26 February 1998
CONGRESSIONAL REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1998
(Helms asks naval blockade, Gephardt likes accord) (240) HELMS PROPOSES NAVAL BLOCKADE ON IRAQ AS ALTERNATIVE TO BOMBING Senator Jesse Helms (Republican-North Carolina) has proposed, as an alternative to bombing, a U.S. naval blockade on Iraq cutting off all commerce, including food. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said February 26 that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "gave away the store" in making a deal last weekend with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on weapons inspections. House Minority Leader Representative Dick Gephardt (Democrat-Missouri), on the other hand, said he hopes Republicans won't try to make a partisan issue of the decrease in tension over Iraq. "I am pleased with the accord," Gephardt said, "it gets everything we wanted." At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing February 26, Senator Ernest Hollings (Democrat-South Carolina) lined up with Republicans who have been the most critical of the UN-Iraq accord. "That agreement cannot be enforced," Hollings said, "and Iraq's disarmament cannot be guaranteed unless you get rid of Saddam." Only Israel, Hollings said, was willing to wipe out Baghdad "kit and kaboodle" if Iraq landed one missile on Tel Aviv. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Republican-Colorado) said the Iraqi leader emerged from the agreement with a higher standing in the Arab world, U.N. permission to sell more oil and more time to build a bigger arsenal.
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