State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the U.S. government is skeptical about Iraqi declarations of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kuwait and of friendship for Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi declarations emerged from the March 27-28 Arab League summit in Beirut.

"Iraq has never evidenced real intent to respect Kuwaiti sovereignty and territorial integrity. It's got a deplorable record of flouting its international obligations and U.N. Security Council resolutions, and we have to remain profoundly skeptical that Iraq would treat this agreement any differently than the many other times it's agreed to do this," Boucher said, briefing reporters at the State Department March 28.

Boucher said the U.S. and Russian governments have repeated their commitment to finalize and implement revised sanctions on Iraq by May 30. Boucher said the intent of revising the sanctions on Iraq is "to lift all sanctions on purely civilian goods flowing to Iraq while focusing U.N. controls on militarily useful items that Iraq could use to rearm."

Boucher said the U.S.-Russian agreement came during two days of talks in Moscow March 27-28. Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation John Wolf led the U.S. delegation to the talks, Boucher said.

Regarding the issue of a U.S. Navy pilot reported missing in Iraq, Boucher rejected an Iraqi invitation to the United States to send a delegation to discuss the issue. He said there are established channels for Iraq to communicate with the United States.

"[I]f Iraq has something to say about Commander Speicher, they can react directly to us through our representation in Baghdad. They can react directly through the channel, that we put the questions to them. They can talk to the Red Cross or they can come to the Trilateral Committee meetings in Geneva, the last one of which was two weeks ago, and they missed it. So we haven't received anything through any of those channels that are available to Iraq," Boucher said.

Following are excerpts from the transcript of Boucher's March 28 briefing containing his comments about Iraq:

Question: Okay, and now the summit. The Saudis say that their offer, as well -- let me start again. You seem to be -- what is your reaction to the other parts of the Arab League declaration, specifically the line about Iraq and categorically opposing any attacks, any military action against it, as well as your reaction to the apparent rapprochement between Kuwait and Iraq?

Mr. Boucher: Rather than parse every line, let me explain our position on the bigger issues here. We have seen some of the reporting of apparent rapprochement or whatever. We would leave it to the Arab League or to the parties themselves for any details on what kind or agreement or understandings they have reached.

Some of the reports indicate that there is some kind of Iraqi-Kuwaiti agreement that includes Iraqi respect for Kuwaiti sovereignty and territorial integrity. If true, that would be good. But Iraq has never evidenced real intent to respect Kuwaiti sovereignty. It has got a deplorable record of flouting its international obligations and UN Security Council resolutions, and we have to remain profoundly skeptical that Iraq would treat this agreement any differently than the many other times it has agreed to do this.

..........

Question: In addition to signs of friendship between the Iraqis and the Kuwaitis, there is also signs of friendship between the Saudis and the Iraqis. Do you have any comment on that, in light of what Vice President Cheney was telling the Saudis a few days ago?

Mr. Boucher: I haven't said what Vice President Cheney was telling the Saudis a few days ago. But anyway, in light of whatever, I'd give it the same status or lack thereof that I would give Iraqi pledges of friendship and respect for Kuwait. The test is not whether Iraq shakes some hands or says some words; the test is whether Iraq demonstrates any kind of true respect for the countries of the region and the neighbors. And I think we can be comfortable that the neighbors have enough experience with Iraq to know the value one should place on Iraqi promises.

Question: Okay.

Question: Richard, with all due respect, your rather idiosyncratic interpretation of this Arab declaration is -- (laughter) -- it looks to most of us like a plan. But you say the difficulty is how to get there is still the problem. Do you mean to say that you don't see this declaration as the basis for any kind of settlement in the future?

Mr. Boucher: I would say that would be a purely idiosyncratic interpretation of what I said, because I said nothing like that. Any other questions?

Question: I'm still not clear how you see it.

Mr. Boucher: No, Jonathan, that's a tremendous distortion of what I was saying.

Question: It's not a plan, it's not a proposal, it's not a package; so what is it?

