31 July 2002
Iraq Presents Worldwide Threat to Peace, White House Says
(But says Bush has made no decision on a course of action) (795) By Wendy Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- President Bush "thinks that Iraq presents a worldwide problem to peace," White House Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters at his midday briefing July 31, but said Bush "has not made any decisions," on how to counter this threat. "The President remains committed ... to America's bipartisan policy of regime change through whatever means that would take, whether that's political, whether it's diplomatic, whether it's financial, whether it's military. But he's made no decisions," Fleischer said. "But he does feel deeply," about this, "as the President has said in numerous speeches -- I'll cite for you the President gave when he visited Germany for example, where he said, 'If we ignore this threat we invite certain blackmail and place millions of our citizens in grave danger.' The President at West Point also said, 'We cannot defend America and our friends by hoping for the best. We cannot put our faith in the words of tyrants who solemnly sign nonproliferation treaties and then systematically break them. If we wait for the threats to fully materialize, we have waited too long.'" The United States, Fleischer made clear, will continue to consult with its allies "about what, if any, action needs to be taken" against Iraq, whether that action is diplomatic, political, financial, or military. Fleischer also noted that President Bush is working on Iraq "through the United Nations in the passage of the smart sanctions program, which now has been agreed to by Russia and was voted on by the United Nations earlier this summer." That program, Fleischer explained, applies sanctions to Iraqi products "in an effort to make Iraq live up to the terms that it pledged when it signed a cease-fire that ended the Persian Gulf War." In addition, the United States is "working through the United Nations on the arms inspectors program, a program which Iraq has thumbed its nose at," Fleischer said. Asked what is the President's level of skepticism that Saddam Hussein will eventually comply with a thorough weapons inspection effort, Fleischer responded: "Well, it's high. The President's level of skepticism is high. Saddam Hussein has entered into agreements before that he has immediately violated. Saddam Hussein has told the world that he would allow weapons inspectors in, that he would comply with their weapons inspections, that he would open all his plants and facilities to the weapons inspectors. And as history has shown, even while the weapons inspectors were there, he did not keep his word. He violated his agreements. "So the President begins this with the point of view, what's most important is the result of a weapons inspection, not so much the process -- the result being for the world to be assured that Iraq is not pursuing the development of weapons of mass destruction. Because Saddam Hussein has already shown that when he has weapons, he is willing to use them, and use them against his own people, even if they're chemical weapons of mass destruction." Asked if the Bush administration had provided Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden (Democrat-Delaware) with an assurance that there would be no military action taken against Iraq before the U.S. mid-term elections this fall, Fleischer responded: "I'm not aware of anybody who's had conversations. I haven't looked into that. I'm aware of the statements that Senator Biden has made, but I have not found anybody here who talks about the timing of it, and whether anything is or is not going to happen in terms of timing. So I'm not in a position to confirm that. I just don't know." Asked if the Bush administration is considering asking Congress to approve military action against Iraq, as it granted in 1991, Fleischer said: "I'm just not going to speculate about anything involving possible military efforts. I'm just not going to speculate about it." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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