22 January 2001

Excerpts: State Dept Spokesman on Iraq, Mideast Developments

(Richard Boucher on Iraq, Israel-Palestinian talks)

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher fielded questions from reporters in Washington January 22 on the positions of the Bush administration toward Iraq and the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

The administration intends to maintain and reenergize sanctions against Iraq because Iraq remains a threat to regional peace, Boucher said. Boucher also said that there "is a strong voice and view within the international community that Iraq needs to be prevented" from developing weapons of mass destruction. With regard to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, Boucher said U.S. officials are not participating but are being kept informed of their progress. Former Special Middle East Coordinator Dennis Ross is no longer working for the State Department, he added.

Following are excerpts of Boucher's January 22 briefing that pertain to the Middle East:
(begin excerpts)

Q: There is a newspaper article today reminding us, as we have heard many times before, that Iraq is proceeding apace with developing facilities, at least, for threatening, menacing weapons. Is there some new approach or how is this new Administration, if it's not too early to ask, going to deal with that problem? Or simply, how is the US Government dealing with it?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, let's note a couple of things. First of all, I think the article is based on a recent Defense Department report that was about proliferation. That report outlined the concerns and the issues and said: "Following Operation Desert Fox, Baghdad again instituted a rapid reconstruction effort on those facilities to include former dual-use chemical warfare-associated production facilities that had been destroyed by US bombing. In 1999, Iraq may have begun installing or repairing dual-use equipment at these and other chemical warfare-related facilities."

That kind of activity on the part of Iraq, along with a lot of other indicators, indicates that they have not changed their intentions or desires. We have seen the recent statement by the son of Saddam Hussein, saying that he thought that Kuwait was part of Iraq and we have seen a variety of other continual indicators to show that Iraq has not changed its intentions.

At the same time, Iraq is under obligations to the international community. They are under the sanctions of the UN resolutions and we think, because Iraq has not changed its intentions, it is important to continue the activities on the outside world and make sure that Iraq lives up to its obligations and that Iraq is not in a position to threaten its neighbors with weapons of mass destruction or to threaten its own people.

So the intention, as I think Secretary Powell said in his confirmation hearings, is to maintain the sanctions, to reenergize the sanctions, and to keep Iraq to its international obligations.

Q: You know, considering the difficulty the US and Britain had in rounding up even allies to take the same strong stand the Clinton Administration took at least publicly, I wondered if any new effort would be made to try to persuade France, for instance, or Russia -- which the US has a sometimes warm relationship with -- to see Iraq the way the US does?

MR. BOUCHER: I think, Barry, first of all, it is important to remember that whatever the arguments that we have had with various allies about flights and clearances and things like that, that France, Russia and the other UN Security Council members have maintained that Resolution 1284 remains the principal matter that needs to be respected, that Iraq has obligations not to rebuild its capabilities and that if it wants to get out of some of the pressure of sanctions, that Resolution 1284, which provides for a mechanism for suspension of some of the sanctions, is the only way that Iraq is going to get out of it.

So there is a strong voice and view within the international community that Iraq needs to be prevented from developing weapons, developing weapons of mass destruction, and developing the capability, once again, to threaten its neighbors and its own people.

Naturally a new Administration will look at the situation and will determine how best to proceed in that matter, but the intention of keeping Iraq to its obligations, of making sure Iraq can't reconstitute itself as a threat, that remains something that we hold firmly to and that we will be working with our allies on.

Q: On a different subject?

Q: Can we stay on Iraq for one more? If the sanctions aren't holding together as they haven't been --

MR. BOUCHER: No, they are.

Q: Well, there are these dual-use capabilities -- buildings. Sanctions aren't going to relieve that. Are you saying that military force could -- is not ruled out? In the past, the administration has said everything including military force is an option; are you leaving that on the table?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we are going to get out of here if we have to repeat every single mantra every day in order to establish the credentials of the new Administration. It is quite clear from Secretary Powell's testimony, from the statements that President Bush has made that there will be a lot of attention to this matter, that Iraq will be held to its international obligations, and that we will work with our allies to reenergize the sanctions.

Obviously military force always remains an option for the United States, and we have specified in the past the kind of circumstances under which it might be used. And we are not changing that today.

Q: How concerned is this building by the implications of this report?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I mean, the report, as I said, is not new news to us. It was the US Government that put out this report, that made this information public, that refers back to things that have been done since the end of the war, things that have been done by Iraq since 1999. So it may come as a surprise to you that Iraq still has evil intentions in terms of rebuilding its weapons of mass destruction capability or threatening its neighbors, but certainly that is the way we have viewed the situation all along. And the US Government has maintained an effort to make it impossible for Iraq to do that, to become a new threat.

