Powell Calls for U.N. Resolution to Compel Iraqi Compliance

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES

09.20.2002

Courtesy Story

Defense.gov         

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the proposed U.N. resolution on Iraq must spell out consequences for Saddam Hussein's regime if the country does not comply.

Powell, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War, told the House International Relations Committee that sending U.N. inspectors back into Iraq without a new resolution "is a recipe for failure."

He said he is working with the 14 members of the U.N. Security Council to craft a new, more potent resolution. "Our position is clear," Powell said. "We must face the facts and find Iraq in material breach (of the 16 previous U.N. resolutions)."

Then, the new resolution must spell out the actions the U.N. demands of Iraq. Finally, the key to the resolution is to list the consequences to Iraq for failing to take action.

"That is what makes this (resolution) different," he said. "This time, unlike any time over the previous 12 years of Iraqi defiance, there must be hard consequences. This time, Iraq must comply with the U.N. mandate or there will be decisive action to compel compliance."

Powell spoke of the danger Hussein poses to his neighbors and the world. He said Hussein sent his armies against Iran in 1980 and then against Kuwait in 1990. He fired ballistic missiles at neighboring countries and had used chemical weapons in the war with Iran and against his own people.

Following the Gulf War, Powell said, the United States and the international community were determined to prevent any future Iraqi aggression. Iraqi disarmament -- particularly getting rid of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them -- was at the heart of all the U.N. resolutions.

But Iraq has defied the United Nations and refused to comply completely with any of the U.N. Security Council resolutions, Powell said. Since December 1998, when Iraq kicked out U.N. inspectors, Saddam Hussein has been free to pursue weapons of mass destruction.

"Meanwhile, the world has changed dramatically," Powell said. "Since Sept. 11, 2001, the world is a different place, a more dangerous place." He said Sept. 11 meant a new security reality.

He said the world must recognize that the connection between terrorists willing to use weapons of mass destruction and the states developing WMDs is "the overriding security concern of our nation. It still is, and it will continue to be so for years to come.

"We now see that a proven menace, like Saddam Hussein, in possession of weapons of mass destruction could empower a few terrorists to threaten millions of innocent people," he continued. "President Bush is fully determined to deal with this threat. This administration is determined to defeat it. I believe the American people would have us do no less."

Story by Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service

• Date Taken: 09.20.2002
• Date Posted: 07.04.2025 00:07
• Story ID: 527841
• Location: WASHINGTON, US