THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   October 12, 2000


                             PRESS BRIEFING
                                   BY
                              JAKE SIEWERT

                    The James S. Brady Briefing Room



6:07 P.M. EDT


     Q    What's the situation with Iraqi troops?

     MR. SIEWERT:  On Iraqi troops, you had one of the world's leading
experts in here a moment ago on that -- (laughter) -- and you didn't ask
him.  But I will tell you that --

     Q    Well, we have P.J.  (Laughter.)

     MR. SIEWERT:  There are -- we've seen the movements.  We're
watching them very carefully, and there are a variety of possible
explanations for this, including training, deployment or defensive
deployment, as they did in February of '98.  As we all know, Saddam
Hussein is capable of stooping to any level, and he has demonstrated he
will try to capitalize on the violence in Israel and the territories to
try to advance his own agenda.

     If he does intend something more menacing, we've made it very clear
that if Iraq threatens its neighbors, or U.S. forces, we maintain a
credible force in the region and are prepared to use it at a time and
place of our own choosing.

     Q    You're on the record on that, right?

     MR. SIEWERT:  You can use that on the record.

     Q    Do you have any comments that Saddam Hussein had been invited
by the Arab leaders --

     MR. SIEWERT:  Excuse me?

     Q    Saddam Hussein has been invited by the Arab leaders for a
summit?

     MR. SIEWERT:  I had not heard that report.

     Q    October --

     MR. SIEWERT:  Oh, the Arab summit.  Yes, as I've said several times
about that meeting, we're focused on what we can do in the short term to
stop the violence and defuse the tension in the area, and that remains
our posture today.

                        END        6:16 P.M. EDT