09 February 2003
Powell: Issue is Iraqi Compliance, Not More Inspectors
(Says UN must now meet responsibilities in Resolution 1441) (1,170) By Howard Cincotta Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- Secretary of State Colin Powell said on February 9 that the issue before the international community is not one of more inspectors, but Iraqi compliance with the demand that it declare and eliminate all its weapons of mass destruction, as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 1441. On North Korea, Powell stressed that the United States remains committed to a multilateral approach that engages all of the nations in the region directly affected by Pyongyang's nuclear activity. Appearing on a series of Sunday television news shows, Secretary Powell pointed out that if Saddam Hussein met his obligations to cooperate fully, the job of disarmament could be done with half the number of current inspectors. "But if he is not complying," Powell said on NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert, "tripling the numbers of inspectors does not deal with the issue." On ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Powell asked: "What happened to the mustard gas, what happened to the anthrax, what happened to the botulinum toxin? Where did all the missiles go, where did all this material go, where are the documents?" The answer, Powell contended, is that "this regime has not given up its commitment to developing weapons of mass destruction to threaten its neighbors and to threaten the world." National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, appearing on CBS's Face the Nation, responded to reports of recent Iraqi concessions this way: "We have seen this game with Iraq many times before throughout the '90s -- cheat and retreat. When there is enough pressure, the Iraqis try to give just a little bit in order to release the pressure." Secretary Powell refused to speculate on a timetable for any final decisions regarding military action, pointing out that the Security Council was awaiting reports from chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on February 14. "At that point the Council is going to have to start to come together and make a judgment as to what next steps should be," Powell said on Fox News Sunday with Tony Snow. "And I do not think next steps should be 'let us send in more inspectors to be stiffed by the Iraqis.'" Powell reiterated that it is imperative for the United Nations to face up to its responsibilities and ensure that Iraq is disarmed as set forth in Security Council resolutions stretching back for more than a decade. "We have been trying for 12 years to deal with it peacefully," Powell said on ABC's This Week. "This very day, we are trying to deal with it peacefully. The President is hopeful for a peaceful solution, even at this late date. But it is a problem that must be dealt with. And if the UN finds itself not capable of dealing with it, then with a lot of nations joining in, we will deal with it." If the UN does not act, Powell warned, "then it would be necessary for the United States to act with a willing coalition. And there are many nations that have stepped forward. You saw the statement from a group of eight European nations and another statement a few days later from another group of 10 European nations. "This is not the time for the United Nations to step back from the clear statement it made in UN Resolution 1441." Several interviewers pointed out that the Iraqis had taken reporters to sites that Powell, using satellite imagery, had alleged were chemical weapons facilities in his February 5 presentation to the UN Security Council. "We are not just relying on one overhead picture to make the claim that this is a place where poisons were being developed," Powell replied on ABC's This Week. "This is a multi-sourced piece of evidence, and we can trace things that have come out of that facility and have moved through Europe and Central Asia back into Western Europe to support terrorists in the production of poisons." Powell told Tim Russert of NBC's Meet the Press that the United States anticipated the Iraqi reaction to much of the evidence that he presented to the Security Council. "I could have told you as that slide was going up that the very next day there would be activity at that site for reporters to go see," Powell said. "It is not just what we saw on that particular day; it is a pattern of activity we look at over an extended period of time." Iraq is in greater material breach of its obligations under Resolution 1441 with each passing day, Powell said. "I hope that the UN will do its duty," he said on Fox News Sunday. "I hope that the UN will not slip into irrelevance by failing to step up to its responsibilities at this moment in history." Secretary Powell said that the United States remained committed to a peaceful, diplomatic, multilateral solution to the nuclear challenge posed by North Korea. Powell observed on NBC's Meet the Press that he found it odd that the United States would be criticized for taking a careful, regional approach to North Korea's violations of its nuclear agreements. "We are criticized when we are unilateral," he said, "and then when we try to be multilateral we are criticized. So I think there is still an opportunity to solve this problem diplomatically even while we are worried about this nuclear effort." On Fox News Sunday, Powell said, "What North Korea is doing is of concern not only to the United States, but to South Korea, to Japan, to China, to Russia, to the IAEA -- 35 nations that came together and condemned North Korea's actions. We should not let North Korea dictate the terms under which these conversations take place. I think there will ultimately be conversations, but I think other nations have a role to play." China's role is particularly important, Powell said on Fox News Sunday. "China has said that it is their policy that the Korean Peninsula be denuclearized. Well, therefore, China should play an active role in making sure that that is the case." National Security Advisor Rice stressed that, despite the focus on Iraq, President Bush remains strongly committed to Middle East peace. In his statements, she said on CBS's Face the Nation, the President has "clearly laid out a vision of two states living side-by-side, a democratic Palestine and a democratic Israel that could live together." Rice added: "We have pressed forward throughout this entire period of time. We've worked hard to get the Israelis to understand the humanitarian conditions in which the Palestinian people find themselves. As the President said, no person should have to deal with the humiliations that the Palestinians deal with every day." (The Washington File is produced by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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