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Copyright 2000 The Washington Post The Washington Post December 19, 2000, Tuesday, Final Edition SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A26 LENGTH: 411 words HEADLINE: Powell's Change of Heart; Past Critic Now Sees Place for Iraq Sanctions BYLINE: John Lancaster , Washington Post Staff Writer BODY: Critics of the sanctions against Iraq, who have long complained about the hardships they inflict on ordinary Iraqi citizens, could hardly have argued their case more eloquently than retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell in his 1995 autobiography, "My American Journey." "The problem is that sanctions are most often imposed against regimes that have only their own interests and the retention of power at heart," wrote Powell, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the war that followed. "And since these leaders are still going to have a roof over their heads, food on their table, and power in their hands, sanctions rarely work against them. [Iraqi President] Saddam [Hussein] was the perfect example." But Powell, named by President-elect Bush as the next secretary of state, appears to have undergone a change of heart. "We will work with our allies to re-energize the sanctions regime," Powell said Saturday during his joint appearance with Bush. "And I will make the case in every opportunity I get that we're not doing this to hurt the Iraqi people, we're doing this to protect the peoples of the region, the children of the region, who would be the targets of . . . [Iraqi] weapons of mass destruction if we didn't contain them and get rid of them." During the campaign, Bush and his advisers accused the Clinton administration of neglecting Iraq policy, citing the end of U.N. arms inspections in 1998 and the erosion of support for sanctions on the U.N. Security Council. Although he did not offer any specifics, Bush suggested that he would take a more aggressive approach to getting rid of Hussein, starting with increased support for Iraqi opposition groups. So is Powell's tougher line on sanctions a matter of conviction or convenience? Retired Col. Bill Smullen, Powell's spokesman, attributed the change to "a contrast of times and conditions." Powell's earlier criticism of sanctions, Smullen said, reflected the former chairman's experience during the run-up to the Gulf War, when he and other members of the Bush administration hoped that economic sanctions alone would force Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait. "We're in a different situation now," Smullen said. "His view today is that sanctions in the year 2000 are in place, and should be, with respect to the containment of the Saddam Hussein regime from building and spreading weapons of mass destruction." LOAD-DATE: December 19, 2000 ----------------------------------------------- FREE! The World's Best Email Address @email.com Reserve your name now at http://www.email.com -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk