28 September 1999
Text: Lifting Sanctions on Iraq Will Only Help WMD Program, Helms Says
(Saddam "will have to be ousted" before region can be stable) (810) Washington -- "Lifting sanctions on Iraq will do nothing more than enable Saddam Hussein to import the building blocks for weapons of mass destruction," Senator Jesse Helms emphasized at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing with Richard Butler, the recent executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), on September 28. "It is Saddam who is starving the people of Iraq," the committee chairman continued. "Food and medicine are rotting in Iraqi warehouses while little children suffer and die." Turning to the possibility of a new weapons inspection program for Iraq, Helms said: "Meaningful inspections must be intrusive, thorough and open-ended - in other words, no different from the inspections conducted by UNSCOM." "Sooner or later -- sooner rather than later -- this Administration will have to admit that Saddam Hussein is determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction at any price." Helms explained, "So if the United States is serious about ensuring stability in that region by disarming Iraq, Saddam will have to be ousted." Following is the text of Helm's statement: (Begin text) SFR COMMITTEE HEARING ON FACING SADDAM'S IRAQ: DISARRAY IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 Ambassador Butler, we welcome you and very much appreciate your going out of your way to participate in this important hearing of the Foreign Relations Committee. As we meet today, the United Nations Security Council is contemplating a new weapons inspection regime for Iraq to replace UNSCOM, the Commission you headed. In order to buy off certain Security Council members, some may be working to ease the existing sanctions on Iraq. I have a few thoughts on the deliberations going on up in New York. I have heard it argued that any weapons inspections in Iraq are better than no inspections. I do not subscribe to such a view for one obvious reason: Meaningful inspections must be intrusive, thorough and open-ended -- in other words, not different from the inspections conducted by UNSCOM. If anyone concludes, therefore, that I regard any new inspection regime accepted by Saddam Hussein as a charade, the conclusion will be valid -- for that is precisely my apprehension. Worse yet, in exchange for whatever inspection regime Saddam and his allies will agree to, the United Nations will ease sanctions on Iraq. Our friends at the Department of State obviously believe that easing sanctions on Iraq will undercut the argument that it is sanctions that are starving the Iraqi people. Which, it seems to me, is bureaucratic nonsense. It is Saddam who is starving the people of Iraq. Food and medicine are rotting in Iraqi warehouses while little children suffer and die. In Northern Iraq, where the United Nations distributes food, child mortality rates are below pre-war levels. In the center and South (where Saddam is in charge) mortality rates are twice what they were before the war. Meanwhile, Forbes Magazine recently rated Saddam Hussein as one of the richest men in the world, with $6 billion in personal wealth. So, lifting sanctions on Iraq will do nothing more than enable Saddam Hussein to import the building blocks for weapons of mass destruction. And I have no doubt about his eagerness to do so. Since UNSCOM was drummed out of Iraq, Saddam has been up to his old dirty tricks. And while a new inspection regime might -- might! -- slow that process a bit here and there, Saddam is not going to tolerate a serious weapons inspections and monitoring effort for very long. Then it's back to the drawing board. And what will we do? Buy him off with nuclear reactors? Not with the willingness of this Senator. We need to face up to the fact that we are playing Saddam Hussein's game. He wanted inspectors out and out they went. He wants sanctions lifted and sanctions are being eased. This game can be played for a little while while scarcely anybody is paying attention, but it has to end somewhere. Clearly, the majority of the Permanent Security Council members don't care about the Council's credibility. But if the United States doesn't stand up and be counted, Saddam will have tweaked the noses of weak-kneed "diplomats" once again. Sooner or later -- sooner rather than later this Administration will have to admit that Saddam Hussein is determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction at any price. So if the United States is serious about ensuring stability in that region by disarming Iraq, Saddam will have to be ousted. Ambassador Butler, I will have some questions after your statement. Again, I commend your courageous work in Iraq. I know we may disagree about some matters, but you have my unreserved admiration and respect for your leadership of UNSCOM. (end text)
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