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Iraqi President SaddamHussein:"I believeAmerican capitalismcreates problems and genocide campaigns and starvation.Asfor Arabs, they have to be torn to pieces as a nation,theirculture and civilization obliterated and wealth pillaged, so that America would control energy markets of the world."
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U.S. Sec. of State Madeleine Albright: "The food-for-oil deal is designed to ease the suffering of civilians throughout Iraq. It is not related to the larger question of when and if the overall sanctions regime will be lifted. Nor is the continuation of this arrangement automatic, however strongly we support its purpose. If we see evidence that the government of Iraq is not living up to its promises with respect to implementation, the experiment will cease."
PresidentSaddamHusseinskillfully played off the U.S. against other members of the United Nations Security Council to maintain his grip on power in Baghdad.
As the quote from Saddam shows, a threat from Washington could be turned into good propaganda, building on the inherent suspicion of many Arab regions of U.S. foreign policy.
Albright`s position also shows why the bad feeling between Iraq and U.S. governments was unlikely to lessen so long as Saddam remained in power: the U.S. saw the food-for-aid deal as a humanitarian function, while Saddam saw acceptance of its terms as a preliminary for removal of full trade sanctions.
Much of his maneuvering was aimed at getting discussion of full sanctions removal onto the same agenda as discussion of the food-for-aid agreement at UN Security Council meetings.
The November 1997 stand-off between Baghdad and Washington was only the latest in a series of manufactured crises, which appeared to be driven by the whims of the dictator.
Saddam eventually allowed UN arms inspectors, including US citizens, to return to work in Iraq trying to pin down his arsenals of weapons of mass destruction.
In late November 1997 Baghdad declared an end to the crisis over UN weapons inspections, leaving Washington diplomats to play down suggestions that Saddam had secured concessions.
President Clinton declared the U.S. to be resolute in insisting that Iraq comply fully with UN demands over UN weapons inspections. Clinton reportedly said it remained to be seen whether Saddam would allow inspectors full access to suspected arsenals.
Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, emerged from a UN meeting declaring that Saddam had reversed course and that the U.S. had agreed to no new terms for Iraq.
But the overall winner in the stand-off once again appeared to be Saddam: he saw divisions appear in the UN, with the U.S. and U.K. calling for tougher sanctions and Russia, France, and China calling for a softer approach.
Although the likelihood of Iraq`s holding large stocks of powerful chemical weapons became a certainty before the crisis, Saddam`s shenanigans put removal of Iraqi sanctions back on the agenda. As the crisis died away, there was no feeling of certainty that Iraq/U.S. conflict would not flare again soon.
