*EPF304 01/10/01
Excerpts: Albright on Mideast Peace, Iraq
(Says Saddam has been contained) (1880)

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the Clinton Administration worked very hard to prevent Saddam's regime from threatening the Gulf region by trying to keep Iraq from reconstituting its weapons of mass destruction programs. She also said the administration would continue to strive for peace in the Middle East as long as possible, noting that Mideast peace process Coordinator Dennis Ross is leaving for the area this week to continue discussions with the area leaders.

Albright's comments on the Clinton administration policies toward Iraq and the Middle East peace process came in a question and answer session with reporters on January 9 at the inauguration of a new press room at the U.S. Department of State.

Asked about the relative strength or weakness of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq today, Albright said that she thought the regime was weaker than when President Clinton took office eight years ago. Saddam "has been contained," she said.

Albright said that the United States over the years supported the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program because "we were concerned about the fate of the Iraqi people, who were suffering as a result of Saddam Hussein, not as a result of the United States or the alliance."

Regarding the status of U.S. efforts in the Middle East peace process, Albright said, "I believe that we have done the right thing, and it is only frustrating at this point that with so few days left, that we are not able to bring this monumental work to some conclusion."

"We are going to work as long as possible" to bring about a peace settlement, said Albright. She noted that Dennis Ross, U.S. Middle East Coordinator, leaves for the region this week to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials to discuss reservations they might have in accepting the Clinton plan for peace.

Following are Mideast excerpts from Albright's press conference:
(begin excerpts)

Iraq. Iraq was the centerpiece of your foreign policy. And the tenth anniversary of the war is coming up. As you leave office, would you say Saddam Hussein is stronger or weaker, or about as strong as he was when you first came aboard? Do you think any administration could do well with sanctions without more support from the allies? You have had to do a lot basically with Britain at your side, and not much more.

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: First of all, I am really sorry that we had the issue of Saddam Hussein on our plate when we arrived, and I am equally sorry to say that we are passing it on. But I do think that Saddam Hussein is weaker. He has been contained. We have worked very hard not to have him be a threat to the region, to do everything that we can to make sure that he doesn't reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction and that he not terrorize his people, and tried to do everything to make him live up to his international obligations.

It has not been easy, as you have pointed out. I think that this has been the longest running sanctions regime. And when I was Ambassador at the United Nations, I worked very hard with our friends and allies to keep the regime in place, and we have worked hard since I have been Secretary to do the same thing.

We invented the Oil-for-Food Program because we were concerned about the fate of the Iraqi people who were suffering as a result of Saddam Hussein, not as a result of the United States or the Alliance. And I think it is essential that this continue. When Secretary-designate Powell and I spoke about this, he said that he wanted to strengthen the sanctions, and I wish him a lot of luck in that. It is the right thing to do but it's very difficult, and I think ultimately the Iraqi people will have to deal with the problem of Saddam Hussein with much help and support from the civilized world.

Q: The Kuwaitis report that there are 600 Kuwaitis that were abducted by Iraq, and little has been heard from them in a long time. There has been a report that some of them have been seen alive and are Iraqi prisoners. Can you confirm any of these reports, and can you also say whether or not the return of these prisoners is a precondition for lifting sanctions?

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: First of all, the issue of the 600 prisoners has been one that has been on the table from the very beginning, and every discussion that I had in New York and since then has always talked about the necessity of the release and repatriation of those prisoners. I cannot confirm for you whether they are in a prison or not. I have not seen that, and I cannot confirm it or deny it.

We have always said that it was important for Saddam Hussein to live up to all his obligations that are in Security Council resolutions, and this is one of them, that those 600 prisoners be accounted for or repatriated. Also, there has been a great deal of Kuwait property that was stolen that also needs to be returned.

This is part of the whole package that we have talked about that would make it possible for Saddam Hussein to return to the community of nations; although from my own sense of him, it's very hard to imagine that he could do all those things and still be in power.

Q: Can you respond to Republican critics of this Administration's Mideast policy who suggest that the Camp David summit was premature and that the ensuing violence, and now the last-minute negotiations, have only raised expectations and made people more rigid, less flexible, about willingness to compromise?

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think the important part about the whole effort that the Clinton Administration has made on the Middle East has, I think, been one where we have tried everything we could to help the parties reach agreement in what is clearly one of the most difficult issues in the entire world. I believe that, on the whole, our record has been very good with the Declaration of Principles, with the treaty with Jordan, and various aspects of carrying out the interim accords.

One of the issues that I keep being asked about is whether we are the ones that are the instigators of the activities that have taken place during the last year, whether they were the Syrian track or Camp David or subsequently. And the truth is that what we have done is respond to calls from the region to do something and for President Clinton, who is truly unique in his ability to deal with these problems, to be a part of helping to resolve them.

As President Clinton said on Sunday night, and as I have said for some time, I believe that what we did at Camp David is a seminal event in terms of having ultimately discussed the issues the resolution of which is the only way to get to a peace. Everybody knows that the issues will be those issues when there is a peace.

And so I believe that we have done the right thing. And it is only frustrating at this point, with so few days left, that we are not able to bring this monumental work to some conclusion. Ambassador Ross is going out again. We think that it is very important for the security situation to be dealt with. We have called on the parties to -- that there be no violence, because I think that's an important point here. And so we are going to work as long as possible.

I must say that some of those same critics criticized us for what we were or were not doing in Bosnia and Kosovo, and I think it turned out right there. And so I feel very comfortable about what we are doing.

Q: May I just follow that up and ask what advice you would give if the next few days do not produce some sort of miraculous breakthrough? What advice would you give to your successor as to how to handle the Mideast?

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think that ultimately the only way to go forward is for -- the parties themselves have to make the decisions. That's what we have learned; that the United States, with the greatest amount of dedication and intelligence and conceptualizing cannot do this if the parties themselves are not willing to do it.

I know, as I have gone back and read about other Secretaries of State who have been involved in the Middle East, they have written that the last thing they ever wanted to do was to be involved in the Middle East. All of them are. I have been intensively, and I am sure that Secretary-designate Powell will be also.

Q: Can I follow up on that, on the Middle East? This demonstration in Jerusalem, 100,000 or people, plus some of the people on the Palestinian side, could be showing that the core people on the ground are drifting farther away from what may be discussed on paper and in the halls of diplomacy.

Do you think that there is still a willingness or a support amongst core people on both sides for whatever agreement might be under consideration, based on what we saw last night and based on what is coming out of the Palestinian side?

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, clearly the issue is very difficult. And we have said over and over again that these are existential decisions, and it is very hard to predict reaction across the board. What I have believed, as has President Clinton, as has Prime Minister Barak, who was elected on a peace mandate, is that we should do everything we could to try to move the process forward. And I think that obviously time is running out. We are going to continue to work. I think we have to be realistic -- the security issue has to be dealt with -- and that we are not interested in concluding this with something vague. We are going to see what we can still do.

But I think public moods change very rapidly, and we will have to see. But I do not take demonstrations anywhere as definitive in terms of a complete expression of the public mood; it shifts.

(end excerpts)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
NNNN