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Wednesday, February 5, 2003

The following is the text of statements by members of the U.N. Security Council following U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the U.N.
Britain | Russia | France | China

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

Jack Straw of Britain, America's closest ally, stood firmly behind the United States.

Saddam Hussein "must be left in no doubt as to the serious situation he now faces. Time is now very short. If noncooperation continues, this council must meet its responsibilities," the British foreign secretary said.

The full text follows:

Mr. President, we've just heard a most powerful and authoritative case against the Iraqi regime set out by United States Secretary of State Powell. The international community owes him its thanks for laying bare the deceit practiced by the regime of Saddam Hussein, and worse, the very great danger which that regime represents.

Three months ago, we united to send Iraq an uncompromising message: Cooperate fully with weapons inspectors or face disarmament by force.

After years of Iraqi deception, when resolutions were consistently flouted, Resolution 1441 was a powerful reminder of the importance of international law and of the authority of the Security Council itself.

United and determined, we gave Iraq a final opportunity to rid itself of its weapons of mass terror; of gasses which can poison thousands in one go; of bacilli and viruses like anthrax and smallpox, which can disable and kill by the tens of thousands; of the means to make nuclear weapons, which can kill by the million.

By Resolution 1441, we strengthened inspections massively. The only missing ingredient was full Iraqi compliance--immediate, full and active cooperation.

And the truth is, and we all know this, without that full and active cooperation, however strong the inspectors' powers, however good the inspectors, inspections in a country as huge as Iraq could never be sure of finding all Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Now, Mr. President, sadly, the inspectors' reports last week and Secretary Powell's presentation today can leave us under no illusions about Saddam Hussein's response. Saddam Hussein holds United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 in the same contempt as all previous resolutions in respect of Iraq.

And let us reflect on what that means: That Saddam is defying every one of us, every nation here represented. He questions our resolve and is gambling that we will lose our nerve rather than enforce our will.

Paragraph 1 of 1441 said that Saddam was and remained in material breach of Security Council resolutions. Paragraph 4 of 1441 then set two clear tests for a further material breach by Iraq.

First, that Iraq must not make false statements or omissions in its declaration. But the Iraqi document submitted to us on the 7th of December, as we've heard from Secretary Powell, was long on repetition but short on fact. It was neither full nor accurate nor complete. And by anyone's definition, it was a false statement. Its central premise, that Iraq possesses no weapons of mass destruction, is a lie.

This outright lie was repeated yesterday on television by Saddam Hussein.

And the declaration also has obvious omissions, not least in the failure to explain what has happened to the large quantities of chemical and biological weapons material and munitions unaccounted for by U.N. weapons inspectors in 1998.

And there is no admission of Iraq's extensive efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction since the last round of UNSCOM inspections ended in December 1998.

Mr. President, paragraph 4 goes on to set a second test for a further material breach; namely, and I quote, ``a failure by Iraq at any time to comply with and to cooperate fully in the implementation of Resolution 1441.''

Following the presentation by the inspectors last week and today's briefing by Secretary Powell, it is clear that Iraq has failed this test. These briefings have confirmed our worst fears: that Iraq has no intention of relinquishing its weapons of mass destruction, no intention of following the path of peaceful disarmament set out in Security Council Resolution 1441.

Instead of open admissions and transparency, we have a charade where a veneer of superficial cooperation masks willful concealment, the extent of which has been devastatingly revealed this morning by Secretary Powell.

Mr. President, in his report last week, Dr. Blix set out a number of instances where Iraqi behavior reveals a determination to avoid compliance.

Why is Iraq refusing to allow UNMOVIC to use a U-2 plane to conduct aerial imagery and surveillance operations? When will Iraq account for the 6,500 bombs which could carry up to 1,000 tons of chemical agent? How will Iraq justify having a prohibited chemical precursor for mustard gas. But how will Iraq explain the concealment of nuclear documents and the development of a missile program in clear contravention of United Nations resolutions?

