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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Washington File

10 April 2003

U.S. Hopes for Active European Role in Iraq, Powell Says

(Secretary of State interviewed by NOS Dutch Television) (1580)
The United States hopes all of Europe will participate in the
reconstruction, rebuilding and stability efforts in Iraq, Secretary of
State Colin Powell said April 10 in an interview with NOS Dutch
Television.
Citing the need for peacekeeping forces, humanitarian aid, and the
reconstruction of hospitals and schools, Powell said: "There will be a
great deal to do, and I hope that Europe will play an active role."
While acknowledging the strong differences of opinion in the debate
preceding the war in Iraq, Powell urged Europeans to "look to the
future."
"Now is the time for all of us to think what is best for the Iraqi
people and how can we, as an international community, but especially
every member of the European community, what can we do to help the
Iraqi people," he said.
Powell also thanked the government and people of the Netherlands for
their support in Afghanistan as well as in the coalition. "The Dutch
forces are playing an incredible role," he said. "They're playing a
leadership role in Afghanistan. And I think there will be a role for
them to play here [in Iraq] as well, to whatever extent the Dutch
people wish to play."
Following is the State Department transcript of the interview:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
April 10, 2003
Interview
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on NOS Dutch Television
April 10, 2003
QUESTION: First of all, thank you very much for having us, Mr.
Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL:  My pleasure.
QUESTION:  We really appreciate it.
SECRETARY POWELL:  Thank you.
QUESTION: Where were you when Saddam Hussein came tumbling down
yesterday?
SECRETARY POWELL: I was in the White House. I left my office in the
State Department and went over to the White House to see the President
when we saw that remarkable scene when they started to put ropes
around the statue. And I was with the President when finally it came
over, and the President and I came out and looked at it. It was a
rather remarkable moment.
QUESTION:  Can you describe it for us?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we were in the reception room outside of the
President's office watching on the television screen. We had four
stations so we saw it four times, and I said, "Quick, switch to one,
it's all the same scene." And then they brought it up just about the
time it was ready to topple over, and it was a remarkable moment. It
reminded us of some of the moments we saw in Eastern Europe 10, 12, 13
years ago.
But we also knew that this was not yet the end. We were proud of our
young men and women for the job that they had done. We were pleased to
see the Iraqi people greeting them. We were pleased to see the
celebrations that were taking place, now that they realized they had
been liberated. And we also realized that there was more fighting to
be done, there are more cities that have to be secured, and the real
task of rebuilding now begins. And it's not rebuilding from this
three-week war, or however long the war lasts; it's rebuilding from
over two decades of destructive behavior on the part of this dictator.
The man was a dictator. He terrorized his people. He murdered people.
He killed people. He developed weapons of mass destruction. He invaded
his neighbors. And now that is all over, gone.
QUESTION:  So it's not a time for cheers and high-fives right now?
SECRETARY POWELL: No. Later that same day, we had Americans killed and
wounded in battle. So there is still more work to be done.
What was interesting, what struck me about the scene yesterday, is
that the two soldiers who came along with the tracked vehicle with the
crane on it, they weren't surrounded by a lot of other soldiers
guarding them. The Iraqi people were protecting them. The Iraqi people
were working with them, were climbing on that tracked vehicle to help
them with the job of pulling over the statue. And they felt perfectly
safe in that crowd.
QUESTION:  What did you make of --
SECRETARY POWELL: It was -- they were waiting. They were waiting to be
liberated from this dictator. Now, does that mean that there are no
problems anywhere in the country and that everybody will, you know, be
cheering? No. But it certainly is an indication that there was a
degree of repression in that country that perhaps wasn't well enough
understood outside of Iraq and in some countries that have been very
critical of our actions.
But I think those who have been supportive of our actions understood
that not only was it a case of weapons of mass destruction, but we
were dealing with a regime that can only be described as a terrorist
regime led by one of the most ruthless men we have seen on the world
stage in years.
QUESTION: Can you describe for us what kind of role you see for
European countries in the post-Saddam era? Are we getting close to
that? I mean, there is some time pressure here, to say the least.
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, as you know, a number of European countries
are already involved in coalition efforts -- Spain, the United Kingdom
of course, a number of countries are now providing humanitarian
support. A number of countries have stepped forward. Fifty-eight
countries in the last -- my last total as of last night, 58 countries
have stepped forward to say they want to participate in some way in
the reconstruction, rebuilding, stability efforts.
We're going to need armed forces to do some peacekeeping for a while.
We don't know how many yet or where they will be located. We're going
to need a lot of humanitarian aid and we're going to need
reconstruction of hospitals and schools. There will be a great deal to
do, and I hope that Europe will play an active role. I've been in
touch with my European Union colleagues. I've been in touch with my
NATO colleagues. They all understand the nature of the role that has
to be performed by all of us.
We had a very significant debate about this issue all through the fall
and into the winter -- strong differences of opinion, especially
within Europe, as we all know. We don't underestimate those
differences. But now is the time not to fight about the past, but to
look to the future. Now is the time for all of us to think what is
best for the Iraqi people and how can we, as an international
community, but especially every member of the European community, what
can we do to help the Iraqi people.
QUESTION: Are you going to solicit support from Europeans, like the
Netherlands? I mean, the Netherlands, after all, is also a member of
the coalition.
SECRETARY POWELL:  Yes.
QUESTION: Can they put in applications, we can do this or we can do
that for -- I mean, commercially?
SECRETARY POWELL:  Yes.
QUESTION: I think about, for example, the Dutch role in Afghanistan
right now, being a member of ISAF, the security forces there.
SECRETARY POWELL: The Dutch forces are playing an incredible role.
When you consider the size of the Dutch forces there, they're in
Afghanistan and doing a terrific job. They're playing a leadership
role in Afghanistan. And I think there will be a role for them to play
here as well, to whatever extent the Dutch people wish to play.
And I cannot tell you how pleased we are at the support we have
received from the government and from the people of the Netherlands.
And we know it's controversial. We know not everybody is supportive.
And we have sent requests throughout the world, to our ambassadors
throughout the world, to contact the governments in the countries
they're accredited to and see what role they would like to play and
what support they would provide, and let them --
QUESTION:  Any special requests for the Netherlands?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know. Anything the Netherlands wishes to
offer would be welcome and I am sure will be useful. And as we go
forward, there will be commercial needs as well. There will be a great
deal of money that will have to be spent on the rebuilding process,
and we hope that Netherlands firms will see fit to participate in
competing for those contracts, not just from U.S. sources.
But this is an interesting situation in that the Iraqi people have a
source of revenue, oil, unlike some of the other countries that we've
had to work with. And so that oil wealth will now be used not for
weapons of mass destruction or threatening neighbors or terrorizing
its citizens, but to rebuild the country and make Iraq, once again, a
thriving member of the international community. It once had a GDP
equal to Portugal.
But we need all of us to participate. Let's not fight the arguments of
the past. Let's look to the opportunities of the future. That's what
the Dutch Government has been doing all along, and I know the Dutch
Government will be playing an important role as we move forward.
QUESTION: Terrific. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. We really
appreciate it.
SECRETARY POWELL:  Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)



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