Lisa Murkowski: “although stories about Iraq have moved off page 1, history teaches us that we should be prepared for another crisis, and…”

“although stories about Iraq have moved off page 1, history teaches us that we should be prepared for another crisis, and I will tell you why. Most of the previous debate on Iraq has focused on military options or support for opposition groups, but I am here to call the attention of my colleagues to an issue that seems to have been lost. Where is the will of the world to enforce the economic sanctions, including the embargo on oil sales, that date back to the end of Operation Desert Storm? We must go back, I think, to the original purpose of the economic sanctions against Iraq and simply shut down Saddam Hussein's ability to fund his program for weapons of mass destruction. Because there is a significant amount of oil that he is able to sell, and the proceeds are not going for humanitarian needs in Iraq; they are going into Saddam Hussein's pocket, and, as a consequence, he is fueling his military machine. In my opinion there is only one way to shut down Saddam's military machine. We must effectively cut off the flow of oil from Iraq.”