>>Transcript: Wolfowitz Sees "Enormous Body of Information" on Iraqi Weapons
(Discusses State of the Union speech with foreign journalists) (1440)
"(T)here is unfortunately just an enormous body of information that
indicates very clearly that Iraq has weapons they haven't given up.
And they're engaged in a pattern of non-cooperation, intimidation,
hiding and concealing things that is the complete opposite of what a
country does when it wants to really get rid of weapons like this,"
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz says.
He made the comments to a group of foreign journalists following
President Bush's January 28 State of the Union address.
Wolfowitz and Tucker Eskew, Director of the White House's new Office
of Global Communications, met with the journalists in the Old
Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House to watch
President Bush deliver the State of the Union address and to answer
their questions.
The State Department's Foreign Press Center and Eskew's office hosted
the event.
Media represented were:
Radio SAWA (U.S. International Broadcasting -- Arabic service)
Radio FARDA (Voice of America Iranian service)
Al-Jazeera Television (Qatar's 24-hour satellite news channel)
Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC)
British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC)
Jawa Pos (Indonesian newspaper)
Le Figaro (French newspaper)
Nile News (Egyptian satellite news)
NTV (Russian TV)
Kyodo News Service (Japanese wire service)
Radio France International
al Quds (Palestinian newspaper)
Itar/Tass (Russian news agency)
Following is a transcript of the interview Wolfowitz conducted with
the journalists:
(begin transcript)
(begin transcript)
Q: The President called Iran an oppressive regime. Can you elaborate
on that?
Wolfowitz: Each of these countries is different. I think if you read
the President's speech, I think it's very clear that we see in Iran
that we something we don't see in the other two countries... a desire
to live in freedom, to have a different kind of government, I think, a
government that would ultimately be better for the security of
everybody in that region. And I think a lot of our hopes rest on,
ultimately, that aspiration.
Q: What is the point of the February 5th meeting at the Security
Council now? Is that just a date to reveal U.S. intelligence?
Wolfowitz: What Resolution 1441 obliges us to do is come back to the
United Nations and it's clear that if we're going to come to a
conclusion that force is necessary, it's not a conclusion we're going
to come to lightly, it's not a conclusion we'll come to by ourselves.
And there are a number of international bodies -- and the Security
Council is obviously the premier one -- in which we will make our case
and talk to our partners, and if there's any last chance at getting
Iraq to change -- not Iraq, but the Iraqi regime -- to change this
fundamental pattern of behavior that the president talked about, it
probably will only come through a clear demonstration of the
international community.
Q: Mr. Secretary, what kind of evidence are you ready to show?
Wolfowitz: Look, there's a lot of evidence. A lot of it has been there
already. It's astonishing that Saddam Hussein didn't even bother to
respond to what the United Nations said he had five years ago. These
are huge quantities of the most deadly biological weapons we know --
anthrax, botulinum toxin -- he's failed in any way to account for
things we know about through a variety of sources. Some of these we
probably will be able to talk about, but some of them come from people
who've risked their lives to tell us. Secretary Powell's going to have
to decide next week what things we can say, what things we can't say.
But there is unfortunately just an enormous body of information that
indicates very clearly that Iraq has weapons, they haven't given them
up. And they're engaged in a pattern of non-cooperation, intimidation,
hiding and concealing things that is the complete opposite of what a
country does when it wants to really get rid of weapons like this.
Q: What about a deadline. How much time?
Wolfowitz: You know, that's a decision for our president to make. He
hasn't made it yet, and I don't think, as I said, that he's going to
make it by himself. He's consulting closely with many coalition
partners. Some of whom, such as Mr. Blair, are very out in the open
and public, some others prefer to be consulted with quietly. But,
we're talking with a great many governments about what to do. I don't
think there is a deadline, at least as of now, but very clearly we're
talking about -- we have said repeatedly, Secretary Powell has said
that time is running out -- this is not something we can afford to
live with for another twelve years.
Q: A matter of weeks or months?
Wolfowitz: I can't give you timeframes. It's a matter of real urgency.
Q: So this was not a declaration of war?
Wolfowitz: Absolutely not. I was asked that question by one of the
Middle Eastern networks. Because they hear the president speak to the
troops to raise their morale, and I think that to some people this
sounds like a declaration of war. It's anything but. I think that
sometimes people don't understand what the relationship is between the
president and the military in a democratic country. But these are his
people. They're his troops. He made it clear in his speech that the
last thing he wants to do is send them into combat where they may be
killed. But they are our real hope for peace. We recognize that the
decision that has to be made here if we're going to avoid the need to
use force is for Saddam Hussein to fundamentally change his pattern of
behavior. And the only thing that may convince him is looking at those
ships and looking at those airplanes and looking at the resolve of the
American soldiers.
Q: Last Saturday, an Iraqi attempted to defect to the inspectors in
Iraq and then they delivered him to the Iraqi police. Were you aware
of this incident, and is there any mechanism to protect people who
want to provide information against the regime? Did you follow this
incident?
Wolfowitz: I followed it from the news, as you did. I think it's a
further testimony to what any Iraqi confronts if they try to cooperate
or provide information. It was kind of a graphic demonstration of what
we hear over and over again from a variety of sources inside, that
Saddam has issued the most cold-blooded orders that anyone who
cooperates with inspectors will be killed, their families will be
killed. And this is a man who is known to make good on those kinds of
horrible threats. So, the clearest sign of a change in the Iraqi
attitudes, and the most important sign of a change in Iraqi attitudes,
would be to create an environment in which the scientists within this
program were talking freely, were comfortable talking freely, and
instead we haven't had a single interview in circumstances that were
confidential and free.
Q: If and when you decide to go, will you give advance warning to your
allies, including Russia, that they need to take action -- take their
people out?
Wolfowitz: That is one concern that many countries have about having
some idea in advance if there were going to be a decision. And that's
obviously something only the president can decide, but it's certainly
on his mind. There are a lot of people who are concerned, who would
like some warning. At the same time, I think you understand that there
are military considerations that go with that too.
Q: The president today again emphasized a diplomatic solution
vis-à-vis North Korean issue. He emphasized a kind of multilateral
regional approach. What could be the next step for the U.S.?
Wolfowitz: Well, you know, we're still in the early stages of putting
together a diplomatic approach to North Korea. People say repeatedly
-- well, why do you treat Iraq and North Korea differently -- well, I
would start with the fact that we have 17 U.N. resolutions that apply
to Iraq and number 17 was said to be the last, final chance to come
clean. We haven't yet even taken the North Korean issue to the United
Nations. The International Atomic Energy Agency gave North Korea one
last chance to comply before it refers it to the Security Council. So
we're in a much earlier stage with North Korea of trying to put
together that kind of diplomatic approach. As with Iraq, our hope
would be to resolve this terrible problem without the use of force.
(end transcript)
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