Britain, backed by the United States, will propose next week at the United Nations their idea for "smart sanctions," calling for an end to the 11-year ban on international trade with Iraq, but keeping other restrictions, British officials were quoted as saying by reports on Wednesday.
But the plan will keep Iraq at the mercy of the UN, since the Arab country will not have a free hand regarding its oil earnings, which will still be deposited into a UN-controlled account.
The long-awaited British-American proposal, if adopted by the Security Council, would prohibit only the sale of a specific list of arms and weapons-related items to Iraq, said the New York Times.
But the plan would require Iraq to let international arms inspections resume before any sanctions would be lifted.
Iraq has repeatedly announced that it will accept nothing short of an end to the embargo, and it expelled international inspectors in 1998, said the New York Times.
In fact, Iraq has already voiced opposition to the “smart” plan.
According to the Washington Post, the Arab country has asked Russia to oppose the new resolution, and has put its neighbors on notice that it will punish them if they support the plan.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz warned Jordan and Turkey on Monday that Iraq would cut off trade with them if they cooperate.
Apparently, the "smart" plan seeks to stop two things: Iraq’s efforts to publicize the suffering of civilians, which has succeeded in earning international sympathy, and the successful smuggling operations that the allies have not been able to halt.
"The measures that we are proposing in effect will mean the end of sanctions on ordinary civilian imports into Iraq," a British official was quoted as saying. "We are trying to agree on more focused controls on Iraq's weapons and illegal oil exports," he said.
"This is a very big shift. We are effectively ending sanctions on ordinary civilian imports and replacing it with a very tightly focused control regime," a British diplomat told reporters. "If our proposals are adopted by the Security Council, Iraq will have no excuse for the suffering of the Iraqi people."
According to the Washington Post, the Bush administration plan would authorize Iraq to export oil through Syria under UN auspices in an effort to halt the smuggling of more than 100,000 barrels a day outside international control. It would also allow the UN to compensate countries neighboring Iraq with money from the escrow account if Baghdad retaliated against them for cooperating with the import restrictions.
Although the new jointly-developed proposals represent a fundamental shift in the way the United Nations will deal with Iraq, Bush administration officials appeared reluctant to comment publicly on the plan, leaving the British alone in front, said the New York Times.
It added that the administration's approach had many critics in Washington, especially among conservatives, who believe President George W. Bush should increase pressure on President Saddam Hussein in the hopes of bringing down his regime.
But Bush, in an interview with the New York Times in January, likened the Iraqi sanctions to "Swiss cheese" and went along with a proposal by Secretary of State Colin Powell to focus on enforcing sanctions on military transfers – Albawaba.com
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