Embassy Events 2003
Ambassador Hill Speaks to Students in Nowy Sącz About Disarming Iraq
27 March 2003Calling the war the final option after twelve years of diplomacy,
Ambassador Christopher Hill told students in Nowy Sącz that the war was
unavoidable. He said inspections, sanctions, and the threat of military
action have failed to force Saddam Hussein to comply with UN
resolutions mandating that he surrender his weapons of mass destruction.
Ambassador
Hill spoke before a crowded auditorium of more than 600 students from
the Wysza Szkoła Biznesu in Nowy Sącz. The March 27 speech was followed
by a 30-minute question-and-answer session.
Countering criticism
that the U.S. hastily began the war in Iraq and didn't give inspections
enough time, Ambassador Hill noted that Saddam Hussein was given just
45 days to destroy his weapons of mass destruction in the cease-fire
agreement following the Gulf War of 1991. His failure to do so resulted
in 12 years of diplomacy to try to force Saddam's compliance with the
cease-fire. The long period of diplomacy consisted of economic
sanctions, on-again off-again weapons inspections and 17 UN Security
Council resolutions (UNSCRs) demanding that he immediately disarm. The
Ambassador noted than ten of these resolutions, including UNSCR 1441
adopted unanimously last November, contained provisions for "serious
consequences" if the Iraqi regime did not comply. The message that
Saddam was getting from the UN was that "serious consequences" meant
"another resolution."
Ambassador Hill also explained that
weapons inspectors were not detectives. They are not trained to act on
every lead to track down hiding places for Saddam's weapons of mass
destruction. Rather, UN weapons inspectors are highly trained experts
whose mission in nations such as South Africa have been to arrive to
verify that a government that has decided to disarm has actually
disarmed. He noted that, in this sense, weapons inspectors are much
more like financial auditors than detectives. More and more weapons
inspectors would be unlikely to find Saddam's weapons of mass
destruction both because that is not what inspectors are trained to do,
and these weapons are fairly easy to hide in a country the size of
France.
He expressed regret that the use of force was necessary
in Iraq and related how the seriousness of the conflict really hit home
when he and his wife, Patricia, saw a good friend of theirs, a Colonel,
being interviewed on CNN from the war zone.
The Ambassador
explained that a dictator who has ties to terrorist organizations,
invaded two neighboring countries, murdered tens of thousands of his
own people, and actually used weapons of mass destruction both against
Iranians and against his Iraqi civilians poses a threat to
international peace -- especially when he possesses weapons of mass
destruction. Those who believe that world should live with this threat
are those who cannot really imagine the horror of waking up to see that
hundreds of thousands and perhaps even millions of their fellow
citizens had been killed by an Iraqi-sponsored terrorist attack.
Ambassador
Hill expressed his gratitude to Poland for its active participation in
the coalition and told a story of when he was in Afghanistan with U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Meyers. When he asked the local
commander which coalition forces were most reliable, the commander
replied without hesitation, "the Poles."
He also talked about
the excellent relations between Poland and the United States and how
there are millions of Polish-Americans throughout the U.S. (although he
noted that it's difficult to find good "gołąbki" outside of Chicago).
 Amb. Hill spoke at the Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu in Nowy Sącz. |  Professors, students and others were in the standing-room-only crowd. |  More than 600 students packed the auditorium to hear about American policy in Iraq. | |
 The March 27 speech was followed by a 30-minute question-and-answer session. | |||
