[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 28 (Monday, July 14, 1997)]
[Pages 1047-1050]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders Reporting on Iraq

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 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

[[Page 1048]]

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.
    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

[[Page 1049]]

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 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

[[Page 1050]]

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.