NSC Advisor Rice Briefing at White House Feb. 22

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
February 22, 2001

PRESS BRIEFING BY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE

The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
4:33 P.M. EST

Q: Dr. Rice, on Iraq, British and American officials that talked about
trying to - the sanctions so as they concentrate on the main
objective of keeping out materials that make weapons of mass
destruction. Are you expecting to formalize that in some way over
these talks with the Prime Minister?

DR. RICE: There will certainly be talks with the Prime Minister about
Iraq. Britain, as you know, has been one of our closest partners in
the policy toward Iraq. The goal now of the policy has to be to regain
the initiative where Saddam Hussein is concerned; to take a hard look
at what we are doing, to make sure that he does not build weapons of
mass destruction, that he does not threaten his neighbors; to make
certain that he lives up to the obligations that he undertook after
the end of the Gulf War. And the tactics by which we pursue those very
important goals, that have not changed - and let me emphasize, those
goals have not changed since 1991 - the various means by which we
pursue those goals I think we're examining, we're examining fully,
with an effort to try to regain the initiative and make sure that what
we're doing is working.

And we will discuss some of those ideas with Prime Minister Blair. Of
course, Secretary Powell's trip to the region is also extremely
important in assessing where we are.

....

Q: Back to Iraq for a moment. You said the Prime Minister and the
President will be examining means to reach their goals in regards to
Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Is it possible that the sanctions, as they
are now, are no longer the appropriate means to reach the goals?

DR. RICE: I think we're reviewing everything at this point. But it is
very clear that whatever we do, we have to make sure that Saddam
Hussein is constrained, that he does not acquire weapons of mass
destruction, that he cannot threaten his neighbors.

There is a sanctions regime in place. We believe very strongly that
it's a regime that now has some problems. There is no doubt about
that. But precisely how to focus and make sure that this regime is
serving our purposes, that's the purpose of the review. It's what
Colin Powell is going to be talking about when he goes to the region,
and it's also the focus - it will be some of the focus of the
conversation with the Prime Minister. But I wouldn't jump to any
conclusions about what the outcome of those discussions will be. We're
still very much in conversation among the members of the national
security team and with the President, himself, on what we need to do.

Q: Yes, also on Iraq, how concerned is the United States about the
criticism among Arab allies and European allies following Friday's air
strikes against Iraq? And, in light of that criticism, how important
is this meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Blair?

DR. RICE: Well, let me remind you that the British participated in the
air strikes on Friday. Clearly, we would hope for better support for
the kinds of things that we had to do on Friday, because Saddam
Hussein is a threat to this region and he's a threat to his
neighboring states. He demonstrated that when he decided to occupy
Kuwait and repeatedly and continually threatens his neighbors. So I
don't think there's any disagreement about the nature of the regime in
Baghdad and about Saddam Hussein.

The United States - the President of the United States has an
obligation to make certain that he protects the pilots, the people in
uniform who are patrolling the no-fly zone, with the purpose of making
certain that Saddam Hussein cannot threaten his neighbors and isn't
acquiring weapons of mass destruction. So the President had to act,
along with Prime Minister Blair - the British had to act. I think
that that is generally understood, but it obviously is the case that
the coalition needs some rebuilding. We've said that before. And
Secretary Powell will try to begin some of that process when he goes
to the region.

....

DR. RICE: What we've told the Chinese is that we have concerns about
Chinese activities in Iraq. We have told them that we are concerned
that there may be violations of the sanctions regime, and we've asked
them to give us further information and to look into what is going on
there.

That has been done a couple of times. It was done first by the
outgoing Clinton administration in the middle of January at the level
of Assistant Secretary for International Organizations, David Welch,
who was in Beijing at the time. Secretary Powell then had a discussion
in general with his counterpart at the P-5 when he was in New York
about the importance of respecting sanctions. And then he spoke, in
the last couple of days - it may have been actually yesterday, but
I'm not certain of that - to the Chinese Ambassador about - that's
right - about our concerns.

Q: Are you worried that this starts your relationship off with China
on sort of a bad foot?

DR. RICE: No. Let me just mention that the President had already sent
to President Jiang Zemin a letter that talked about his desires and
wishes for a good relationship with China. So there was some context
for this. Our first engagement with the Chinese was not Colin Powell
saying to the Chinese Ambassador, we have concerns about this issue.
But I think it's only fair that we be in a position to raise this, and
we are awaiting an answer back from the Chinese.