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Daily Press Briefing
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 24, 2003

INDEX:

(...)

QUESTION: I guess you could say we will wait and see, but reports are coming out of Vienna that the when the inspectors come in they are going to say fairly decent things about Iraq's cooperation.

The spokesman for the IAEA says they're going to give them a B. I guess that's better than a Gentleman's C. But I wondered if you wanted to pounce on that or?

MR. BOUCHER: I am not going to pounce on that. We will wait and see. We have told you all along what we are going to and we are doing it. We are going to wait for the inspectors' report. We are going to examine the facts as they present them as well as things that we know and past patterns of Iraqi behavior.

We will then, in consultation with other members of the Security Council and members of the international community, discuss what the next step should be. What the inspectors report on Monday we will know soon enough.

(...)

QUESTION: Not a big question, but by any chance will the Secretary get an advance report from the inspectors or will the -- or Ambassador Negroponte or somebody, or will you all learn about their report together on Monday, do you think?

MR. BOUCHER: I think it is neither one nor the other. We do not expect, necessarily, to get an advance report of the inspectors. I think, on the other hand, the inspectors do talk over their thoughts, conclusions, observations with a variety of members of the Council, including us.

So as I think I have said before, we have a fair idea for how things are going. Frankly, they have been pretty public. Dr. Blix, yesterday, was talking about mixed results. You see in the papers today they are talking about the Iraqi refusal to let them see scientists -- a number of things like that that they have cited which we assume will be in their report if that is the way they see things.

QUESTION: Richard, there's a report today actually coming from the IAEA that Mr. El Baradei is scheduled to give a favorable report about --

MR. BOUCHER: That was the first question ten minutes ago and I will stick to the answer I gave back then.

QUESTION: Oh, I'm sorry.

MR. BOUCHER: My thoughts have not changed since then.

Okay?

QUESTION: (Inaudible) what is the US administration's reaction to the declaration of Istanbul's comment on Iraq yesterday?

MR. BOUCHER: We welcome the call by the participants at this meeting in strong and unequivocal terms for Baghdad to comply fully with the UN Security Council Resolution 1441 and for Baghdad to disarm immediately. I think the declaration shows that Turkey and the other countries of the region recognize the real threat the Iraq poses to them and to the world.

We, too, would like to see a peaceful solution. We would like to see Iraqi compliance. Saddam Hussein must disarm in compliance with UN resolutions, but if he is not willing to do so, we and other nations will disarm him by force.

Okay?

QUESTION: Richard, there was a published report this morning that Secretary Powell and Foreign Secretary Straw yesterday discussed giving the inspectors more time to work in exchange for assurances from other allies that inspections won't drag on indefinitely. Is there any truth to that?

MR. BOUCHER: There is no proposal like that that was discussed or that is being, you know, deliberated on or seriously considered at this point. We -- I began the briefing by saying we are actually doing what we told you we would do and that is assess the information, look at the inspectors' report and then we we would be consulting more fully with members of the Council and other friends and allies about what the next step should be. There is no proposal that is been put to us like that at this point.

QUESTION: An unrelated question. There are rumors, quite possibly spurious, that the United States may have found Iraqi weapons of mass destruction being hidden in Syria. This is the story that, I think, rose up about a month or so ago and then got denied very quickly but by the Syrians. Can you knock that down? Do you have any comment on that at all?

MR. BOUCHER: I have not had a chance to look into it myself, so no, I do not know. I remember those stories sort of coming up and falling away. I did not realize they were back.

Charlie?

QUESTION: Richard, can I just back up one second to the report you've knocked down? You said no proposal has been put to us like that, meaning an extension for a couple of weeks. Is that a possible talking point or not even there yet?

MR. BOUCHER: I am not going to speculate on what the members of the Council may come up with or decide in terms of our discussions. Where we are at this point is that we are looking forward to hearing from the inspectors on Monday. We are looking forward to conversations and consultations with other members of the Council. The Secretary will certainly talk to his foreign minister counterparts -- he mentioned that the heads of government, he assumes, will also want to discuss the situation at that point. We will discuss at that point what the appropriate next steps are. The issue is whether or not Iraq is complying. While we all have seen the patterns emerge, the report of the inspectors is the key -- the key element in that regard.

