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16 September 2002 White House Calls Iraqi Offer "a Tactic That Will Fail", September 16, 2002 (Statement on Iraqi letter to U.N. Secretary General) A White House official the evening of September 16 called Iraq’s letter to the U.N. Secretary General offering to allow the unconditional return of U.N. weapons inspectors "a tactical step by Iraq in hopes of avoiding strong U.N. Security Council action." Scott McClellan, the White House deputy press secretary, added that "it is a tactic that will fail." In New York, a senior State Department official said on background that the Iraqi letter "is the bare minimum possible that Iraq thought to put on the table in the hopes of avoiding strong Security Council action, and as such, it's a tactical move that will fail in terms of trying to avoid Security Council action. "What the Iraqi letter is not: It is not a promise to fulfill all its obligations under Security Council resolutions. It is not a promise to allow full and unfettered access for U.N. inspectors. It is not a promise to disclose, or a disclosure, of all its prohibited programs. And it's not a promise to disarm, as Iraq is obliged to do," the official told reporters. McClellan concluded his statement by saying, "It is time for the Security Council to act." The text of the White House statement follows. THE WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT BY THE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY As the President said, the U.N. Security Council needs to decide how to enforce its own resolutions, which the Iraqi regime has defied for more than a decade. This will require a new, effective U.N. Security Council resolution that will actually deal with the threat Saddam Hussein poses to the Iraqi people, to the region, and to the world. That is the course the Security Council is on, and the United States is engaged in consultations with Council members and other partners in New York at this time. This is not a matter of inspections. It is about disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime's compliance with all other Security Council resolutions. This is a tactical step by Iraq in hopes of avoiding strong UN Security Council action. As such, it is a tactic that will fail. It is time for the Security Council to act. (end text)
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