[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[August 2, 1999]
[Pages 1365-1369]
[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 2, 1999

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). My last report, consistent with Public 
Law 102-1, was transmitted on May 19, 1999.

[[Page 1366]]

Overview

    We are convinced that as long as Saddam Hussein remains in power, he will continue to threaten the 
well-being of his people, the peace of the region, and vital U.S. 
interests. We will continue to contain these threats, but over the long 
term, the best way to address them is by encouraging the establishment 
of a new government in Baghdad. To this end, we continue to work 
intensively with the Iraqi opposition. In May, the Iraqi National 
Congress (INC) Interim Presidency Committee met with the Secretary of 
State, the National Security 
Advisor, and several Members of Congress in 
Washington. The Department of State has been assisting the INC in its 
preparations for a National Assembly meeting. Also, the Department has 
been working with other nongovernmental organizations to develop 
projects to assist the Iraqi opposition and the Iraqi people in their 
efforts to achieve a regime change. In June, delegations from the two 
main Kurdish parties traveled to Washington to discuss the next steps in 
implementing the reconciliation agreement they signed in Washington last 
year.
    During the last 60 days, we have also been working with members of 
the UNSC to build support to adopt a resolution that would reestablish 
an effective disarmament and monitoring presence inside Iraq, better 
meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, and increase pressure 
on Iraq to account for those missing from the Gulf War, and return 
Kuwaiti property. The Security Council is currently continuing its 
discussions on these matters.
    The United States continues to support the international community's 
efforts to provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people 
through the oil-for-food program. On May 21, the Security Council 
unanimously adopted Resolution 1242, extending the program for another 
180 days.

U.S. and Coalition Force Levels in the Gulf Region

    Saddam Hussein's record of aggressive 
behavior necessitates the deployment of a highly capable force in the 
region in order to deter Iraq from threatening its neighbors, 
reconstituting its WMD program, or moving against the Kurds in Northern 
Iraq. We will continue to maintain a robust posture and have established 
a rapid reinforcement capability to supplement our forces in the Gulf, 
if needed.
    Our forces are a balanced mix of land and carrier-based aircraft, 
surface ships, a Patriot missile battalion, a mechanized battalion task 
force, and special operations units. To enhance force protection 
throughout the region, additional military security personnel are also 
deployed.

Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch

    Aircraft of the United States and coalition partners enforcing the 
no-fly zones over Iraq under Operations Northern Watch and Southern 
Watch are regularly illuminated by radar and engaged by anti-aircraft 
artillery, and occasionally, by surface-to-air missiles.
    As a result of Iraq's no-fly zone violations and attacks on our 
aircraft, our aircrews continue to respond with force. United States and 
coalition forces are fully prepared and authorized to defend themselves 
against Iraqi threats while carrying out their no-fly zone enforcement 
mission and, when circumstances warranted, have engaged various 
components of the Iraqi integrated air defense system. While threats to 
our aircraft continue, actual Iraqi aircraft violations of the no-fly 
zones have declined.

The Maritime Interception Force

    The multinational Maritime Interception Force (MIF), operating in 
accordance with Resolution 665 and other relevant resolutions, continues 
to enforce U.N. sanctions in the Gulf. The U.S. Navy is the single 
largest component of the MIF, but it is frequently augmented by ships, 
aircraft, and other support assets from Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, 
Canada, Kuwait, The Netherlands, New Zealand, the UAE, and the United 
Kingdom. Member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) provide 
logistical and personnel support to the MIF, and accept vessels diverted 
for violating U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
    The smuggling of refined petroleum products through the Gulf has 
remained at a low level since Operation Desert Fox. The MIF, and our 
ability rapidly to augment it, will continue to serve as a critical 
deterrent to both the smuggling of petroleum products out of the Gulf 
and the smuggling of prohibited items into Iraq.

