04 September 2002
Powell Says President Bush Is Considering All Views On Iraq
(The president will make his position clear in "the very near future") (2170) President Bush is taking into consideration different views and positions within the administration on Iraq, but "the only position that really counts at the end of the day is the President's position," said Secretary of State Colin Powell during a press briefing on the plane September 3 en route to Johannesburg, South Africa. Powell was on his way to Johannesburg to participate in the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Powell told reporters, "We are all working hard, and we are all working in harmony to make sure the President has the very best information and all the different insights that exist within his cabinet that can be brought to bear on this so that he can make the best decision." Powell also noted that President Bush is also considering views from outside the administration, including Congress, the media and the international community. Saying that the Iraqi regime presents a threat to the rest of the world, Powell said the administration is discussing the issue "with our friends and allies and with the international community and the United Nations on how we should respond to this." Although President Bush has not yet decided on a course of action on Iraq, Powell said that the president plans to make his position clear in "the very near future." Bush will speak at the United Nations General Assembly in New York September 12, along with other world leaders. On weapons inspections in Iraq, Powell noted that Vice President Cheney has said inspections can not guarantee that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction. But the issue, Powell said, is disarmament. "Inspections are one way of getting at that question," he said. "Whether it's the only way or there are other ways that have to be used to get at the question of disarmament is the debate that we're having within the entire international community." Following is an excerpt from the briefing transcript, covering Powell's discussion of the Iraq issue: (begin excerpt) QUESTION: Okay, I'll ask the dreaded Iraq question. Do you feel that there is a split in the administration over what should be done on Iraq? Or is this a normal discussion within an administration? I mean, the Vice President's words seemed to be much stronger than yours along going ahead with an intervention against them. SECRETARY POWELL: We are discussing Iraq and we are discussing every aspect of the issue. We are discussing the threat that this regime presents to the rest of the world. We are discussing the simple reality that for almost 12 years now, the Iraqi regime has refused to comply with a number of UN resolutions and dozens of conditions that they were supposed to meet. So they have affronted the international community. It is a challenge not just to the United States but to the international community and to the United Nations. We are discussing within the administration and with our friends and allies and with the international community and the United Nations how we should respond to this. It is a serious matter. There can be no question that he continues to pursue these kinds of weapons of mass destruction. He threw out, or made it impossible for the inspectors to continue 4 years ago. So it is a very serious issue and we're discussing it in a very serious way. The only position that really counts at the end of the day is the President's position, and we are all working hard, and we are all working in harmony to make sure the President has the very best information and all the different insights that exist within his cabinet that can be brought to bear on this so that he can make the best decision. QUESTION: Do you see a decision coming in the next 2 months? SECRETARY POWELL: Now that the holiday period, the summer period, is over and all of our European colleagues are back to work, and the United Nations General Assembly will be meeting next week, I think you will see that the President will pull all of these threads together. Keep in mind what he said a couple of weeks ago. He said he was patient, he said he was consulting, he said that he would take all of that consultation into account as he made his decisions, and I'm quite confident that's what he intends to do. QUESTION: Just one follow up on that, Mr. Secretary. Do you disagree with Vice President Cheney on the issue of UN inspections in Iraq? SECRETARY POWELL: The point the Vice President was making, and he made it very powerfully and very vividly, is that inspections in and of itself may not give you the assurance you need. The inspectors were there for years. They found a lot, no question. For the years they were there, they found a lot, they discovered a lot, they provided a baseline, but they didn't get it all and they didn't find it all, and so the Vice President was, I think, making the case that you can't think that just because the inspectors go in, that that solves your problem. The issue is not the inspectors. The issue is disarmament. The resolutions call for disarmament, not inspections. Inspections are one way of getting at that question. Whether it's the only way or there are other ways that have to be used to get at the question of disarmament is the debate that we're having within the entire international community. QUESTION: So why is it that there's this perception, you gave the interview the other day to David Frost, talking about the need for inspections, whereas the Vice President said inspections don't matter, we need to have regime change and he's got these weapons. Can you see how there's a difference internationally in your two views and how other countries may see it as different views within one administration? Just Monday, Tariq Aziz said, look, I don't know which member of the administration speaks for the entire administration? (inaudible) SECRETARY POWELL: Tariq Aziz knows perfectly well what needs to be done, and for years, he has been on television and manages to have reported without comment his assertion that they have no such weapons. This is nonsense, utter nonsense. He knows it's nonsense, we know it's nonsense. It's a con that the Iraqi regime, and especially Mr. Tariq Aziz has been