Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

MR. BOUCHER: Which page number? (Laughter.) I don't think there's much precise I can tell you. Let me tell you what I can, though. I, first of all, remember the Secretary did address it upstairs and said we were engaged in the analysis and it was important to do a thorough analysis and we were going to keep in touch with other governments and with the UN inspectors and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

As you know, the Perm Five have the copies. The Colombian President of the Council has a copy and we are working both on our own analysis of the document, but also on the work that we, as one of the countries with special expertise, are conducting to try to identify areas of sensitivity that may not be appropriate for the working version of the document that will be circulated to the whole Council.

Dr. Blix, I think, has spoken about this and we look forward to getting our comments and observations in that regard to him as we complete that work. So the Council members with special expertise now identifying information of proliferation concern. We're working in close consultation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission and will assist them in producing a working version of the declaration as soon as possible.

I think Dr. Blix has said he plans to brief the Council late next week. We will see exactly how to work with him on that as he moves towards that direction and to coordinate with him closely.

QUESTION: Do you have any response to Secretary Annan's comments, I guess it was yesterday, where he said he regretted the way in which the document transfer was handled?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have any particular response. I guess what I would say is the copy under the resolution that was to go to the Council we discussed extensively with Council members how to handle that, how to handle the distribution, how to move as quickly as we could to get it reproduced for other members of the Council and get it -- carry through this process of producing a working version for everybody.

And so with other members of the Council, we worked that out and we think we've got a procedure that does get it in everybody's hands as quickly as possible and in the proper form. And that is what we and the Council have decided to do with our copy.

QUESTION: I have a change of subject.

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

QUESTION: Can you give us a readout on the latest working group meeting of the Future of Iraq Project?

MR. BOUCHER: I think so.

QUESTION: I think they wrapped up today.

MR. BOUCHER: This was the first session of the Future of Iraq Project's Working Group on Defense Policy and Institutions. They've been convening here on the 10th and the 11th. Do we know for sure that they finished their work today, at this moment?

Yes? Okay you may have seen them walk out the door or something.

We hosted 10 members of the "Free Iraqi" community for discussions of the major issues and challenges to be faced in defense policy of a democratic and pluralistic Iraq that lives in peace with its neighbors, complies with Security Council resolutions and maintains Iraq's territorial integrity.

The Iraqi participants indicated to us a desire to discuss plans and programs to ensure the role of the Iraqi military in support of a civilian democratic government in a unified Iraq. We look forward to working with them further and studying the recommendations of the group.

QUESTION: Richard, do you know whether those ten included representatives of the six approved opposition groups?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know -- I don't have the list with me on whether they're the same as the groups that we've been working with on the political --

QUESTION: But (inaudible) for example?

MR. BOUCHER: I assume that the, you know, that there were people from various groups, but I just don't have a list for you. I don't think we have ourselves tried to put out the list of these participants. We've left it to them as individuals to identify themselves.

Jim.

QUESTION: Richard, who is representing State at the Opposition Conference in London? And does the State Department have a particular goal it would like to see come out of that conference?

MR. BOUCHER: As you know, the United States has an envoy. He is Zal Khalilzad, who's out there in London, and then there are people from the State Department working with him. I know our Embassy is. I'm not quite sure if we sent anybody from Washington. We normally do. I just hadn't checked on the names. I think our goal for this conference is their goal for the conference -- that the Iraqis themselves are looking to work toward some understandings about how a future Iraq can be organized on a federal basis, a constitutional basis, a basis of a rule of law. And our hope and our desire is support them and their effort to do that. They have -- many Iraqis have worked to have these discussions and to try to make them fruitful and we wish them well in that effort and we'll see what we can do to support them.

Sir.

QUESTION: Can you give us any more detail about the new, the six new Iraqi opposition groups, that, I guess two or three days ago, so now it's two days ago it was announced that they --

MR. BOUCHER: There was a notification of draw-down authority on the $92 million that had the group --

QUESTION: Well, there were two separate memos, as I understand.

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

QUESTION: The second one was that there were six new groups that were then deemed democratic opposition groups.

MR. BOUCHER: Groups that we would work with.

QUESTION: That will be eligible in the future.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any more detail on them at this point, no.

QUESTION: Okay. Since I -- can I ask one more on this?

MR. BOUCHER: Sure.

QUESTION: Just a -- is the intention that a lot, there's been a number of papers that come out these working groups for the Future of Iraq. Is the intention that these, the papers or recommendations would then be mulled over in a broader setting in London and that you would get some further assession to them, or something like that?

MR. BOUCHER: It depends. As you know, I mean these working groups that have been meeting, you know, you've had issues of justice and government, but also more specific issues of public finance and accounting, water, agriculture, environment, health and humanitarian needs, economy and infrastructure, defense policy and institutions, local government.

Some of these issues are indeed part of the more general political discussion that these groups of Iraqis are having in London, some of them involving government, involving justice, involving the structure of their future government. But, I'm not quite sure I would predict that they will take up the water issues in London. But given that Iraqis -- our goal is to see that Iraqis themselves can start discussing their future in a democratic manner and that is what our hope is in supporting these efforts and maintaining contact with them is so that they can start working out the ideas that they have about their future.

QUESTION: So, the idea would be that here are some interesting suggestions that we've come up with other Iraqi exiles, you know, take them for what you will that this -- you're not starting from scratch if there is a post-Saddam scenario, something like that?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think it's all one way or the other. Some of the people that participate in the working groups also participate in the London Conference.

QUESTION: Right.

MR. BOUCHER: So they will be bringing, obviously, the product of those discussions. To the extent that the product of those discussions may be on local government or on justice, might be directly relevant to things that are being discussed more broadly by the groups in London. I would expect they would work on that basis, but there will be other issues where the people with broader political discussions have to decide for themselves. Well, they will decide for themselves anyway, but where they may not have quite such a basis coming out of the working groups.