Truth About Iraq: Sanctions no longer were working

DallasNews.com - Opinion

Sanctions no longer were working

Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and was not rebuilding his nuclear weapons program.

That was the conclusion that Charles Duelfer, the top American weapons inspector in Iraq, delivered last week, prompting Democrat John Kerry to say that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney "may well be the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq."

As far as the Kerry campaign and many in the media are concerned, that was the last word on the matter. But it's not the whole story – which careful readers can see at www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/.

They will discover Mr. Duelfer's finding that Saddam fully intended to resume research and development on chemical weapons when United Nations sanctions ended. The dictator also aspired to develop nuclear weaponry after sanctions collapsed and "clearly intended to reconstitute long-range delivery systems." And Saddam intentionally deceived the world to make it appear that he still had WMDs.

While it is undeniable that the Bush administration's prewar case for war was based on a number of false assumptions, it is equally clear that Saddam's malevolent intentions were only temporarily restrained.

Doesn't that mean sanctions were working? No. In Mr. Duelfer's words: "By 2000-2001, Saddam had managed to mitigate many of the effects of sanctions and undermine their international support. Iraq was within striking distance of a de facto end to the sanctions regime."

The dictator achieved this through a bribery-fueled network of countries and companies (including some U.S. oil firms) that helped Iraq acquire banned technology, material and services. This purported bribery was particularly aimed at France, Russia and China – three U.N. Security Council members. These nations spearheaded opposition in the Security Council to the war. Coincidence?

Did Saddam Hussein have the weapons and weapons capabilities that the United States claimed prior to the war? No. Were sanctions and trust in the integrity of the international community a viable long-term strategy for containing Saddam? No. That's the truth about Iraq. Charles Duelfer can see it, even if John Kerry cannot.