10/01/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10163

POWELL ON IRAQ

The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait in 1990. A United States-led international coalition reversed that aggression. When the Gulf War ended, the United Nations Security Council passed a series of resolutions to ensure that Iraq would never again threaten its neighbors.

Iraq was required to cease developing weapons of mass destruction, to shut down its nuclear weapons program, and to eliminate its ballistic missiles with ranges greater than one-hundred-fifty kilometers. Weapons inspectors were sent to make sure that Iraq complied with these requirements.

But Iraq defied the U-N. As U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "The regime is infamous for its ploys, its stalling tactics, its demands on inspectors, sometimes at the point of a gun, and its general and consistent defiance of the mandate of the United Nations Security Council."

For seven years, Saddam’s regime deliberately deceived and hindered the U-N weapons inspectors sent to Iraq to ensure its disarmament. Saddam’s complex plan to conceal weapons of mass destruction, his refusal to cooperate with weapons inspectors, and his constant obstruction of their efforts forced the inspectors to leave Iraq in 1998. Since then, Iraq has continued to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. A proven menace like Saddam Hussein, in possession of such weapons, could empower a few terrorists to threaten millions of innocent people.

The challenge to the U-N, said Mr. Powell, is a "very simple one: If you would remain relevant, then you must act in the face of these repeated violations." Iraq must comply with all relevant U-N resolutions. That means ending its links with terrorism, respecting human rights, and returning prisoners and property it seized during the Gulf War. And it means giving up its weapons of mass destruction.

Now is the time to act. "This is the time," said Mr. Powell, "to apply more pressure, not to relent. We must not believe that inspectors going in on the same conditions and under the same terms that they went in on so many occasions earlier will be acceptable now."

The U.S. is trying to work with the U-N to deal with the danger posed by Iraq. "But," said Secretary of State Powell, "if the United Nations is not able to act and to act decisively...then the United States will have to make its own decision as to whether the danger posed by Iraq is such that we have to act in order to defend our country and our interests."