12 August 2002
White House Says Iraq Must "Abide by Agreements"
(White House Report) (360) WHITE HOUSE SAYS IRAQ MUST HONOR ITS AGREEMENTS Deputy White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said August 12 that "the regime in Baghdad needs to abide by the agreements it made" with the international community regarding inspection to verify that it has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction. Earlier in the day on the Arabic satellite television Al-Jazeera, Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said the U.N. weapons inspections are no longer necessary. He reportedly said the U.N. work concerning Iraqi weapons programs was completed when the inspectors left Iraq four years ago. "They claim something remains. This talk can be responded to and disproved," the Associated Press reported him as saying. Asked for a response, McClellan discounted those statements, saying the United States and the international community are very clear on what the regime in Baghdad needs to do immediately. "There's no discussion to be had on that," he said at a briefing for reporters August 12 in Crawford, Texas, near President Bush's ranch. Under U.N. Security Council resolutions, sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that Iraq's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons have been destroyed , along with the missiles to deliver them. President Bush, McClellan noted, "said he would be deliberate and be patient, and that we would consult with our friends," regarding Iraq. "We have been consulting with Congress and consulting with our friends and allies, and we'll continue to do so," he said. McClellan added that Iraq's Saddam Hussein is trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction "making him a dangerous person." (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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