28 September 1999
Former UNSCOM Chief Wants WMD Inspections Back in Iraq
(Butler tells Senate sanctions can be lifted only when Iraq complies)
(580)
By William B. Reinckens
Washington File Correspondent
Washington -- Former UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission on
Iraq) chief Richard Butler rejected the idea that the United Nations
should lift economic sanctions on Iraq because Baghdad still refuses
to cooperate with United Nations resolutions mandating inspections for
weapons of mass destruction. Butler, an Australian diplomat now with
the Council on Foreign Relations, testified before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee September 28.
It has been a year since Iraq ended the UN inspections programs. Since
then the UN Security Council has been unable to reach an agreement on
reinstating an inspections and monitoring program in Iraq. This lack
of unity in the Security Council has only worked to Iraq's advantage,
Butler suggested.
"I do not believe that Iraq would be able to continue to defy the UN
Security Council for very long if the five permanent members were to
stand together in insisting to Iraq that it return to compliance with
the law," he said.
"The key to sanctions relief has always been disarmament. The Saddam
Hussein regime has refused to pick up that key and turn it," he said,
noting that economic sanctions have always allowed for shipments of
food and medicine to the Iraqi people under the $5.2 billion
Oil-for-Food Program.
Butler said the recent UNICEF report on the effects of sanctions on
children in Iraq holds Iraqi President Saddam Hussein responsible for
the suffering of Iraqi people. However, he did note that he would like
to see more "targeted economic sanctions" be applied against the
estimated $6 billion that Saddam Hussein is said to possess and
against other Iraqi regime assets hidden in banks in Switzerland.
Butler noted that it has been eight years since UN inspections
programs for Iraq began. "In practical terms," he said, "this has
meant that the job of disarming Iraq, which should have taken a year,
is still not complete."
After the Gulf War in 1991, Iraq was to disclose fully all nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons programs and the means of
manufacturing them. Baghdad was also prohibited from holding,
acquiring or manufacturing missiles that could fly more that 150
kilometers.
Instead of complying, Iraq embarked on a policy of making false
declarations about its weapons and materials. It divided its illegal
weapons in two, Butler said, one portion it revealed to the U.N.
inspectors and the other it concealed.
There are currently two competing plans that have been advanced by
members of the Security Council to deal with Iraq's continuing lack of
compliance. The Russian Plan, according to Butler, would "accept the
Iraqi claim that it was disarmed and remove sanctions. In return Iraq
would be obliged to accept an ongoing monitoring system." This plan
has been supported at different times by China and, most recently,
France.
The other proposal -- one that has the support of the United States --
is a British-Netherlands plan that would suspend sanctions for
renewable periods of six months, provided Iraq complies with all
relevant Security Council resolutions and allows for ongoing
monitoring. The British-Dutch plan would also control Iraqi proceeds,
including its lucrative black market oil endeavors.
Butler said his experience with the Iraqi regime, however, has led him
to believe that Iraq would not comply with any arrangement that would
bring weapons inspectors back into the country.
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