10 February 1998
SUPPORT IS GROWING FOR USE OF FORCE AGAINST IRAQ, ALBRIGHT SAYS
(Strikes would target mass destruction weapons capability) (670) By Jane A. Morse USIA Diplomatic Correspondent Washington -- International support is growing for the possible use of military force against Iraq, according to Secretary of State Albright. Canada, Germany, Argentina, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic have all expressed their willingness to support the use of military force against Saddam Hussein if diplomacy fails to obtain his compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding weapons inspections, Albright said in February 10 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The United Kingdom has also backed the United States on the issue of using force, she said. The Security Council has repeatedly demanded that Iraq give United Nations Special Commission (USCOM) inspectors unqualified access to any sites they believe might contain caches of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Albright told the Committee that during her recent visits to a number of Persian Gulf states "it was evident there to me that the countries understood the fact that Saddam Hussein was to blame for this crisis, that he had to bear the consequences of it...." Not one of the Arab leaders, said Albright, told her: "Go tell your President not to use force." "I feel confident of their support," Albright said of those Arab leaders. "I do feel that should we use force, they will be helpful to us." She said: "We have made very clear, over and over again, that it is essential for Saddam Hussein to live up to his Security Council obligations and allow unfettered, unconditional access for the United Nations inspectors." U.N. inspectors, she said, "are the only ones that can really determine whether he still has weapons of mass destruction, and then continue monitoring whether he is going to be able to reconstitute them." If the United States does use force, said Albright, the purpose will be to "substantially diminish Saddam Hussein's ability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction and the delivery systems for them, as well as not to threaten his neighbors...." Albright emphasized that "We want very much to be able to solve this situation diplomatically.... What we are doing is trying to follow out the diplomatic string, but it is running out, frankly." The Secretary said that "if Iraq's policies and behavior do not change, we will have no choice but to take strong measures; not pinpricks, but substantial strikes that will diminish Saddam's capacity to reconstitute his weapons-of-mass-destruction programs and reduce his ability to threaten Iraq's neighbors and the world. "Let no one miscalculate," she said. "We have the authority to do this, the responsibility to do this, and the means and the will." Asked about the consequences if Saddam Hussein should be toppled from power, Albright said: "I can't imagine a worse regime than the one they have now." But she also said the Clinton Administration is disinclined to commit the number of troops necessary to remove Saddam Hussein. "Saddam is trying to pin blame for the suffering of the Iraqi people on the United States and the United Nations," the Secretary said. "The truth is that Saddam doesn't care a fig about the Iraqi people, whom he has terrorized and brutalized for years. "Arab leaders tell me of the concerns their citizens have for the plight of the Iraqi civilians, and that concern is fully shared by the United States and the American people. And Saddam knows this, which is why he so bravely sends women and children to guard his palaces in time of crisis. "The United States has strongly supported efforts through the U.N. to see that foods and medicines are made available to the Iraqi people. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has proposed to expand these efforts, and we are looking hard at how best to do that. Meanwhile, the blame for Iraqi suffering does not rest with the international community; it rests with Saddam Hussein."
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