UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

07 October 2002

Powell, Blix, El Baradei Urge Strong Resolution on Iraq

(All say goal is complete disarmament of Iraq) (1810)
Secretary of State Colin Powell, the chief of the UN weapons
inspectors for Iraq, Hans Blix, and the head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei, have urged the UN Security
Council to pass a strong resolution supporting thorough weapons
inspections in Iraq.
"[I]f inspectors are going to go back in, they have to go back in
without any restrictions on what they are able to do and there has to
be pressure maintained on the Iraqi regime through the likelihood of
action taken if they try to frustrate this inspection regime the way
they have other inspection regimes in the past," Powell said after the
three men met at the State Department in Washington October 4.
Powell, Blix and El Baradei urged the Security Council to act quickly
on the resolution so that practical arrangements for weapons
inspections can proceed.
"We all agree that the endgame should be a complete disarmament of
Iraq and that's the common objective we all working for," El Bardei
said.
A strong Security Council resolution would "place the Iraqis clearly
before the need to give a clear declaration of what they have," Blix
said. "I had the impression also that in the Council there was very
broad support for having a new resolution."
Following is the transcript of the remarks by Powell, Blix and El
Baradei:
(begin transcript)
REMARKS
Secretary Of State Colin L. Powell Dr. Hans Blix, Executive Chairman,
United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission and
Dr. Mohamed El Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic
Energy Agency
October 4, 2002
C Street Entrance
Washington, D.C.
(6:00 p.m. EDT)
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We've
just completed an excellent set of discussions with Dr. Blix and Dr.
El Baradei of the IAEA and of UNMOVIC. As you know, they briefed the
Security Council yesterday on their discussions in Vienna with the
Iraqi Government on how to move forward with inspections, and we were
anxious to hear from both of them as to how those discussions went.
I reaffirmed to them that it was our intention to support them to the
fullest, and we think the best way to support their efforts is with a
new UN Security Council resolution setting out very tough standards
and conditions for the conduct of new inspections. I think we have an
agreement that such a resolution would be useful, and I think
increasingly the members of the Council are coming to the conclusion
that such a resolution would be useful.
There are a number of other issues outstanding with respect to the
nature of that resolution and those discussions will continue between
myself and my colleagues on the Security Council.
I want to express my appreciation to my two gentlemen here for their
being with us today and for their dedication to this work, and it is
our intention to support them fully. And so I would ask each of them
to say a word and then we'll be able to take one or two questions.
Dr. Blix.
DR. BLIX: All right. We have recently been in Vienna and discussed
with the Iraqi representatives on practical arrangements concerning
inspection. We know from long experience that the devil sits in the
details and we have been able to clarify quite a number of them. There
are still some loose ends which will need to be settled and the
Security Council resolution that is now being discussed is one that I
think we would welcome. It could clarify further matters and it will
also put -- place the Iraqis clearly before the need to give a clear
declaration of what they have. So we welcome that effort. I had the
impression also that in the Council there was very broad support for
having a new resolution.
SECRETARY POWELL:  Dr. El Baradei.
DR. EL BARADEI: We, I think, made it clear in our consultation in the
Security Council that we need full backing of the Security Council. We
have made some good progress on the practical arrangements to go back
to Iraq in Vienna, but we need the full backing and support of the
Security Council.
I think we had very good, constructive discussion with the Council
yesterday and we had excellent meeting with Secretary Powell and his
colleagues here today. We all agree that the endgame should be a
complete disarmament of Iraq and that's the common objective we all
working for.
SECRETARY POWELL:  Thank you very much.  George Gedda. Yes, George.
QUESTION: Dr. Blix was ready to move advance people in, at least, by,
you know, mid -- a little past mid-October. Do you think there will be
a new resolution in time to go ahead with those arrangements?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know when we will have a new resolution. As
I have said since we began this process on the 12th of September, I
think it was a matter of weeks, not months. And so I don't want to put
a timeline on it.
And I will let Dr. Blix speak to the other half of that question. But
I think it would be more appropriate for the team to wait for the new
resolution, and I cannot tell you how long it would take. And Dr. Blix
may want to add a word to that.
DR. BLIX: Well, we hope that the path will not be very long to a new
