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 Home > News & Policies > January 2003

For Immediate Release
January 24, 2003

Global Message

KEY POINTS

  • For 12 years, the international community has insisted that Saddam Hussein's regime disarm. This was most recently reiterated by a unanimous UN Security Council vote on November 8, 2002.

  • Genuine disarmament can only be accomplished through the willing cooperation of the Iraqi regime. So far we have seen few if any signs that the Iraqi regime has made a strategic decision to disarm, and many signs that it has not.

  • When a country decides to disarm, there are three common elements to its behavior:
    • The decision to disarm is made at the highest political level;
    • The regime puts in place national initiatives to dismantle weapons and infrastructure;
    • The regime fully cooperates with international efforts to implement and verify disarmament.

  • Iraq's behavior contrasts sharply with successful disarmament stories. Instead of cooperation and transparency, Iraq has chosen to concealment and deceit best exemplified by a 12,000 page declaration which is far from "currently accurate, full, and complete," as required by the UN Security Council.