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President Bush Has Lifted U.S. Sanctions Against Iraq
Aired May 08, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is ending 13 years of U.S. sanctions on Iraq, and he says it is time for the United Nations to quickly do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe there is a mood to work together to achieve a resolution that will expedite the reconstruction of Iraq. The read from at least our diplomats at the United Nations is that the atmosphere that existed prior to the war has changed, and that people now want to work together for the good of the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: A U.S. draft resolution calling for a full lifting of U.N. sanctions will probably be presented to the Security Council members in the next few days, maybe as soon as Friday.
Now, if U.N. sanctions were lifted, how would it affect the Iraqi people? And who would be in charge of Iraq's huge oil reserves?
Karl Penhaul in Baghdad to sort it out for us.
Hello -- Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.
There are a lot of implications to these decisions in the current debate, and I'm sure that within the United Nations, within the Security Council itself, there will be a huge tussle about what's going to happen.
Yes, on the one hand, there is a need that we all understand to expedite the humanitarian aid coming in, and I understand that that's one of the planks of President Bush's decision, so that food can come through quickly for the Iraqi people. They do have some food rations right now to keep them going for a couple of months, but obviously there's going to be a continued need for lower-cost food to come in that they'll be able to purchase on the open market, supplemented by United Nations food that's already coming in that will be able to supplement the family food basket.
But one of the other issues at the real heart of this is obviously the question of oil. Lift U.N. sanctions, and that will mean, as we're being told, that the oil-for-food program will be phased out. That will effectively mean that the U.N. no longer has control over how the income of Iraq's oil sales are controlled.
At the moment, it's the coalition forces and their administration, their interim administration, that's in charge of all of these kinds of issues. There's an American, a former corporate chief of Shell that is in charge of the oil section at the moment. Presumably, Iraqis are being brought on board and will be brought on board to help that.
But at the moment, it's coalition control of oil, and so if the U.N. sanctions disappear right now, it will effectively mean that the coalition has the full rights to decide whether that oil will be sold -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, in this case, it does come down to the oil. Karl Penhaul, thanks for bringing us up-to-date, live from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired May 8, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is ending 13 years of U.S. sanctions on Iraq, and he says it is time for the United Nations to quickly do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe there is a mood to work together to achieve a resolution that will expedite the reconstruction of Iraq. The read from at least our diplomats at the United Nations is that the atmosphere that existed prior to the war has changed, and that people now want to work together for the good of the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: A U.S. draft resolution calling for a full lifting of U.N. sanctions will probably be presented to the Security Council members in the next few days, maybe as soon as Friday.
Now, if U.N. sanctions were lifted, how would it affect the Iraqi people? And who would be in charge of Iraq's huge oil reserves?
Karl Penhaul in Baghdad to sort it out for us.
Hello -- Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.
There are a lot of implications to these decisions in the current debate, and I'm sure that within the United Nations, within the Security Council itself, there will be a huge tussle about what's going to happen.
Yes, on the one hand, there is a need that we all understand to expedite the humanitarian aid coming in, and I understand that that's one of the planks of President Bush's decision, so that food can come through quickly for the Iraqi people. They do have some food rations right now to keep them going for a couple of months, but obviously there's going to be a continued need for lower-cost food to come in that they'll be able to purchase on the open market, supplemented by United Nations food that's already coming in that will be able to supplement the family food basket.
But one of the other issues at the real heart of this is obviously the question of oil. Lift U.N. sanctions, and that will mean, as we're being told, that the oil-for-food program will be phased out. That will effectively mean that the U.N. no longer has control over how the income of Iraq's oil sales are controlled.
At the moment, it's the coalition forces and their administration, their interim administration, that's in charge of all of these kinds of issues. There's an American, a former corporate chief of Shell that is in charge of the oil section at the moment. Presumably, Iraqis are being brought on board and will be brought on board to help that.
But at the moment, it's coalition control of oil, and so if the U.N. sanctions disappear right now, it will effectively mean that the coalition has the full rights to decide whether that oil will be sold -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, in this case, it does come down to the oil. Karl Penhaul, thanks for bringing us up-to-date, live from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
