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Oppose Anti-Iraq Senate Letter

Arab American Institute Action Alert
25 September 1998

A recent intitiative on Capitol Hill threatens to create a new crisis with Iraq and could bring about further military action. On September 24, Senators Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), John McCain (R-AZ) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) began circulating a letter calling on the President to "take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." [see full text of the letter attached]

Eight years of devastating sanctions have left Saddam Hussein's regime intact and has caused the deaths of more than 1.2 million Iraqi civilians. The threat of military action has not worked in the past and will not work now. At a time when many are beginning to question the logic of economic sanctions and the military option, U.S. policy toward Iraq should move away from the current failed policy toward one that promotes peace and stability in the region.

Action Requested:

Please call or write these members and urge them to reconsider their approach to Iraq. Those of you in Michigan, Connecticut, Arizona and Texas especially should contact your Senators at:

Sen. Carl Levin
SR-459, Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-6221
Fax: (202) 224-1388
Email: senator@levin.senate.gov

Sen. Joseph Lieberman
Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4041
Fax: (202) 224-9750
Email: senator_lieberman@lieberman.senate.gov

Sen. John McCain
SR-241, Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel:(202) 224-2235
Fax: (202) 228-2862
Email: John_McCain@mccain.senate.gov

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison 284 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-4304 Tel: (202) 224-5922 Fax: (202) 224-0776 Email: senator@hutchison.senate.gov

September 24, 1998

The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to express our concern over recent developments in Iraq.

Last February, the Senate was working on a resolution supporting military action if diplomacy did not succeed in convincing Saddam Hussein to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning the disclosure and destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. This effort was discontinued when the Iraqi government reaffirmed its acceptance of all relevant Security Council resolutions and reiterated its willingness to cooperate with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by its Deputy Prime Minister and the United Nations Secretary General.

Despite a brief interval of cooperation, however, Saddam Hussein has failed to live up to his commitments. On August 5, Iraq suspended all cooperation with UNSCOM and the IAEA, except some limited monitoring activity.

As UNSCOM Executive Chairman Richard Butler told us in a briefing for all Senators in March, the fundamental historic reality is that Iraq has consistently sought to limit, mitigate, reduce and in some cases, defeat the Security Council's resolutions by a variety of devices.

We were gratified by the Security Council's action in unanimously passing Resolution 1194 on September 9. By condemning Iraq's decision to suspend cooperation with UNSCOM and IAEA, by demanding that Iraq rescind that decision and cooperate fully with UNSCOM and the IAEA, by deciding not to conduct the sanctions' review scheduled for October 1998 and not to conduct any future such reviews until UNSCOM and the IAEA report that they are satisfied that they have been able to exercise the full range of activities provided for in their mandates, and by acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council has sent an unambiguous message to Saddam Hussein.

We are skeptical, however, that Saddam Hussein will take heed of this message even though it is from a unanimous Security Council. Moreover, we are deeply concerned that without the intrusive inspections and monitoring by UNSCOM and the IAEA, Iraq will be able, over time, to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programs.

In light of these developments, we urge you, after consulting with congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and the laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.