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Surely the reason why France is proposing an end to weapons inspections is that the events over Christmas make any prospect of a reasonable continuation of the inspections as anything more than an exercise in prolonging sanctions extremely unlikely. France continues to share the view taken by the other permanent members of the SC and the UNSCOM report that there are still considerably finds to be made in Iraq. It does not help our argument that sanctions should be lifted to promote the view that Iraq does not continue to possess serious military capabilities or the capacity to redevelop them very quickly. The best chance of sanctions being lifted is if the campaigners against the sanctions accept the realistic view that we cannot just walk away and allow Iraq to continue to possess weapons of mass destruction. And the argument that Israel has them too is a non-starter, because it does nothing to address the instability in the Middle East which Iraq is causing, or the genuine fear felt by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain of reprisal attacks. Having accepted this commonsense view, we can then go on to support the French government in pointing out that the inspections regime is no longer a realistic option, the sanctions are acting in a counterproductive way and fuelling support for the Baath regime, and an agreement has to be reached with Iraq that removes those sanctions which are having a serious effect on the people of Iraq whilst continuing to monitor the uses to which these things are put, including oil revenues. Working with the French is the best prospect for the lifting of sanctions. This will ultimately require us to understand the position of the British government, who will need some convincing, but if our objection to sanctions is genuinely founded on humanitarian grounds, then we should all be able to accept that pragmatically this is the best way forward. ************************** ALAN BATES Christ's College St. Andrew's Street Cambridge CB2 3BU Tel: 01223 767817 College Fax: 01223 334967 Home Tel/Fax: 01293 425146 On Wed, 13 Jan 1999, Robin Green wrote: > France proposing to end weapons inspections?!? I am genuinely surprised > at this - if they publicly propose this aren't they implying that the > probability of finding any more "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq is > very low - contrary to the statements of the US and Britain? > > This is highly significant I think. Will watch for more developments. > > -- > Robin > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the > whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html