The trucks are returning from Iraq with full tanks on the last leg of a journey that openly flouts the United Nations economic embargo against Baghdad. It is sanctions- busting smuggling regulated and taxed by the Turkish government and tolerated by the United Nations and the United States. But I would say it is indispensable for Turkey, and we are sensitive not to allow it to help Iraq acquire weapons of mass destruction. There is, however, no way to monitor what Iraq does with the revenue.
Western diplomats say the trade has increased as oil prices have climbed.
They justify turning a blind eye because the money helps the battered economy in this volatile region of Turkey, an important American ally. The trade also is the chief source of income for northern Iraq's Kurdistan Democratic Party, which opposes Mr. Hussein. Because of the political considerations, the smuggling continues and underscores a quandary confronting the Bush administration as it shapes its sanctions policy. The United States and Britain have been under pressure from other members of the United Nations Security Council to ease the sanctions. Another argument is that the sanctions have inflicted the most damage on the Iraqi people and neighboring countries.