AFF/ROGUE STATES/IRAQ

USA FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS IRAQ IS A TOTAL FAILURE

Robert A. Pape; teaches at the University of Chicago, February 24, 2001, The New York Times SECTION: Section A; Page 13; HEADLINE: Our Iraq Policy Is Not Working //VT2002acsln

America's policy to contain Iraq is rapidly unraveling. The package of coercive levers used in the 1990's -- economic sanctions, weapons inspections and the no-fly zones -- is coming unglued. Indeed, this containment policy has not succeeded in its goals of ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction or ousting Saddam Hussein. The policy only antagonizes our coalition allies, and it should be abandoned.

After the Gulf War in 1991, the United States and its coalition partners put Iraq in the three-sided box of sanctions, inspections and no-fly zones. After 10 years, the record is mixed: Mr. Hussein still stands and still has weapons of mass destruction, but Iraq has not rebuilt its conventional army or acquired new missile technology.