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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

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

MR. RUBIN: Late breaking news you want to put to me?

QUESTION: No, no, no; it's not breaking news. I just want to make sure I'm phrasing this properly for my colleague. The latest UN panel concluded that the intrusive inspections system is still needed in Iraq. Is there a response from the US Government?

MR. RUBIN: The UN panel on disarmament chaired by Ambassador Amirim of Brazil has submitted its report to the Security Council. Copies were distributed to all members. Once reports from all three panels have been distributed, they will decide how to operationalize the panel's recommendations.

The report recognizes that there are outstanding disarmament issues in Iraq and that an intrusive monitoring regime is required to prevent rearmament. In fact, the report states that the monitoring system already approved by the Council gives inspectors the rights, privileges and immunities necessary to do the job.

Now that the Council has received the technical report that it asked Ambassador Amirim and the panel to produce, the Council now has the job of deciding how to best operationalize these recommendations. We'll be consulting with Council members to that end.

QUESTION: Does the US agree that an intrusion inspection system is needed in Iraq?

MR. RUBIN: Absolutely.

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

(The briefing concluded at 1:15 P.M.)

[end of document]