State Department Noon Briefing

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2001 - 12:40 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

Q: Regarding Iraq sanctions, is it - regarding the efforts to get
inspectors into Iraq, has the State Department and the Bush
Administration agreed to sort of put that on the back burner? Is that
a back burner issue now, giving way to other things?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

Q: Inspectors - okay.

MR. BOUCHER: No, and I think - I know there was a newspaper that made
much of a certain statement by Vice President Cheney over the weekend.
But he said clearly what we have said before: we would like to see the
inspectors back, but we are not going to hinge our entire policy on
whether the inspectors go back or not. You look at what Secretary
Powell said last week during his trip, and then when he got to the
European Union, he made quite clear that Iraq, at the end of the day,
will have to decide whether to let the inspectors back in. If they
don't come back in, then the conditions set by the United Nations will
not be met, and he will have to remain trapped in his box.

So it remains our policy to seek full Iraqi fulfillment of the UN
resolutions, for the Iraqis to let the inspectors back. But we are
going to have a policy that can effectively, we hope, control the flow
of weapons and materials to acquire them into Iraq so that Iraq can't
acquire these weapons of mass destruction or the materials to make
them. And that policy is going to be set by the international
community.

We are working with governments in the region. We are working with our
allies to design a set of effective controls that control what we need
to, which is weapons and the equipment to make them, and that don't
affect the Iraqi people. That has been the discussion that we have had
with our allies. We are going to put in place that kind of policy, and
it is going to remain in place on our own decision until Iraq brings
itself into compliance.

If Iraq at some point wants to claim it is clean, wants to claim it
doesn't have programs or weapons of mass destruction, well, then it is
up to them to invite the inspectors back in. It is up to them to show
us and to demonstrate to us. If they don't, we are going to keep the
regime in place the way we design it and the way we want it.

Q: Wasn't the point of the sanctions to put pressure on the Iraqi
regime so that they would allow the inspectors in? What are the
mechanisms, the new policies considering pressuring the Iraqis to
allow these inspectors in?

MR. BOUCHER: The point of the sanctions is to keep Iraq from
threatening the people of the region, from threatening its neighbors
and having the wherewithal to rebuild its military, and especially to
develop the capability in the area of weapons of mass destruction.
That's the point of the sanctions. That has been the point of the
sanctions from the start. Okay?

In doing that, we want to do it in a way that is smart, that does that
and doesn't have an effect on the Iraqi people, because we are against
the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, not against the Iraqi people. So
we will design a regimen, a series of controls that do that.

What is the incentive for Iraq to get out of that? The controls --
they are going to have to control weapons, they are going to have to
control funds, and they are going to have to control smuggling if they
are going to be effective. That should be sufficient incentive for
Iraq to want to get out from under those controls. But they are not
going to get out until they can demonstrate to the rest of us that
they have stopped pursuing these programs, and obviously the only way
they could demonstrate that would be to have inspectors come back in
and prove it.

....

Q: Can we get back to Iraq? I'm still a little confused on this point.
Is there much you can do to change the sanctions regime without the
cooperation of the Iraqi regime?

MR. BOUCHER: We can certainly decide - the international community
can decide what it sells, what it allows across borders, the kinds of
inspection regimes, where it is going to deposit its money, and such
things. And that is what we are working with other governments to do
to make sure that we have an effective control on weapons and the
means to acquire them, including the money and the smuggling, so that
we can determine what we want to do with regard to Iraq.

Now, if Iraq wants to change that, if Iraq wants to get out of the
box, they are going to have to invite the inspectors in and comply
with the UN resolutions.

Q: Okay, but one of the aims of your review of policy is to undermine
the Iraqi argument that the sanctions are hurting the Iraqi civilians.
How are you going to achieve that objective if the Iraqis refuse to
let the inspections in, and therefore the whole thing gets held up?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think that "the whole thing", as you describe it,
is dependent on the Iraqis allowing the inspectors in. That is what
Vice President Cheney said over the weekend. That is what Secretary
Powell has said. "The whole thing," meaning what we decide to do, what
we decide to sell, where we decide to put the money, how we inspect
cargo - those are all things that we and the frontline states and the
other members of the coalition can put together, can decide,
independent of what Iraq decides to do.

The pressure remains on Iraq to let the inspectors in. If they want to
try to show that they are clean, if they want to try to show that they
are not doing these things, the pressure remains on them. We can also
decide what we want to sell and what we don't want to sell. If we
decide that certain civilian goods don't matter in terms of weapons
programs, then we would be willing to sell those more freely or more
smoothly than we have in the past. And that will, in and of itself,
make clear that we are not trying to withhold things from - civilian
goods from the Iraqi civilian population.

Q: There were some calls on Capitol Hill Thursday for assisting these
opposition groups with weapons, with training, and with possibly
installing them into portions of Iraq which are not under Saddam
Hussein's control.

Can you discuss any of these ideas?

MR. BOUCHER: Not really. We have, as you know, cooperated with the
Iraq National Congress, which is an opposition group. We have
cooperated within the framework of a memorandum we signed with them
last September that talks about information activities, public
activities, collecting information, disseminating information. We have
studied, at the request of Congress, the possibilities of them
distributing humanitarian goods inside Iraq, and that is a study that
has gone forward, and that is something we are discussing with them.

As far as other activities, I guess the only thing I can say at this
point is that aspect of our Iraq policy is something we will have to
look at, that is being looked at, and as far as any new departures
from that existing basis with the Iraqi opposition, that would be
something to be looked in the future.

Q: The Jordanians were having Lloyd's inspect cargos bound for Iraq
that were landed in Aqaba. And then there was a report that the
Jordanians had canceled this arrangement with Lloyd's.

Can you tell me, is there any inspection of cargos landing at Aqaba
that go to Iraq? Is anyone inspecting these cargos at this point?

MR. BOUCHER: My understanding is the Jordanian customs service is
handling the inspections now, and we have worked with them over time
to try to help them make sure they have an effective and complete
inspection.

Q: On the INC, after the talks about two weeks ago now, I guess, did
you come to an agreement on the extra 29 million? And if not, what is
the next step in the negotiations on this?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll double-check. As of Friday, we were still in
discussions with them on the additional money and the additional grant
and how that would be handled. They also decided --

Q: Friday meaning last Friday, or the Friday before?

MR. BOUCHER: Last Friday.

Q: They stayed on right through? I don't know.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not sure how we are in touch with them, but we remain
in touch with them. They have people in the area.

At first we had talked about whether we would renew - at first they
had not asked to renew the existing grant for 4 million, but then they
changed their mind and decided we should do that. So we did last week
extend the existing grant for 4 million, and we are still talking to
them about the next grant, which would be the 29.