Issue No.587
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23 -29 May 2002 Issue No.587 Region |
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In good faith?
Iraq's acceptance of a UN resolution modifying sanctions does not appear to have put on hold the US's plans for Saddam Hussein. Anayat Durrani reports from Washington
In a unanimous 15-0 vote, the UN Security Council last week approved a resolution modifying the sanctions against Iraq within the framework of the oil-for-food programme. The resolution seeks to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Iraq while tightening the 11-year-old arms embargo and trade sanctions imposed after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Resolution 1409 extends the UN oil-for-food programme for six months, and completely overhauls the arrangements allowing Iraq to sell oil for humanitarian aid that were put into place in 1996. Under the modified programme, a UN committee monitoring sanctions must approve goods destined for Iraq by checking them against a 332-page list that flags specific goods that could have a military use. The decision by the council to revamp sanctions follows months of discussions between Russia, which has called for a suspension of the sanctions, and the United States and Britain, who have both sought to relax the flow of goods to the Iraqi people while toughening the military embargo on Iraq.
Washington's emphasis on easing the suffering of Iraq civilians puts President George W Bush's administration in a better position to carry out its plans to effect what it calls "a regime change" without getting sidelined by accusations over humanitarian concerns. The Bush administration has remained adamant about removing Hussein from power and has repeatedly threatened to take action if the Iraqi leader refuses to allow UN weapons inspectors to return to his country. The sanctions against Iraq, the longest-lasting United Nations sanctions ever imposed, would be lifted only after international inspectors are satisfied that Baghdad has effectively dismantled its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programmes. The Iraqi government has maintained that its banned weapons programmes have been eliminated and says that sanctions must be lifted before it allows inspectors back into the country. Hussein has refused inspectors entry into Iraq since 1998, when the US and Britain launched an attack against his country, code-named Desert Fox.
Baghdad reluctantly accepted the revisions to the United Nations sanctions regime two days after it was approved, but blasted the new resolution for reflecting the Security Council's "weakness and inability to face the American tendency toward harming Iraq," according to the official Iraqi News Agency (INA). Information Minister Mohamed Saeed Al-Sahaf told the INA, "Iraq will reluctantly accept Resolution 1409 regarding the renewal of the oil- for-food deal for another six months... according to the memorandum of understanding signed by Iraq and the United Nations."
Last week in a front-page editorial in Babel newspaper, run by Hussein's eldest son Udai, the modified sanctions were criticised as having only served to extend the economic embargo by adding new measures that would cause further suffering among the people of Iraq. "Changing the UN party responsible for monitoring the flow of goods to Iraq will not end the evil and negative impact of the ongoing embargo imposed on our country since 1990," it said. Babel called the Security Council resolution "a breach of the UN charter because it neglects Iraq's right to self defence against any external attack." The ruling Baath Party newspaper, Al-Thawra, called British Defence Minister Geoffrey Hoon "another evil liar" after Hoon told reporters that UN weapons inspectors must be allowed to return in order to maintain world security. The newspaper said Hoon was "under a major illusion" and that Iraq did not pose a threat to its neighbours or the international community. Top British officials, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, have been reiterating statements claiming they had evidence that Iraq continued to possess weapons of mass destruction.
Syria, the only Arab member of the Security Council, repeatedly tried to delay the approval of the resolution. Its ambassador to the UN also noted how certain major world powers, in a reference to the US, were adamant about applying resolutions against Iraq, while ignoring scores of others passed against Israel. He highlighted the failure of the Security Council to implement a resolution it approved last month asking Israel to accept an international inquiry into massacres that the Israeli army reportedly carried out in the Jenin refugee camp during its latest military offensive that began 29 March.
Since taking office, President Bush has expressed his desire to remove Hussein from power, and the US president has labelled Iraq part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and North Korea. Though US officials have not announced the discovery of any evidence linking Iraq with Al-Qa'eda or the 11 September attacks, they insist that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction and remains a threat to its neighbours and the world.
The Bush administration is reportedly preparing for a campaign to unseat Hussein. Despite failure to achieve international backing for a move against Iraq, especially among EU nations and Arab states, the US is prepared to act alone to achieve its objectives. Many options have been discussed about how to deal with Iraq, such as engaging in direct military action, supporting an insurgency or a coup, or a combination of all three. Pentagon planners have focused on a possible military campaign against the country in the near future. Since the end of the Gulf War, the United States has maintained military pressure against Iraq and has, along with Britain, enforced "no-fly zones" over northern and southern Iraq. Additionally, US and British warplanes periodically strike anti-aircraft positions in Iraq.
Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said on Saturday he believed an attack against Iraq by the United States was imminent despite Iraq's acceptance of the modified sanctions regime. Ramadan told Qatari satellite television Al-Jazeera, "We are expecting the American administration to launch its attack when it judges that circumstances allow it to realise its underhand objectives." Ramadan also said he believed that US plans to take action against Iraq would be carried out even if Iraq allowed UN weapons inspectors to return. "We pay no attention to those who say that the [return] of inspectors is a condition to avoid a strike." He added, "The American administration does not believe in dialogue and mutual interests with other states."
On Fox News Sunday, Vice-President Dick Cheney said that allowing the return of UN inspectors to Iraq was not the main issue. "Inspectors aren't the issue. They're a means. The issue, though, is that Saddam Hussein has violated -- continues to violate -- UN Resolution 687 that specifically requires him to get rid of all of his weapons of mass destruction, biological, chemical and nuclear capabilities, and that he allow international inspection to verify that." Cheney also added that a regime change remains an objective of the Bush administration, saying, "We think the region would be much more secure and the people of Iraq would be much freer if they had somebody else at the helm."
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