ACCESSION
NUMBER:343264
FILE ID:TXT106
DATE:05/09/94
TITLE:CHRISTOPHER -- IRAQ STILL NOT IN COMPLIANCE (05/09/94)
TEXT:*94050906.TXT
CHRISTOPHER -- IRAQ STILL NOT IN COMPLIANCE
(VOA Editorial) (420
(Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America May 8,
reflecting the views of the U.S. government.)
Iraq has failed to comply with the obligations imposed on it by the U.N.
Security Council at the end of the Persian Gulf War. For this reason, the
United Nations should continue its economic sanctions against the Baghdad
regime.
As U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher pointed out, Iraq continues to
lay claim to Kuwait, and refuses to account for hundreds of Kuwaitis who
disappeared in the 1990 occupation. Last year, Iraqi intelligence services
tried to assassinate former President George Bush in Kuwait. Last month,
two Iraqi diplomats in Beirut confessed to killing Sheik Taleb al-Suhail
al-Tamimi, an Iraqi dissident. The Baghdad regime is also engaged in
terrorist campaigns against aid workers and U.N. observers in northern
Iraq.
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's instinct for repression is shown by his
campaign against the marsh Arabs of southern Iraq. The marshes have been
deliberately drained, and Iraqi armies are systematically burning thousands
of dwellings and reeds to insure that the marsh Arabs can never return to
their homes. Anyone who doubts that Saddam Hussein would inflict the same
cruelties on the citizens of northern Iraq should be reminded of the Anfal
campaign of 1988, in which the Iraqi army killed more than 50,000 Kurds and
destroyed 1,500 villages. In the city of Halabja, more than 3,000 men,
women and children were gassed to death. For three years, an international
effort led by the United States has provided relief and protection to the
people of northern Iraq. This has deterred the Baghdad regime from
repeating the northern Iraqi massacres. But they could happen again, if
international protection were withdrawn.
Some people have suggested that this danger should be overlooked because
Iraq is beginning to comply with the U.N.'s requirements concerning weapons
of mass destruction. But there is no reason to believe that Iraq has
decided to forswear such weapons, unconditionally and indefinitely, as the
U.N. Security Council resolution demands. There is even less reason to
believe that Iraq will comply with other U.N. resolutions. More likely,
Saddam Hussein is trying to evade economic sanctions so he can acquire the
resources to rebuild weapons that he has never hesitated to use against the
Iraqi people and his neighbors. As Secretary of State Christopher said,
"The international community cannot afford to allow this cynical tactic to
succeed."
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