Q: If Iraq has reconstituted some of its BW or CW capabilities, doesn't that make it a threat?

MR. BOUCHER: The question that faces the international community is how to keep Iraq to its obligations and prevent it from reconstituting the threat. While the attempts to rebuild that have been discussed in this report clearly show Iraq's intentions, I don't think we would go beyond that and say that Iraq has a new capability at this point.

....

Q: Fair enough. But could I ask about the Middle East and the United States? Going through the numbers, there are talks going on. Can you verify that these two parties are on their own at this point, without direct US involvement? Has anybody picked up the phone? Has any ambassador particularly intervened? Will you -- do you see any promise here, any reason for the US to jump in, et cetera? The obvious.

MR. BOUCHER: Okay. First, in terms of the basic things that you asked, the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are, indeed, continuing their discussions in an attempt to narrow their differences. We think these continuing political contacts are important, as are efforts by both sides to stop the violence as well.

We are being briefed by the parties. As we have said before, it is important for the parties themselves to decide on and then take the steps necessary to reach agreement for peace. But we are not participating in these talks. We will be getting readouts from both sides and Secretary Powell has asked our ambassadors in the region to stay in close touch with the parties and make sure we know what's going on.

Q: You spoke in the present tense, we're being briefed, and you said, we will get readouts. Is there an ongoing readout -- an ongoing briefing with the US, for the US at this point?

MR. BOUCHER: We have ongoing contacts with the parties but, in terms of actually being -- we are not a participant in these talks. We maintain our strong interest in the Middle East peace process. As I said, the Secretary has asked his ambassadors in the region to follow the situation closely. But we are not participants in these particular talks.

Q: Were you invited to send somebody to attend and actually sit in?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't believe that we were asked to participate, frankly.

Q: Does that mean, when you say that he has asked the ambassadors in the region, that there is no one in this building that is keeping in touch? In other words, I don't know if Dennis is still around but is there no one from his office that is liaising with these people? Or what's left of his office?

MR. BOUCHER: Dennis has resigned as Middle East Coordinator, with the advent of the new administration. We have the Bureau for Near East Affairs, we have people in the former office of the Middle East Coordinator, and we do -- our ambassadors report through the bureau, through the channels so they send cables back --

Q: Dennis' office is officially closed and done? Closed for business? It doesn't exist anymore?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not quite sure I can go that far. But he is no -- there is no longer such a thing as Dennis' office, because Dennis is no longer the official.

Q: Then -- I don't want to belabor it, but I mean there is no -- right now there is no office of the special -- there is no SMEC office?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, that's what I can't quite go that far for you. How exactly this will be organized in the new Administration, I don't have a firm readout for you yet. But our ambassadors report back through the bureaus and through the Middle East -- Bureau for Near East Affairs, and they are keeping in close touch. Our ambassadors are keeping in close touch with the parties, they're reporting back. A variety of officials in this building, including the bureau that need to know are kept up to speed and they will keep the Secretary up to speed.

Q: Okay, so let me just get this straight. No one is talking to anyone from Dennis' former office; everything is going through the bureau now?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't say that for sure.

Q: One last little thing on Roy's point about the observers. There is no US presence at Taba; is that correct? I don't mean in the talks, I know that. But there are no monitors outside the talks in Taba?

MR. BOUCHER: No, there are not.

Q: The Palestinians say they have written a letter -- I'm not quite sure whether it's been sent yet -- to President Bush criticizing the way President Clinton handled the policy and saying that President Bush should look over this so he doesn't make the same mistakes. Have we actually -- has the US received this letter?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. If it was a letter to the White House, you would have to check there.

Q: It's not specific. Do you know if any such letter has been received?

MR. BOUCHER: I have not heard of any. But I will have to check and see if we got it here.

Q: In a somewhat related question on this, President Bush said many times during the campaign trail that he would begin as soon as he took the oath of office to begin the process of establishing an American Embassy in Jerusalem. Vice President Cheney said in interviews that this would be under the province of the State Department and Secretary Powell. So has Secretary Powell begun to name a Jerusalem Embassy task force or something along those lines?

MR. BOUCHER: I will have to check and see if there is anything new on this. I'm not aware of anything new at this stage.

(end excerpts)