resolution, and the convergence that we began to see yesterday I think
is a hopeful one. But I also explain to everybody that it would be
somewhat awkward for us to go in and then find that a new resolution
was coming there which would call for us -- ask us to do something
more or different which would require other practical arrangements.
So we look forward to a speedy negotiation of a resolution and for us
to come in very shortly thereafter.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, we've heard you stress, put emphasis, on the
need for a one resolution solution and we know very well that the
French, for instance, oppose that. Is there any likelihood that at the
end of the day, to get to a compromise, we would see the United States
accept a two resolution solution?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we still believe a one resolution solution is
the better way to go. The reason we have seen any movement on the
Iraqi side in the last three weeks is because of the pressure that's
been put upon them. They're not doing this out of the goodness of
their hearts or because suddenly they realize they had to come clean;
it's pressure, and one resolution keeps that pressure on. I do
understand the position of the French Government and some of the other
members of the Security Council with respect to the concept of two
resolutions, and we're in consultations with them. We're in a
consultative process. They have their point of view, we have our point
of view, and we'll try to find a way to resolve these different points
of view.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, this is for Mr. Secretary and Dr. Blix. Could
you talk a little bit more about what this -- what more authority this
resolution would give Dr. Blix to conduct the kind of inspections he
needs to conduct and whether it centers around the consequences?
Dr. Blix, do you think you need a resolution that has tough
consequences in order to conduct your work?
Thank you.
DR. BLIX: I think it is clear that there has to be constant pressure
to keep the Iraqis to comply with the resolution. There was an erosion
over the years in the past. So that has to be there, but exactly the
formulation of that, whether it is one resolution or two, this I think
that we leave to them. We have not much influence on that.
SECRETARY POWELL: We want to make sure that the new resolution demands
access to all sites without any conditions that would hamper the work
of the inspectors. There has been an erosion of the inspection regime
in recent years, as Dr. Blix just said, and we have got to fix that,
correct it, and make sure that Iraq is not given any opportunity to
frustrate the work of the inspections teams if they go in.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what do you make of the position of Russia,
which seems to be fluctuating between saying they're looking --
they're sympathetic to the US draft and saying they don't even believe
there should be a new resolution? With your relationship with Igor,
you must have a pretty good inside line on this.
SECRETARY POWELL: Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and I are in constant
communication. I spoke to him again yesterday. And they understand our
point of view and I understand their point of view, and we'll find a
way to resolve -- I'm confident we'll find a way to resolve -- any
differences that exist.
This is a negotiation. It's a very complex one. It's a very intricate
one. There are 15 Security Council members who have an equity in this.
They are all sovereign nations with a point of view, and we have to
listen to all those points of view and find a way to go forward. But I
am optimistic as this week has gone by because of the kind of
presentations that were made by these two gentlemen to the Security
Council and an understanding on the part of the Security Council that
if inspectors are going to go back in, they have to go back in without
any restrictions on what they are able to do and there has to be
pressure maintained on the Iraqi regime through the likelihood of
action taken if they try to frustrate this inspection regime the way
they have other inspection regimes in the past.
Yes, last one.
QUESTION:  (Not in English)
DR. EL BARADEI: Well, we have been out of Iraq for four years. We have
to go back, and go back quickly, to make sure that Iraq has not
revived its nuclear weapon program. Our role is to disarm Iraq and
continue monitoring the Iraqi activities to make sure that Iraq's
clandestine nuclear program will not be revived. That is our clear
objective to go back.
SECRETARY POWELL:  Thank you.
QUESTION:  (Not in English)
DR. BLIX:  (Not in English)
SECRETARY POWELL:  I agree.
(Laughter.)
(The Secretary escorts the gentlemen to their cars.)
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, can you say if there were any decisions made
on practical things that the US could to do help the inspectors?
SECRETARY POWELL: It was a subject of discussion and I don't have
anything I want to add at this point. We were trying to make sure they
understood that we were trying to be as helpful as possible to assist
in accomplishing the mission, as I am sure that all Security Council
members will try to do.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list