Making containment work will be far from easy. It is beyond our capacity to do alone. More important, the United States should declare that it is prepared to allow Iraq to resume unlimited oil exports if it complies fully with the UN requirement that it neither possess nor produce chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons or long-range missiles. Such a declaration would not change anything regarding the status of sanctions unless and until Saddam complied, and even then, money earned should be used only to pay for nonmilitary imports. We also need a more energetic policy toward Middle East peace.
Linkage here is a fact of life.
One need not equate Israel and Iraq to recognize that US determination to press Saddam contrasts markedly with American passivity when confronted with Israeli reluctance to implement the Oslo accords or cease unilateral actions that complicate the search for peace. The willingness and ability of Arab governments to work with us against Saddam require that we do something to reduce this perceived double standard. Rebuilding the coalition more broadly will require, too, that we make Iraq the diplomatic priority that Clinton seems to recognize only at times of crisis. It might also mean eschewing secondary sanctions that penalize France and others in Europe when they do not join US boycotts of Cuba or Iran. A more nuanced US approach toward Iran would help in other ways, as it would threaten Saddam with further isolation or even encirclement.