Gore repeats that Saddam MUST GO

U.S. Vice President Al Gore told Iraqi opposition leaders that Saddam Husseyn "must be removed from power," AP reported on 26 June. Among his audience at the Washington meeting were representatives of the Kurdish Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Iraq National Congress (INC), and the Constitutional Monarchist Movement.

London's "Al-Hayat" on 27 June said that the Iraqi participants in the meeting had pressed for a change in the way the U.S. administration now deals with the INC and specifically for the release of funds appropriated by the Congress. The paper added that the INC leadership also called on the United States to change the current rules of engagement given to U.S. forces so that they can strike other targets as well as to continue enforcement of the existing no-fly zones.

The INC representatives also reportedly called on Gore to help them combat the environmental disaster now being caused by the construction of dams that prevent the flow of water into the Al-Ahwar marshes (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 2 June 2000 and 16 June 2000). These marshes are inhabited by supporters of the Shi'ite opposition to Saddam Husseyn. According to the "Mideast Mirror" of 27 June, the opposition urged that U.S warplanes "destroy these dams in order to thwart the Iraqi regimes plans to displace the residents of the southern marshes."

Following Gore's meeting with the Iraqi opposition groups, the two sides released a joint statement reiterating the U.S. commitment to removing Saddam Husseyn from power and arguing that Saddam's removal "is the key to the positive transformation of Iraq's relationship to the international community." (David Nissman)

Also this tidbit:

7 July 2000

IRAQI MISSILE TESTING RAISES CONTROVERSY.

The question of Iraq's capacity to build and deploy weapons of mass destruction and the ability of international weapons inspectors to prevent Baghdad from exercizing it was given new prominence by a report in the "New York Times" on 1 July concerning an Iraqi missile test.

Because the range of the Al-Samud rocket tested is less than 150 kilometers (95 miles), this test does not violate restrictions placed on Iraq by the UN. But it has raised concerns because the plants where it was produced were destroyed by American and British air strikes in December 1998. Apparently, these facilities have now been rebuilt.

A correspondent for the London "Independent" said on 3 July that the timing of the reports of the missile tests over the past weekend "suggest[s] that the U.S. and the U.K. may be planning to escalate their military attacks on Iraq, as it approaches another crunch over weapons inspections." The paper adds that "the tests are another sign that current British and American policy is failing, with no signs of any new initiatives or ideas."

A U.S. State Department spokesman appeared to lend weight to those suggestions. He said on 5 July that "[I]n the absence of United Nations inspectors on the ground -- carrying out the Security Council mandate restated as recently as December 17 in the new Resolution 1284 -- uncertainties about the significance of these activities will persist. As time passes, our concerns will increase." (David Nissman)

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