    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [July 9, 1997]
    [Pages 934-937]
    [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
    July 9, 1997

    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 United
    Nations Security Council (UNSC). This report covers the period from May
    8 to the present. Saddam Hussein remains a threat to his people and the
    region and the United States remains determined to contain the threat of
    Saddam's regime. As Secretary of State Albright stated on March 26, the
    United States looks forward to the day when Iraq joins the family of
    nations as a responsible and law-abiding member and that, until then,
    containment must continue. Secretary Albright made clear that Saddam's
    departure would make a difference and that, should a change in Iraq's
    government occur, the United States would stand ready to enter rapidly
    into a dialogue with the successor regime.
        In terms of military operations, the United States and its coalition
    partners continue to enforce the no-fly zones over northern Iraq under
    Operation Northern Watch, and over southern Iraq with Operation Southern
    Watch. We have not detected any confirmed, intentional Iraqi violations
    of either no-fly zone since late April.
        In addition to our air operations, we will continue to maintain a
    strong U.S. presence in the region in order to deter Saddam. United
    States force levels include land- and carrier-based aircraft, surface
    warships, a marine amphibious task force, a Patriot missile battalion,
    and a mechanized battalion task force deployed in support of USCINCCENT
    operations. To enhance force protection throughout the region,
    additional military security personnel have been deployed for continuous
    rotation. USCINCCENT continues to closely monitor the security situation
    in the region to ensure adequate force protection is provided for all
    deployed forces.
        United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 949, adopted in
    October 1994, demands that Iraq not utilize its military or any

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    other forces to threaten its neighbors or U.N. operations in Iraq and
    that it not redeploy troops or enhance its military capacity in southern
    Iraq. In view of Saddam's accumulating record of unreliability, it is
    prudent to retain a significant U.S. force presence in the region in
    order to maintain the capability to respond rapidly to possible Iraqi
    aggression or threats against its neighbors.
        Since my last report, the Government of Iraq has continued to flout
    its obligations under UNSC Resolutions. Under the terms of relevant UNSC
    Resolutions, Iraq must grant the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq
    (UNSCOM) inspectors immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted access to
    any location in Iraq that they wish to examine, and access to any Iraqi
    official whom they may wish to interview, so that UNSCOM may fully
    discharge its mandate to ensure that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
    (WMD) program has been eliminated. Iraq continues, as it has for the
    past 6 years, to fail to live up to either the letter or the spirit of
    the commitment. Of particular concern is UNSCOM's June report to the
    Security Council of serious incidents involving Iraqi escort helicopters
    flying dangerously close to the Commission's aircraft to force it to
    change direction and multiple cases of Iraqi personnel aboard UNSCOM
    helicopters attempting to wrest control of aircraft from their pilots.
        In his June report, UNSCOM Chairman Rolf Ekeus also indicated that
    UNSCOM had found new indications that Iraq has not fulfilled its
    requirement to destroy its WMD. Chairman Ekeus told the Security Council
    that on June 10 and 12, Iraqi officials totally blocked UNSCOM
    inspectors from access to three sites suspected of containing hidden
    information about its prohibited weapons programs. He reported that
    UNSCOM inspectors observed Iraqi officials shredding, burning, or hiding
    documents at the sites, and that senior Iraqi government officials
    refused to allow UNSCOM inspectors to interview officials involved in
    Iraq's weapons programs. Chairman Ekeus singled out Iraq's leadership as
    having hindered several attempts by UNSCOM inspectors to inspect areas
    that are suspected of being hiding places for chemical or biological
    weapons or technology used to manufacture those weapons.
        In response to Iraqi intransigence, the U.S. sponsored and the
    Security Council on June 21 passed unanimously, UNSC Resolution 1115,
    which 1) condemns the repeated refusal of Iraqi authorities to allow
    access to sites designated by UNSCOM; 2) demands that Iraq cooperate
    fully with UNSCOM in accordance with relevant UNSC resolutions and allow
    UNSCOM inspection teams immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted
    access to any and all areas, facilities, equipment, records, and means
    of transportation that they wish to inspect; 3) demands that the
    Government of Iraq give immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted
    access to officials and other persons under the authority of the Iraqi
    Government whom UNSCOM wishes to interview; 4) provides that the
    periodic sanctions reviews provided for in UNSC Resolution 687 will not
    be conducted until after UNSCOM's next consolidated progress report--due
    October 11, 1997--after which time those reviews will resume; 5)
    expresses the firm intention to impose additional measures on those
    categories of Iraqi officials responsible for Iraq's noncompliance,
    unless advised by UNSCOM that Iraq is in substantial compliance with
    this resolution; and 6) reaffirms its full support for UNSCOM.
        Implementation of UNSCR 1051 continues. It provides for a mechanism
    to monitor Iraq's effort to reacquire proscribed weapons capabilities by
    requiring that Iraq notify a joint unit of UNSCOM and the International
    Atomic Energy Agency in advance of any imports of dual-use items.
    Similarly, countries must provide timely notification of exports to Iraq
    of dual-use items.
        Regarding northern Iraq, the United States continues to lead efforts
    to increase security and stability in the north and minimize
    opportunities for Baghdad or Tehran to threaten Iraqi citizens there.
    Following a successful trip to northern Iraq in early April, Acting
    Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch led a
    U.S. delegation to Turkey for a fourth round of higher-level talks on
    May 14 to help resolve differences between the two main Iraqi Kurd
    groups, Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and
    Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
        During this latest meeting under the ``Ankara Process,'' the U.S.,
    British, and Turkish cosponsors of the talks obtained agreement from KDP
    and PUK delegations to take several steps designed to strengthen the
    October 23, 1996, cease-fire between the two Iraqi Kurd groups and
    encourage their political reconciliation.

