DATE=2/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON - IRAQ (L)
NUMBER=2-259586
BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

INTRO:  President Clinton says his administration is 
seeking ways to sell goods to Iraq to benefit the 
Iraqi people, without allowing Iraqi leader Saddam 
Hussein to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction.  
Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the White 
House.

TEXT:  In a brief appearance before reporters Friday, 
Mr. Clinton was asked about published reports that his 
administration is looking at ways to ease the 
screening process for products and equipment that can 
be sold to Iraq under the United Nations sanctions 
program.

Without giving specifics, Mr. Clinton confirmed his 
administration is assessing whether more can be done 
to help the Iraqi people, while continuing to deny 
Saddam Hussein the means to build weapons.

               /// CLINTON ACT ///

      If there is a way to further free up resources 
      for the overall health and development of the 
      people of Iraq without doing anything that will 
      make it easier for him to re-arm in ways that 
      will be damaging to his neighbors and to the 
      stability of the region, we ought to be open to 
      that, and we ought to be careful and 
      constructive in listening to arguments about it.

                  /// END ACT ///

The United States, as a member of the U-N sanctions 
committee, has often blocked the sale of so-called 
"dual-use" products that could be used in Iraq's 
weapons programs, but that also could help ordinary 
Iraqis.  Chlorine, for example, can be used to purify 
water, but also to make mustard gas.

There has been increasing concern among U-S allies 
that restrictions on such dual-use items are 
undermining efforts to ease the human suffering in 
Iraq, where U-N sanctions have been imposed since 1991 
after Baghdad invaded Kuwait.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart, who denies the 
United States is changing its position on sanctions, 
says it is Saddam Hussein who is responsible for the 
suffering of the Iraqi people, because he refuses to 
comply with U-N resolutions.  Those resolutions make 
clear that sanctions cannot be lifted until U-N 
inspectors verify that Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction have been eliminated.  The Iraqi leader 
expelled the last U-N inspection team in December 
1998.

Last year, the United States supported a U-N Security 
Council resolution that lifted the ceiling on Iraqi 
oil sales to increase the revenues available for 
humanitarian needs.   (Signed)

NEB/DAT/WTW



25-Feb-2000 17:58 PM EDT (25-Feb-2000 2258 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.