*EPF105 09/29/2003
Rice, Powell Discuss Iraq's Reconstruction, Iran's Nuclear Activities
(NSC advisor, secretary appear on September 28 talk shows) (890)

By Peggy Hu
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke on several talk shows September 28 about reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush's proposed $87,000 million supplemental appropriations package for Iraq, and Iran's nuclear activities.

The reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan is now "a joint project of the international community," Rice said on Fox News Sunday.

"[I]f you have a stable Iraq, you have a linchpin for a changed Middle East," she said. "And it is well understood that we cannot continue to see the status quo in the Middle East if we are going to be secure, if Europe is going to be secure, and I think people are rallying around that point of view."

Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Rice said "you cannot put a price-tag on security."

"Saddam Hussein was a threat to the region, he was a threat to America, to American interests. He was a haven and a supporter of terrorism around the world, and he had launched wars, used weapons of mass destruction. He was a threat. He is now gone," she said.

According to Rice, the goal in Iraq now "is to put in his place ... a stable, prosperous, and democratizing Iraq. That will pay off many, many, many times over in terms of security for the American people."

In an interview on CNN's Late Edition, Powell said the United States and the United Nations agree that there should be "a transfer of authority as quickly as possible to the Iraqis," but said that such a transfer cannot take place before the Iraqis are prepared to "discharge that authority in a very, very responsible way."

"We have to build up an Iraqi army. We have to rebuild their infrastructure. We have to rebuild their ministries. We have to rebuild their police forces. And we have to make sure that they have a constitution, let them write a constitution, let them have elections based on that constitution," Powell said.

The Secretary said that the United States is seeking a U.N. resolution on Iraq "that satisfies the needs of some of our partners in the international community, but at the same time makes clear that the future of Iraq is in the hands of the Iraqi people through their Governing Council and their cabinet ministers, and recognizing the obligation and responsibility the United States has as the leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority."

Powell noted that 31 countries have already contributed to coalition forces in Iraq.

"Now, we're trying to see whether with a U.N. resolution there may be other nations that have more of a political mandate of the kind they say they need to take to their people," he said.

When asked on NBC's Meet the Press whether she believes Congress will approve President Bush's proposed $87 billion supplemental appropriation package to support security and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Rice said she is "certainly hopeful that they will."

Rice said that "everything in the supplemental that is there for reconstruction is for one of three purposes" -- one, to enable the Iraqis to provide security for themselves; two, to provide infrastructure and basic living services so that Iraq "doesn't become a breeding ground for terrorism" because of poverty; and three, to put in place infrastructure for foreign investments so that Iraq "can emerge as a functioning member of the international economy."

Speaking on ABC's This Week, Powell called the portion of the supplemental appropriations package targeted for Iraq's reconstruction "a sound investment in a country that has been devastated by 30 years of bad rule."

"Saddam Hussein is gone. He's not coming back. And he left a mess," Powell said. The United States has "an obligation to help the Iraqi people fix their infrastructure so that they can build a nation that rests on the foundation of a constitution, on the foundation of democracy with elected leaders, with an open economy."

Powell said that the portion of the package for rebuilding should be a grant to Iraq rather than a loan.

"The Iraqi people are going to be faced with a crushing debt load now from past obligations," he noted. "What we don't want to do is to put such a burden on the Iraqi people that reconstruction efforts don't really pay off, because the debt that they have to service doesn't allow them to get their infrastructure up and running using their own funds because they're busy using those funds to pay off debt."

In response to a question regarding Russia's work on a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, Powell said the issue "is the fuel that goes into that plant and the fuel cycle that is created."

"[O]ver the past year, the evidence has become incontrovertible that the Iranians have been moving in the direction of producing a nuclear weapon," he said. "Iran now has to decide whether they are going to make known to the international community what they are doing. They need to sign an additional protocol. They need to answer all of the questions that have been raised to respect to their nuclear programs."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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