The White House Briefing Room
September 30, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY MIKE MCCURRY
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 30, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
..............
Q Is Iraq building -- have they been building
missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads --
MR. MCCURRY: Well, I'm not -- they have been -- we've
been long concerned about their missile technology programs, but I
think you're asking a different question if you're asking about the
Washington Post story today, which is are they trying to get the
sophisticated devices necessary to have a nuclear device.
Q Capable -- yes.
MR. MCCURRY: Right. That's not a missile technology
question, it has to do with spherical implosion devices. But in any
event, we are aware of the allegations that Iraq retained
weapons-related components, but we can't confirm the specific
allegation that they have required those devices. There's little
doubt that they have sought a nuclear capability. That's been one of
our longstanding concerns and one of the reasons why we have insisted
on support for the international efforts by the International Atomic
Energy Agency to monitor and to investigate suspected activities in
Iraq. It's why we've supported UNSCOM, as well, for similar and
related issues.
Iraq's current refusal to allow inspections by both the
IAEA and UNSCOM, as the Security Council noted in its 15-0 vote on
Resolution 1194, is totally unacceptable. We continue to believe
that there is a lot more to know about Iraq's nuclear program. We've
sought clarification before we're willing to consider what kind of
final punctuation mark you can place on efforts by Iraq to require
nuclear related technology.
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