    [[Page 936]]

        Representatives from the Iraqi Turkoman and Iraqi Assyrian
    organizations participating in the neutral, indigenous Peace Monitoring
    Force (PMF) also attended the fourth round of talks in Ankara. The PMF
    participants also continue to help the Iraqi Kurd groups move forward on
    several other confidence-building measures, the most recent of which
    included several joint committee meetings on May 29 that addressed a
    range of civilian services and humanitarian issues affecting all
    residents of the north. Local representatives of the two Kurd groups,
    the three countries, and the PMF continue to meet biweekly in Ankara and
    move forward on other confidence-building measures.
        As part of the Ankara process, the United States is providing
    political, financial, and logistical support for the PMF in northern
    Iraq that has demarcated the cease-fire line and monitors the cease-
    fire. Our support is being provided in the form of commodities and
    services in accordance with a drawdown directed by me on December 11,
    1996, and in the form of funds to be used to provide other nonlethal
    assistance in accordance with a separate determination made by former
    Secretary of State Christopher on November 10, 1996. The PMF began full
    deployment in mid-April and continues to investigate and resolve
    reported cease-fire violations.
        These steps, as with all our efforts under the Ankara process and
    concerning Iraq, maintain support for the unity and territorial
    integrity of Iraq. Security conditions in northern Iraq nevertheless
    remain tenuous at best, with the Iranian and PKK (Kurdistan Workers
    Party) activity adding to the ever-present threat from Baghdad.
        The oil for food arrangement under UNSCR 986 was reauthorized under
    UNSCR 1111 on June 9, 1997. Under UNSCR 1111, Iraq is authorized to sell
    up to $2 billion of oil during a 180-day period (with the possibility of
    UNSC renewal for subsequent 180-day periods). Resolution 1111, like its
    predecessor, requires that the proceeds of this limited oil sale, all of
    which must be deposited in a U.N. escrow account, will be used to
    purchase food, medicine, and other material and supplies for essential
    civilian needs for all Iraqi citizens and to fund vital U.N. activities
    regarding Iraq. Critical to the success of UNSCR 1111 is Iraq's
    willingness to follow through on its commitments under the resolution to
    allow the U.N. to monitor the distribution of humanitarian goods to the
    Iraqi people. Iraq has suspended any further oil sales until a new
    distribution plan is approved, which will probably occur sometime in
    July. The Iraqi Government has prepared a new distribution plan, which
    is subject to the approval of the U.N. Secretary General.
        Iraq continues to stall and obfuscate rather than work in good faith
    toward accounting for the hundreds of Kuwaitis and third-country
    nationals who disappeared at the hands of Iraqi authorities during the
    occupation. It has also failed to return all of the stolen Kuwaiti
    military equipment and the priceless Kuwaiti cultural and historical
    artifacts that were looted during the occupation.
        The human rights situation throughout Iraq remains unchanged. Iraq's
    repression of its Shi'a population continues with policies that are
    destroying the Marsh Arabs' way of life in southern Iraq, as well as the
    ecology of the southern marshes. The U.N., in its most recent reports on
    implementation of UNSCR 986, recognized that the Government of Iraq
    continues to forcibly deport Iraqi citizens from Kirkuk and other areas
