As prepeared for delivery...

Statement on U.S. Policy

Ambassador Michael Klosson

CyBC Television

October 7, 2002

Thank you for this opportunity to discuss with you tonight a very important topic.

We all aspire to a peaceful world, but Americans and Cypriots alike -- indeed all responsible members of the international community -- face several common dangers as we move into the new millennium.  Those threats include terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and the development of other weapons of mass destruction.  That’s quite a list.  Each on its own poses a danger to our collective security and well-being.  Ominously, there is one place where all these dangers converge, and its address is the brutal regime in Baghdad.

My country is working with the U.N. Security Council to meet this common challenge.  The international community must act.   By doing so, we can realize our hopes for a world of justice, one freed of old patterns of fear and intimidation, and one where the international foundations for peace, prosperity and human dignity have been better secured.  But if we do nothing, the authority of the Security Council will be undermined, the commitment of free nations to defend their fundamental beliefs will be questioned, and the enemies of peace and freedom everywhere will be emboldened.

On its present course, the Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency.  Why is that?

First and foremost, Saddam Hussein has demonstrated over and over again his defiance of the international community.  He has systematically violated 16 UN Security Council resolutions over the past eleven years. 

UN members, moreover, are seriously concerned about the Iraqi regime's well-documented efforts to acquire or develop prohibited weapons of mass destruction and longer-range missile systems.  These include chemical weapons – VX, mustard gas and other chemical agents -- and biological weapons – like the deadly anthrax virus.  UN inspectors believe that Iraq could have produced enough biological and chemical agents to kill millions of people. 

In 1995, Iraq finally admitted that it had a nuclear weapons program prior to the Gulf War.  We know now, were it not for that war, the regime would likely have possessed a nuclear weapon by 1993.  Today, the regime has the scientists and facilities to build nuclear weapons, and is seeking actively the materials needed to do so.

Keep in mind as well that this is a regime which not only seeks to develop such weapons; it also uses them.  The regime attacked Iran in 1980 and invaded Kuwait in 1990.  It fired ballistic missiles at Iran and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Israel.  Using horrible chemical weapons, Saddam Hussein gassed many Iranians as well as his own people.

In 1991, UNSCR 687, and many other subsequent resolutions, outlined the terms and conditions set by the international community for the disarmament of Iraq with respect to weapons of mass destruction and certain types of ballistic missiles.  Saddam Hussein has violated repeatedly his obligations and thwarted past efforts by UN inspectors.   The UN Security Council has demanded time and time again – in 1991, in 1994, in 1996, in 1997, in 1998 and again in 1999 – that Iraq fulfill its obligations and cooperate with U.N. inspectors.  On virtually each occasion, the Iraqi regime pledged “unconditional” access to international inspectors (as it has today), only to return to its tactics of deception, delay and even physical intimidation when inspectors bravely attempted to carry out their mission.

The severity of the threat posed by Iraq and its record of deceit, defiance and obstruction make it all the more important that the international community act decisively.  We are working with our U.N. Security Council partners to develop a strong, tough resolution setting forth what the international community needs to ensure that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction.

We cannot stand by and do nothing while dangers gather.  That course can lead only to greater instability and greater fear throughout the region.  We thus must hold the brutal Iraqi regime to account.  Every country has a stake in how events unfold.  If we meet our responsibilities, if we uphold the authority of the United Nations, if we together overcome this danger, then we will travel far down the path of safeguarding our common future from the dangers of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and nuclear proliferation.

Thank you.