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02 June 2003

Powell, Italian Foreign Minister Discuss U.S.-Europe Ties, Iraq, Mideast

(Leaders see progress in healing U.S.-Europe "fissures") (2860)
Europeans and Americans are "coming back together...on the need to
help the people of Iraq," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Rome
June 2, adding that "there has been considerable progress over the
last two weeks in healing the fissures of the past."
In a joint press availability with Italian Foreign Minister Franco
Frattini after their meeting, Powell spoke of the present as a "time
of great opportunity" to make progress toward a peaceful solution in
the Middle East, to heal any remaining U.S.-Europe divisions over
Iraq, and to continue the fight against terrorism and the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
He particularly thanked Italy for its support in Afghanistan and Iraq,
saying "we've had no better friend in recent months than Italy."
"Now the challenge before us is to help the Iraqi people, and we know
that Italy will play an important and powerful role in that effort,"
Powell said.
Frattini, noting that Italy will assume the European Union presidency
July 1, said his talks with Powell focused on the Atlantic alliance,
the war against terrorism, the Middle East, Iraq, and biotechnology.
He said Italy "has begun to play a concrete role in the area, by
providing support to coalition forces in order to bring about
stability and a return to normality, for the obvious good of the Iraqi
people."
On President Bush's visit to the Middle East and his planned talks
with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, Powell said "we expect that positive statements
will be forthcoming."
Asked about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Powell defended his
presentation to the UN Security Council in February: "There is no
doubt in my mind as I went through the intelligence, and as I prepared
myself for the briefing that I gave to the Security Council on the 5th
of February, that the evidence was overwhelming, that they had
continued to develop these programs."
"We have already discovered mobile biological factories of the kind
that I described to the Security Council," he said.
"What we have to do now is not get trapped in the longwinded debates
about what was known and not known, and these kinds of recriminations,
but move on and help the Iraqi people build a stable society, a
democratic nation where all the people are represented in government."
Following is the State Department transcript of the press
availability:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
Office of the Spokesman 
(Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt)
June 2, 2003
JOINT PRESS AVAILABILITY
BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL AND ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
FRANCO FRATTINI FOLLOWING THEIR MEETING AT THE VILLA DORIA PAMPHILI
Rome, Italy
June 2, 2003
FOREIGN MINISTER FRATTINI: (as translated from Italian) Good morning.
First of all, I would like to give a warm thanks to my friend and
colleague Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is in Rome for this
meeting, confirming once again the exceptional quality of the
relationship between the United States and Italy, the friendship and
mutual regard, even on a personal level, that has developed between us
and of which I am particularly happy.
Today's meeting was an occasion to take stock of the most important
issues concerning transatlantic relations, also in view of Italy's
upcoming EU presidency that begins on July 1. Secretary of State
Powell and I share exactly the same views on the need to work together
on proliferation, on the fight against proliferation, on the all-out
fight against terrorism, which constitutes the principal threat for
democracies; on the importance of strengthening the historic alliance
- the Atlantic alliance - that for 50 years has been the pillar of
freedom and democracy.
And to do this, we Europeans have a duty to work together with our
American friends, to strengthen our military capabilities in close
connection with NATO.
We also have a shared commitment on the Middle East. With the Italian
government's strong and deeply held gratitude to President Bush and
Secretary of State Powell for their strong commitment towards a stable
and long-lasting peaceful solution for the entire region, I informed
Secretary Powell of my upcoming plans to visit some of my foreign
minister colleagues in Arab countries, such as Syria, Lebanon, Libya,
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. We exchanged our points of view on this
issue as well.
Finally, we are in complete agreement on Iraq. Italy has begun to play
a concrete role in the area, by providing support to coalition forces
in order to bring about stability and a return to normality, for the
obvious good of the Iraqi people.
We also spoke about issues which are of common interest, such as the
prospect of an EU regulation that we hope will come about by mid-July
on the delicate issue of biotechnology -- an issue that Europe has
every interest in resolving through these regulations -- that I hope
will be approved quickly and without further modifications. These were
the main issues of our meeting, and for which I once again thank
Colin. I now turn the floor over to him.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Franco, for your warm welcome.
It's a great pleasure for me to be back in Rome, and I deeply
appreciate your seeing me on a holiday, and I offer you
congratulations on your holiday.
