27 September 2002
U.S. Consulting with UN Security Council Members on Iraq
(State's Boucher says U.S. seeks resolution with "maximum support") (1270) The United States is reaching out to the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council in an effort to work out a resolution on Iraq which can get maximum support, said State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher. "We want to hear from people what their ideas are. And we want to discuss how this resolution can give the Security Council control of the issues, how this resolution can once again put the Security Council in the driver's seat on what happens," said Boucher, speaking at the September 27 press briefing in Washington. Boucher said Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman is currently engaged in consultations with the French government in Paris, and will continue to Moscow to meet with Russian officials. Grossman also met with Chinese Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong in Washington September 26. "We're listening to them. We're presenting ideas. We're talking to them. We're discussing text and how that can be worked out. This is a process of consultation. It's a process of discussion to work out a good resolution that we can get maximum support for," said Boucher. "It is our hope . that the Security Council members will want to face up to their responsibility, that they will want to make themselves effective in doing something about the many [Iraqi] violations," he said. Following is an excerpt from the September 27 State Department briefing containing comments on Iraq: (begin excerpt) QUESTION: Do you have anything new to update us on the Secretary's attempt to get support for the resolution in the UN? MR. BOUCHER: What the Secretary has been engaged in, what Under Secretary Grossman is engaged in in Paris, is consultations with other members of the Security Council. We are not -- what we are doing is we are working on a resolution with the other members of the Council to make sure we get a good resolution, a tough resolution that can get maximum support. We have taken that effort now to a wider group of members. We've, as the Secretary said, agreed on the elements with the British. And Under Secretary Grossman is today in Paris having meetings at the Foreign Ministry and with others in Paris to hear their ideas, talk to them, work with them on a text that we hope can garner support, and then he'll be going on to Moscow to do the same thing. As far as the Secretary's phone calls, hasn't had any since the ones I gave you yesterday. Well, I guess he did -- yesterday afternoon he talked to Secretary General Kofi Annan, he talked to Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia as well on these subjects and the Middle East as well. QUESTION: Will Grossman, by any chance, be going on to China? MR. BOUCHER: At this point, he is scheduled to do Paris and Moscow. As you know, he talked to the Assistant Foreign Minister, Chinese Foreign Minister, yesterday before he left because we had him, Mr. Zhou Wenzhong, visiting in town so we took that opportunity to talk directly to the Chinese before he left. QUESTION: Have you heard back from him yet from Paris? Because the French have just said that Chirac has told Bush that France will not support any resolution that has -- that gives -- that uses the words "use of force" in it. So -- MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to speculate on how this -- QUESTION: I asked if the meeting was over and if you heard back from him. MR. BOUCHER: I have not heard back from him. I know he's having his meetings. I'm afraid we're not going to go into any particular detail at this point because we're talking about the elements, the ideas of a resolution. We want to hear from people what their ideas are and we want to discuss how this resolution can give the Security Council control of the issues, how this resolution can once again put the Security Council in the driver's seat on what happens. QUESTION: Well, Richard, what about the French apparent reaction so far? MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to react to everything that everybody says. We're working on a resolution with other members of the Council. We're listening to them. We're presenting our ideas. We're talking to them. We're discussing text and how that can be worked out. This is a process of consultation, it's a process of discussion, to work out a good resolution that we can get maximum support for. And we'll continue to do that, and at the appropriate time when it's time to discuss the elements of the resolution in public, we'll do that. But we owe it to our friends and allies to talk to them first and to work things out with them first before we start playing 20 questions about what's in a resolution and what's not. QUESTION: Can you at least say whether the other Perm Five have agreed that there should be a resolution, or is that still also up in the air? MR. BOUCHER: We're consulting with the other members of the Perm Five about a resolution and about what should be in a resolution. I'm not going to speak for anybody else. Whether some people are doing that but still have ideas that maybe we don't need one, that's up to them to say. But they are at least discussing with us a resolution or more than one resolution and what should be in it. QUESTION: Over the last week, Condoleezza Rice and Secretary Rumsfeld have said more forcefully that there is evidence of an al-Qaida presence in Iraq that Saddam controls. Is Under Secretary Grossman going to be presenting any kind of new evidence in his trip to Paris along these lines? MR. BOUCHER: The trip to Paris and Moscow by Under Secretary Grossman is to work on the elements of a resolution, to work on the text of what could be a resolution. It's not a briefing. It's not an intelligence briefing. As you know, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and I think the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence were out recently meeting with NATO allies and doing intelligence briefings in the last week or so. So that information is shared not only on a regular basis with all our friends and allies, but there was a particular briefing on Iraq that was done I think in connection with that meeting. But you'd have to get details from Defense. QUESTION: If I could just follow up, I mean, is it your hope that this -- presenting this new evidence, and it's obviously been shared with the public at this point, would potentially sway the French, the Russians, the Chinese? MR. BOUCHER: It is our hope, as the President made clear in his speech and as Kofi Annan made clear in his speech, that the Security Council members will want to face up to their responsibility, that they will want to make themselves effective in doing something about the many violations which are not particularly matters of intelligence but which have been obvious to everybody, which have been described by the Council in the past, which have been condemned by the Council in the past and which have been documented in public records of inspection teams and many, many others. There is plenty of reason to say that Iraq has been in violation, remains in violation, that we need to do something about it. And that's the issue that the Secretary -- that the President put to the United Nations. That's the issue, frankly, the Secretary General put to the Security Council when he said that the Council needs to face its responsibility. (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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