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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

MR. RUBIN: Hello. Welcome to the State Department briefing on today, this Wednesday.

QUESTION: Nice suit.

MR. RUBIN: Thank you. We have one statement, and then we'll go to your questions. I think it's important to bring to your attention yet another Iraqi violation of UN Security Council resolutions in open defiance of the will of the international community.

The 24th session of the Tripartite Commission on Gulf War Missing Persons was unable to proceed with its meeting today because of the failure of the Iraqi delegation to attend. The Iraqis said they can't participate because of the US and UK participation in Desert Fox. Let's bear in mind that the Tripartite Commission's search for Gulf War missing persons is a humanitarian process, aimed at easing the suffering of families who yearn to know the fate of their loved ones.

We deplore in very strong terms Iraq's cruel manipulation, for political purposes, of this humanitarian issue. We note that Iraq's departure from this commission puts it in complete non-compliance with Paragraph 30 of Resolution 687. We urge Iraq to resume participation as soon as possible

QUESTION: It isn't necessarily a permanent - you don't think this necessarily means you'll never hear from them again, do you?

MR. RUBIN: Well, it's hard to know. All we are saying right now is that we are deploring their cruel manipulation of this process.

QUESTION: And you hope they reappear.

MR. RUBIN: And we hope they reappear.

QUESTION: And where was this meeting?

MR. RUBIN: This is in, I believe, Geneva.

QUESTION: While we're on the subject, just a few minutes ago the UN - I guess it was the Secretary General - ordered - it was mostly a paper order because there are only two people it would apply to - but ordered British and American UN folks out of Iraq. Do you know of any special crisis?

MR. RUBIN: For some weeks now there's been a discussion of the fact that Iraq has indicated that it was unwilling to ensure the security of the US and UK nationals participating in UN humanitarian and other operations in Iraq. I suspect that this is part of that multi-day issue and not some new problem that has generated a new decision by Iraq; but rather that the UN has concluded, after extensive discussions, that it can't get the right satisfaction out of the Iraqis that would permit these American and UK citizens, of which I think you indicated, there are a very small number that participate.

But I don't have a lot of information on that. I was just alerted to that news prior to the briefing.

QUESTION: The Iraqis are also welcoming the ouster of Richard Butler from UNSCOM. Could you balance that or comment on it?

MR. RUBIN: Yes, this is the Iraqis welcoming something that hasn't happened. They've made a lot of foolish statements and provocative actions in recent weeks. What's happened here is that there is an assessment going on, based, as it always will be, on the expertise of the experts. Where are the experts? They're in UNSCOM.

So this is an assessment of where Iraq stands and what information is available on their non-compliance. UNSCOM will be an important participant in that assessment. So the fact is that Iraq is not permitting the UN Special Commission and its inspectors to do its work. Its Chairman is Ambassador Richard Butler, who's done a fine job in holding Iraq's feet to the fire on the question of disarmament.

But right now there are no inspections. So what the UN is doing is simply doing a technical assessment based on expertise of UNSCOM experts. So nothing really new there.

QUESTION: The US position is Butler should stay?

MR. RUBIN: Absolutely.

QUESTION: Okay, and in spite of the Russians position that they want him to go?

MR. RUBIN: Right.

QUESTION: You don't take any differences with either of those statements?

MR. RUBIN: Which?

QUESTION: Russia wants Butler to go.

MR. RUBIN: And Iraq is applauding that he's left when he's still there. He's still there; he's the chairman of UNSCOM. Ambassador Butler is the head of UNSCOM. UNSCOM still exists. It hasn't been able to get into Iraq to do its work because Iraq refuses to allow it to get in and do its work.

In the absence of UNSCOM doing its work, sanctions simply can't be lifted because it's not possible to verify that they're in compliance with the agreements. So the Russians have some well-known problems with Ambassador Butler. The Iraqis have been shooting the messenger and complaining about Ambassador Butler for a long time. We believe Ambassador Butler has done a fine job. There's no real new development here.

..................

QUESTION: Can we go back to Iraq for one second? Prime Minister of Turkey, yesterday, said the United States may not want to establish a Kurdish state, but events are approaching that point. He further said it is clear this -- (inaudible) -- the United States has begun to follow will open the way for the division of Iraq. These are quite strong statements from Prime Minister of Turkey. Do you have any kind of reaction to it?

MR. RUBIN: I'm familiar with those statements. Let me simply say that with respect to our views on this issue, we firmly recognize and support Turkey's territorial integrity. We firmly recognize and support Iraq's territorial integrity. Turkey is a vital NATO ally that continues to provide critical support for international efforts to ensure that Iraq complies with UN Security Council resolutions. In particular, we are very appreciative of being able to share Incerlik air base for the purposes of Operation Northern Watch. We understand that there has been no change to Turkish resolve in this regard.

We continuously consult with our Turkish allies on the operational details of Operation Northern Watch. So the point is, on the things that count here - the cooperation on the Operation Northern Watch - we still believe that that is continuing; and that's really what matters.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing concluded at 1:25 P.M.)

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