DATE=8/22/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ALBRIGHT/IRAQ/WEAPONS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-265757
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has met
with the leader of a new United Nations team of
weapons inspectors being assembled to return to Iraq.
There have been no weapons inspections teams in Iraq
for more than two and a half years. And correspondent
Nick Simeone reports there is no sign Baghdad plans to
let them return, raising questions about what the
United States and other governments are prepared to do
to get them back on the job.
TEXT: Within a few weeks, a new team of weapons
inspectors put together by retired Swedish diplomat
Hans Blix should be ready to resume searching for
Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction, which
Baghdad agreed to give up at the end of the Gulf war.
But the inspectors may never get there unless
Washington and its allies on the U-N Security Council
are again willing to resort to force to back up
council resolutions. And, at this stage, there's no
sign the Clinton administration -- ahead of November's
presidential election -- has the appetite for another
military conflict with President Saddam Hussein, a
leader who looks set to remain in power longer than
the last two American Presidents who used force
against him.
Baghdad has refused to allow weapons inspectors into
the country since British and American jets bombed
Iraq 20 months ago for refusing to cooperate with U-N
teams.
In the meantime, Iraq has started testing short-range
missiles, leading former chief U-N weapons inspector
Richard Butler to suspect President Saddam has used
the past two-and-a-half years to begin rebuilding his
supply of banned chemical and biological weapons as
well.
As Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was meeting
with new chief U-N weapons inspector Hans Blix
Tuesday, her spokesman Richard Boucher again warned
military force remains an option if Baghdad refuses to
comply with international law.
/// BOUCHER ACT ///
Nothing has changed in terms of use of force.
We've said quite clearly before, and I'll say it
again today. If he reconstitutes his programs
for weapons of mass destruction, if he threatens
his neighbors, threatens U-S forces or moves
against the Kurds, we have a credible force in
the region and we're prepared to act at an
appropriate time and place.
/// END ACT ///
But a senior U-S official told reporters not to expect
any new international crisis if Iraq refuses to allow
weapons inspectors back in. Instead of military
action he says, existing U-N sanctions would remain in
place. (SIGNED)
NEB/NJS/JP
22-Aug-2000 16:25 PM LOC (22-Aug-2000 2025 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