    of northern Iraq still under the Iraqi Government's control. Saddam
    Hussein shows no signs of complying with UNSCR 688, which demands that
    Iraq cease the repression of its own people. The effort by various Iraqi
    opposition groups and nongovernmental organizations to document Iraqi
    war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law, known
    as INDICT, continues.
        The Multinational Interception Force (MIF) continues its important
    mission in the Arabian Gulf. The United States Navy provides the bulk of
    the forces involved in the maritime sanctions enforcement although we
    receive much-needed help from a number of close allies. In recent
    months, ships from the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, and the United
    Kingdom have participated in MIF operations. We continue active pursuit
    of broad-based international participation in these operations.
        Illegal smuggling of Iraqi gasoil from the Shatt Al Arab waterway
    continues to increase. We estimate that over 81,000 metric tons of
    gasoil each month is exported from Iraq in violation of UNSCR 661. The
    smugglers utilize the territorial waters of Iran with the complicity of
    the Iranian Government, which profits from charging protection fees for
    these vessels, to avoid interception by the MIF in international waters.
    Cash raised from these illegal operations

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    is used to purchase contraband goods, which are then smuggled back into
    Iraq by the same route. We continue to brief the U.N. Sanctions
    Committee regarding these operations and have pressed the Committee to
    compel Iran to give a full accounting of its involvement. We have also
    worked closely with our MIF partners and the Gulf Cooperation Council
    states to take measures to curb sanctions-breaking operations. Recent
    announcements by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that
    it intends to crack down on smugglers who operate UAE-flagged vessels is
    a positive step in this regard.
        The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), established
    pursuant to UNSCR 687, continues to resolve claims against Iraq arising
    from Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait. The UNCC has
    issued almost 1.1 million awards worth approximately $5.9 billion.
    Thirty percent of the proceeds from the oil sales permitted by UNSCR 986
    have been allocated to the Compensation Fund to pay awards and finance
    the operations of the UNCC, and these proceeds will continue to be
    allocated to the Fund under UNSCR 1111. Initial payments out of the
    Compensation Fund are currently being made on awards in the order in
    which UNCC has approved them, in installments of $2,500.00.
        To conclude, Iraq remains a serious threat to regional peace and
    stability. I remain determined to see Iraq comply fully with all of its
    obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions. My administration
    will continue to oppose any relaxation of sanctions until Iraq
    demonstrates its peaceful intentions through such compliance.
        I appreciate the support of the Congress for our efforts and shall
    continue to keep the Congress informed about this important issue.
            Sincerely,

                                                          William J. Clinton

    Note: Identical letters were sent to Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House
    of Representatives, and Albert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate. This
    letter was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on July 10.