And there is, Mr. President, only one possible conclusion from all of this, which is that Iraq is in further material breach as set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441. And I believe that all colleagues here, all members will share our deep sense of frustration that Iraq is choosing to spurn this final opportunity to achieve a peaceful outcome.

Mr. President, given what has to follow and the difficult choice now facing us, it would be easy to turn a blind eye to the wording of Resolution 1441 and hope for a change of heart by Iraq. Easy but wrong, because if we did so, we would be repeating the mistakes of the past 12 years and empowering a dictator who believes that his diseases and poison gases are essential weapons to suppress his own people and to threaten his neighbors and that by defiance of the United Nations he can indefinitely hoodwink the world.

Mr. President, under the French presidency two weeks ago, we had a special session on the dangers of international terrorism, which I greatly welcomed, that session, of the grave danger to the world of terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction through the connivance of rogue states.

Secretary Powell has today set out deeply worrying reports about the presence in Iraq of one of Osama bin Laden's lieutenants, al-Zaqawi (ph), and other members of Al Qaida and their efforts to develop poisons. It defies imagination that all of this could be going on without the knowledge of Saddam Hussein. And the recent discovery of the poison ricin in London has underlined again that this is a threat which all of us face.

Mr. President, Saddam must be left in no doubt as to the serious consequences and the serious situation which he now faces. The United Kingdom does not want war. What we want is for the United Nations system to be upheld.

But the logic of Resolution 1441 is inescapable. Time is now very short. This council will have further reports from the inspectors on Friday week, the 14th of February. If noncooperation continues, this council must meet its responsibilities.

Mr. President, our world faces many threats, from poverty and disease to civil war and terrorism. Working through this great institution, we have the capacity to tackle these challenges together. But if we are to do so, then the decisions we have to take must have a force beyond mere words.

This is a moment of choice for Saddam and for the Iraqi regime, but it is also a moment of choice for this institution, the United Nations.

The United Nations' pre-war predecessor, the League of Nations, had the same fine ideals as the United Nations, but the league failed because it could not create actions from its words. It could not back diplomacy with a credible threat and where necessary, the use of force.

So small evils went unchecked. Tyrants became emboldened. Then greater evils were unleashed.

At each stage good men said, ``Wait, the evil is not big enough to challenge.'' Then before their eyes, the evil became too big to challenge. We slipped slowly down a slope, never noticing how far we had gone until it was too late.

Mr. President, we owe it to our history, as well as to our future, not to make the same mistake again.

Thank you.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the Security Council Wednesday reinforced Russia's belief that weapons inspections must continue in Iraq, said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who urged Baghdad to cooperate.

At the same time, Ivanov called on Baghdad to "give the inspectors answers to the questions that we have heard in the presentation by the U.S. secretary of state."

The full text follows:

The work of the astronauts is probably the best demonstration of the shared fundamental interests of mankind and the need bring together its intellectual, creative efforts in the name of the progress of civilization.

Mr. President, Russia views this meeting today through the prism of the consistent efforts of the Security Council of the United Nations to find a political settlement to the situation surrounding Iraq on the basis of complete, scrupulous compliance with the resolutions on it.

The unanimous adoption of Resolution 1441 of the U.N. Security Council and the deployment of international inspectors in Iraq have demonstrated the ability of the international community to act together in the interest of attaining a common goal.

We are convinced that maintaining the unity of the world community, primarily within the context of the U.N. Security Council, and our concerted action in strict compliance with United Nations Charter and Security Council resolutions, are the most reliable way to resolve the problem of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq through political means.

The fact that we all want to resolve this problem, that is something that nobody should doubt. It was with that in mind that we have listened very closely to the presentation given by Secretary of State Powell.

Russia believed and continues to believe that the Security Council, and through it the entire international community, must have all of the necessary information it needs in order to answer the question of whether or not there are remaining weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The information that was given to us today definitely will require very serious and thorough study. Experts in our countries must immediately get down to analyzing it and drawing the appropriate conclusions (inaudible).

The main point is, is that this information has to be immediately handed over for processing by UNMOVIC and the IAEA, including through direct on-site verification during the inspections in Iraq.

