22 January 2003
Rumsfeld Says to Avoid War, Saddam Should Comply or Leave
(Defense Department Report) (640) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the way for Saddam Hussein to avoid war is either to comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 or to leave power. At a Washington Foreign Press Center briefing January 22, Rumsfeld, who was accompanied by General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked by a Middle Eastern journalist what Iraq must do to avoid war. "Number One," Rumsfeld replied, "the Iraqi regime could read the resolution of the United Nations, which ... was passed unanimously, and comply with it. It has a variety of requirements. One requirement was to file a full and complete declaration of their WMD [weapons of mass destruction] holdings. They have not done so. "Another is to supply a list of scientists that can be taken outside the country with their families and questioned as to the location and extent of the Iraqi WMD program. Another is to allow full and free access anywhere and anytime. They're not doing that. So I would say that that would be the first thing they could do," he said. "The second thing they could do to avoid war would be for Saddam Hussein to leave," Rumsfeld added. Rumsfeld began his remarks by stating that -- beginning with that day's briefing -- the Pentagon would broadcast a weekly press briefing into Iraq through the Commando Solo airborne system. He said it was being done because the truth matters, "and it's important, we believe, that the Iraqi people know the truth and hear the truth." Rumsfeld repeated a theme he has been using during his briefings that war is not inevitable, saying that the president has not made such a decision. He also said that since the president's speech to the U.N. General Assembly in September, "it's very clear that (Iraq's) behavior has been altered substantially. ... They have not started cooperating, but they have at least allowed some inspectors in." Asked how many U.S. casualties could be expected if war occurs, Rumsfeld answered, in part, "The president today, I believe, indicated to ... the Iraqi military, that ... any orders they receive with regard to the use of weapons of mass destruction they should disobey. And in the event force has to be used, any person who is in any way connected with the use of weapons of mass destruction would be treated and tried as a war criminal." Trying to emphasize the seriousness of the WMD threat, Rumsfeld said, "Let me just say something that I feel very deeply. It's the year 2003. Here we are, we're all sitting here and we're safe and sound. And there isn't anybody, when they walk out of this place, who is afraid they're going to get shot, or blown up, or face a biological attack, or a chemical attack or a nuclear attack. "What's taking place in the world today ... -- with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, biological weapons, nuclear weapons -- is so pervasive that as you look out over the horizon ... -- five years? 10 years? -- there are going to be three, four, five more nuclear powers, and they're not going to be countries like the United Kingdom or France or the United States; they're going to be countries like North Korea; they're going to be terrorist states; and they're going to be states that have relationships with terrorist organizations. ... [T]ransporting and developing biological [weapons] that can kill hundreds of thousands of human beings is easy; it does not take a genius to do that. They're easy to make, they're easy to transport and they're easy to deliver. ... "Now, that is not a problem for the United States only," Rumsfeld concluded. "It's a problem for the whole world." (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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