16 December 1998
ALBRIGHT SATISFIED WITH WORLD SUPPORT FOR US ACTION IN IRAQ
(SecState says use of force was only remaining option) (730) By Jane A. Morse USIA Diplomatic Correspondent Washington -- Secretary of State Albright says she is "very satisfied" with the support expressed by the international community for the US decision December 16 to take military action against Iraq. During a special briefing that evening at the State Department, Albright told reporters that "I feel very satisfied with the overall support.... We have the kind of support we need in order to carry out our mission." She noted that "During the course of the day, I have consulted by phone with more than a dozen of my counterparts, and I have found broad understanding about the goals of our action, because those goals have long had widespread support within the international community." Albright and other State Department officials declined to be specific about which countries support or oppose the military strike. A State Department official, however, did say that a number of Arab countries have expressed their support for the US action. The United Kingdom has joined the United States in the military strike. Of those countries that oppose the military strike, Albright said: "The bottom line is that it would be very nice if those who do not support our approach had an approach that worked." But, she pointed out, after months and years of effort, no one has been able to persuade Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to comply with international demands that he destroy his weapons of mass destruction and reveal his weapons programs to United Nations inspectors. The Secretary noted that the United States was criticized by some for persevering in its diplomatic efforts for so long. "The truth is that these efforts were both necessary and successful," Albright said. "They helped to preserve (UN Security) Council unity and isolate Iraq internationally. They were not successful, however in gaining full Iraqi compliance." "The United States did not go looking for this fight," Albright said. "As the United States' chief diplomat, I can tell you that we exhausted every diplomatic approach and every possibility. Month after month we have given Iraq chance after chance to move from confrontation to cooperation. And we have explored and exhausted every diplomatic option." "Saddam Hussein blew it," she said. "We have decided to use force, because other means simply have not worked," the Secretary said. She noted that Saddam Hussein has systematically undermined the work of UNSCOM, the UN Special Commission in Iraq charged inspections of weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq. Albright explained that the primary goal of the US air strikes, which began just before 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, is to degrade Iraq's weapons of mass destruction facilities. "I think we have set ourselves a doable goal," she said. "This serious and sustained military action is not designed to get Saddam Hussein," the Secretary said, "but to degrade his abilities in the areas of weapons of mass destruction and his ability to threaten his neighbors." Earlier in the day, State Department Spokesman James Rubin ticked off a long list of Iraq's actions "to block, impede, delay, and frustrate" efforts to implement United Nations Resolution 687. That resolution defines the conditions for ceasefire after the 1991 war to drive Iraqi forces back within their borders after Iraq attacked and overran Kuwait in 1990. It outlines Iraq's responsibilities to destroy its weapons of mass destruction and allow UN inspectors and those of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify this. But after seven years, Rubin noted, "there is no end in sight" for Iraq's "obfuscation, obstruction and outright violation" of the UN resolution. Richard Butler, who is responsible for UN weapons inspections efforts in Iraq, recently reported to the UN Security Council that "Iraq's cooperation will, at best, be limited, selective and intermittent, and this is simply not good enough." "Eight out of the last 12 months UN inspectors have been unable to do their job," Rubin noted. Within the last year, Iraq has threatened to shoot down aircraft performing aerial surveillance, blocked inspection teams and expelled weapons inspectors, he said. In addition, Rubin said, Iraq attempted to create new safe havens from UN inspectors, create new conditions for inspections, strip offices clean of any information that might be of value, block photographers, and harass UN helicopters.
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