ACCESSION NUMBER:00000

FILE ID:97103003.NNE

DATE:10/30/97

TITLE:30-10-97  U.S. WANTS IRAQ TO REVERSE DECISION 'UNCONDITIONALLY, IMMEDIATELY'



TEXT:

(Riedel outlines U.S. position at Foreign Press Center) (600)

By George S. Hishmeh

USIA Staff Writer



Washington -- A senior White House aide said October 30 that the

United States wants Iraq to "unconditionally and immediately" reverse

its decision barring Americans from a U.N. Weapons inspection team.



The American position was spelled out by Bruce Riedel, a special

assistant to President Clinton and senior director for Near East and

South Asia Affairs at the National Security Council at the White

House.



Iraq's decision to bar the American members of the U.N. inspection

team, he continued, "is clearly new evidence of Iraqi disregard for

the international community and for the rule of law in the

international community."



He pointed out that it has been 2,000 days since the U.N. Security

Council had given the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein 15 days to give

"a full, final and complete declaration" on its weapons of mass

destruction and ballistic missiles programs.



Saying Iraq remains willing to use these weapons, Riedel added, "This

kind of government cannot be allowed out of the box in which it put

itself in the Gulf war. It needs to be constrained, it cannot be

allowed to develop an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and again

threaten the countries of the region."



Riedel repeated the American position that these Iraqi restrictions

are "completely unacceptable" and reminded his audience at the Foreign

Press Center here that there was a unanimous decision in this respect

taken by the U.N. Security Council on October 29.



He underlined that the Clinton Administration does not consider the

Iraqi action an attack on the United States but "an attack on the

United Nations and the very fundamentals of the U.N. system, and the

regime that was created after the Gulf war."



Riedel refused to discuss the options before the Clinton

Administration and discounted a suggestion that this development may

affect Arab attendance at the Middle East/North Africa economic

conference, which is scheduled to open in Qatar on November 16.



He assured a questioner that the Clinton Administration is at present

undertaking consultations with various governments, including those in

the Middle East. He noted that Assistant Secretary of State for Near

East Martin Indyk was at present making a tour of various Arab

countries after his recent confirmation and Riedel was certain that

these developments will be on his agenda when he visits the countries

of the Gulf Cooperation Council.



In reply to another question, he said there is no schedule yet for a

meeting between President Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu when the latter visits the United States next month.



After noting that trilateral talks are scheduled to begin in

Washington next week between the United States, the Palestinian

Authority and Israel, Riedel emphasized that the Clinton

Administration is eager to proceed with the peace process. He said:



"The United States would like to see all the negotiations between

Israel and the Palestinian Authority resumed. We have for sometime

been talking about a sense of urgency, that sitting in place is not

good enough. We also would like to see the other tracks of the peace

process (with Syria and Lebanon) resumed once again."

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