Madeleine K. Albright

The United States must take decisive action to help destroy Iraq’s capacity to threaten neighboring nations, argues Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright in the following viewpoint. Such action includes the possible use of military force and continued support of the UN-imposed economic sanctions against Iraq. Albright maintains that these sanctions are necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq and to impede the dangerous aspirations of Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein. This viewpoint was originally written in August 1998, during one of the occasions when Iraq temporarily blocked investigations by UN weapons inspectors.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Albright, why does Saddam Hussein occasionally “rattle his cage”?
2. In Albright’s opinion, why has Saddam Hussein claimed that the UN weapons inspectors are...