[[Page 1367]]

UNSCOM/IAEA: Weapons of Mass Destruction

    There has been no United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) or 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) presence in Iraq since 
December 15, 1998. UNSCOM informed the Security Council on June 1 of the 
status of UNSCOM's chemical laboratory, biological room, equipment, and 
components in the Baghdad Monitoring and Verification Center (BMVC). The 
Canal Hotel houses UNSCOM offices along with those of other U.N. 
activities in Iraq, such as the Office of the Iraq Programme, which 
implements the oil-for-food program. UNSCOM has analytical equipment and 
materials it would like to see removed in a straightforward technical 
operation as a precaution. The samples include less than one kilogram of 
seized Iraqi mustard agent. There are no immediate safety concerns. In 
June, UNSCOM recommended to the Security Council that UNSCOM send a team 
of experts to destroy the conventional lab chemicals, chemical 
standards, and biological samples, and request that Iraq cooperate. In 
July the U.N. Secretariat, in consultation with UNSCOM, deputized a team 
of experts to decommission the lab. UNSCOM provided an operations plan 
for the mission to the Secretariat. UNSCOM and U.S. experts trained the 
U.N. team in Bahrain. The U.N. team consisted of an UNSCOM 
administrator, a biologist from a German university, and four experts 
from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Dual-Use Imports

    Resolution 1051 established a joint UNSCOM/IAEA unit to monitor 
Iraq's imports of allowed dual-use items. Iraq must notify the unit 
before it imports specific items that can be used in both weapons of 
mass destruction and civilian applications. Similarly, U.N. members must 
provide timely notification of exports to Iraq of such dual-use items. 
Since the withdrawal of UNSCOM and IAEA monitors, only some limited 
monitoring in certain sectors is being conducted by the U.N. Office of 
the Iraq Programme inspectors. This situation has presented new 
challenges for the U.N. Sanctions Committee and is a factor in the 
contract approval process. As a precautionary matter, the United States 
has placed holds on a number of dual-use contracts that might otherwise 
have been approved.

The U.N. Oil-for-Food Program

    We continue to support the international community's efforts to 
provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people through the oil-
for-food program. On May 21, the Security Council unanimously adopted 
Resolution 1242, extending the program for another 180 days. As in phase 
five, Iraq is again authorized to sell up to $5.2 billion worth of oil 
in the coming 180 days. Because of the increase in world oil prices and 
increased exports, Iraq may reach the ceiling during this phase. As of 
June 14, U.N. reporting indicates that since the start of the oil-for-
food program, 5,375 contracts for humanitarian goods worth over $7 
billion have been approved with 389 contracts worth $351 million on hold 
and approximately 1,000 contracts in various stages of processing in the 
United Nations.
    Within the oil-for-food program, Resolution 1242 maintains a 
separate program for northern Iraq, administered directly by the United 
Nations in consultation with the local population. This program, which 
the United States strongly supports, ensures that when Iraq contracts 
for the purchase of humanitarian goods, 13 to 15 percent of the funds 
generated under the oil-for-food program are spent on items for northern 
Iraq. The separate northern program was established because of Baghdad's 
repression and disregard for the humanitarian needs of the Kurdish, 
Assyrian, Yezidi, and Turkoman minorities in northern Iraq.
    Humanitarian programs such as oil-for-food have steadily improved 
the life of the average Iraqi living under sanctions while denying 
Saddam Hussein control over Iraq's oil 
revenues. Currently, the ration basket provides over 2,000 calories per 
day per Iraqi. We will continue to work with the U.N. Secretariat, the 
Security Council, and others in the international community to ensure 
that the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people are met while denying 
political or economic benefits to the Baghdad regime. In addition, we 
are working with the United Nations and other Security Council members 
to mitigate the effects of the current drought in Iraq.

Northern Iraq: Kurdish Reconciliation

    In June, delegations from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and 
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) traveled to Washington to discuss 
the next steps in implementing

[[Page 1368]]

the accord they signed in September 1998. Consensus was achieved on a 
number of confidence-building measures, including opening party offices 
in major cities throughout northern Iraq, eschewing negative press 
statements, countering the divisive influence of the Kurdistan Workers' 
Party (PKK), beginning the return of internally displaced persons, and 
creating a voter registration commission for upcoming elections. The 
delegations discussed other issues, such as revenue sharing, internal 
security, and the formation of an interim joint regional assembly and 
administration. They will continue these talks in northern Iraq and seek 
to implement steps that were agreed.

