09/22/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10145

SADDAM HUSSEIN’S INSPECTION PLOY

After a decade of deceiving and defying the United Nations, Saddam Hussein now says that Iraq is willing to admit U-N weapons inspectors. But as President George W. Bush said, this "latest ploy. . .is not going to fool anybody."

Saddam Hussein’s supposed change of heart came a few days after President Bush called on the rest of the world to join the United States in combating Iraq’s threat to U-N authority and international security. As Mr. Bush pointed out, Saddam Hussein "has broken every pledge he made to the United Nations. . .since his invasion of Kuwait was rolled back in 1991. Sixteen times the U-N Security Council has passed resolutions designed to ensure that Iraq does not pose a threat to international peace and security. Saddam Hussein has violated every one. . .not once, but many times."

"Saddam Hussein’s regime continues to support terrorist groups and to oppress its civilian population," said President Bush. "It refuses to account for missing Gulf War personnel, or to end illicit trade outside the U-N’s oil-for-food program. And although the regime agreed in 1991 to destroy and stop developing all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, it has broken every aspect of this fundamental pledge."

In an effort to ensure that Saddam Hussein would close down his programs for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, the U-N sent weapons inspectors to Iraq in 1991. For seven years, the Iraqi regime obstructed the work of the inspectors. Iraq's policies have prevented the return of inspectors since 1998. Its sudden change of heart is no more than a tactical step.

Above all, the U-N must keep in mind that this is not simply a matter of inspections. It is about disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and compliance with all of Iraq's U-N obligations. It is about ending the threat posed by the Iraqi regime.

As President Bush said at the U-N, "If Iraq’s regime defies us again, the world must move deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to account. . . . The Security Council resolutions will be enforced -- the just demands of peace and security will be met -- or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power."