DoD News Briefing
Monday, November 23, 1998 - 10 a.m. (EST)
Presenter: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen
.............
Q: The forces that are committed to keeping an eye on Saddam and so forth, is it... Should diplomacy not work out, does the United States still have the strength and still have the forces to reinforce those that, and keep an eye on North Korea? Are you short of what you need? It took awhile to get things to the Gulf.
Secretary Cohen: We have in place in the Gulf enough capability to carry out any military option the President might decide would be required, so we don't have any hesitation to state that we have enough forces on hand. They can be reinforced as we saw very quickly, should that be needed. We have enough forces to serve as an adequate deterrent, a very strong deterrent elsewhere. So I don't have any questions of that capability.
Q: It hasn't taken long for Iraq and the U.N. inspectors to have some tension over documents which now Iraq says doesn't exist. How long are you going to let this kind of a situation go on before you decide that Iraq is not complying with the free access for U.N. inspectors?
Secretary Cohen: You may recall that back in February I indicated that there were at least two facets to cooperation on the part of the Iraqi government. On the one hand they had to allow free and unfettered access to the UNSCOM inspection teams. Secondly, they had an affirmative duty to produce documentation as to their past activities. I believe that Chairman Butler has done exactly the right thing by asking for the production of these documents so that he and the other inspectors can make a determination of what level and volume of chemical and biological and indeed even nuclear materials Iraq had on hand prior to the Gulf War in order to make a determination, according to their own statements now which have changed several times, from denying they had any such chemical or biological agents to an admission that they had substantial volumes of it.
So what he is trying to determine is whether or not what the Iraqis claim they have done has in fact been carried out.
When, for example, were these chemicals or biologicals destroyed? Where, under what circumstances, what records were made of the destruction efforts? All of that would be, I think, critically important to determining whether or not the Iraqis in fact are cooperating with UNSCOM so it can lead to a determination that they are in compliance with the Security Council Resolutions.
I think this is one aspect of it. The inspections will need to continue, and those inspections in combination with the production of documents will be, in my judgment, evidence as to whether or not the Iraqis intend to comply with their obligations or whether they intend to resist them.
Q: They're saying they're not going to turn over those documents.
Secretary Cohen: Well, they haven't quite said that yet. They had made a statement that some of them don't exist and others aren't relevant, and others have been destroyed. I think that we will have to continue to see the insistence on the production of those documents and a clarification of if documents were destroyed who destroyed them, under what circumstances, when, where, etc.? I think a lot of questions have to be asked and answered before there can be any resolution as to whether or not they are "cooperating."
Q:...free and unfettered access, Mr. Secretary? It sounds as though already you have not gained free and unfettered access. Documents is part of that free and unfettered access, already they are not complying. So already the United States... A week ago the U.S. said if we don't get free and unfettered access we'll go back in.
Secretary Cohen: There are two aspects to the free and unfettered, as you pointed out, but the free and unfettered are consistent with the existing resolutions and also with the memorandum of understanding negotiated by Kofi Annan last February. That was one aspect in terms of where the inspectors could go. The production of documents also is a part of it, and as I indicated, that is of equal importance at least in my judgment, in terms of whether or not they are fully cooperating.
To the extent that they fail to do that, and to the extent that they limit the ability of the inspectors to go where they feel they have to go to determine whether any such chemical or biological, indeed even nuclear activity is taking place, then that would certainly manifest a lack of intention to cooperate.
Q: Can Iraq violate both aspects? Are you saying...
Secretary Cohen: A combination of either. I think we have to look at the full spectrum of their level of cooperation. It could be the denial of access to sites that they have already agreed that the UNSCOM inspectors could have access to; it also could involve a failure to produce documentation; or a combination of all of the above.
Q:...avoid air strikes simply by claiming that whatever documents the U.N. wants don't exist or were lost?
Secretary Cohen: I'm not going to comment on what would involve or precipitate air strikes. I think it is up to Iraq to fully cooperate with UNSCOM. A failure to do so certainly leaves open the option of whether or not the President would order a military option in the future.
................. Q: One small question, going back to Iraq, the carrier battle group ENTERPRISE is due in the Persian Gulf within the next 24 hours, there to relieve the EISENHOWER, but there's going to be an overlap the way it looks. Are you going to leave both carrier battle groups there for the foreseeable future? If so, how long?Secretary Cohen: It's my intent at least at this point to have the normal rotation of the EISENHOWER and the ENTERPRISE.
..............Press: Thank you very much.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov1998/t11231998_t1123coh.html
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