[EXCERTPS] ALBRIGHT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON IRAQ, MARCH 26
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Let me just say something about the sanctions regime themselves. Having participated at many of those reviews that I've discussed, there was always the issue as to what the sanctions regime had accomplished. I think that what is important to know is, for instance, the work that Chairman Ekeus has undertaken through UNSCOM and then with IAEA has brought about the following results.
In the chemical weapons area, there has been the destruction of 28,000 chemical munitions, 480,000 liters of chemical weapons agents, 1.8 million liters and over 1 million kilograms of 45 different precursor chemicals, and a variety of biological weapon production equipment.
In the biological area, the entire Al-Hakam custom-built biological weapon factory complex has been dismantled and a huge variety of biological weapon production equipment has also been removed.
In the nuclear area, all quantities of special nuclear material -- that is, highly enriched uranium or plutonium -- found in Iraq have been removed, and the industrial infrastructure which Iraq has set up to produce and weaponize special nuclear materials has been destroyed. So I think that we should understand that the sanctions regime has in fact been quite successful and needs to remain in place.
What is important here for us to say, and as I said in my remarks, is that we are prepared to have a dialogue with a successor regime that does in fact abide by what was required as a result of the Gulf War, and that is the policy that one needs to look towards: that the sanctions regime is working, the coalition is firm, and the firmness of the Security Council and the coalition is what is going to keep this on track. But, as I said, we are prepared to deal with a successor.
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