*EPF508 03/23/01
Transcript Excerpts: Powell on U.S. Mideast Policy
(Comments on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq) (1030)
Secretary of State Colin Powell says peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians can start again after violence diminishes, economic activity resumes and the two sides get security cooperation going again.
"When we have a more stable situation, we can take action to begin discussions toward peace once more, something that both sides want, something that both peoples need in order for them to share this blessed land together," Powell said in a speech to the National Newspaper Association Government Affairs Conference in Washington March 23.
Powell said the U.S. approach to dealing with Iraq involves the use of U.N. sanctions to deny Saddam Hussein weapons of mass destruction, enforcing no-fly zones and supporting groups and individuals trying to change the Iraqi regime.
Following are excerpts from Powell's speech related to the Mideast:
(begin excerpts)
We also saw that in the Middle East there are great challenges ahead. Prime Minister Sharon, the new Prime Minister of Israel, was here, and we had very, very open talks, candid talks between two friends. And we made sure that Israel understood our complete commitment to their security, just as it has been our commitment for lo these past 50 years.
And at the same time, we talked about what we should try to do, working with our Arab friends in the region, working with Chairman Arafat to get the violence going in the other direction, to get the violence under control, both sides showing all the restraint possible to get things to a lower level so that economic activity can pick up again, and people can once again feel safe and secure in their neighborhoods. Let's get security cooperation and coordination going again between the two sides. And then, when we have a more stable situation, we can take action to begin discussions toward peace once more, something that both sides want, something that both peoples need in order for them to share this blessed land together.
We have continuing challenges in places like Iraq, and we are working on that to make sure that we orient all our efforts to keeping Iraq from getting weapons of mass destruction, not to hurt the Iraqi people, not to keep away from them what they need to live good lives, but to make it clear that the regime in Baghdad is a regime that continues to pursue weapons of mass destruction, and the international community must not let them because they are threatening the children of the region, the people of the region.
And so, your Government, your State Department, your President, is working hard, doing everything we can to make sure the sanctions remain targeted against those efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
....
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
QUESTION:Do you foresee a change in the policy or into the situation that seems to continue to evolve over and over again with Iraq?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, one can hope. But let's take a look at the situation as it has evolved over and over and over again, as you describe it.
At the end of the Gulf War, we had taken that huge army and cut it down to about 30 percent of its original size, 30-35 percent of its original size. It is still that size, and perhaps even a little smaller. It is not the kind of threat to its neighbors that it used to be. It has been on short rations for ten years, and it shows it.
Secondly, at the end of the Gulf War, Iraq entered into agreements that had to do with our ability to monitor whether or not they were making weapons of mass destruction. For ten years, we have been watching that. For most of those ten years, we were able to do quite a bit of inspection. We haven't been able to do on-site inspection for several years now, and that is worrisome.
But the reality seems to be that, even though they are working on it, even though I don't trust them at all, and even though I'm sure they have got hidden programs that we can't find -- and I know that they are reaching out to other nations, trying to get the materials to develop these weapons -- I am reasonably confident that they do not yet have the kind of capability that would threaten the whole region the way they used to.
And so to a large extent, I think we can say our policies have worked for the last ten years. We have a weak regime that is strong only in the sense that they can keep this one rather horrible person in power, with all of his buddies and family members, and they dare not go anywhere; they are inside their security umbrella, or underneath their security umbrella. And my commitment right now, and the President's commitment, is to keep it that way and to see what else we might be able to do to cause a regime change.
So we are looking at this in several different ways: one, make sure the sanctions that are important stay in place against weapons of mass destruction; two, take a look at the no-fly zone that we have had in place for some years; and three, examine whether or not there are organizations and people out there who are committed to a free Iraq, who might want to participate in activities that would lead to a change of regime.
So he is an annoyance, a terrible annoyance. He is a potential threat to the region. But at the same time, the world is leaving him behind. He can show up once a year with a hat on the head and shoot rifle rounds in the air, but for the most part, he has been contained while other nations in the world have moved forward and leaving him behind.
(end transcript excerpts)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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