24 September 2002
U.S. Continues "Close and Intensive Discussions" on Iraq at U.N.
(State Dept. Spokesman Richard Boucher briefs September 24) (1000) The United States is continuing "close and intensive discussions" with other U.N. Security Council members about the language of a resolution on Iraq, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said. Briefing reporters September 24, Boucher said the prospective resolution should identify Iraqi violations of U.N. resolutions, stipulate clearly what Iraq has to do to repair them, and list the consequences of not doing so. Characterizing Iraqi official responses to U.N. demands as "one day here and one day there," the spokesman said it was important for the Security Council "to define what 'without conditions,' what 'unrestricted' and 'unfettered' will mean, and then for Iraq to comply." Noting that the United States has held substantive discussions with Russia and France, Boucher added, "we're talking with a number of governments and Security Council members about language, about elements of a resolution, where different things go and how they can be handled. Some of those issues have not been decided at this point." Boucher said he could give "no exact predictions" on when the resolution draft would be announced. Following is an excerpt of the September 24 State Department regular briefing dealing with Iraq: (begin excerpt) QUESTION: Richard, one of your complaints last week was that the Iraqis had not offered unfettered access to any site in Iraq, but only unconditional return. They've now made that step. Do you -- would you -- do you welcome that step? MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen every word that the -- I guess it was the Lieutenant General or somebody that gone on today. Just the other day, they were rejecting any possibility, any new UN resolution. So you kind of have the Iraqis, you know, one day here and one day there. And I think it just reiterates, makes the point once again, how important it is for the Council, for the Security Council to define what it is that Iraq has to do, to define what "without conditions," what "unrestricted," and "unfettered" will mean, and then for Iraq to comply. If Iraq were really interested in complying, really interested in disarmament, they would have started to admit their program, started to admit to the information that that British have put out in their dossier or even the information that the inspectors reported two years ago in public. QUESTION: Richard, in the meeting with the Jordanian Foreign Minister, did you discuss at all the possibility of using Jordan as a base of operations for any attacks on Iraq? MR. BOUCHER: As I said, they discussed UN action on Iraq and the need for the UN to deal with the issue. I will leave it at that. QUESTION: But you can't say yes or no to that question? MR. BOUCHER: I will leave it at that. QUESTION: Okay. QUESTION: How goes it in Europe right now with your efforts on the resolution? Are you still hoping to get -- maybe something has happened in the last couple of hours and I haven't noticed, but -- MR. BOUCHER: If something's happened in the last hour or two, then I don't know about it either. QUESTION: Okay. MR. BOUCHER: We are -- QUESTION: Close? I mean, people were talking about, you know, having a draft as early as today, right? MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we've ever tried to predict when our consultations with other members of the Council would be progressed to the point where a draft could be presented by us or anybody else. We are continuing our fairly close and intensive discussions with other Council members about the language of a resolution. That work, as I said, is important to us because we think the Council needs to specify the requirements. It needs to make clear that inspectors and other requirements go with the full backing of the UN Security Council and that that's where their mandate comes from. So we continue to look for a resolution that will identify the Iraqi violations, identify clearly what Iraq has to do to repair them and the consequences of not doing that. So that's what we are working on pretty intensely right now in New York. No exact predictions of timing when this will come about. QUESTION: Richard, would you say at this point that you're still consulting with the British on what needs to get in the resolution, or is the administration itself debating on what you think you should introduce in your resolution, whether it should be focused on inspectors and disarmament, or should it also include all the other aspects of the President's speech, such as prisoners of war, reparations, et cetera? MR. BOUCHER: We're in discussion with a number of governments, members of the Security -- other members of the Security Council about this. You know the Secretary had extensive discussions with the Russians last week. We've been in touch with the French and others. So we're talking with a number of governments and Security Council members about language, about elements of a resolution, where different things go and how they can be handled. Some of those issues have not been decided at this point. QUESTION: Two things. If you could run down the Secretary's calls since yesterday when you did it. And then also, is the administration at this point on the same page in terms of what needs to get on the resolution or are you still going through and interagency process on that? Or is it just with other governments in terms of what -- MR. BOUCHER: I would say we're working with other governments to achieve the goals the President outlined in his speech. Obviously, we work with other agencies in order to do this; together the US government decides what kind of language we want to propose and how we can work with the concerns and ideas that other governments present. In terms of phone calls, I told you about his call with the Indian Foreign Minister this morning. Yesterday afternoon, he talked to Spanish Foreign Minister Anna Palacio and he talked to Mexican Foreign Minister Castaneda. (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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