The U.S. policy objective of curbing the military threat posed by Iran and Iraq will continue to garner wide support in the U.S. and internationally. But there is still little challenge domestically to the continuation of massive arms sales and transfers by the U.S. government throughout the region and the basing of U.S. forces in Arab Gulf countries. The campaign for a global ban on landmines, which won a Nobel prize for organizers, was not successful in the Middle East. Countries that did not sign the Ottawa treaty to ban landmines include Egypt, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Libya, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. The treaty was signed by Yemen and Tunisia.
Humanitarian consequences make the sanctions on Iraq untenable.
The Arab states and many of the European countries that joined this country in the 1991 war to force Iraq from Kuwait will no longer support Washington's unrelenting punishment of Iraq and its people. Protests about the morality and efficacy of the strategy have mounted as the humanitarian crisis linked to the sanctions becomes more severe. Change in some form will likely come in 1998, but the Administration will likely face criticism for whichever option it chooses. One scenario would be for the U.N. embargo on oil sales to be lifted, leaving Saddam Hussein in power, with the critically important U.N. weapons inspection and weapons-related sanctions continuing. Alternatively, the United States might use unilateral military action or covert methods against the Iraqi regime and still fail to bring it down.