Baghdad must give the inspectors answers to the questions that we have heard in the presentation given by the U.S. secretary of state. At the same time, we must once again appeal to all states immediately to hand over to the international inspectors any information that can help them discharge their responsible mandate. The information provided today by U.S. secretary of state once again convincingly indicates the fact that the activities of the international inspectors in Iraq must be continued. They alone can provide an answer to the question, to what extent is Iraq complying with the demands of the Security Council? They alone can help the Security Council work out and adopt carefully balanced, the best possible decisions.

The statements made by Dr. Blix and by Dr. ElBaradei in this very chamber on the 27th of January show that Iraq has deployed a unique inspection mechanism which has everything it needs in order to ensure compliance with Resolution 1441 and other Security Council decisions. This powerful potential must be used fully.

The Security Council of the U.N., all of its members must do everything they can to support the inspection process.

For its part, Russia intends to continue actively to promote the creation of the best possible conditions for the work of the international inspectors in Iraq.

In particular, we are prepared to provide an airplane for aerial monitoring, and if need be, additional inspectors, too.

Russia welcomes the continuation of dialogue between the chairman of UNMOVIC and the director general of the IAEA with Iraq on outstanding unresolved issues. We hope that this dialogue will be extremely concrete and productive.

Inter alia, this is being facilitated by the fact that work has been moved to the timetable set out in Resolution 1284, which should make the international inspectors and the monitoring even more systematic and effective, primarily when it comes to clarifying key disarmament tasks by the end of March of this year.

It is perfectly obvious that the work of UNMOVIC and the IAEA can be effective only if there is full cooperation in good faith by Iraq. Iraq should be the first to be concerned about providing final clarity about the question of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems. That is the only way leading to a political settlement, including the lifting of sanctions on Iraq.

Baghdad should clearly realize how crucial this is and do everything in its power so that the international inspectors can discharge their mandate. Recently, when it comes to the Iraqi settlement, we often hear the phrase that time is running out. Of course, Resolution 1441 is geared to speedily achieving practical results, but any concrete time frames are absent from it. The inspectors alone can recommend to the Security Council how much time they need to carry out the tasks entrusted to them.

In this connection, we must not--we cannot rule out the possibility of the Security Council that at some stage it may need to adopt a new resolution and, perhaps, more than one resolution.

The main point is that our efforts continue to be geared to doing everything possible to facilitate the inspection process, which has proven its effectiveness and makes it possible to implement the decisions of the Security Council through peaceful means.

Mr. President, the current situation around Iraq, unfortunately, is far from the last problem whose solution we still all have to work on. The international community in the 21st century is confronting new global threats and challenges requiring a unified response from all states.

A graphic example of this approach was the creation of the broad coalition which is combating the main, the most dangerous threat of our time--international terrorism. It is precisely because of the unity of the world community that initial success has been achieved in combating this scourge.

However, it is perfectly obvious that we are just at the beginning of a very difficult battle with terrorism, and the information provided by U.S. secretary of state about the activities of Al Qaida is further corroboration of this fact.

The unity of the world community will continue to be the main guarantee for the effectiveness of its action. It is precisely unity that has to be pivotal in our approach to any problems, however complicated they may be.

True, tactical differences may arise, and probably there will be quite a few of them, given the complexity of the tasks we need to resolve, but they must not overshadow the strategic goals which are in the interests of our common security and stability.

Thank you, sir.

French Foreign Minister Dominique De Vellepin

France proposed strengthening weapons inspections in Iraq, including tripling the number of inspectors and placing a full-time monitor in Baghdad to oversee the process, after hearing Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation.

"The use of force can only be a final recourse," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told the Security Council. "We must move on to a new stage and further strengthen the inspections."

De Vellepin said France would carefully review the evidence provided by Powell, but he emphasized that inspections were working and had resulted in major achievements.

But he acknowledged there was more Iraq could do to cooperate with a beefed-up inspections regime to avert war.

The full text follows:

I'd like to congratulate the German government for having organized this meeting, and I'd like to thank Secretary of State Colin Powell for having taken the initiative of convening it.

