Iraq's continued defiance of the United Nations - address by U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Edward J. Perkins - Transcript

US Department of State Dispatch, August 17, 1992

In his most cruel hoax, Saddam Hussein has blamed the number of malnourished Iraqis on the UN sanctions rather than the Iraqi military and his own policies of repression.

Mr. President and members of the Council, Mr. Van der Stoel has dramatically highlighted the plight of the Iraqi people. One of the most serious new developments is the use of fixed-wing aircraft, including jet fighters, for the first time in bombing Shi'a villages in the southern marshes.

Unfortunately, we have no reason to hope for amelioration of the situation under the cruel regime of Saddam Hussein. Instead, we have reason to believe that additional villages will be attacked, bombed, and destroyed, and civilian casualties will rise. Baghdad's opposition to relief efforts throughout the country, moreover, will deny the means to care for the wounded and the displaced.

In 1991, the Council condemned the repression of the Iraqi civilian population in many parts of Iraq, including in the Kurdish populated areas, finding it a threat to international peace and security. At that time, the US Government and other governments concluded the situation was so serious and Iraqi intransigence so manifest that additional measures had to be taken to help prevent further Iraqi repression of the civilian population. Now, not only in the north but also in the south of Iraq, that situation exists.

It is imperative that Iraq, without further delay and deception, abide by all relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, including UNSCR 688, end its economic blockade of the north and south, renew the UN humanitarian program in Iraq, and cease its repression in the southern marshes.