pulling on the international community for years, and where we are now is that it's time for the international community to speak back. With respect to what the American position will be, the President will articulate it, he will articulate it and he will articulate it fully in the near future. I see that there are lots of differences. Some are real, some are perceived, some are over hyped. My David Frost interview -- which you haven't really seen, all you've seen is a promo for my David Frost interview, I call your attention to BBC this weekend for about 40 straight minutes of it -- it's a 9/11 interview mostly, and you've all had 9/11 interviews. All that was on last weekend was a promo, right Richard? It was an outtake, or it was an intake that was used as a promo. You'll see the rest of it. What I was saying in that interview was administration policy and the President's policy. The President's called for the return of inspectors, as you will recall. QUESTION: As the debate has played out in the last two weeks, the international community has begun to respond, and a lot of it is rather negative to the notion of some sort of unilateral action by the United States, or even US proceeding along this course. The Russians have come out against it, the Chinese, the French. How much does that raise your level of concern as the President tries to make the case in the coming week or so? SECRETARY POWELL: The President has not decided upon nor announced a unilateral action or as you described it, a course of action. Now, there are courses of action that are postulated and speculated upon, and once they're out there, everybody starts responding to that, and that's in the nature of a full, free, open debate on a subject. As the President has said, in Crawford I guess the week before last, he's taking all of the advice he gets into account, he's consulting widely, and he will approach this patiently and he has not made any decisions, either of the unilateral nature or of the multilateral nature. But he is listening carefully and I think in the very near future, he will answer all of the burning questions that are on your minds and lips. QUESTION: Does that international reaction play a factor in the decision-making here? SECRETARY POWELL: When you're consulting, you have to listen to everything, and you listen to positive responses and negative responses. I spent an enormous amount of time on the phone, as you know, I'm something of a phone freak, but I've been on the wires pretty constantly for the last week talking to all of our friends and making sure I understand their point of view, making sure they know where the President is, not where some people say the President is, or people who are not even in the government who claim to know where the President is, or the President hasn't decided yet where he is. So I think we've been able to put it into perspective. I will be meeting with leaders tomorrow, I will be up at New York at the UNGA for the better part of a week, which will give me additional opportunity as it will give the President for the 2 days, 3 days he's up there, to hear from our close friends and allies around the world. QUESTION: I just want to make sure I understand sort of the import of what you're saying. The President's UN General Assembly speech will sort of be the kickoff of a campaign by the administration to convince the world of a course, and also, can you tell us, has the President reached a decision on the way for the UN authorization is not needed but it would be helpful politically? SECRETARY POWELL: I didn't say the UN speech was the kickoff, but nice try. Obviously, at the UN next week, there will be leaders from around the world. The President, of course, will speak as will many other leaders, and I would not prejudge right now what the President is going to say next week, but obviously this is a very timely issue. With respect to additional resolutions from the UN, that depends on what course of action the President decides upon and the other members of the Security Council decide upon, if anything. But it would be premature for me now to confirm to you that that's what's going to happen next Wednesday or what we're thinking about with respect to resolutions. Obviously, all of that is in the mix. QUESTION: In your conversations with friends and allies, have you begun to ask for their support for a specific course of action yet? SECRETARY POWELL: We've spoken in diplomatic and political terms. If your specific question is with respect to military options, I have not, no. Sure, I constantly explore with my foreign minister colleagues diplomatic options, inspectors in, inspectors with what other support for the inspectors, the nature of the inspection, any time, any place, can we really get an inspection team in that would give confidence that we're going to get to the root of the matter, or is it going to take something more than inspections? There are a lot of things that get discussed. We have excellent lines of communication with all of our friends around the world on this, and there's a good solid exchange of views back and forth. As you noted, the European Union foreign ministers met this past weekend. I spoke to fully more than a third of them before the meeting last Wednesday and Thursday, and then I've spoken to at least 4 of them since the meeting, just to coordinate with each other and understand where they're coming from, where we're coming from, not only on Iraq, but on Article 98 negotiations, the Middle East, and all the other issues that we stay in close touch with our European friends on. QUESTION: There are others in the administration and in Congress perhaps who say that an international consensus on what to do with Iraq is not necessary. Is it your view that you do need support of key allies around the world in any action or any course the US would take? SECRETARY POWELL: There are lots of views in the administration, outside the administration, up on the hill, throughout the talk shows, media, and throughout the international community. The President's considering it all, and in due course, he will let you know how he plans to approach this problem. (end excerpt) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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