costs of evacuating U.S. nationals and their
    families from Kuwait and Iraq. These Government claims have an asserted
    value of about $17 million. In the future, the United States Government
    also intends to file one or more additional Government claim(s)
    involving the costs of monitoring health risks associated with oil well
    fires and other environmental damage in the Persian Gulf region.

        It is clear that Iraq can rejoin the community of civilized nations
    only through democratic processes, respect for human rights, equal
    treatment of its people, and adherence to basic norms of international
    behavior. The Government of Iraq should represent all of Iraq's people
    and be committed to the territorial integrity and unity of Iraq. The
    Iraqi National Congress (INC) espouses these goals, the fulfillment of

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    which would make Iraq a stabilizing force in the Gulf region.

        We will continue to press to achieve Iraq's full compliance with all
    relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions. Until that time, the United
    States will maintain all the sanctions and other measures designed to
    achieve full compliance.

        The continuing support by the Congress of our efforts is especially
    gratifying.

        Sincerely,

                                                          William J. Clinton

    Note: Identical letters were sent to Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the
    House of Representatives, and Robert C. Byrd, President pro tempore of
    the Senate.