*EPF502 04/04/2003
White House Report: Bush, British Prime Minister Blair to Meet in Belfast
(April 4: Iraq, South Korea) (850)

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will discuss the status of the ongoing military operation in Iraq in talks next week in Belfast, Northern Ireland, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters April 4.

The two leaders will also talk about the humanitarian relief efforts, reconstruction, and the role of the United Nations in those efforts, the White House press secretary said.

Bush and Blair "will also talk about the peace process in Northern Ireland. And the subject of the Middle East could come up as well," said Fleischer.

Bush is scheduled to leave for Northern Ireland Monday, April 7 and return Tuesday, April 8.

FUTURE OF IRAQ FOR IRAQIS TO DECIDE

"The future of Iraq is for the Iraqis to decide," Fleischer said when asked by reporters about a post-Saddam Hussein government.

The United States, Fleischer said, "will continue to work with the Iraqi people from both inside and outside Iraq" on the makeup of the interim authority as well as on a more permanent government.

The people of Iraq are well-educated, capable, and the infrastructure of Iraq is spread throughout the entire country, Fleischer said. The coalition military campaign, he noted, through its precision bombing is maintaining much of the infrastructure of Iraq so the Iraqi people will be able to quickly govern themselves.

What President Bush envisages "is an Iraq that is free, that is democratic, where the people govern themselves," the press secretary said.

Initially, "we will work through an interim Iraqi authority," Fleischer said, "but it is too soon to say" what the exact composition of that group will be.

The United States will have its presence in Iraq only as long as necessary to provide security and protect and administer the infrastructure until the point where the Iraqis can take it over entirely, he said.

The United States hopes that the Iraqi civilian infrastructure can "as quickly as possible, as events on the ground dictate," take on "the vital services, the municipal services, the running of the food programs, water delivery, things of that nature," said Fleischer.

The United Nations, he added, "in the president's judgment, should and will have a role. The role will be involved in humanitarian efforts. The role will be involved in help on the reconstruction efforts," Fleischer said, noting that this was spelled out in a statement made recently by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at their meeting in the Azores.

"Now, when it comes to the overarching larger political questions of who will run Iraq in terms of the broader political sense, it's impossible at this date to give names. What the president has said is that this should be a matter for Iraqis from both inside and outside Iraq to govern their country, and that the territorial integrity of Iraq must be maintained. That's our approach," Fleischer said.

But he cautioned reporters that the future of Iraq "is not yet here. We still are in the middle of a battle. We still are at war. There are many dangers that can still lie ahead."

U.S. DOES NOT KNOW IF NEW TAPE IS REALLY SADDAM HUSSEIN

Asked to comment on the tape broadcast April 4 by Iraqi television purporting to be that of Saddam Hussein, Fleischer said "we don't know if Saddam Hussein is alive or dead. We don't yet know what this tape shows or doesn't show or whether or not the information was prerecorded or even was prerecorded with accuracy to be released. We don't know."

The tape does not give us any firm conclusions one way or another, Fleischer said. "As has happened in the past, the tape will go through the typical analysis, the technical analysis, to determine whether the voice is indeed Saddam Hussein's, et cetera. That will be done. At this stage, all I can tell you is we don't know. I can also tell you, in the bigger scheme of things, it really doesn't matter, because whether it is him or whether it isn't him, the regime's days are numbered and are coming to an end."

Asked about the mention on the tape of recent events, Fleischer noted "that there was one reference in the tape, Saddam Hussein saying that coalition forces or United States forces went around the defenses of Baghdad; which, of course, is not the facts.

"The facts, if anybody was there to witness the facts, are, we attacked the forces defending Baghdad. We hardly went around them. So I'd note that."

BUSH THANKS SOUTH KOREA'S PRESIDENT FOR SUPPORT ON IRAQ

The President phoned South Korean President Moo-Hun Roh early April 4 "to thank him for the support from South Korea on Iraq, and the decision to dispatch medical engineering units for humanitarian operations in Iraq. The two leaders reiterated their intention to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue peacefully, and pledged to continue their close consultation," Fleischer said.

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

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