DATE=03-01-01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-273201

TITLE=U-S - IRAQ SANCTIONS (l-only)

BYLINE=CANDACE WILLIAMS

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

CONTENT=

INTRO: On his recent trip to the Middle East, Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed support for easing the United Nations sanctions on Iraq. The aim is to allow Iraq to import more consumer goods while blocking imports of weapons and military equipment. But some U-S officials say existing U-N sanctions on Iraq have not achieved their intended goal of containing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who remains a threat to the region. V-O-A's Candace Williams reports the issue was debated again at a congressional hearing in Washington Thursday.

TEXT: Kansas Senator Sam Brownback says Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is better off today than in 1991, when multinational forces went to war in the Persian Gulf to force Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

The Republican senator told the hearing that since the Gulf War ended, U-N sanctions against Iraq have unraveled, allowing President Saddam to rebuild his military capabilities.

Mr. Brownback says that if the United States is looking for ways to revise the U-N sanctions against Iraq, the policy has to be thought out carefully so as not to strengthen the Iraqi leader.

But Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert (Center for Strategic and International Studies), told the panel that U-S policy toward Iraq is most effective with the support of key nations like Israel and Iran.

//Cordesman Act//

You cannot have an Iraq policy that works without a new policy in dealing with the Arab - Israeli peace issue, without rethinking your policy towards Iran, and without broadening our diplomacy, which has focused in the last two years almost exclusively on the peace process to consider how you can build up a stronger basis of support in the southern Gulf.

//End Cordesman Act//

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Richard Perle, believes the sanctions in their current form are not working since Saddam Hussein remains a powerful figure in the Middle East.

//Perle Act//

They (sanctions) have not produced a significant change, or indeed any change in Saddam's policy and his ambition to acquire weapons of mass destruction, in his defiance of U-N resolutions and the United Nations itself. They have been portrayed as damaging to the people of Iraq. I think everyone on this panel agrees the suffering of the Iraqi people is being inflicted directly by Saddam Hussein himself.

//End Perle Act//

The United Nations has said it will end the sanctions imposed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, only after U-N weapons inspectors certify that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq, however, has refused to allow U-N inspectors to return to Iraq to verify that it has destroyed its weapons.

Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey (D) also testified at the hearing. Mr. Kerrey says the Iraqi leader remains a threat because he has the wealth and the will to build weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological and nuclear.

//Kerrey Act//

Since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, Saddam Hussein has lied, and cheated his way out of the inspection regime and has succeeded in convincing too many world leaders to overlook the danger he poses to them. Iraq is a threat to allies in the region because Iraq has displayed no remorse and no regret for their invasion of Kuwait. Instead, they continue to justify their illegal act and condemn the U-S led effort which forced them to surrender the territory of their neighbor after inflicting inestimable damage to Kuwait.

//End Kerrey Act//

A few days ago, former U-S President George Bush and Secretary Powell visited Kuwait to attend ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of its liberation from Iraq. Mr. Bush was president at the time of the Gulf War while Secretary Powell was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (signed)

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