Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100603
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SANCTIONS PROPOSED AGAINST IRAQ

"We should be ashamed" of the U.S. trading relationship with Iraq, said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif.

Berman has drafted proposed sanctions that would end all U.S. assistance to Iraq, including agricultural credits and investment guarantees under the Export-Import Bank.

Several others in Congress, including Sens. William Cohen, R-Maine, and John McCain, R-Ariz., said they support some kind of sanctions against the Baghdad government.

"I think we ought to take action," Cohen said recently, adding it was "not an acceptable situation" for the United States to be doing business with a country seeking to add nuclear weapons to an arsenal that already includes chemical weapons.

Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he will push for legislation to impose sanctions against any nation that uses chemical weapons illegally.

But not everyone in Congress favors immediate sanctions.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said it would be premature to do anything without first talking with Hussein. Specter, who visited Iraq in January with Sen. Richard Shelby, D-Ala., urged Hussein to "exercise restraint."

"We believe discussions and negotiations can go far to resolve current tensions," Specter and Shelby said in a letter to Hussein.

The outrage among some in Congress comes amid growing tension over Iraq's actions. Hussein has been criticized for threatening to use chemical weapons against Israel and for executing an Iranian-born British journalist accused of spying.

Last month, U.S. and British intelligence agents broke up an Iraqi smuggling ring allegedly trying to obtain nuclear triggers for atomic weapons. Iraq denied the charge.

On Monday, Iraq expelled an American diplomat in retaliation for the expulsion of an Iraqi diplomat posted at the United Nations. The State Department said the Iraqi was suspected of being involved in a plot to kill two political opponents.

Margaret Tutwiler, the department spokeswoman, said Iraq's decision to expel the American was "totally inappropriate."

The sour climate prompted the Commerce Department to cancel the Iraqi leg of a trade mission scheduled to visit Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in May.

"We thought it was inappropriate to take a group of U.S. companies to Iraq at this time," said Elizabeth Dugan, a Commerce Department spokeswoman.

Nine aerospace companies signed up to travel to the Mideast on a mission to "help U.S. companies enhance their market position overseas and gain market exposure," the department said.

"Iraq has ambitious plans for upgrading its civil aviation system, including new airports, air traffic control and related equipment," the statement said.

Berman has criticized the Bush and Reagan administrations for allegedly having a "soft spot" for Iraq. Tutwiler said U.S. relations with Iraq have been "complex and sometimes disturbing" since the restoration of diplomatic ties in 1985.

Berman said Iraq has received about $1 billion a year in agricultural credits from the United States since 1984.

The United States imported about $1.5 billion worth of goods, mainly oil, from Iraq in 1988, the Commerce Department said. It exported about $1.1 billion in goods to Iraq, mostly agriculture products.