In Talks at U.N., Iraq Takes Issue With U.S. Plan for ‘Smart Sanctions’

Iraqi officials were unmoved Tuesday despite Washington’s declaration that it favors easing the United Nations’ decade-long sanctions on Iraqi civilians.

In the second day of talks with the U.N. aimed at breaking a two-year stalemate, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said Sahaf said Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s notion of “smart sanctions” proved that the U.N.’s current policy was “stupid.”

At the end of a tour of Middle East capitals Monday, Powell said the Bush administration wants to modify sanctions to focus on punishing the regime in Baghdad while allowing more civilian goods in to help the Iraqi population.

“They call it the ‘smart sanctions.’ Well, that means the sanctions from 1990 up to now are stupid ones,” Sahaf said. He said that Iraq has halted its weapons programs and that all sanctions should be lifted.

The Iraqi delegation took up much of the two days of meetings showing detailed documents to prove the regime’s compliance and airing an exhaustive list of grievances about the sanctions program.

“This dialogue is not an end in itself. It is a vehicle for something, to find a way out, to find a solution,” Sahaf said. “We didn’t discuss any proposals. We discussed issues.”

Although Iraq’s initial reaction was harsh, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was encouraged by Baghdad’s willingness to continue talking. Another round of meetings is planned in the next few weeks, and Sahaf said the Iraqi delegation will return “with feedback because we have to continue building this house.”

On Monday, Sahaf said that, even if all the sanctions were lifted, Baghdad would not allow U.N. weapons inspectors into the country to verify that Iraq had disarmed. The only way they would consider renewed inspections would be if every other country in the region were subjected to the same scrutiny, beginning with Israel.

Annan did not dismiss the suggestion. “I think when it comes to regional security arrangements, it should not be an issue only for the Iraqis,” Annan said Tuesday. “We should all be interested in it.”

Annan will brief the Security Council on the meetings, and then the panel will begin to revise its strategy to ensure that Iraq is not developing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Russia, France and China want an immediate suspension of sanctions, while the United States and Britain--the other permanent members on the council--insist on evidence that Iraq has not rearmed before loosening controls.

But it is likely that the council will quickly agree on immediate steps, such as reducing the number of goods that now are banned because they can be used for either military or commercial purposes. The list now includes items such as equipment for the poultry industry that can also be used to cultivate toxins for biological weapons, or chemicals such as chlorine that can be used either for cleaning or for chemical warfare.

The State Department also recommended speeding up review of contracts for goods to be imported into Iraq. Each application must be approved by a sanctions committee, and about 1,600 contracts worth an estimated $3 billion are on hold because of questions or objections, a majority of them from the United States.

U.S. support for streamlining sanctions has been gathering momentum for months as support for the U.N. policy has eroded among Iraq’s neighbors and even other Security Council members. But the Bush administration faced a conundrum on how to ease sanctions while showing that it remained tough on President Saddam Hussein’s regime.

During a Feb. 14 meeting with the Security Council at the U.N., Powell hinted broadly that the U.S. backed lifting restrictions that affected Iraqi civilians most--but that it would also act alone if necessary to punish violations of military controls. The U.S. and Britain bombed a newly upgraded antiaircraft system south of Baghdad two days later.