Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
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U.S. Wants Iraq Oil Ceiling Lifted U.S. Wants Iraq Oil Ceiling Lifted
The Associated Press January 14, 1999 WASHINGTON -- The United States today proposed removing a U.N. ceiling on Iraqi oil sales provided the proceeds are used to purchase food and other humanitarian supplies for the Iraqi people. Calling on Iraq to take advantage of the exemption to a 9-year-old U.S. Security Council trade embargo, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said the process for approving contracts for food and medicine would be made virtually automatic.The U.S. proposals are designed partly to counter a campaign by Baghdad of accusing the United States of starving the Iraqi people through its support of economic sanctions. Iraq is permitted to sell $5.2 billion worth of oil every six months provided the proceeds are used to purchase food, medications and other humanitarian supplies. That ceiling would be lifted if the U.S. proposal were accepted by the Security Council. But it would not assure a better life for Iraqi children, pregnant women, nursing mothers and the elderly. According to U.S. officials, Iraq has kept large supplies of food and medicine in storehouses, refusing to distribute them to the needy.
``Unfortunately and sadly for the people of Iraq, the government of Iraq has chosen not to order important foodstuffs and medicines for its people,'' Rubin said. ``Furthermore, the government of Iraq has rejected donations of humanitarian goods from other countries.
``The United States would support eliminating the ceiling on funds from oil exports so that those funds can be used solely for humanitarian food and medicine,'' Rubin said.
``We would also support reasonable measures to streamline the U.N. contract-approval process, including automatic approval of food and medicine contracts,'' he said.
At the same time, Rubin emphasized this was not a lifting of sanctions on Iraq.
``It is an expansion of the humanitarian program known as the oil-for-food program. All present controls on the collection and disbursement of revenues generated by the sale of oil would remain in place,'' he said.
On the diplomatic front, using a French proposal as a springboard, the administration is searching with U.S. allies for a way to get weapons inspectors back to Iraq to spur the country's disarmament.
Meanwhile, there were two more incidents in the no-fly zone over northern Iraq early today. In both cases, Iraqi defenses posed a threat to U.S. and British planes patrolling the zone, said the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. An Air Force F-16 fighter fired a high-speed anti-radiation missile at a surface-to-air missile site and anti-aircraft artillery system. An F-15 launched a precision guided missile at another surface-to-air missile site. In both cases, U.S. officials said, the American planes returned safely to base. There was no immediate report of damage to the targets.
It was the fourth straight day Iraqi forces challenged the no-fly edict enforced by the United States.
A French proposal unveiled Wednesday at the United Nations would eliminate the U.N. ceiling on oil sales in exchange for a new monitoring system that would focus on deterring Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction rather than accounting for what it may have hidden.
Rubin said Wednesday the French approach had some ``positive elements.'' But, reflecting U.S. policy, he said Iraq should not be liberated from the sanctions until it rids itself of all weapons of mass destruction. "We have a number of questions and concerns'' about the French proposal, Rubin said. ``The United States has always been skeptical and perhaps others are not as skeptical as we are'' of Iraq's intentions.
Later, Vice President Al Gore, in a speech in New York City, said the United States ``is willing to look at ways to improve the effectiveness of the humanitarian programs in Iraq, including lifting current ceilings on funds which can be used to purchase food and medicine.''
Privately, State Department officials stressed the United States was prepared to attack Iraq again if it continues to defy U.N. Security Council resolutions that call for disarmament or if it persists in interfering with U.S. flights over northern Iraq. They said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright would take up with government leaders in Egypt and Saudi Arabia tactics for deposing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. She will go to Cairo and Riyadh for talks at the end of the month after a three-day visit to Moscow.
Also on Albright's agenda is finding ways to get Iraq to distribute to its people the food and medicine it purchases from proceeds of the oil sales.
On Tuesday, Iraq announced it planned to boost oil production to 3 million barrels a day from the current level of 2.5 million barrels. Iraq's refusal to admit U.N. inspectors led to a missile and bombing attack last month by the United States and Britain. Russia, China and France all objected. In the aftermath, the Clinton administration is struggling to keep an inspection system alive.
