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17 February 1998

U.S. WILL ACT IF IRAQ DOES NOT HONOR COMMITMENTS, CLINTON SAYS

(In Pentagon remarks explains why world must stand firm) (910)
By Wendy S. Ross
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- Iraq's Saddam Hussein must agree soon to let the United
Nations weapons inspectors have free, unfettered access to the sites
they want to inspect or be responsible for military action against his
country, President Clinton said February 17 in remarks at the
Pentagon.
The remarks were broadcast live to the nation and the world by CNN and
other major television outlets.
"Let there be no doubt, we are prepared to act," the President said.
"But Saddam Hussein could end this crisis tomorrow, simply by letting
the weapons inspectors complete their mission. He made a solemn
commitment to the international community to do that and to give up
his weapons of mass destruction a long time ago. Now, one way or the
other, we are determined to see that he makes good on his own
promise."
"If we can find a diplomatic way to do what has to be done" that is by
far our preference, Clinton said.
"But to be a genuine solution, and not simply one that glosses over
the remaining problem," he said, "a diplomatic solution must include
or meet a clear, immutable, reasonable, simple standard: Iraq must
agree, and soon, to free, full, unfettered access to these sites,
anywhere in the country. There can be no delusion or diminishment of
the integrity of the inspection system that UNSCOM has put in place.
Now, those terms are nothing more or less than the essence of what he
agreed to at the end of the Gulf War," in 1991.
"The UNSCOM inspectors believe that Iraq still has stockpiles of
chemical and biological munitions, a small force of Scud-type
missiles, and the capacity to restart quickly its production program
and build many, many more weapons," Clinton said.
That inspection system "works in place of his stonewalling." If Saddam
accepts the UNSCOM inspectors, force will not be necessary. "If he
refuses or continues to evade his obligation through more tactics of
delay and deception, he, and he alone, will be to blame for the
consequences," Clinton said.
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is
clear: We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction program. We want to seriously reduce his
capacity to threaten his neighbors," Clinton explained.
"The weightiest decision any President ever has to make is to send our
troops into harm's way. And force can never be the first answer. But
sometimes it's the only answer," he declared.
Prior to his remarks, Clinton was briefed at the Pentagon by his
senior military commanders including General Anthony Zinni, Commander
in Chief, U.S. Central Command, on the status of U.S. forces deployed
in the Gulf region. The briefing, Clinton said, gave him confidence
that "we can achieve the objectives and secure our vital strategic
interests."
A military operation, Clinton said, "cannot destroy all the weapons of
mass destruction capacity." But it can, and will, leave Saddam
"significantly worse off than he is now in terms of the ability to
threaten the world with these weapons, or to attack his neighbors. And
he will know that the international community continues to have the
will to act if and when he threatens again," Clinton said.
"Following any strike, we will carefully monitor Iraq's activities
with all the means at our disposal," the President said. "If he seeks
to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction we will be prepared to
strike him again. The economic sanctions will remain in place until
Saddam complies fully with all U.N. resolutions."
"We will continue to enforce a no-fly zone from the southern suburbs
of Baghdad to the Kuwait border, and in Northern Iraq, making it more
difficult for Iraq to walk over Kuwait again or threaten the Kurds in
the North," Clinton said.
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry told reporters that the
President has made clear that the United States is prepared to act and
it is now up to Saddam Hussein to end the crisis.
"The President believes that any efforts underway ought to be
consistent with two simple principles that we have articulated over
and over again. First, that the United Nations Special Commission
needs access to sites throughout the country including those that have
been declared off limits by the government of Iraq, and second, that
we need to uphold the integrity of the U.N. Special Commission
process," McCurry said.
"In the last six years it's been exceedingly successful in ferreting
out and destroying weapons of mass destruction capability and we will
evaluate any efforts made by anybody on the basis of those two
benchmarks," the Press Secretary added.
Asked about the possible visit of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to
Baghdad, McCurry said, "It is likely he will go and we want him to go
with very clear instructions from the (UN) Security Council to the
government of Iraq and that's what we'll be discussing today. We want
to make clear that he has a very unambiguous message to deliver."
McCurry said the administration has the legislative authority needed
to take action against Iraq dating back to the 1991 resolution by the
U.S. Congress that authorizes use of force in the Persian Gulf.