I listened very carefully to the elements that he gave to us. They contained information, indications, questions, which deserve further exploration. It will be up to the inspectors to assess the facts as is stated in Resolution 1441.

Already his presentation has provided further justification for the approach chosen by the United Nations. It must strengthen our common determination.

By unanimously adopting Resolution 1441, we chose to act through the inspections. This policy rests on three fundamental points: a clear objection on which we cannot compromise, the disarmament of Iraq, an effort, a rigorous system of inspections, requiring of Iraq active cooperation and which affirms at each stage the central role of the Security Council, a requirement, finally, that of our unity, it gave full force to the message that we unanimously addressed to Baghdad.

I hope that today's meeting will make it possible to strengthen this unity. Important results have already achieved. UNMOVIC and IAEA are working. Deployment on the ground of more than 100 inspectors have occurred; 300 visits a month on average, increase in the number of sites inspected, complete access to the presidential sites in particular. These are all major achievements.

In the nuclear area, these two first months have enabled the IAEA to make, as Dr. ElBaradei has said, to make good progress in its knowledge of Iraq's capacity, and this is a key element.

In the areas covered by UNMOVIC, the inspections have provided us with useful information. Mr. Blix, for example, has indicated that no trace of biological or chemical agents has been, to date, detected by the inspectors, either in the analysis of samples taken on the inspected sites nor in the 12 empty warheads discovered on the 16th of January in Ukhaider (ph).

However, this cooperation still contains some gray areas. The inspectors have reported real difficulties. In their report of 27th January, Mr. Blix gave several examples of unresolved questions in the ballistic, chemical and biological areas.

These uncertainties are not acceptable. France will continue to transmit all of the information we have in order to define it better.

Right now, our attention must be focused, as a matter of priority, on the biological and chemical areas. This is where are presumptions vis-a-vis Iraq are the most significant.

Regarding the chemical area, we have indications about a capacity to produce VX and mustard gas. In the biological area, our evidence suggests--the evidence suggests that there are significant stocks--there is the possible possession of significant stocks of anthrax and botulism toxins and the possible--possibly a production capacity today.

The absence of long-range delivery systems reduces the potential threat of these weapons, but we have disturbing indications about the continued determination of Iraq to acquire ballistic missiles with a range exceeding the authorized range of 150 kilometers.

In the nuclear area, we need to fully clarify any attempt by Iraq to acquire aluminum tubes.

This is a demarche which is difficult, but it is anchored in Resolution 1441, which we should conduct together. If this approach fails and leads us to an impasse, we will not rule out any option, including, as a last resort, the use of force, as we have said all along.

But in this kind of scenario, several responses must be clearly given to all governments and all peoples of the world in order to limit uncertainty.

To what extent do the nature and scope of the threat justify use of force? How can we see to it that the considerable risks of this kind of intervention can truly be kept under control?

This clearly requires a collective demarche of responsibility by the international community.

It should, however, be clear that, in the context of this option, the United Nations must be at the center of the action to guarantee the unity of Iraq, to guarantee the stability of the region, to protect civilians and preserve the unity of the international community.

For now, the inspections regime favored by Resolution 1441 must be strengthened, since it has not been completely explored. The use of force can only be a final recourse.

Why go to war if there still exists some unused space in Resolution 1441?

Consistent with the logic of this resolution, we must move on to a new stage and further strengthen the inspections. Given the choice between military intervention and an inspections regime that is inadequate because of a failure to operate on Iraq's part, we must choose the decisive reinforcement of the means of inspection. And this is today what France is proposing.

For this, we need to define, with Mr. Blix and with Dr. ElBaradei, the tools necessary to increase the operational capacity. Let us double, let us triple the number of inspectors. Let us open more regional offices. Let us go further than this.

Could we not, for example, put up--set up a specialized body to keep under surveillance the sites and areas that have already been inspected? Let us very significantly reinforced the capacity for monitoring and collecting information in Iraq.

