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| CONTINUED STAND-OFF | |
 November 10, 1998 
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ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: First tonight, another showdown between Iraq and the United Nations. We start with some background from Correspondent Spencer Michels. SPENCER MICHELS: Ten days ago, on October 31st, Iraq announced it would bar U.N. inspectors from visiting suspected weapons production sites unless the United Nations Security Council moved to end trade sanctions against the country. NIZAR HAMDOON, Iraqi Ambassador to the UN: They will not be given any access to any of our installations from today on. |
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Iraq halts inspections |
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SPENCER MICHESL: The Iraqi move sparked a threat of military action from the United States and drew a unanimous condemnation from the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week. SPENCER MICHELS: Annan, last February, brokered a deal with Iraq --
negotiated directly with Saddam Hussein himself -- in which Iraq promised
fuller cooperation with U.N. inspections of facilities suspected of producing
weapons of mass destruction. Under the U.N. resolutions that followed the Gulf War, economic sanctions that bar most imports and exports by Iraq, including oil, with some exceptions for food and medicine, are to be lifted only when U.N. inspectors certify that the country has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction. But recent Iraqi statements have accused the United States and the U.N. of not honoring those terms and trying to continue indefinitely the sanctions. Iraqis say they have been cut off from supplies of food or medicine, and that the sanctions have led to the deaths of 1.5 million citizens. They also claim they have been forced to halt repairs and rebuilding of water and sewage systems damaged or destroyed in the war.
SPENCER MICHELS: But the U.S. has argued that Iraq is not keeping its word, by failing to cooperate with U.N. inspectors.
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| Other options |
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SPENCER MICHELS: Unlike the February showdown, the United States and Britain have not sent major navy or air reinforcements to the Gulf but say they have sufficient firepower already in place. Defense Secretary William Cohen, who has been involved in several days of meetings involving Iraq, was asked at a news conference today what air strikes would achieve against Saddam Hussein.
SPENCER MICHELS: Cohen and other members of the president's national security team are expected to continue discussing a range of military and diplomatic options. |
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KOFI
ANNAN, U.N. Secretary-General: It is a total breach of Security Council
resolutions and the Council has asked them to resume cooperation immediately.
In
return, the United States and Britain backed away from plans to launch
a bombing campaign against Iraq. 
TAHA
YASSIN RAMADAN, Iraqi Vice President: (speaking through interpreter)
Iraq cannot deal positively with the members of the Security Council
unless there is a clear stance about lifting the embargo on Iraq. 
SECRETARY
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: We are going to insist that Saddam Hussein live
up to his obligations. We have in the past used the combination of diplomacy
and the threat of the use of force. We are consulting about other options.
SECRETARY
WILLIAM COHEN: We certainly would consider the possibility of degrading
his capability of manufacturing these weapons of mass destruction, or
the means of delivering them, and posing a threat to the region. It
would be a significant degradation of his capacity. But we're hoping
that it doesn't become necessary to resort to that.