17 January 2003
Cache of Iraqi Warheads "Serious and Troubling," White House Says
(Warheads not on declared list that Iraq gave U.N. in December) (880) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- The White House finds "serious and troubling" the discovery by U.N. weapons inspectors of 11 empty chemical warheads in Iraq, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters January 17. United Nations inspectors found the empty warheads January 16 during an inspection of a large group of bunkers constructed in the late 1990's at the Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area some 140 kilometers southwest of Baghdad. A twelfth warhead is being evaluated. "The fact that Iraq is in possession of undeclared chemical warheads, which the United Nations says are in excellent condition, is in (and) of itself a serious and troubling matter," said Fleischer. The warheads were not on the declared list that Iraq provided to the world in December indicating what weapons it said it possessed, the press secretary said. The United States government, he explained, has gone through the 12,000-page Iraqi declaration "very, very carefully to see whether or not the existence of these 12 warheads at this bunker was in the declaration. It was not," he said. Saddam Hussein, he added, needs to disarm Iraq immediately. "He promised he would do so in the declaration. And as yesterday's discovery shows, what he filed in the declaration is not met by the facts on the ground." Asked if the discovery constitutes a smoking gun, Fleischer responded "it's troubling and it's serious ... exactly as I've characterized it. "The president is continuing to work with our allies, consulting with our allies. The inspectors' efforts remain under way. More information about this very discovery needs to be carried out -- needs to be obtained," he said. "There's no question," he added, that Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein has not cooperated with the inspectors. He cited two statements made regarding this by United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix: -- 'We feel Iraq must do more than they have done so far in order to make this a credible avenue.' -- 'The message we want to bring to Baghdad is the situation is very tense and very dangerous, and everybody wants to see a verified and credible disarmament of Iraq.' State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said at his January 17 briefing that "Iraq is failing to cooperate, Iraq is failing to come clean. That's the case now, it's been the case for many years. It was the case when the Security Council found in its November 8th resolution that Iraq was in material breach. It's the case when we saw Iraq's declaration. It's a case made even more clear by the example yesterday of chemical shells that had not been declared, which the U.N. inspectors say were not declared." Boucher said that following the January 27 report by the inspectors to the U.N. Security Council, he "would not put any time frame on what happens" next. "At that point, the members of the council will have to decide what they consider to be the next steps," he said. "We've always felt it's important for the Security Council, the international community as a whole to deal with these issues, but we've always said that if, for one reason or another, that kind of collective action at the U.N. is not possible, we and others who feel that the dangers of Iraq weapons of mass destruction are remaining reserve the right to take action together, if that proves necessary." Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which is investigating Iraq's nuclear weapons activities, are scheduled to hold talks in Baghdad with Iraqi officials January 19 and 20. Fleischer was asked if President Bush agrees with a comment made earlier in the week by Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair in which Blair said he would not allow the United Nations to act as a veto to any war, if a war should come. The White House spokesman said "the president has made very plain, and he said this in private conversations with many of our allies, that we will continue to consult. And that is precisely what we will do. We will continue to consult. "And the president appreciated very much the United Nations Security Council action in November that put the inspectors back in there. "And I'm not prepared to make any guesses on speculations about what other actions may or may not be taken beyond that." Fleischer said that "the inspectors are doing their job; they are carrying out their mission, and we will of course continue to support them in that mission. I think the real issue here is what is Saddam Hussein doing? What is Saddam Hussein hiding? And what else has Saddam Hussein failed to list in his declaration?" Asked whether President Bush is troubled by anti-war protests planned across the United States over the weekend, Fleischer responded that "the president welcomes the fact that we are a democracy and people in the United States, unlike Iraq, are free to protest and to make their case known. And that's a time- honored part of American tradition, and the president fully understands it. It's a strength of our democracy." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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