[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 5 (Monday, February 7, 1994)]
[Pages 174-176]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on Iraq

January 31, 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 U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) and the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have effectively put the Iraqi nuclear 
weapons program out of business in 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. It 
has reduced Iraq's ability to produce chemical weapons; UNSCOM teams 
continue to inventory and destroy chemical munitions. The United Nations 
has inspected, and will monitor, several facilities identified by Iraq 
as capable of supporting a biological weapons program.
    Iraq's formal acceptance of UNSCR 715 (long-term monitoring) in 
November was an important step, although long overdue. It is necessary 
to ensure that Iraq does not break its promise on long-term monitoring 
as it has many times in the past on other commitments. Continued 
vigilance is necessary because we believe that Saddam Hussein is 
committed to rebuilding his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) 
capability, especially nuclear weapons. We also remain seriously 
concerned about the many contradictions and unanswered questions 
remaining in regard to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability. It 
is therefore extremely important that the international community 
continue its efforts to establish the long-term monitoring regime 
required by U.N. Security Council Resolution 715. Although Iraq has said 
that it is ready to comply with that Resolution, it still must take 
significant steps, including the provision of new data about the 
suppliers of its WMD program and acceptance on the ground of a 
functioning monitoring program for a sustained period. Iraq has provided 
some further data on suppliers which is still being evaluated by UNSCOM.
    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. We strongly endorse this approach and 
reject any establishment of a timetable for determining whether Iraq has 
complied with Resolution 715. There must be a sustained period of 
unquestionable, complete compliance with the monitoring plans.
    The ``no-fly zones'' over northern and southern Iraq permit the 
monitoring of Iraq's compliance with Security Council Resolutions 687 
and 688. Over the last 2 years, the northern no-fly zone has deterred 
Iraq from a major military offensive in the region. Since the no-fly 
zone was established in southern Iraq, Iraq's use of aircraft against 
its population in the region has stopped. However, Iraqi forces have 
responded to the no-fly zone by stepping up their use of land-based 
artillery to shell marsh villages.
    The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Iraq, Max van der Stoel, published a 
report in November describing the Iraqi military's ongoing repression 
against civilian populations in the marshes. The Rapporteur has judged 
that Iraq is in violation of UNSCR 688, which demands that Iraq cease 
repression of its civilian population and allow immediate access by 
international humanitarian organizations to all those in need of 
assistance in all parts of Iraq. On January 4, the United States--along 
with the Governments of France, Russia, and the United Kingdom--
presented a demarche to the Iraqi government strongly condemning its 
repression of the Iraqi people.
    The United States is working closely with the United Nations and 
other organizations to provide humanitarian relief to the people of 
northern Iraq, in the face of Iraqi government efforts to disrupt this 
assistance. We have provided temporary generators and spare parts to 
preserve supplies of electricity in the region since the Iraqi 
government cut off power on August 5, 1993. We continue to support U.N. 
efforts to mount a relief program for persons in Baghdad and the South, 
provided that supplies are not diverted by the Iraqi government. We are 
continuing to

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work toward the placement of human rights monitors for Iraq as proposed 
by the U.N. Special Rapporteur, and to support the establishment of a 
U.N. commission to investigate and publicize iraqi war crimes and other 
violations of international humanitarian law.
    On January 18, after a review of Iraqi compliance with Security 
Council resolutions, the President of the Security Council issued a 
statement noting that there was no consensus to modify the existing 
sanctions regime. That 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 maintained a full embargo against its northern provinces 
and has acted to distribute humanitarian supplies only to its supporters 
and to the military.
    The Iraqi government has so far refused to sell $1.6 billion in oil 
as previously authorized by the Security Council in Resolutions 706 and 
712. Talks between Iraq and the United Nations on implementing these 
resolutions have ended unsuccessfully. Iraq could use proceeds from such 
sales to purchase foodstuffs, medicines, 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). Iraqi authorities bear full 
responsibility for any suffering in Iraq that results from their refusal 
to implement Resolutions 706 and 712.
    Proceeds from oil sales also would be used to compensate persons 
injured by Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait. The U.N. 
Compensation Commission has received about two million claims so far, 
with another 500,000 expected. The U.S. Government has now filed a total 
of eight sets of individual claims with the Commission, bringing U.S. 
claims filed to roughly 3,000 with a total asserted value of over $205 
million. At a meeting on January 13, the Commission's Government Council 
continued discussions on how to allocate future funds among different 
claimants but did not make any decisions. Meanwhile, a panel of 
commissioners began to work on the first set of individual claims for 
serious personal injury or death. The panel is expected to report its 
findings to the Governing Council in the spring.
    Security Council Resolution 778 permits the use of a portion of 
frozen Iraqi oil assets to fund critical U.N. activities concerning 
Iraq, including humanitarian relief, UNSCOM, and the Compensation 
Commission. (The funds will be repaid, with interest, from Iraqi oil 
revenues as soon as Iraqi oil exports resume.) The United States is 
prepared to transfer up to $200 million in frozen Iraqi oil assets held 
in U.S. financial institutions, provided that U.S. contributions do not 
exceed 50 percent of the total amount contributed. We have arranged a 
total of about $107 million in such matching contributions thus far.
    Iraq still has not met its obligations concerning Kuwaitis and 
third-country nationals it detained during the war. Iraq has taken no 
substantive steps to cooperate fully with the International Committee of 
the Red Cross (ICRC), as required by Security Council Resolution 687, 
although it has received more than 600 files on missing individuals. We 
continue to work for Iraqi compliance.
    The Iraq-Kuwait border has been demarcated, and the U.N. Iraq-Kuwait 
Observer Mission (UNIKOM) continues its monitoring mission. However, the 
Iraqi government continues to refer publicly to Kuwait as a ``province'' 
and ``governorate'' of Iraq.
    Examples of Iraqi noncooperation and noncompliance continue in other 
areas. For instance, on December 22, Iraqi military forces attacked a 
four-vehicle coalition military convoy near the Faydah checkpoint. This 
was the first time Iraqi forces have fired directly on coalition forces 
since the Gulf War. We, along with the British and the French, issued a 
demarche to the Iraqi government, warning Baghdad that a repetition of 
the incident would have consequences.
    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. Iraq's 
Government

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should represent all 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 which would make Iraq a stabilizing 
force in the Gulf region.
    I am grateful for the support by the Congress of our efforts.
    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.