Bill Clinton: “Inspections August 6, 1998 Iraq's latest refusal to cooperate with the international weapons inspectors is unacceptable.…”

“Inspections August 6, 1998 Iraq's latest refusal to cooperate with the international weapons inspectors is unacceptable. Far from hastening the day the international community lifts sanctions against Iraq, as Iraq intends, its failure to live up to its obligations will perpetuate those sanctions and keep the Iraqi economy under tight international control. As a condition of the cease-fire in the Gulf war, the United Nations demanded and Iraq agreed to account for its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them within 15 days and to destroy them. Last February Iraq reiterated that commitment in an agreement it signed with U.N. Secretary-General Annan. In short, Iraq has had it within its power to end the sanctions by meeting this affirmative obligation, letting the inspectors finish their job, and complying with the other relevant Security Council resolutions. Instead of cooperating, Iraq has spent the better part of this decade avoiding its commitments to the international community. Recent discoveries by the weapons inspectors, including new documents on chemical munitions used in the Iran-Iraq war and nerve gas residue on Iraqi warheads, only underscore Iraq's failure to meet its obligations to the world. Iraq's most recent refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors is another misguided attempt to divide the international community in order to gain the lifting of the sanctions.…”