"Q: There is this other issue, we're now asking the U.N. to lift the sanctions so the oil can be sold for the benefit of the Iraqi people. That seems to be one of the hang-ups there is, well, have we found the weapons of mass destruction? The sanctions won't be lifted until the country is free of weapons of mass destruction. Is that a sticking point on ...

Wolfowitz: There's no logic in that reasoning. It's true that we want to make sure that whatever Iraqi government replaces this one doesn't go back to building weapons of mass destruction. But give these people a break. At least remove the sanctions long enough for them to get organized and demonstrate that they are committed to doing the things that Saddam Hussein refused to do. There's absolutely no reason to keep them under sanctions now."

Another point is that WMD was part of a cease fire agreement. Basically a cease fire agreement is: Saddam regime could "keep" his regime (we would stop attacking) but Iraq had to agree to conditions (not have WMD, and other conditions). Saddam didn't keep his agreement so we went in there and changed the regime. THEREFORE the agreement regarding WMD has been VOIDED; we cancelled the agreement by invading the country and removing the regime. There are TWO parts to an agreement: if I pay 2 dollars for a clock, but don't get the clock, but then get my money back, then the agreement is over. I don't have any "right" to have the clock after I get my money back.
The sanctions were imposed because Iraq was not fulfilling it's obligations regarding WMD (sort of like starting court action to force the guy to hand over the clock).
Now, the only thing complicating it is, there are still other obligations involved in this cease fire agreement- such as Kuwait debt. But since America was the main party which could have been invading Iraq in '91, and now since America [and other coalitions partners] control Iraq, we are now are "sort of" in the position of being responsible for seeing that these other obligations are met by Iraq (as long as we remain in control of Iraq).