As the Minister said, we had a very frank and open discussion as
befits two friends who are together on so many issues. We reaffirmed
our determination to do everything possible to strengthen the
transatlantic relationship that exists between North America and
Europe. There have been some problems in recent months, and I'm
pleased that as time passes people are coming back together in Europe,
and between Europe and the United States, on the need to help the
people of Iraq now, not fight old battles, but to come together as we
did in UN Resolution 1483 to help the people of Iraq. And I think
there has been considerable progress over the last two weeks in
healing the fissures of the past, closing those fissures.
We've had no better friend in recent months than Italy, as Italy has
stood side by side with the United States in Afghanistan, at the UN in
helping us make the case to our colleagues at the UN. I cannot tell
you how much it has meant to President Bush, to me and to all
Americans to have President [correction: Prime Minister] Berlusconi's
strong support, and the strong support of the Italian government and
people for what needed to be done to bring a dictator to justice, to
deal with a regime that had totally ignored all UN resolutions for
many years, in keeping and developing weapons of mass destruction.
That dictator is now gone as a result of the coalition of the willing,
and now the challenge before us is to help the Iraqi people, and we
know that Italy will play an important and powerful role in that
effort.
We spent time talking about the European Presidency that Italy will
assume in July. I look forward to working with Minister Frattini on an
almost daily basis as we push forward our agenda, whether it's on the
subject of counter-terrorism or counter-proliferation efforts, or
whether it has to do with the Middle East peace process.
As you know, the European Union Presidency is part of the Quartet that
works on Middle East issues, and I look forward to working more
closely with Franco as we take advantage of this window of opportunity
that is before us, as a result of the new Prime Minister in the
Palestinian Authority, and as a result of the meetings that are going
to be held over the next 48 hours between President Bush and Arab
leaders tomorrow in Sharm el-Sheikh, and on the following day with
Prime Minister Abbas and Prime Minister Sharon in Aqaba.
So this is a time of challenge. It's also a time of great opportunity
- an opportunity to move forward in finding a peaceful solution to the
crisis in the Middle East; an opportunity to heal any divisions that
might remain or might still be of trouble to people with respect to
the recent disagreements we had over Iraq; a time for the
international community to come together and speak strongly about the
need to end terror, the need to deal with proliferation.
And so in times of challenge, there are also opportunities,
opportunities to move the international agenda forward toward peace
and security and stability. And in that effort, the United States
looks forward to working with one of its closest and best friends in
the international community, Italy. And I look forward to working with
Minister Frattini in this regard. Thank you.
QUESTION: Matthew Lee, from AFP. Mr. Secretary, on the Middle East, in
the meetings coming up, there seem to be some conflicting statements
coming out from the Israelis and Palestinians about what may emerge
from the Aqaba summit in terms of a joint statement. Can you give us
an update on how Assistant Secretary Burns and Mr. Abrams are doing
over there in the process of getting a statement together and if you
are still hopeful that you will be able to achieve one?
SECRETARY POWELL: I talked to Assistant Secretary Burns last night. He
is in the region talking to all the parties and we expect that
positive statements will be forthcoming but, you know, statement
writing always goes down to the last minute, as people try to present
one position or another. But the report that he gave to me last night
was an encouraging one, and we will see what finally happens really
after the President has had a chance to speak to the Arab leaders in
Sharm el-Sheikh and then, to speak to Prime Minister Sharon and Prime
Minister Abbas in Aqaba. So I'm still optimistic, and Assistant
Secretary Burns who, as you say, is accompanied by National Security
Senior Director Elliot Abrams, they're hard at work, and they are
encouraged by what they have been able to achieve so far.
QUESTION: Arshad Mohammed of Reuters. Mr. Secretary, do you regard
Prime Minister Sharon's use of the term "occupation" last week as
perhaps an effort to prepare the Israeli public for concessions that
the Israeli government might make in the peace process? And secondly,
there are some reports out of Jerusalem suggesting that the Israeli
government plans to announce after the Aqaba summit that it's willing
to dismantle some settlement outposts. Have they given you any reason
to believe that they will, in fact, do that?
