Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=11/21/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=RICE - IRAQ (L only)

NUMBER=2-296711

BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON

DATELINE= PRAGUE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: President Bush's National Security Advisor says the White House remains deeply skeptical that Iraq will ever comply with U-N demands to disarm. V-O-A's Paula Wolfson reports Condoleezza Rice made the remarks in Prague, where NATO leaders are wrapping up the summit meetisng.

TEXT: The summit in the Czech capital produced a joint statement endorsing the latest U-N resolution on Iraq.

It calls on Iraq to comply "fully and immediately" and speaks of serious consequences if Baghdad does not.

The four-paragraph statement stops short of threatening collective military action. But White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice says it is a powerful statement all the same.

////RICE ACT///

And what you saw in the NATO summit statement was an insistence by the world that Iraq disarm.

///END ACT///

She says it is too early to even talk about possible military action. But under questioning from reporters in Prague, she acknowledged she does not think it likely Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will comply peacefully with the disarmament demands.

///RICE ACT///

We're deeply skeptical that this regime is ever going to fully live up to the U-N Security council resolutions to which it signed.

///END ACT///

Ms. Rice says Iraq will have several opportunities in the coming weeks to cooperate fully with U-N weapons inspectors. She says so far, though, the White House has not seen anything that indicates Iraq will, in fact, disarm.

///RICE ACT///

I want to be very clear. If Iraq tries to shift the burden of proof on the inspectors that would be a great mistake, because the burden of proof is on Saddam Hussein to show the world that he is not possessing programs for weapons of mass destruction, that he's destroyed everything we know that he has had and pursued, and that he doesn't ever intend to pursue them again.

///END ACT///

The next big deadline for Iraq is December eighth, when Baghdad is required to turn over an inventory of its weapons of mass destruction. (signed)

NEB/PW/FC