09/07/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10115

BUSH ON IRAQ

Saddam Hussein has not honored the commitments Iraq agreed to when it lost the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Saddam Hussein promised to allow United Nations inspectors in to make sure Iraq stopped developing weapons of mass destruction. For seven years, the Iraqi regime deliberately attempted to conceal their prohibited weapons from inspectors, all the while continuing to develop their weapons of mass destruction capabilities. But in 1998, Saddam kicked out those inspectors and has not allowed them to return.

Saddam Hussein has chemical and biological weapons. He is trying to get nuclear weapons. The return of the weapons inspectors would be a first step toward verifying Iraq’s obligations to disarm. However, based on Iraq’s eleven-year track record of concealment and deception, inspections in and of themselves might not guarantee that all of these weapons are eliminated.

Weapons inspections are not full-proof. Iraq has the ability to hide weapons and has done so successfully in the past. The fact that weapons inspectors have been banned from Iraq for almost four years means that Saddam Hussein has had this time to improve his weapons of mass destruction and his ability to hide them from inspectors. The presence of inspectors does not guarantee that Saddam Hussein has lived up to the agreements that he made after the Gulf War. And those agreements require that Iraq give up its weapons of mass destruction.

For eleven years, as President George W. Bush put it, "Saddam Hussein has side-stepped...out of any agreement he had made not to...develop weapons of mass destruction, agreements he’s made to treat the people within his country with respect." And, said Mr. Bush, Saddam Hussein "has not fulfilled any of the obligations that he made to the world."

What makes this issue so important is that under Saddam Hussein, Iraq has a long history of aggression. Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, has used ground forces to invade Iran and Kuwait. Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, has used ballistic missiles to attack Saudi Arabia, Israel, and coalition forces during the Gulf War. Saddam Hussein used poison gas against Iranians. Saddam Hussein used poison gas against Iraqi Kurds.

As President Bush said, "The issue is not inspectors. The issue is disarmament. This is a man who told the world that he would not harbor weapons of mass destruction....Doing nothing about that serious threat is not an option for the United States. Saddam Hussein," said President Bush, "is a serious threat. He is a significant problem...and it’s something that this country must deal with."