13 January 2003
White House Report, Jan. 13: BUSH HAS PUT NO "TIMETABLE" ON U.N. INSPECTIONS IN IRAQ
(Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed) (830) BUSH HAS PUT NO "TIMETABLE" ON U.N. INSPECTIONS IN IRAQ President Bush "has not put a timetable" on how long the United Nations weapons inspections in Iraq should continue, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters January 13, following news reports that the inspectors said their work could take as long as a year. "The President has not put any type of artificial timetable on how long he believes is necessary for Saddam Hussein to prove to the world that he's going to comply," with United Nations Security Council demands that Iraq disarms itself of any weapons of mass destruction, Fleischer said. Bush "has made it very clear that the role of the inspectors is a very important part of this process. The inspectors need to be in Iraq to do the job that the world has asked them to do. And they're in the middle of their work," said Fleischer. The inspection process, he pointed out, "included a series of dates that the inspectors would report back" to the U.N. Security Council. "We're not even through those dates yet. An important one is coming up January 27th. So, I think, frankly, other than it's a slow news day, nothing really has changed about the timing in Iraq," Fleischer said. When asked if the U.S. military troops being sent to the Gulf could be waiting there as long as a year, Fleischer responded that "the President has not put a timetable on it. And if the President hasn't put a timetable on it, I certainly won't." (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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