16 December 1998
CLINTON HAD "NO CHOICE" IN ORDERING STRIKES ON IRAQ, BERGER SAYS
(Stresses the military action supported by all his advisors) (650) By Wendy S. Ross USIA White House Correspondent Washington -- The United States had no choice but to begin air strikes against Iraq because the chief of the United Nations Commission in Iraq (UNSCOM) had reported to the United Nations that it "is not able to function," says President Clinton's National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger. UNSCOM was established by the United Nations at the end of the Gulf War in 1991 to uncover and eliminate that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. "Had we not acted today in view of the conclusion of UNSCOM that it had been rendered ineffective," Berger told a late afternoon December 16 White House briefing, "we would have eliminated the credible threat of force." Berger said "Saddam Hussein unrestricted, or unimpeded, by the fear of force, is a danger to the region." He reminded reporters that Clinton had aborted a military strike against Iraq on November 15 after Saddam promised that he would fully comply with UNSCOM. But UNSCOM's latest report to the United Nations Security Council "is unambiguous," he said. "The commission has essentially said it's not able to function. It has been essentially eviscerated." Under those circumstances, Berger said, President Clinton "had no choice but to take military action. He proceeded on a recommendation of all of his national security advisors and in particular, the recommendation of his military advisors that if he acted, he should do so swiftly, with the least possible warning, and the greatest degree of surprise for the greatest degree of effectiveness of the strikes themselves." Berger said "there is no artificial deadline for this action." But he acknowledged that Clinton "expressed the sensitivity that we have to the holy month of Ramadan (which is about to begin) and said in particular that he understood initiating military action during that period would be particularly offensive. But, I'm not going to specify how long this will go on." Berger said the decision to go ahead with the military action was initially made by the President as he returned on Air Force One from a visit to the Middle East. "We had a conference call on the plane, a secure conference call" with the National Security team in Washington. "The Secretary (Albright) and myself were on the plane with the President," Berger said. "We talked it through. We went around the horn and asked everybody what their recommendation was, and the recommendation was unanimous that the President should go forward," Berger said. After arriving back in Washington Clinton met with his team at the White House early in the morning December 16 and reaffirmed his decision. Berger said he has been briefing leaders of Congress "a couple of times a week" since November 15 on what was happening in Iraq regarding the weapons inspections there. On December 15, Defense Secretary Bill Cohen "spoke at length" on Iraq with House Speaker-elect Livingston, outgoing Speaker Gingrich, and Senate Majority Leader Lott, he said. That evening, Berger said, President Clinton called the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate and "today spoke to all of the leaders" telling them he was proceeding with the military action. Berger denied that the pending House of Representative vote on whether to impeach President Clinton was a factor in the his decision. "This is an action taken by the President solely on a basis of his best judgment of what is in the national security interests of the United States, both with respect to the action and the swiftness with which he acted after Butler's report. It is an action that was supported by all of his national security advisers, military, foreign policy and otherwise, and no other factor was permitted to alter that," Berger said.
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