[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 23 (Monday, June 13, 1994)]
[Pages 1241-1245]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on Iraq

June 6, 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.
    It remains our judgment that 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. The U.N. Special 
Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) teams have

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reduced Iraq's ability to produce chemical weapons and they are 
inventorying and destroying chemical munitions. The United Nations now 
is preparing a long-term monitoring regime for facilities identified as 
capable of supporting a biological weapons program. But serious gaps 
remain in accounting for Iraq's missile and weapons of mass destruction 
(WMD) programs and the destruction process for all designated Iraqi 
weapons programs is not yet complete.
    The international community must also ensure that Iraq does not 
break its promise to accept ongoing monitoring and verification as Iraq 
has repeatedly done in the past on other commitments. Continued 
vigilance is necessary because we believe that Saddam Hussein is 
committed to rebuilding his WMD capability.
    We are seriously concerned about the many contradictions and 
unanswered questions remaining in regard to Iraq's WMD capability, 
especially in the chemical weapons area. The Secretary General's report 
of April 22 has detailed how the Iraqi government has stalled, 
obstructed, and impeded the Special Commission in its essential efforts. 
This report indicated that information supplied by Iraq on its missile 
and chemical programs was incomplete. Not only had the Iraqi government 
failed to furnish requested information, but the Iraqi government sought 
to sidestep questions that the Special Commission had posed.
    It is, therefore, extremely important that the international 
community establish an effective, comprehensive, and sustainable ongoing 
monitoring and verification regime as required by U.N. Security Council 
Resolution (UNSCR) 715. A monitoring program of this magnitude is 
unprecedented. Rigorous, extensive trial and field testing will be 
required before UNSCOM can judge the program's capability.
    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. This view is endorsed by most members 
of the Security Council. Chairman Ekeus has said he does not expect to 
be able to report before the end of the year at the earliest. We 
strongly endorse Chairman Ekeus' approach and reject any attempts 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 2 
years, the northern no-fly zone has assisted in deterring Iraq from a 
major military offensive in the region. Tragically, on April 14, 1994, 
two American helicopters in the no-fly zone were mistakenly shot down by 
U.S. fighter aircraft causing 26 casualties. An investigation into the 
circumstances surrounding this incident is underway. In southern Iraq, 
since the no-fly zone was established, Iraq's use of aircraft against 
its population in the region has stopped. However, Iraqi forces have 
responded to the no-fly zone by continuing to use artillery to shell 
marsh villages.
    In April and May, the Iraqi military continued its campaign to 
destroy the southern marshes. A large search-and-destroy operation is 
taking place. The operation includes the razing of villages and large-
scale burning operations, 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 reeds and 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 toward the outskirts of southern Iraqi cities. 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.
    Three years after the end of the Gulf War, 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

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833. Despite the passage of time, Iraq has failed to accept those 
resolutions. Furthermore, Iraq 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 UNSCR 687.
    Indeed, Iraq refused even to attend the ICRC meetings held in July 
and November 1993 to discuss these issues. Iraq also has not responded 
to more than 600 files on missing individuals. We continue to press for 
Iraqi compliance and we 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, Max 
van der Stoel, in his February 1994 report on the human rights situation 
in Iraq, described the Iraqi military's continuing repression against 
its civilian populations in the marshes. The Special Rapporteur asserted 
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 
Kurds in jeopardy. The Special Rapporteur 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 have stepped up efforts 
to press for the deployment of human rights monitors and we strongly 
support their placement. The United Nations Human Rights Commission 
(UNHRC) has extended van der Stoel's mandate for another year, asking 
for additional reports to the U.N. General Assembly in the fall and to 
the UNHRC in February 1995.
    The United States continues to work closely with the United Nations 
and other organizations to provide humanitarian relief to the people of 
northern Iraq. Iraqi government efforts to disrupt this assistance 
persist. 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 also seeking the establishment 
of a U.N. commission 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 indicate that the Government of 
Iraq is offering reward money for terrorist acts against U.N. and 
humanitarian relief workers in Iraq. 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.
    For 3 years there has been a clear pattern of criminal acts linked 
to the Government of Iraq in a series of assassinations and attacks in 
northern Iraq on relief workers, U.N. guards, and foreign journalists. 
These incidents continued to occur during April and May. In the first 
week of April alone, there were four attacks. On April 3, for example, a 
German journalist and her Kurdish bodyguard were killed under suspicious 
circumstances. The most recent example of such Iraqi-sponsored terrorism 
occurred on April 12 in Beirut where Iraqi government officials assigned 
to the Iraqi Embassy assassinated an Iraqi oppositionist living there. 
In response, Lebanon has broken diplomatic relations with Iraq. In other 
terrorist attacks during this period, 10 persons were injured, including 
6 U.N. guards. In total, there have been eight incidents of attacks on 
U.N. guards in Iraq since January 1994. Neither now, nor in the past, 
has Iraq complied with UNSCR 687's requirement to refrain from 
committing or supporting any act of international terrorism.
    The Security Council maintained sanctions at its May 17 regular 60-
day review of Iraq's compliance with its obligations under relevant 
resolutions. Despite ongoing lobbying efforts by the Iraqi government to 
convince Security Council members to lift sanctions, member countries 
were in agreement that Iraq is not in compliance with resolutions of the 
Council, and that existing sanctions should remain in force without 
change.

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    The sanctions regime exempt 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 over 
the past 2 months and has acted to distribute humanitarian supplies 
throughout the country 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 UNSCRs 706 and 712. 
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, 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 UNSCRs 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 (UNCC) has received about 2.3 million claims so 
far with another 200,000 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 roughly 3,000 with a total asserted value 
of over $205 million. The first panel of UNCC Commissioners recently 
submitted its report on an initial installment of individual claims for 
serious personal injury or death. The Governing Council of the UNCC was 
expected to act on the panel's recommendations at its session in late 
May.
    With respect to corporate claims, the United States Government filed 
its first group of claims with the UNCC on May 6. The filing consisted 
of 50 claims with an asserted value of about $1 billion. The United 
States Government continues to review about 100 claims by U.S. 
businesses for future submission to the UNCC. The asserted value of U.S. 
corporate claims received to date is about $1.6 billion.
    United Nations Security Council Resolution 778 permits the use of a 
portion of frozen Iraqi oil assets to fund crucial 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 to a U.N.-managed escrow account up to 
$200 million in frozen Iraqi oil assets held in U.S. financial 
institutions, provided that U.S. transfers do not exceed 50 percent of 
the total amount transferred or contributed by all countries. We have 
transferred a total of about $124 million in such matching funds thus 
far.
    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 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 which would make Iraq a 
stabilizing force in the Gulf region.
    I am fully determined to continue efforts 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.
    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. This letter was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on June 7.

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