17 December 1998
SECRETARY OF STATE ALBRIGHT DEFINES US GOALS IN IRAQ
(US hopes for better representation for Iraqi people) (720) By Jane A. Morse USIA Diplomatic Correspondent Washington -- With the military strike against Iraq entering its second day, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright detailed US short, medium and long-term goals in Iraq. Briefing reporters at the State Department December 17, Albright said the immediate goal of the military campaign known as "Desert Fox" is to "degrade" Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's "ability to develop and deploy his weapons of mass destruction," thus reducing his ability to threaten his neighbors. A medium-term goal, she said, is to force Saddam Hussein to comply with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions passed after the 1991 Gulf War that call for destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and a full accounting of its weapons programs. Full cooperation in this area is the only hope Iraq has for lifting the economic sanctions under which it now suffers, the Secretary said. But to do that, UNSCOM, the UN commission responsible for inspections in Iraq, must have "unfettered access to be able to continue to do its work. She noted that Iraqi authorities in the last year had largely prevented UNSCOM from doing its work. Until Iraq cooperates with the UN demands, she said, "we will continue our policy of containment of Saddam through the economic embargo and generally in terms of keeping him in his box." Although the current military campaign is not designed to eliminate Saddam Hussein, the United States has "come to the determination that the Iraqi people would benefit if they had a government that really represented them," Albright said. "It's very hard to imagine anybody worse" than Saddam Hussein, the Secretary said. There are not a lot of leaders in the world who have used chemical weapons against their own people," she noted. "He is someone who has aggressive designs on his region and he is somebody who has total disregard for the will of the international community." The United States has stepped up its efforts to work with various Iraqi opposition groups with the aim of "trying to help them help themselves to have a regime that represents them," the Secretary said, acknowledging that "this is something that cannot be done overnight. Albright emphasized that US diplomats around the world have been "very active in explaining our actions in Iraq." In Washington D.C., she said, every foreign mission is being briefed. Albright said she has personally contacted more than 20 foreign leaders as well as the United Nations Secretary General. "The response has been gratifying," she said. She noted that in her calls to the Arab leaders, she found "a full understanding." The Secretary said that most Arab leaders expressed the view that Saddam Hussein is entirely responsible for the military strike now underway due to his refusal to take advantage of the final chance offered him in November to begin full and unconditional cooperation with the United Nations weapons inspectors. "They also understand that we have given diplomacy every possible chance to work. They know we have resorted to this action because Saddam Hussein has left us no other choice. "Like us, they are concerned for the welfare of the Iraqi people. They, too, strongly support the massive United Nations humanitarian program in Iraq, of which the United States was one of the chief authors. They know that we are exercising every effort to avoid civilian casualties in this operation," Albright said. She acknowledged that there have been "a few critical public comments, but the reaction so far serves to underscore how isolated Saddam is in the Arab world." Outside of the Arab world, Russia and China have expressed the most vigorous opposition to military action against Iraq, the Secretary noted. "The Russians and Chinese are critical, of course, but over the past year they have failed to provide any viable alternative," she pointed out. Despite Russia's best efforts, Saddam Hussein has refused all diplomatic overtures, the Secretary said. "I would say that they (the Russians) are disappointed in the fact that they have not been able to make it work. They have no better solutions," Albright said. "The fault and the problem here is Saddam Hussein," she said.
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