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to what Mr. Sharon intended by the use
of the word occupation, I will let Mr. Sharon interpret his remarks. I
have to take note of the fact, though, that this is the first time we
have heard him refer to an occupation of some kind, whether it's just
the presence of Israeli forces in Palestinian cities, or whether it's
the occupation of territory, and I will let the Prime Minister
interpret his own remarks. But I think it shows that he recognizes
that whichever interpretation you put on it, the occupation of
particular cities or territory, it's a situation that is unsustainable
over time. It's a situation that we all should be working on to
resolve, to fix, and in that regard, I think what he said was a
positive statement, and we will be spending more time with the Prime
Minister discussing what he said and what he plans to do. With respect
to the outposts, I think it's well understood that the outposts are
not there properly and will have to be removed, and I'm sure that will
also be an item of discussion in Aqaba.
QUESTION: (as translated from Italian) The United States government
justified the war in Iraq with a need to prevent the use of chemical
and biological weapons of destruction, of which so far there is no
proof. Did the U.S. government have the wrong information or have they
simply not been found yet?
SECRETARY POWELL: There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It
wasn't a figment of anyone's imagination. Iraq used these weapons
against Iran in the late '80s. Iraq used such weapons against its own
people in the late '80s. When the Gulf War was over in 1991, we found
such weapons and destroyed some of them. Inspectors were in Iraq for
years and were forced to leave Iraq in 1998 without getting the
answers that were needed with respect to what weapons remained, where
they were and what programs were still underway.
So there is no question, there is no debate here. Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction and they tossed out, caused the inspectors to have to
leave, therefore, tossed out the inspectors in 1998. And for the years
that followed, until the fall of 2002, Iraq simply ignored the demands
of the international community to allow the inspectors back in and
resolve this issue. In the fall of 2002, in the UN Resolution 1441,
every member of the Security Council, all fifteen, unanimously agreed
to a resolution that started out with the proposition that Iraq was in
material breach of its obligations, that Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction. There is no doubt in my mind as I went through the
intelligence, and as I prepared myself for the briefing that I gave to
the Security Council on the 5th of February, that the evidence was
overwhelming, that they had continued to develop these programs.
Iraq convicted itself when Iraq would not provide answers demanded by
the international community. Iraq further placed itself in material
breach when it did not cooperate fully with the inspectors in a way
that the inspectors could do their job. And under the terms of 1441,
it was perfectly appropriate, it was the right thing to do, for a
coalition of the willing, even if the entire UN Security Council did
not wish to join in the effort, but for a coalition of the willing to
take the bold political step to decide that this regime had to be
changed because it refused to comply with the will of the
international community.
We are sending in the most extensive regime, we are putting in place
the most extensive regime imaginable, to look at all of the sites, to
exploit all of the documents that have come into our possession since
the war, and to interview people who are now available, who were not
made for interview by the Iraqis previously.
We have already discovered mobile biological factories of the kind
that I described to the Security Council on the 5th of February. We
have now found them. There is no question in our mind that that's what
their purpose was. Nobody has come up with an alternate purpose that
makes sense.
And so I think the case is clear, the case is made, the case has been
made by the international coalition, it was previously made by the
inspectors, and Iraq has previously admitted to having these weapons
of mass destruction and refused to tell the international community
their current status, thus leading to Resolution 1441 and subsequently
leading to Operation Iraqi Freedom. And now, the Iraqi people are
free, they're liberated, they're no longer living under a regime that
would lie to the international community or deny its activities to the
international community. And what we have to do now is not get trapped
in the longwinded debates about what was known and not known, and
these kinds of recriminations, but move on and help the Iraqi people
build a stable society, a democratic nation where all the people are
represented in government. And what we don't have to worry about is
any future regime in Iraq, any future government in Iraq developing
weapons of mass destruction or terrorizing its own people or
supporting terrorism against other people in the region.
QUESTION: (as translated from Italian) I would like to ask Minister
Frattini if Secretary of State Powell entrusted you personally or
President Berlusconi with a message for your upcoming trips to the
Middle East?
FOREIGN MINISTER FRATTINI: Evidently, we exchanged our points of view,
and once again I think we are in complete agreement over the
importance of giving moderate Arab countries a sign of solidarity and
friendship, and to give to other countries like Syria a strong message
in order to encourage and stimulate them to be more positively
involved in the efforts of the international community, and therefore
to deny any support to extremist factions, to become part of a
stronger dialogue so that the entire region will be part of a
comprehensive and stable peace plan.
Secretary Powell, once again, completely agreed with these ideas, and
so the meetings that I will have will be in agreement with what the
United States is doing, and with what we Europeans, and in particular
Italy, intend to do.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)