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September 18, 1998

PRESS BRIEFING BY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR SANDY BERGER

                                THE WHITE HOUSE
                         Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                          September 18, 1998     
                               PRESS BRIEFING BY
                     NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR SANDY BERGER
                               The Briefing Room
9:59 A.M. EDT
..........
	     Q	  In your conversations with the Secretary General 
about Iraq, what will you propose that the U.N. do if Iraq pulls out 
its weapons -- kicks out the U.N. weapons inspectors altogether?
	     MR. BERGER:  Well, I think the Security Council and the 
Secretary General, back in I guess February, made it very clear that 
Iraq had an obligation to give inspectors access and to permit UNSCOM 
to operate.  This is extremely important.
	     Since Saddam Hussein has restricted the activity of the 
inspectors, we have gone back to the Security Council, put the burden 
there in the first instance.  And as a result of that they have voted 
unanimously to suspend any review of sanctions until there is 
compliance.  So essentially sanctions now are a permanent feature of 
the landscape, unless there is compliance.
	     If Saddam Hussein takes the further step of expelling 
the UNSCOM inspectors in the first instance, I believe the U.N. 
Security Council ought to act to gain compliance.  If they fail to do 
that, we will obviously have to face a number of decisions.
	     Q	  What sorts of things are you going to explore?  I 
mean, you put Iraq on the agenda, what are you going to talk about 
that you haven't already talked about at length?
	     MR. BERGER:  Well, the first instance, the Security 
Council has passed resolutions saying there has to be access for the 
UNSCOM inspectors.  If that access is denied in the first instance, 
it is for the Security Council to secure compliance, in our judgment.  
If they fail to do that, then we will have to obviously consider 
other steps.
	     Q	  But it has been denied -- the access has been 
denied now for a period of time.
	     MR. BERGER:  Well, the access has been restricted and 
the Security Council has taken one important step, which is to say to 
Iraq there will be no review of sanctions relief as long as this 
situation remains.  
	     Now, what we seek here is not simply a restricted 
UNSCOM; we seek an UNSCOM that can operate and we seek Iraqi 
compliance.  But I think, as I say, in the first instance I think it 
is an obligation of the Secretary General, it's an obligation of the 
Security Council.