Mr. Boucher: It's a vision. It's an idea. It's part of the picture. It's an important element. It's many things. You can be many things without being a plan.

Question: I have an Iraq-related question?

Question: No way.

Mr. Boucher: Teri gets the Iraq first.

Question: Thank you. Russia has finally agreed on smart sanctions?

Mr. Boucher: All right. Assistant Secretary John Wolf, from our Bureau of Nonproliferation, was just in Russia for two days of discussions on the 27th and the 28th. He is on his way back now. And somewhere in here I will find out what he did. I knew I shouldn't have done this this way.

Question: Didn't Wolf say something before he left?

Mr. Boucher: Wolf actually gave what's called a press conference before he left. So he should --

Question: So you're going to read to us what he said in Moscow?

Question: (Inaudible.)

Mr. Boucher: Yes. As soon as we get one. We don't have it in yet.

March 27th and 28th, the US and the Russian Federation engaged in bilateral consultations on a revised system of UN controls on Iraq. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to finalizing the agreement by the UN Security Council to implement the system no later than May 30th. It is our hope that the Security Council will act quickly to adopt this new system.

The Council's ability to address the issue will send a strong message to Iraq, and to the world community, about the imperative that Iraq comply with its UN Security Council obligations. The intent of this approach is to lift all sanctions on purely civilian goods flowing to Iraq, while focusing UN controls on militarily useful items that Iraq could use to rearm.

Secretary Powell and the administration have from the beginning made achievement of such a new regime for Iraq a key objective. So what Secretary Wolf has done through these discussions with the Russians in Moscow is to successfully -- you might say successfully conclude the bilateral discussions with the Russians. The action now moves back to New York to try to put the package together and work out the final details and pass the resolution.

Question: Richard, what finally budged you all? I mean, I'm sorry, budged Russia on this? It's not clear from the wires I've seen so far what exactly they finally --

Mr. Boucher: Well, I mean, finally budged -- it is the final details -- they worked out a lot of technical language on this, and there are more procedural and other details to be worked out in New York, when they would do that. But in terms of our discussions with the Russians, they were in some cases clarifying and in some cases amplifying or making it so that the definitions are more clear so that goods can be identified more quickly, what's allowed and what's not allowed.

But the big change in this was several months ago, when the Russians agreed that we needed to move clearly in this direction, and agreed to the deadline in May of coming up to the new -- with a new goods review list. So that work has been under way. He's had, I think, three rounds of discussions like this with the Russians. We don't think we need to go back to purely bilateral discussions with the Russians anymore, but we will have more to work out in New York.

Question: Iraq says it has invited a US delegation to visit Iraq to discuss the fate of the missing Navy pilot. Have you seen that?

Mr. Boucher: Is that what -- that's what they said the other day, last week? Did they say it again?

Question: (Inaudible.)

Mr. Boucher: We have made clear the other day that if Iraq has something to say about Commander Speicher, they can react directly to us through our representation in Baghdad, they can react directly through the channel that we put the questions to them, they can talk to the Red Cross, or they could come to the trilateral committee meetings in Geneva, the last one of which was two weeks ago and they missed it. So we haven't received anything through any of those channels that are available to Iraq if they actually want to say something and have something to say about Commander Speicher. We look very much to them to come forward and to respond to the many attempts we have made to get information. At this point, regrettably, they have not done so.

Question: Since we're talking about sanctions, could you update us perhaps on the status of your attempts to tighten border patrols and to prevent smuggling, especially through Syria since it's all part of the package?

Mr. Boucher: Nothing new on that today. I'm sorry, I just don't -- that's an ongoing effort to make sure that controls exist on what goes into Iraq, but at this point I don't have anything new on that.

Question: Did that feature in the talks in Moscow at all?

Mr. Boucher: The talks in Moscow were mostly about the control list. A lot of the procedural issues and the contents of the resolution need to be worked out more in New York.

end excerpt

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