18 December 1998
TRANSCRIPT: ALBRIGHT ON CNN'S WORLD VIEW DECEMBER 17, 1998
(SecState praises Butler; happy with int'l support) (1040) Washington -- Secretary of State Albright praised the "outstanding job" done by Richard Butler, who is responsible for United Nations inspections of weapons sites in Iraq. During a December 17 interview on Cable News Network (CNN)'s "World View" program, the Secretary was asked if the United States would oppose any effort to remove Butler from his post by China and those nations opposed to the strike against Iraq. "Of course, we will fight for him," was Albright's reply. Albright reported that she has already consulted with two dozen foreign ministers and heads of state about the US military action in Iraq and said she is "very satisfied with the international support we have." Following is the transcript of Albright's remarks, as provided by the State Department: (begin transcript) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman December 17, 1998 INTERVIEW OF SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT ON CNN'S WORLD VIEW QUESTION: (In progress) was essentially before this began. SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, this attack is not designed to take out Saddam Hussein. What it is designed to do is to degrade his weapons of mass destruction, the ability to develop and deploy those weapons of mass destruction, and the ability to threaten his neighbors. As you reported earlier, the military campaign is one that has, in fact -- is on track doing that kind of thing. So, he will not come out where he started. He will be significantly weakened in terms of his ability to threaten his neighbors and reconstitute these weapons of mass destruction that President Clinton described as a threat to the region, to the stability of the region, and ultimately to all of us. Q: Secretary Albright, the United Nations chief weapons inspector, Richard Butler -- China among nations that are permanent members of the Security Council, in effect would like Mr. Butler's head on a platter. My question is, will the United States vigorously oppose any effort to remove Mr. Butler from his post? ALBRIGHT: We believe that Mr. Butler has done an outstanding job. He is an arms control expert and a diplomat and somebody who has assembled a group of professional inspectors and has done his job in the way that he should have done it. We believe that he should have his job. Of course, we will fight for him. I think that he has a done an incredibly good job. I served with him when he was the Australian permanent representative there. He is an outstanding individual and deserves to be praised by the international community for the work that he and the inspectors have done, not to be criticized. Shooting the messenger is definitely not the way to go about this. The blame is with Saddam Hussein who has not complied and who has not allowed these inspections that he said he would allow to go forward. Q: Secretary Albright, I want to ask you about the domestic criticism of President Clinton and the decision to go forward. Among others, we had extraordinary comments, yesterday, from the Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, questioning the timing and the policy. A few hours ago here on CNN, we interviewed Senator Lott. I want to show you just a portion of what he had to say with regard to why he questions the Administration policy. (Videotape of Senator Lott's comments) Q: Madame Secretary, I would ask, how do you respond to that comment? ALBRIGHT: Well, Majority Leader Lott is obviously entitled to his own opinion, and I think that we were very clear about what we did in Afghanistan and Sudan. We were trying to deal with a terrorist threat, that is one of the major threats out there for us. Our bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan was totally responsible and called for, something that we all recommended and believed was necessary. As far as what is going on now, let me just say, that we are very heartened by the number of Republican senators who are supporting what the President is doing, starting with Chairman Helms, Senator Lugar, Senator McCain, Senator Warner, Senator Hagel, and then Chairman Gilman on the House side. I think there have been many Republican senators, Chafee -- I don't even have the full list -- who have come out in support of what the President is doing. Q: Globally, why do you think China and Russia are so visceral in their criticism of US air strikes and the President's Gulf policy? ALBRIGHT: Well, I think that we have a basic difference about the use of force. When I was up at the UN and we were talking about Iraqi issues, they seemed to have more faith in the fact that Saddam Hussein can be brought to comply by diplomacy. We gave it every chance we had. I can tell you as America's chief diplomat, we explored every avenue of diplomacy, and Saddam Hussein does not seem to understand that. I think that they -- each for their own reason are opposed to this particular kind of use of force. Let me say, I have spent the better part of two days on the phone with more than two dozen foreign ministers and heads of state, and I am very satisfied with the international support we have. I think, you mentioned in your opening, the allies that are with us. I would kind of divide our support into four groups. There are those that are outspokenly in support of what we are doing -- the Europeans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealand, and Japan. Then there are a group of countries that kind of regret what is going on but place the blame on Saddam Hussein. They would have wished that there would have been some other solution. I've talked to all the Arab leaders. They have been supportive. They are concerned about the Iraqi people, as are we, but they are supportive of what we are doing. And then there is China and Russia, and they are, in fact, leading the charge against Chairman Butler. Q: Secretary Albright, thanks very, very much for joining us on World View. ALBRIGHT: Very good to be with you. (end transcript)
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