Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the Persian Gulf Crisis

This morning the President received a letter from His Highness, Sheik Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah, the Amir of Kuwait, requesting on behalf of the Government of Kuwait and in accordance with article 51 of the U.N. Charter and the right of individual and collective self-defense that the United States Government take appropriate steps as necessary to ensure that the U.N.-mandated economic sanctions against Iraq and Kuwait are immediately and effectively implemented.

In view of the Amir's request, the President has decided that the United States will do whatever is necessary to see that relevant U.N. sanctions are enforced. The President stressed that these efforts will complement, not substitute, for individual and collective compliance that has been highly successful thus far. The United States will coordinate its efforts with the Governments of other nations to whom the Kuwaiti Government has made similar requests.

Regarding Saddam Hussein's proposals announced today, the United States categorically rejects them. We join the rest of the U.N. Security Council in unanimously calling for the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait and the restoration of Kuwait's legitimate government. These latest conditions and threats are another attempt at distracting from Iraq's isolation and at imposing a new status quo. Iraq continues to act in defiance of U.N. Resolutions 660, 661, and 662, the basis for resolving Iraq's occupation. The United States will continue to pursue the application of those resolutions in all their parts.