France is prepared to provide full support for this. It is ready to deploy observation aircraft of the Mirage-4 (ph) kind.

Let us establish, collectively, a coordination center, an information processing center that will provide in real time and in a coordinated manner to Mr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei all the intelligence resources that they may require.

Let us list and rank, in importance, unresolved disarmament questions.

With the consent of the leaders of the inspections teams, let us lay down the time frame that is strict and realistic.

In order to move forward in evaluating (inaudible) we need to have regular follow up of progress made in the disarmament of Iraq.

This enhanced regime of inspections and monitoring could usefully be supplemented by a permanent U.N. coordinator for the disarmament of Iraq, stationed in Iraq and working under the authority of Mr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei.

But Iraq must cooperate actively. This country must completely, immediately meet the requirements of Mr. Blix and ElBaradei, (inaudible) by committing the holding, without witnesses, of meetings between Iraqi scientists; by agreeing to the use of U-2 observation flights, by adopting legislation prohibiting the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction; by handing over, immediately, to the inspectors any relevant documents about unresolved disarmament issues, in particular, in the biological and chemical areas.

Those that were handed over on the 20th of January was a step in the right direction, but 3,000 pages of documents discovered in the home of a researcher that Baghdad must do more.

Failing in these documents, Iraq must be able to present credible testimony.

The Iraqi authorities must also provide to the inspectors answers to the new information presented by Colin Powell. Between now and the inspectors next report of the 14th of February, Iraq must provide new elements.

The next visit to Baghdad by the leader of the inspectors must be an opportunity to provide concrete--to achieve concrete results.

Sir, this is a demanding demarche that we need to conduct together to move onto a new stage. Its success presupposes today, as it did yesterday, unity and the mobilization of the international community.

Our moral and political duty is first to direct all of our energy to the disarmament of Iraq in peace. Complying with the rule of law and justice, France is convinced that we can succeed on this demanding path if we maintain our unity and our cohesion. This is the choice of our collective responsibility.

Thank you, sir.

The full text follows:

I wish to take this opportunity to express my deep condolences for the tragic deaths of astronaut aboard space shuttle Columbia and convey my heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved families.

I wish to thank Secretary Powell for his presentation.

Now I would like to share the following views on Iraq.

First, the fact that foreign ministers from most of the council members are present at today's meeting shows the importance all parties attach to the authority and role of the Security Council and to their support for the resolution of the Iraqi issue within the framework of this world body.

The Security Council has basically maintained unity and cooperation on this issue. This is of crucial importance to its appropriate resolution and represents the desire of the international community.

Secondly, China welcomes the U.S. move to provide the United Nations with this information and evidence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which we believe is consistent with the spirit of Resolution 1441 and could help increase transparency.

We hope that various parties will hand over their information and evidence to the UNMOVIC and the IAEA. This will help them with more effective inspections, and through their on-the-spot inspections, this information and evidence can also be evaluated. The two agencies should report their findings to the Security Council in a timely way.

Thirdly, the inspections have been going on for more than two months now. The two agencies have been working very hard and their work deserves our recognition. It is their view that now they are not in the position to draw conclusions, and they suggested continuing the inspections. We should respect the views of the two agencies and support the continuation of their work. We hope that the upcoming trip to Iraq by Chairman Blix and Director General ElBaradei on the 8th would yield positive results.

The two agencies pointed out not long ago some problems in the inspections. We urge Iraq to adopt a more proactive approach, make further explanations and clarification as soon as possible, and cooperate with the inspection process.

Fourthly, the Security Council has a common stand on the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This is fully reflected in relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly the unanimously adopted Resolution 1441.

The most important aspect at present remains the full implementation of this resolution. As for what would be the next step, the Security Council should decide through discussions by all members on the basis of the results of the inspections.

Fifthly, it is the universal desire of the international community to see a political settlement to the issue of Iraq within the U.N. framework and avoid any war. This is something the Security Council must attach (inaudible) importance to. As long as there is even the slightest hope for political settlement, we should exert our utmost effort to achieve that. China is ready to join others in working towards this direction.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.