Washington — U.N. monitors may be stationed near Iraq's borders and oil revenue placed under direct U.N. control to prevent President Saddam Hussein from smuggling in weapons of mass destruction.
The monitors would oversee customs inspectors in neighboring countries and might even supervise their checks on trucks moving across the border into Iraq, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
The move is part of a Bush administration plan to revamp leaky 11-year-old sanctions against Iraq.
To control loose money, the revenue received in Iraqi oil sales, permitted by the United Nations if the proceeds are used for food and medicine, could be put in a controlled fund, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Lists of oil companies allowed by the United Nations to purchase Iraqi crude would be compiled as a means of guarding against kickbacks to Saddam's government. Also, barter trade with Iraq would be more closely monitored to make sure Iraq does not get its hands on funds to buy weapons.
As the administration pursues changes in sanctions, it is consulting with U.S. allies and officials at the United Nations, which imposed the sanctions after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Under pressure from allies and Arab governments, the administration has agreed to drop virtually all curbs on exports of consumer goods to Iraq. But the administration determined to make life difficult for Saddam while easing up on the Iraqi people has committed itself to tightening control on exports of weapons and technology.
Among the approaches being considered is permitting Iraq's neighbors to buy Iraqi oil at discounted prices to discourage smuggling and kickbacks to Iraq.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, whose government long has favored easing sanctions on Iraq, discussed the potential changes in a meeting here Monday with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Vedrine last Friday told the French radio station RTL, "we no longer need a sanctions policy, we need a policy of control and vigilance."
Vedrine said the Bush administration was "very close to this."
Powell, at a joint news conference Monday with the French foreign minister, said, "we agree that Iraq must honor its U.N. obligations" and that they had discussed "how we can ensure that the U.N. sanctions are targeted at the Iraqi regime's attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction, while sparing the people of Iraq from any suffering."
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