QUESTION: In your initial answer to the question, you said, " there is no proposal like that that was discussed or is seriously being considered at this point." Is it both? Or is it -- it was not discussed at all? Is that what you're saying? Or is it just not being seriously considered? Was it discussed and thrown out as a -- not a serious idea? I'm sorry, I'm just want a -- you know, you guys go very carefully and --

MR. BOUCHER: If you stop for a moment, I will answer, too. I believe I have said that it is not being deliberated or seriously considered. I think that was the wording that was used, but anyway, the -- no, there is no proposal like that on the table. It has not been on the table and off the table. There is just not a proposal like that at this point that we are engaged on.

I suppose there are ideas flying out there. Have we released the transcript of the interview the Secretary did yesterday? Oh, tomorrow morning. But, a question like this came up from a reporter in one of the Secretary's interviews yesterday in a transcript that we will put out tomorrow.

QUESTION: Senator Lugar came out of the briefing yesterday and said the inspections will continue. This is a briefing given by Secretary Powell and Secretary Rumsfeld. I wonder, I suppose we could try to ask him, which I am trying to do, but how would he get that idea if the administration is not willing to continue inspections?

MR. BOUCHER: This was a closed briefing for members of the Senate.

QUESTION: True. But this is (inaudible). I'm not asking about classified --

MR. BOUCHER: I do not know if he is making a prediction. From the way you sounded, it did not sound like he was quoting anybody but himself and you can ask him.

Paul?

QUESTION: Again, and I know you're not able to say what is going to come up Monday, but can you at least say whether what you are going to get on Monday will be helpful to your effort to win over skeptics or harmful to it? Or do you have a any way of guessing that?

MR. BOUCHER: We have always said all along that the report the inspectors will provide on Monday is an important part of the picture. And that is what made this important. It is the first formal report.

The inspectors have been, I think, fairly public in their statements, their conclusions. They have made public presentations and presentations to the Council, as well. We know what we see emerging, which is the patterns of deceit and deception that Iraq has followed in the past. We will look in the report, we will have a lot of questions about what Iraq is doing. When -- let me cite a couple of examples. I probably cannot find them.

I mean, when you look at this report, you know, you have to remember that Iraq has been under certain Security Council requirements from, well, 12 years, but also from the passage of 1441. Are they fulfilling those requirements?

Dr. Blix, Dr. El Baradei went to Baghdad, put it to them, asked for active cooperation, came out with some promises, but it is clear that the obligations under 1441 as well as Baghdad's promises are not being met and that Iraq continues to defy the obligations and its own acceptance of those obligations.

Why have there not been any interviews with Iraqi scientists without the presence of minders? Why are the aerial reconnaissance vehicles not flown? Why are documents being kept in private homes? Where are the mustard gas shells, the chemical munitions, these kinds of things? Why has Iraq tested missiles whose range is beyond that allowed? Many, many things that have not been accounted for, many of these questions have been put by the inspectors to the Iraqis, and we'll see if the Iraqis have given them the answers.

Joel?

QUESTION: There are reports from Iraq this morning that say that the demands of the UN and of the United States to interview these scientists can't be met. Now, I don't know whether that's just speculation or fact, but you would think they'd warm to the fact that the recent going -- or all this buildup in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and Turkey would be to go -- to disarm the Iraqi Government.

MR. BOUCHER: You would think that the Iraqis would be smarter than their behavior indicates, but unfortunately, we have not seen an understanding on the part of the regime that these are real requirements and that this is very serious business.

(...)

QUESTION: Could you give us a sense to how important do you think that the Secretary's speech in Davos on Sunday? Does he mention not only on Iraq, but North Korea?

MR. BOUCHER: He will talk about a number of issues that are important in the world. I would expect him to talk about North Korea as well as Iraq. It is very, very important.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Betsy?

