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U.S. POLICY TOWARD IRAQ HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 4, 2001 Serial No. 107–44 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–563PDF WASHINGTON : 2001 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:39 Dec 14, 2001 Jkt 075563 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\MESA\100401\75563 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1 COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York TOM LANTOS, California JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa HOWARD L. BERMAN, California DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American DAN BURTON, Indiana Samoa ELTON GALLEGLY, California DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina SHERROD BROWN, Ohio DANA ROHRABACHER, California CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY, Georgia EDWARD R. ROYCE, California EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama PETER T. KING, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ROBERT WEXLER, Florida AMO HOUGHTON, New York JIM DAVIS, Florida JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York RICHARD BURR, North Carolina WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado BARBARA LEE, California RON PAUL, Texas JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York NICK SMITH, Michigan JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon DARRELL E. ISSA, California SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada ERIC CANTOR, Virginia GRACE NAPOLITANO, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona ADAM B. SCHIFF, California BRIAN D. KERNS, Indiana DIANE E. WATSON, California JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman DAN BURTON, Indiana GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio HOWARD L. BERMAN, California JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DARRELL E. ISSA, California ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ERIC CANTOR, Virginia JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada PETER T. KING, New York ADAM B. SCHIFF, California JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana HILLEL WEINBERG, Subcommittee Staff Director & Counsel DAVID S. ADAMS, Democratic Professional Staff Member DEBORAH BODLANDER, Professional Staff Member PAUL BERKOWITZ, Professional Staff Member MATTHEW ZWEIG, Staff Associate (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:39 Dec 14, 2001 Jkt 075563 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\MESA\100401\75563 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1 C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES Geoffey Kemp, Director of Regional Strategic Programs, The Nixon Center ..... 7 Charles Duelfer, Visiting Scholar, Middle East Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies ................................................................................... 13 Gary Milhollin, Director, Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control .............. 17 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York, and Chairman, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia: Prepared statement ................................................................. 2 The Honorable Eric Cantor, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia: Prepared statement ......................................................................... 7 Geoffey Kemp: Prepared statement ....................................................................... 9 Charles Duelfer: Prepared statement .................................................................... 15 Iraq Watch Roundtables, May 24, 2001, submitted for the hearing record by Mr. Milhollin ................................................................................................... 18 Article from Commentary Magazine, entitled ‘‘Shopping with Saddam Hus- sein,’’ dated July-August 2001, submitted for the hearing record by Mr. Milhollin ................................................................................................................ 23 Reprint of an article from The New York Times, entitled ‘‘What the Inspectors Can’t Find and Why They Can’t Find It,’’ dated December 20, 1998, sub- mitted for the hearing record by Mr. Milhollin ................................................. 28 Gary Milhollin: Prepared statement ...................................................................... 32 APPENDIX Material Submitted for the Hearing Record .......................................................... 51 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:39 Dec 14, 2001 Jkt 075563 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\MESA\100401\75563 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:39 Dec 14, 2001 Jkt 075563 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\MESA\100401\75563 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1 U.S. POLICY TOWARD IRAQ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2001 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:13 p.m. in Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Benjamin A. Gilman [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. Mr. GILMAN. The Committee will come to order. During the prior Administration, Congress was told that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hus- sein was in ‘‘a strategic box.’’ We were told that U.S. patrols over northern and southern Iraq were preventing Saddam from threat- ening his neighbors with conventional forces. We were told that the international sanctions were denying Saddam the revenues with which to rebuild large weapons of mass destruction programs. And we were also told that Saddam Hussein was isolated in the inter- national community. The purpose of today’s hearing is to question these assumptions and to discuss what Saddam Hussein has been up to nearly 3 years after the last U.N. Weapons Inspectors left Iraq. Iraq has adamantly refused to allow any new inspections, even while making the absurd claim that Iraq is no longer developing any mass destruction weapons. With Americans justifiably concerned with further terrorist at- tacks since September 11th, we want to know the extent to which Saddam has rebuilt his biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons capabilities. September 11th has taught us how costly it is to be complacent. It has also taught us to pointedly challenge those who assert that aggressive terrorists or dictators are ‘‘contained’’ in ‘‘boxes.’’ In point of fact, we can never be certain that dictators or terrorists are in a strategic box as long as they are in power or at large. Secretary of State Powell’s ‘‘targeted sanctions’’ are intended to concentrate the efforts of the world community on denying Saddam technology and illicit revenue. Regrettably, however, it seems likely that it will allow Saddam to pick the lock of his cage or—to break down its door altogether. Accordingly, I very much doubt that the proposed approach will yield the hope for plugging up of leaks in the sanctions regime. Leaks that permitted a Chinese company to install new fiber optic cable to link Iraq’s air defense network and make it more effective against U.S. aircraft patrolling the skies over Iraq. Leaks that al- (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:39 Dec 14, 2001 Jkt 075563 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\MESA\100401\75563 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1 2 lowed Iraq, 6 years ago, to import through Jordan Scud missile guidance systems from Russian middlemen. There is no reason to believe that Saddam would shrink from providing his weapons of mass destruction technology to terrorists, although there is no reason to believe he has done so as of yet. We cannot rule out the possibility that a man who would kill 5,000 Iraqi Kurds in a poison gas attack at Halabja would contemplate the use of such weapons against American targets. I am on record, along with the Chairman of the Committee and many of the Members of our Committee, as advocating the over- throw of Saddam Hussein. Indeed, under the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, it is officially declared U.S. policy to change Iraq’s regime. There is no other way to fully and finally end the threat Iraq poses to our national security. This is an important goal, whether or not Saddam is dem- onstrated to have played a role in the September 11th attack on our Nation. We do not, of course, want to unnecessarily complicate the strug- gle we are currently undertaking against Osama bin Laden and terrorists of his ilk. But our Nation should be able to ‘‘chew gum and walk at the same time.’’ At the earliest possible moment—which might be very soon, and certainly will have to come before we can declare total victory over terrorism—we must turn our attention to ending a re- gime which we should have dismantled years ago. Saddam’s regime continues to defy the will of the international community, defies all norms of acceptable international behavior, as well as human rights norms. While we are striking at other terrorists, we should end the