02 March 1998
[EXCERPTS] TRANSCRIPT: WHITE HOUSE DAILY BRIEFING, MARCH 2, 1998
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry briefed. Following is the White House transcript: (begin transcript) THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary March 2, 1998 PRESS BRIEFING BY MIKE MCCURRY The Briefing Room ................... Q: What about the apparent dispute between Hamdoon and Butler over who is in charge of these special inspections? Is the U.S. confident that Butler will be in charge as opposed - MCCURRY: That was a dispute I think only on CNN that had the good fortune of having them both together on the same program. But it was certainly no dispute in the eyes of the United States government. And Mr. Butler spoke quite authoritatively on the interpretation of the memorandum of understanding. He's made it quite clear what the lines of authority are as the U.N. Special Commission conducts the work that it needs to do in Iraq, that the government of Iraq has pledged to cooperate with. And of course, the question will be whether or not the government of Iraq lives up to the obligations it has under the agreement it has signed. Q: Are you concerned that the Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations is in fact raising questions about Butler's being in charge? MCCURRY: You know of our concern about the intentions of the government of Iraq with respect to this agreement because the President has made it quite clear that we will remain skeptical until we see full implementation of the agreement as it's been reached. And we will keep a significant force deployed in that region in the interim. Q: Have you heard any statements since then from the Iraqis that have made you feel reassured? MCCURRY: I'm not aware of any statements. I'm going to have to check and see if there's been any further contact at the United Nations or elsewhere. The United Nations is very actively pursuing this and there may have been further contact up there. I haven't heard of any, but you might want to check there. Q: Mike, there seems to be a difference in the language the United States and Great Britain want compared to what China, France and Russia want in the Security Council. Will the U.S. buy their version? MCCURRY: I'm not aware that they have a version. I know that the Security Council is debating a tabled British resolution and that discussion is underway now and we're fully engaged with other members of the Security Council on that text. Q: Had you heard that Kofi Annan wanted to postpone his visit to Washington because Trent Lott didn't want to see him? MCCURRY: No. We had heard that Kofi Annan, the Secretary General, wanted to postpone his trip down here to Washington to, among other things, see the President because he was concerned about this deliberation in the Security Council on this draft resolution that the British have put forward, and he thought it was very important for him to be there in New York as the Security Council deliberated. We certainly concur. Q: Has it been rescheduled? MCCURRY: Hasn't been rescheduled that I know of. Q: But the fact that Trent Lott wouldn't schedule a meeting with him is not an issue? MCCURRY: The Security General has many purposes in coming here, not only seeing members of Congress, but pursuing things with the administration as well. But, quite correctly, he wants to be in the Security Council as they deliberate this very important resolution that comes in the aftermath of the agreement between the United Nations and Iraq. Q: Senator Lott today is again bringing up this idea of trying Saddam Hussein as a war criminal. What's the view of that here? MCCURRY: We have an interest at this moment in pursuing the steps necessary to see that Saddam Hussein fully complies with Security Council resolutions. That is our focus, the administration's focus, on the work that the United Nations will do to see that he does not have available to him weapons of mass destruction. I'll look at the other question -- to my knowledge, we've not put forward any formal view on that question. Q: Would it be counterproductive at this stage of the situation? MCCURRY: What would be most productive is for all to encourage the government of Iraq to abide by its commitments under the agreement that's recently reached with the United Nations. We would encourage members of Congress to so state. .................. .............. MCCURRY: Okay,we've run out of interesting questions, that's for sure. Q: About an hour ago. THE PRESS: Thank you. (end transcript)
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