Interview of Secretary Of State Colin L. Powell By Wolf Blitzer Of CNN'S Late Edition

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release
February 12, 2001


February 11, 2001
Rosslyn, Virginia

MR. BLITZER: And as much as you'll be talking about the peace process
during this trip, you'll also focus on the situation involving Iraq and
Saddam Hussein, reports that over these past two years since there have
been no inspectors there, he's pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
What, if anything, can you do to reverse that situation if, in fact,
that's unfolding inside Iraq?

SECRETARY POWELL: I think what we have to do is make sure we continue
to tell the world that we are not after the Iraqi people. We are after
these weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein said he would not
be producing and entered into an agreement at the end of the Gulf War
that he would not be producing.

And we have to make sure that we keep the pressure on him to meet that
commitment. Because those weapons are not threatening American
youngsters. They're not threatening the American people. They're
threatening the people of Jordan and Syria and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
and Israel, and of the region. And so he has to comply with what he
said he would do, and what the UN insists that he does, as part of the
end of the Gulf War.

And so what I will be doing when I visit is to make sure everybody has
this message clearly and to make have sure we do what is necessary to
keep him contained so that he cannot get access to weapons, he cannot
get access to the materials that allow you to produce weapons of mass
destruction, and that we control the money that is available to him.

The tragic situation here, the tragicness of this whole situation, is
that he could be taking care of every youngster in Iraq. He could be
of providing medical care and food and everything everybody in his
society needs if he would turn away from this ridiculous pursuit of
weapons of mass destruction and use the money that is made available to
him to build his society and make it ready for the 21st century. And
to become a responsible nation in that part of the world and not
threaten his neighbors. His neighbors are the ones who are being
threatened, not the United States, and we are helping his neighbors
deal with the threat that he presents to them.

MR. BLITZER: But the coalition that you, among others, helped put
together ten years ago seems to be crumbling right now, at least big
chunks of it. The Russians don't like these sanctions, even the French
don't like these sanctions. Several of the Arab allies are now dealing
with Iraq rather openly. Is this going to be your major challenge,
trying to put that coalition back together?

SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know that it's fallen apart. I think there
certainly have been some fractures in it. But I think we all have a
common objective, and I think we can rally everybody around that common
objective. And it's an arms control objective to not let this regime
get access to weapons of mass destruction.

And I think it is possible to rally not only the members of the
Security Council around that objective again, but all of our friends in
the region, because we have a mutual interest in him not getting those
weapons and we have a mutual interest in helping the people of Iraq.
We are not after the people of Iraq; we are after those weapons. And
until he satisfies the international community that he does not have
such weapons, that he's not developing such weapons, we have a goal to
make sure that we keep the pressure on.