Excerpts from previous political updates, by subject

May 9, 2003

Political back and forth at the United Nations

In an effort to resolve questions over the post-war transition in Iraq, the United States introduced a draft resolution at the United Nations that would lift all non-military sanctions on Iraq, allow for a four month phase-out of the oil-for-food program, and endorse U.S. and British administration of Iraq for at least 12 months. The resolution called for the creation of a new Iraq Assistance Fund-held by the Central Bank of Iraq but controlled by the United States and its allies-into which the country's oil revenue would flow. This program would be audited by an international advisory board composed of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In an attempt to address concerns voiced by Russia and France, the resolution endorsed a "vital role" for the United Nations "in providing humanitarian relief, in supporting the reconstruction of Iraq, and in helping in the formulation of an Iraqi interim authority." It also asks Secretary-General Annan to appoint a special coordinator for Iraq to work with U.S. and British forces on reconstruction and political transition, but invested the coordinator with no explicit authority. The resolution assigned the role of verifying that Iraq is free of mass destruction weapons to coalition forces rather than to the United Nations. Commenting on this decision, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte dismissed any role for U.N. inspectors in Iraq "for the foreseeable future."

France and Russia had previously circulated rival proposals calling only for the suspension of existing sanctions. Both countries have been determined to retain some U.N. control over post-war Iraq, and have therefore argued that the lifting of sanctions be linked to the return of U.N. weapons inspectors.

European leaders, gathered at a summit in Athens in mid-April, insisted that the United Nations play "a central role" in the rebuilding process, and worried that lifting sanctions would undermine U.N. influence. Earlier, French, German and Russia leaders meeting in St. Petersburg took the position that while British and American troops may have the immediate responsibility to provide humanitarian relief and establish law and order, only the United Nations has the necessary legitimacy to tackle long term rebuilding and governance.

May 2002 overhaul of the oil-for-food program

On May 14, 2002, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to overhaul the oil-for-food program, which began operating in 1996. By May 30, the only remaining restraint on Iraq's ability to import goods was a ban on military items, and a case-by-case U.N. review of goods that could help make weapons of mass destruction.

Under the new system, all sales to Iraq are submitted to the U.N. Office of the Iraq Program (OIP), which has ten days to register the contracts and forward them to UNMOVIC and the IAEA. UNMOVIC and the IAEA then have ten days to determine whether a contract contains any military item banned under Resolution 687 or any item on the new "Goods Review List" (GRL). The list contains items that are "dual-use," meaning that they have both military and civilian applications. Otherwise, the contract is automatically approved. If UNMOVIC or the IAEA find a military item, they deny its sale (they can approve the balance of any contract containing such an item). If they find a GRL item, they notify the OIP then forward the contract to the Sanctions Committee, set up under U.N. Resolution 661, which evaluates whether it is safe to allow Iraq to import the item. The 661 Committee, like the others, has only 10 days to complete its review, or the sale is automatically approved. All approved items are paid for by the OIP out of Iraq's oil-revenue-escrow account.

This new regime, adopted under Resolution 1409, was intended to shift the blame away from the United States for the suffering of Iraqi citizens under the regime of Saddam Hussein. By granting Iraq access to all civilian imports, the resolution made it harder to blame sanctions for Iraq's problems.

On December 30, 2002, under U.S. pressure, the U.N. security council revised the list of goods requiring U.N. approval. Added were items such as rocket motor cases, flight simulators, and large quantities of biological growth media and medicines like atropine and cipro. The vote was thirteen in favor, with Russia and Syria abstaining. The Russian abstention was the result of the inclusion of heavy dump trucks, an item Russia has supplied Iraq in the past. In March 2002, the United States argued that Baghdad was converting these trucks into mobile rocket-launchers, but Russian diplomats argued that it had not proven the trucks in question were Russian, as opposed to older Soviet, trucks.