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Iraqi Cabinet Rejects UK/Dutch UNSC Resolution

Iraq News, NOVEMBER 21, 1999

The central focus of Iraq News is the tension between the considerable, proscribed WMD capabilities that Iraq is holding on to and its increasing stridency that it has complied with UNSCR 687 and it is time to lift sanctions. If you wish to receive Iraq News by email, a service which includes full-text of news reports not archived here, send your request to Laurie Mylroie .

I.  IRAQI CABINET REJECTS UK/DUTCH UNSC RESOLUTION, BBC, NOV 21
   In a brief story today, the BBC reported that following today's 
cabinet meeting, the Iraqi leadership issued a statement rejecting the 
proposed UK/Dutch UNSC resolution "as an imperialist plan which aimed to 
keep sanctions in place for many years to come." 
   As "Iraq News," Nov 9, already noted, several senior Iraqi officials 
had rejected the resolution and as the Iraqi Gov't consists of very 
serious people, it was quite unlikely that Baghdad would accept it.  
After today's cabinet statement, there should be no doubt that Iraq will 
not accept the resolution, if it is passed by the UNSC.
   Saddam went to a great deal of trouble to get rid of UNSCOM.  That 
was the purpose of the crises he drove from Nov 97 through Dec 98.  And 
the most obvious reason why Saddam would want to get rid of UNSCOM is to 
be able to reconstitute and advance Iraq's proscribed unconventional 
weapons capabilities.  Presumably, that is what Iraq has been doing for 
the past 11 months.
    "Iraq News," Nov 17, noted that the situation was eerily like the 
1930's.  However, we would seem to have less excuse for sticking our 
heads in the sand.  First, we have the 1930's as an example.  Also, 
those who sought then to avoid war by a policy of disarmament, 
"collective security," and appeasement were hoping to avoid another 
terrible war like the one they had just experienced.  But what is it 
that we have suffered so much from that we seek so much to avoid?  
    Indeed, an op-ed in the Wash Post, Nov 7, authored by two Duke U 
profs (Peter Feaver and Chrisopher Gelpi), reported that the US public 
was much more willing than the elite to take casualties in the defense 
of US interests.  And in the three scenarios proposed by the authors--US 
military intervention to stabilize a democratic Gov't in the Congo; to 
prevent Iraq from obtaining weapons of mass destruction; and to defend 
Taiwan against invasion by China--the public was most willing to accept 
casualties for the middle scenario: Iraq.  (More on the study can be 
found at: http://www.poli.duke.edu/civmil/ )
    Thus, the failure of the Clinton administration (and other concerned 
Western democratic Gov't's) to come to terms with and properly address 
the danger posed by Saddam, particularly sans UNSCOM/the IAEA, cannot 
really be attributed to the American public.  It is a failure of 
leadership.   
    "Iraq News" has been reading Churchill's memoirs on the inter-war 
years, "The Gathering Storm."  Following a parliamentary debate in the 
mid-1930's, when Churchill again pressed for an urgent program of 
rearmament to face the growing Nazi threat, and his word agains fell on 
deaf ears, he was reminded of some lines about a railway accident he had 
learned as a child (pps 122-123):
  "Who is in charge of the clattering train?
   The axles creak and the couplings strain;
   And the pace is hot, and the points are near,
   And Sleep has deadened the driver's ear;
   And the signals flash through the night in vain,
   For Death is in charge of the clattering train."
I.  IRAQI CABINET REJECTS UK/DUTCH UNSC RESOLUTION
BBC
Sunday, 21 November, 1999, 15:38 GMT
Iraq rejects sanctions plan 
  The Iraqi leadership has rejected a proposal before the United Nations 
that would ease sanctions against Baghdad in return for a new arms 
control monitoring system. 
   A statement issued after a cabinet meeting chaired by President 
Saddam Hussein described the proposals as an imperialist plan which 
aimed to keep sanctions in place for many years to come. 
   Iraq yesterday Saturday rejected a decision by the UN Security 
Council to extend for two weeks the scheme which allows Baghdad to 
export a limited amount of oil to pay for humanitarian supplies. 
  But UN officials said Iraqi oil was still flowing today.