[Vision2020] Pres. Speech To Congress On IRAQs WMD

[Scott Dredge]

Which president's speech is this?  Clinton, Bush, or
other?

-Scott

--- John Harrell <johnbharrell@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Dear Mr. Speaker:   (Mr. President:)
> Consistent with the Authorization for Use of
> Military Force Against Iraq
> Resolution (Public Law 102-1) and as part of my
> effort to keep the
> Congress fully informed, I am reporting on the
> status of efforts to
> obtain Iraq's compliance with the resolutions
> adopted by the United
> Nations Security Council (UNSC).  ...
> 
> Overview
> As stated in my December 18 report, on December 16,
> ...
> The decision to use force was made after U.N.
> Special Commission
> (UNSCOM) Executive Chairman Richard Butler reported
> to the U.N.
> Secretary General on December 14, that Iraq was not
> cooperating fully
> with the Commission and that it was "not able to
> conduct the substantive
> disarmament work mandated to it by the Security
> Council."
> The build-up to the current crisis began on August 5
> when the Iraqi
> government suspended cooperation with UNSCOM and the
> International
> Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), except on a
> limited-range of monitoring
> activities.  On October 31, Iraq announced that it
> was ceasing all
> cooperation with UNSCOM.  In response to this
> decision, the Security
> Council on November 5 unanimously adopted Resolution
> 1205, which
> condemned Iraq's decision as a "flagrant violation"
> of the Gulf War
> cease-fire Resolution 687 and other relevant
> resolutions.  Resolution
> 1205 also demanded that Iraq immediately rescind
> both its October 31
> decision and its decision of August 5.  This came
> after the passage on
> March 3, 1998, of Resolution 1154, warning Iraq that
> the "severest
> consequences" would result from Iraq's failure to
> cooperate with the
> implementation of Resolution 687.
> Iraq ignored the Security Council's demands until
> November 14, when U.S.
> and British forces prepared to launch air strikes on
> Iraq.  Baghdad
> initially tried to impose unacceptable conditions on
> its offer of
> resumption of cooperation; however, the United
> States and Great Britain
> insisted on strict compliance with all relevant
> Security Council
> resolutions.
> Subsequently, Iraq agreed in writing in letters to
> the U.N. Secretary
> General to rescind its August 5 and October 31
> decisions and to resume
> full cooperation with UNSCOM and the IAEA in
> accordance with Security
> Council resolutions.  Iraq informed the Security
> Council on November 14
> that it was the "clear and unconditional decision of
> the Iraqi
> government to resume cooperation with UNSCOM and the
> IAEA."
> On November 15, the Security Council issued a
> statement in which it
> stressed that Iraq's commitment "needs to be
> established by
> unconditional and sustained cooperation with the
> Special Commission and
> the IAEA in exercising the full range of their
> activities provided for
> in their mandates."
> UNSCOM and the IAEA resumed their full range of
> activities on November
> 17, but Iraq repeatedly violated its commitment of
> cooperation.  As
> Chairman Butler's report of December 14 details,
> Iraq has, over the
> course of the last 8 years, refused to provide the
> key documents and
> critical explanations about its prohibited weapons
> programs in response
> to UNSCOM's outstanding requests.  It refused to
> allow removal of
> missile engine components, denied access to missile
> test data,
> restricted photography of bombs, and endangered the
> safety of inspectors
> by aggressively maneuvering a helicopter near them. 
> Iraq failed to
> provide requested access to archives and effectively
> blocked UNSCOM from
> visiting a site on November 25.
> On December 4 and again on December 11, Iraq further
> restricted UNSCOM's
> activities by asserting that certain teams could not
> inspect on Fridays,
> the Muslim sabbath, despite 7 years of doing so and
> the fact that other
> inspection teams' activities were not restricted on
> Fridays.  Iraq
> blocked access to offices of the ruling Ba'ath Party
> on December 9,
> which UNSCOM held "solid evidence" contained
> prohibited materials.  Iraq
> routinely removed documents from facilities prior to
> inspection, and
> initiated new forms of restrictions on UNSCOM's
> work.  We also have
> information that Iraq ordered the military to
> destroy WMD-related
> documents in anticipation of the UNSCOM inspections.
> Iraq's actions were a material breach of the Gulf
> War cease-fire
> resolution (UNSC Resolution 687), the February 23,
> 1998, Annan-Aziz
> Memorandum of Understanding, and Iraq's November 14
> commitment to the
> Security Council.  The threat to the region posed by
> Iraq's refusal to
> cooperate unconditionally with UNSCOM, and the
> consequent inability of
> UNSCOM to carry out the responsibilities the
> Security Council entrusted
> to it, could not be tolerated.  These circumstances
> led the United
> States and the United Kingdom to use military force
> to degrade Iraq's
> capacity to threaten its neighbors through the
> development of WMD and
> long-range delivery systems.  During Desert Fox, key
> WMD sites and the
> facilities of the organizations that conceal them,
> as well as important
> missile repair facilities and surface-to-air missile
> sites, were
> attacked.  Operation Desert Fox degraded Saddam's
> ability to threaten
> his neighbors militarily.
> UNSCOM and IAEA inspectors withdrew from Iraq on
> December 15 when
> Chairman Butler reported that inspectors were not
> able to conduct the
> substantive disarmament work required of UNSCOM by
> the Security Council.
> The United States continues to support UNSCOM and
> the IAEA as the agreed
> mechanisms for Iraq to demonstrate its compliance
> with UNSC resolutions
> concerning disarmament.
> Since December 18, the Security Council has
> discussed next steps on
> Iraq.  It decided on January 30 to establish three
> assessment panels to
> address disarmament issues, humanitarian issues, and
> Kuwait-related
> issues.  The panels, under the chairmanship of the
> Brazilian Ambassador
> to the United Nations, are due to complete their
> reviews by April 15.
> The United States also continues to support the
> international
> community's efforts to provide for the humanitarian
> needs of the Iraqi
> people through the "oil-for-food" program.  On
> November 24, 1998, the
> Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1210
> establishing a new
> 6-month phase (phase five) of the oil-for-food
> program (phase four ended
> November 25).  In January, the United States
> announced its support for
> lifting the ceiling on oil sales under the
> oil-for-food program so that
> Iraqi civilian humanitarian needs can better be met.
> As long as Saddam Hussein remains in power, he
> represents a threat to
> the well-being of his people, the peace of the
> region, and the security
> of the world.  We will continue to contain the
> threat he poses, but over
> the long term the best way to address that threat is
> through a new
> government in Baghdad.  To that end, we -- working
> with the Congress --
> are deepening our engagement with the forces for
> change in Iraq to help
> make the opposition a more effective voice for the
> aspirations of the
> Iraqi people.  Our efforts are discussed in more
> detail below.
> 
> 
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