DATE=2/24/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=U-S-IRAQ
NUMBER=5-45512
BYLINE=ED WARNER
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Nine-years after its victory in the Gulf War,
the United States continues to bomb Iraq and maintain
economic sanctions on the grounds Saddam Hussein
prevents inspection of his weapons of mass
destruction. But in a recent speech, a former U-N
inspector said those weapons are long gone, and
punitive polices are hurting Iraqis, not their leader.
He urges a new policy of engagement with Iraq instead
of containment. Correspondent Ed Warner reports his
views and the responses of two Iraq analysts.
TEXT: We have demonized a man at the expense of a
nation, said Scott Ritter at a recent meeting of the
Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Ritter, a former U-N weapons inspector and before
that an officer in U-S military intelligence, insisted
economic sanctions have not accomplished their purpose
of removing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But he says
they have helped impoverish Iraq, leading to
widespread disease and a sharp increase in infant
mortality.
Why continue this punishment any longer? - asked Mr.
Ritter, who was involved in what he considers the
futile effort of tracking down Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction:
// RITTER ACT //
While the inspectors played this complicated
game of cat and mouse with the Iraqis in Iraq,
with the Security Council back in New York, the
people of Iraq continued to suffer under this
huge burden of economic sanctions, a burden that
we here in the United States cannot even begin
to comprehend.
// END ACT //
Mr. Ritter contends Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
have largely been destroyed. Nuclear devices are gone
and chemical and biological ones can be constructed,
if desired, in small areas that are very hard to
locate:
// RITTER ACT //
They have components. They have blueprints.
They have materiel, which in effect is so much
junk as long as it sits on the back of a truck
being shuttled from one site, to another site,
to another site. But they have no factories
capable of producing weapons of mass
destruction.
// END ACT //
Support for sanctions against Iraq is rapidly eroding,
says Mr. Ritter, so why keep up the pretense? He
recommends lifting them and helping Iraq recover
economically. He believes a policy of engagement, not
containment, is more likely to undermine Saddam:
// RITTER ACT //
The best way to implement this vision is to lift
economic sanctions and expose Saddam Hussein to
a new kind of pressure that he has never felt
before: the absolute requirement to rebuild his
economy devastated by years of economic
sanctions and military action. That is his
number-one priority. He has no other recourse.
// END ACT //
Lifting sanctions would not change Saddam, responds
David Wormser. The Director of Middle East Studies at
the American Enterprise Institute says Saddam would be
strengthened:
// WORMSER ACT //
The money that flows into Iraq is used by the
regime for its own ends, and its ends are to
solidify the regime. It is a sad, sad thing.
The Iraqi people are going to be the first
victims, whether the sanctions are lifted or
whether they are maintained. Lifting sanctions
I think would be interpreted by most of the
world as giving up - a major setback to American
policy.
// END ACT //
Mr. Wormser says the United States should give
unqualified backing to the Iraqi opposition. This
would encourage more desertions from Saddam's army:
// WORMSER ACT //
The moment they get a clear, undiluted signal
from the United States that this is the way we
are going to do it, and we are committed to
doing it, then I think you are going to see a
lot of forces line up more coherently.
// END ACT //
Political Science Professor Steve Yetiv of Old
Dominion University in Virginia has doubts about an
effective Iraqi opposition.
// YETIV ACT //
There would be an advantage in lifting economic
sanctions if that approach were combined perhaps
with an organized plan to create an alternative
to Saddam Hussein. The problem, however, is
that the best plan that we currently have is to
support the Iraqi National Congress, and this
group simply cannot get its act together.
// END ACT //
He thinks some members of the Iraqi elite might turn
against Saddam if they can be assured life will not be
worse for them afterwards.
In the meantime, Professor Yetiv says U-S policy is
making enemies of the people of Iraq, who could turn
to terrorism for revenge:
// YETIV ACT //
It leaves an indelible mark historically. They
still remember events like the Crusades that
occurred 800-years ago. And this will be just
one more in a string of events that they
associate with Western domination and Arab
humiliation. That certainly is something to
take into consideration when weighing the pro's
and con's of our approach.
// END ACT //
Professor Yetiv says the many ideas about how to
handle Iraq need to be put together in a comprehensive
plan. (SIGNED)
NEB/EW/RAE
24-Feb-2000 12:42 PM EDT (24-Feb-2000 1742 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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