20 November 1997
U.S. RESOLUTE ON IRAQI COMPLIANCE FOLLOWING GENEVA MEETING
(Comply with U.N. resolutions, allow inspectors back) (1010) By Wendy S. Ross USIA White House Correspondent Washington -- The United States "will remain resolute" in its determination to prevent Saddam Hussein from threatening his neighbors and the world with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, President Clinton said November 20, following the overnight meeting on Iraq in Geneva by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, Russia, France, Great Britain and China. Following the meeting, the five permanent members issued a communique insisting that Iraq allow the weapons inspectors to return, and obey all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions. Iraq "must comply unconditionally with the will of the international community and allow all the weapons inspectors back to Iraq so they can get on with doing their jobs without interference," President Clinton said at a breakfast meeting with religious leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House. After last night's meeting, Saddam "said he would do that. In the coming days we will wait and see that he does in fact comply with the will of the international community," the President said. Clinton's National Security Advisor Samuel "Sandy" Berger said the crisis "will not be over, in our judgement, until these people are let back in and we see that they are able to do their job." The United States "will continue in a very steady way over the days ahead to pursue the strategy that the President outlined from the beginning, which is to pursue diplomacy, for the objective of full compliance, backed by strength," Berger said. "This is not over. We have to maintain the two-pronged strategy we've been pursuing. The diplomatic effort to resolve this on a peaceful and principled basis, backed by a strong military presence in the region to keep our options open." "We will continue to insist that UNSCOM operate on an autonomous, professional basis, be permitted to do its work in a professional way. And we will continue to retain all options as we continue to move forward through this situation," he emphasized. "With respect to sanctions" on Iraq, Berger said that the position of the United States "is unchanged" since the Bush administration, "which is that we need to seek compliance (by Iraq) with all relevant (U.N.) resolutions in order to consider the question of sanctions relief." He indicated the United States would veto any Security Council measure "short of that." Berger made clear that "no deal" and "no concessions" were made by the five permanent Security Council members in Geneva. He said even Tareq Aziz, the first deputy prime minister of Iraq agreed with that assessment. Regarding the composition of the weapons inspection team in Iraq, Berger pointed out that the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) will meet in New York November 21, as it does periodically, to look at the effectiveness of the weapons monitoring in Iraq. UNSCOM will make recommendations to the chief weapons inspector Richard Butler, Berger said. Berger characterized Butler as "a man of impeccable integrity who is also deeply committed to the mission of UNSCOM, which is to detect weapons of mass destruction programs in Iraq and prevent them from being reconstituted." Butler's judgments on UNSCOM then will be approved by the Security Council, and if the United States "felt those judgments were being politicized or we were being excluded in any way ... we obviously would veto anything that we thought was being done for reasons other than the efficient, effective operation of UNSCOM," Berger said. The bilateral understanding between Russia and Iraq, mentioned in the P-5 Communique, "is an understanding" between those two nations only and is not binding on the United States or on the United Nations, Berger said. Asked his reaction to the role of Russia in the diplomatic efforts on Iraq, the NSC Advisor said "I'd rather read the last chapter of this book before I decide whether I like it or not." But Berger was clear on his reaction to actions over the past 20 days by Saddam Hussein. By defying the United Nations during this period, Saddam has reunited "the international community around the proposition that we ought to continue a vigorous effort to get at his weapons of mass destruction," Berger said. The international community, he added, "is far more focused today on the threat that Saddam Hussein poses by his weapons-of-mass-destruction program than they were two weeks ago.... And to the extent that he may have lulled the world into a false sense that he was less of a threat six years after the Gulf War, I think he's provided us an opportunity to remind the world that he remains a threat." White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry told reporters that Clinton had been in touch with Secretary of State Albright in Geneva as the meeting continued, and at its end, praised her "for stating the U.S. position very clearly and unambiguously; the President said she'd done a good job." Following the issuance in Geneva of the communique, Clinton continued to discuss Iraq with Berger, Deputy National Security Advisor Jim Steinberg, and Bruce Riedel, the NSC senior director for that region of the world, McCurry said. They "talked for about an hour about the things that we are going to need to do now to both strengthen UNSCOM in its capacity to do the work defined in relevant U.N. resolutions, to how we can continue to keep in place those things that will allow us some degree of confidence that our force posture in the region is consistent with what we think the reality of future behavior will be by the government of Iraq," the Press Secretary said. Asked why it is necessary for the United States to send additional warplanes and Patriot air defense missiles to the region, if the U.N. inspectors are returning to Iraq, McCurry said, because "this is an instance in which we will verify first and trust later."
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