The Human Rights Situation in Iraq

    The human rights situation in Iraq continues to fall far short of 
international norms, in violation of Resolution 688. That resolution 
explicitly notes that the consequences of the regime's repression of its 
own people constitute a threat to international peace and security in 
the region. It also demands immediate access by international 
humanitarian aid organizations to all Iraqis in need. However, for over 
7 years the Iraqi government has refused to allow the U.N. Human Rights 
Commission Special Rapporteur for Iraq, Max Van der Stoel, to visit Iraq. U.N. human rights monitors have 
never been allowed into Iraq.
    Severe repression continues in southern Iraq, as the regime works 
toward the destruction of the Marsh Arabs' way of life and the unique 
ecology of the southern marshes. The regime has repeatedly ignored 
appeals by Max Van der Stoel and others 
for access by human rights monitors to investigate these reports. The 
human rights monitors have asked to investigate the alleged 
assassination of three of Iraq's most senior Islamic clerics: Ayatollah 
Mohammed al-Sader in February 1999, Ayatollah Borujerdi in April 1998, 
and Ayatollah al-Gharavi in June 1998.
    In the north, outside the Kurdish-controlled areas, the government 
continues the forced expulsion of ethnic Kurds and Turkomans from Kirkuk 
and other cities.

The Iraqi Opposition

    We are deepening our engagement with the forces of change in Iraq, 
helping Iraqis both inside and outside Iraq to become a more effective 
voice for the aspirations of the people. We will work toward the day 
when Iraq has a government worthy of its people, a government prepared 
to live in peace with its neighbors, and respects the rights of its 
citizens. We believe that a change of regime in Baghdad is inevitable, 
and that it is urgently incumbent on the world community to support the 
Iraqis who are working to ensure that change is positive. These Iraqis 
include the resistance inside the country, and those free Iraqis now in 
exile or in northern Iraq, who seek to improve the chances that the next 
government of Iraq will truly represent, serve, and protect all the 
Iraqi people.
    The INC has stepped up its activities since the April 7-8 meeting of 
the Executive Council at Windsor. The Interim Presidency Committee 
visited Washington from May 24 to May 28 for meetings with the Secretary 
of State, the National Security Advisor, and several Members of 
Congress. In a demonstration of the growing cohesion among the Iraqi 
opposition, the INC leadership was accompanied by other key Sunni 
opposition leaders. The INC also sent a delegation to the United Nations 
in May to discuss humanitarian and human rights issues.
    Over the last several weeks, the INC Executive Committee met again 
in London and the Interim Presidency Committee has worked on 
preparations for their National Assembly. The Department of State 
assisted the INC in these efforts by funding conference planning 
services with Economic Support Funds. Using these same funds, the 
Department of State worked with other nongovernmental organizations to 
develop projects to assist the Iraqi opposition and the Iraqi people in 
their efforts to achieve regime change.

The United Nations Compensation Commission

    The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), established 
pursuant to Resolutions 687, 692, and 1210, continues to resolve claims 
against Iraq arising from Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of 
Kuwait. The UNCC has issued over 1.3 million awards worth approximately 
$10 billion.
    Thirty percent of the proceeds from authorized oil sales are 
allocated to the Compensation Fund to pay awards and finance UNCC 
operations. The UNCC Governing Council has determined that certain small 
claims by individuals will receive initial payments of $2,500, before 
paying larger claims of either individuals or businesses and government 
agencies. In June, the

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Governing Council established the rules for making payments on the 
remaining small claims and the larger individual, corporate, and 
government claims. To date, the U.S. Government has received funds from 
the UNCC for initial installment payments for approximately 2,288 U.S. 
claimants.

Conclusion

    Iraq remains a serious threat to international peace and security. I 
remain determined to see Iraq fully comply with all of its obligations 
under Security Council resolutions. The United States looks forward to 
the day when Iraq rejoins the family of nations as a responsible and 
law-abiding member. 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 J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and Strom Thurmond, President pro tempore of 
the Senate.