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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Washington File

16 August 2002

National Security Adviser Rice Makes Case for Removing Saddam

(Interview with BBC August 15) (750)
By Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says there
are compelling reasons for removing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from
power, although President Bush has not decided how to do it.
"He's used chemical weapons against his own people and against his
neighbors. He's invaded his neighbors. He's killed thousands of his
own people. He shoots at our planes, our airplanes, in the no fly zone
where we're trying to enforce UN security resolutions and he, despite
the fact that he lost this war, a war by the way which he started, he
negotiates with the United Nations as if he won the war. I think it's
a very stunning indictment," Rice said in an interview that the BBC
broadcast August 15.
Rice said history is littered with cases of inaction against dictators
who should have been stopped before they could inflict massive
killing.
"We just have to look back and ask how many dictators who ended up
being a tremendous global threat and killing thousands and indeed
millions of people should we have stopped in their tracks. That's
really the question," she said.
The issue of whether or not to attack Iraq has generated a heated
debate in the U.S. national media and Congress. There is a broad
agreement that Saddam Hussein poses a threat, but no consensus on
whether pre-emptive military action would be preferable to a
continuation of the present policy of containment.
Senator Carl Levin (Democrat from Ohio), the chairman of the Senate
Armed Forces Committee, recently said that attacking Saddam might
provoke just what the world most fears from Saddam -- use of chemical
and biological weapons.
Rice said if military intervention were used to depose Saddam, then
follow-up action would be required to improve the lives of people in
Iraq and the region afterward.
"I would think that at the end of any action that we might take toward
regime change, it would be an obligation for all of us to make certain
that things are better for the people of the country and the people of
the region," she said.
While the Bush administration has not made a decision to proceed with
an attack, it is working with opposition Iraqi groups to prepare for a
post-Saddam era. The administration has funded the Iraqi National
Congress with an additional $8 million to publish a newspaper, beam
anti-Saddam television broadcasts into Iraq and operate humanitarian
relief programs. The administration also is accepting bids from
non-governmental organizations to receive $6.6 million to fund
programs to deliver humanitarian assistance to Iraqis.
Responding to a question from the BBC interviewer whether the next
step in the war on terrorism should not be to help resolve the
conflict between Israel and the Palestinians rather than attack Iraq,
Rice said that President Bush is acting very aggressively to help
those parties achieve peace.
"The president laid out a very aggressive agenda and a very aggressive
vision for a different kind of Middle East, one in which you have two
states. He's been by far more direct in talking about two states than
any American president has dared be. He's called it Palestine, for
goodness sake, and now that's changed the terms of the debate," Rice
said. "In order to get there we have to have a leadership that is
committed on the Palestinian side to dealing with the terrorism in its
midst."
The national security adviser also commented on Iran, where she said,
"an unelected few are really crushing the aspirations of their
people."
"What we're saying to the Iranians is act like elected leaders, and
these unelected few should not be permitted to hijack the aspirations
of the Iranian people. But it's very clear that Iran is not on the
side of peace," Rice said.
(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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