QUESTION: Has the Secretary had any phone calls yesterday or yesterday afternoon or today with any of our allies in Europe that are not convinced of the, you know, of the need to take care of Iraq one way or the other?

MR. BOUCHER: I do not think I would describe any of our allies in Europe as not convinced of the need to -- for Iraq to disarm. The question is how we accomplish that goal and what the next step is now.

The Secretary has talked on the phone with Foreign Minister Papandreou of Greece. Not -- subjects like this -- this kind of discussion was not part of it. The goal is to listen to the inspectors, talk to our friends and allies and decide on next steps. And that's what we've said were going to do and that's what we are going to do.

The idea that people are not convinced of the need for military action, well the President has not decided yet that we need military action. Are people going to listen to the inspectors? Are they going to base their judgments on the facts? We certainly hope so. But we are following that course that we have laid out before.

QUESTION: Are you -- are you really concerned that they are not endorsing your path of action that you seem to be pushing for?

MR. BOUCHER: We have not decided. The President has not decided that we must move to military action. We have made quite clear that if Iraq does not disarm peacefully that military action will be required.

We have made quite clear that Iraq is failing to disarm peacefully. But at this point, what exactly the next step should be after we hear from the inspectors is something we will listen to the inspectors, talk to the allies and then decide.

QUESTION: Along those lines, Richard, I presume you've seen what your ambassador in Germany told German television about Secretary Rumsfeld's remarks about Old Europe the other day?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: Oh. Well, that's too bad.

MR. BOUCHER: It is.

QUESTION: He basically said he wasn't a diplomat and it was a mistake and that he thinks that it will be corrected. I'm wondering if you share that opinion?

MR. BOUCHER: I think I was asked yesterday a number of times, you know, how many times we have apologized, we have sent instructions out, et cetera, and the answer is no. That is the answer I gave yesterday. I checked again with people and we are not getting demarched. We've -- obviously there's a lot of public commentary. That is fine. As the Secretary pointed out yesterday, as I pointed out yesterday, the European nations that we are talking about are among some of our oldest allies, among our best friends, our best allies that we work with in every way every day. That's the facts and that's the way things are.

QUESTION: There's a wire story that says that Richard Haass at Davos said that the US has not -- agreed that the US has not been able to convince our allies that a military road is the way to resolve this.

MR. BOUCHER: The wire story that I saw about what Richard Haass says was what I was, I think, quoting when I answered your question, which was very similar.

He said the President has not decided, that we are going to look at the inspectors' report, talk to our friends and allies and then decide on the next steps; that we had not convinced people of the need for military action, in part, because we have not decided, but that as we proceeded down this path, we would look at all the information. I think I can say we would obviously make more information available as we came to conclusions.

Okay, Matt?

QUESTION: Change of subject?

MR. BOUCHER: Please.

QUESTION: One more on Iraq?

MR. BOUCHER: One more on more Iraq? Sir, go ahead.

QUESTION: Well, it's on Iraq and Djibouti. We're just wondering how much that that was the subject of the -- Iraq was the subject of a conversation that the Secretary had with the President of Djibouti.

MR. BOUCHER: It was not the specific subject of the conversation. The conversation was more, I guess I would say, about the relations between the United States and Djibouti, as well as regional issues. The Secretary met with President Guelleh of Djibouti today at 11:00. They talked about cooperation of the war on terrorism, international and regional issues, economic development and a few other issues, including Iraq, I think, came up.

We have excellent relations now with Djibouti. We are close partners in the fight against terrorism. We work together to promote regional peace and security, share common interests in advancing economic development growth in the Horn of Africa.

They also specifically discussed situations in Somalia and Sudan and looked at the efforts that are being made in those two situations to try to resolve things peacefully. The President of Djibouti thanked us for our involvement and engagement in the efforts to resolve the situation of Sudan and talked about his view of the situation now in Somalia.

QUESTION: Djibouti had an Article 98?

MR. BOUCHER: That is right. At the conclusion of the meeting, Djibouti and the United States signed an Article 98 Agreement.

QUESTION: Which brings it to how many now? Twenty?

MR. BOUCHER: Eighteen.

(...)
[End]