07 May 2003
U.S. Preparing U.N. Resolution to Lift Iraqi Sanctions
(Boucher says goal is to allow Iraqi people to return to normal life) (1050) The United States will engage in extensive consultations with other members of the United Nations Security Council in the days and weeks ahead in order to put together a resolution to lift U.N. sanctions on Iraq, according to State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher. Boucher, speaking at the May 7 State Department briefing in Washington, said the Bush administration has committed to a set of goals designed to "create the conditions for the return to normal life for the Iraqi people and for Iraq's return to the international community as a member in good standing." First, the United States wants to "lift the sanctions burden on the Iraqi people," then "encourage the international community to help rebuild Iraq," and thirdly, to "define the vital role ... for the United Nations to play," said Boucher. The spokesman said Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kim Holmes will travel to Berlin and Moscow shortly to discuss the draft resolution. Boucher also said the Bush administration already has suspended the U.S. sanctions against Iraq that stemmed from the former regime's state sponsorship of terrorism. Following is an excerpt from the May 7 State Department briefing containing Boucher's comments on Iraqi sanctions: (begin excerpt) QUESTION: How is the U.S. doing in trying to persuade Germany and France to support lifting sanctions? MR. BOUCHER: Let me tell you where we are, in terms of the new UN Security Council Resolution, okay. We are committed to the following goals for post-conflict Iraq: first, to lift the sanctions burden on the Iraqi people; second, to encourage the international community to help rebuild Iraq; and, third, to define the vital role that President Bush has called for the United Nations to play. Our aim is to create the conditions for the return to normal life for the Iraqi people, and for Iraq's return to the international community as a member in good standing. So we have been discussing our ideas on this with other members of the Security Council and coalition allies, in order to put together a resolution that can accomplish these goals. We plan on presenting this resolution soon to the Council. We want to garner the widest possible support for this resolution, in order to ensure its quick passage, so that Iraq's resources and control of Iraq's economic future are returned to the Iraqi people. We'll be engaged in intensive consultations with officials from Council states and others, both in New York and in capitals, in the days and weeks ahead. For example, Assistant Secretary Holmes will be traveling to Moscow and Berlin over the next few days to preview our resolution. We have been consulting already very closely with the United Kingdom. We have been discussing our ideas with Spain and with other members of the Council. The Secretary will have an opportunity this afternoon to talk to Mexican Foreign Secretary Derbez and the Secretary General of the United Nations. Deputy Secretary Armitage is in Pakistan to have a chance to talk about the ideas and the resolution out there. So there are a wide variety of consultations going on in capitals by us, as well as others who we have been working through, working with, on this resolution. And as I said, we expect that we'll be able to present a resolution soon. QUESTION: Richard, can you say, if you can, who gets the oil revenues that are now being controlled by the Oil-for-Food program in this post-sanctions regime that you're proposing? MR. BOUCHER: That's the kind of detail that does need to be covered in the resolution, and I'm not in a position quite yet, because we're still discussing the ideas and the language with others. The simple answer to your question is the Iraqi people get the oil revenue. It's their money; they get it. What mechanism is -- can be arranged to make sure that this revenue is safeguarded transparently and is spent for the purposes of supporting the Iraqi people and their reconstruction, that's what we need to cover in a resolution. I can't get into that mechanism quite yet. QUESTION: Is it that you are -- I mean, I guess the sanctions are distinct from the Oil-for-Food program, and your resolution would also lift or modify the Oil-for-Food program. MR. BOUCHER: Again, I can't describe the resolution in more detail until we get a resolution. We should be tabling one soon and we'll talk about it more then. QUESTION: Okay. MR. BOUCHER: Charlie. QUESTION: Richard, can you describe what the Bush Administration is doing about sanctions that the U.S. Government has on Iraq, in terms of removing those? QUESTION: You were going to look into it a couple weeks ago. MR. BOUCHER: No, and I -- we got you the answer, and now I can't remember what it was. We had -- we talked about this, didn't we? We had authority in the supplemental legislation that was passed to suspend the penalties on Iraq, and we would have to -- I want to be careful in my language. I can tell you it's probably not legally precise, so this is a description and not a definition. With that caveat, we had authority in the supplemental to suspend the penalties that applied because of the terrorism designation, and I do believe that authority was exercised and -- about a week ago. And therefore, that suspended those penalties that came from Iraq's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism because -- oh, I know, Cofer Black talked about it. Our Counterterrorism Coordinator talked about it at the briefing that we had in this room on the Patterns of Global Terrorism Report. We suspended the penalties that applied under the Foreign Terrorist Organization -- the State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, and that was a temporary measure pending the full review because the way the law is written, bureaucratically, you have to decide that there is a government that is not supporting terrorism. And until we get to that stage, we may not -- we can't do the full removal from the list, but we had the authority to do this in the supplemental. We've exercised that. (end excerpt) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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