Second, Saddam will know, by our actions and our warning, that we will be prepared to act again if we have evidence he is trying to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction capabilities. We will closely monitor Iraq's activities with our own intelligence methods. I have full confidence in our ability to detect significant cheating. The demonstrated certainty that he will pay a heavy price for his conduct will need to become part of Saddam's calculus in the future. The United States will not go away.
Sanctions hurt the Iraqi regime.
The proof can be found in Saddam's desperate attempts to lift them. They severely restrict the amount of oil Iraq can sell and give the United Nations control over Iraq's primary source of revenue. Imagine the armed force Saddam would have today had he invested even a fraction of this money in rehabilitating his military. Sanctions are aimed at the Iraqi regime, not the Iraqi people. From the start, we exempted food and medicine.