*EPF404 08/05/2004
Transcript: Iraq Coalition Remains Committed to Success, Powell Says
(Secretary notes participation of NATO, other Arab states) (2730)

Ongoing coalition efforts in Iraq now include NATO members and Arab countries that are "contributing in ways they can" to help the new Iraqi interim government meet its goals for the future, Secretary of State Colin Powell says.

In an August 4 interview with Fox News, Powell rejected criticism that the Bush administration is not reaching out to other countries for assistance in Iraq. Thirty-one countries, including most NATO members, have put troops on the ground in Iraq, he noted.

The secretary added that Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, recently completed a tour of neighboring countries to gain support from other Arab leaders.

"Now, we all agree it's not in the best interest for those neighboring countries to have troops in Iraq for a variety of historical and other reasons. But everybody wants to see this a success now and everybody is contributing in ways that they can, and we're going to continue to solicit additional help," Powell said.

"We've had donors' conferences, billions of dollars are available, the reconstruction money is starting to flow," he added.

"The [Iraqi] interim government is dedicated, committed, they want to build a solid democracy for their 25 million people and we're going to succeed in doing that," the secretary said.

Powell defended U.S. actions in Iraq, saying that President Bush "acted with a coalition of the willing, which was a strong coalition," and that while the coalition has lost a few members, "it's still strong and is present on the ground, helping the Iraqi people."

Saddam Hussein's regime "is gone and now what the world is going to see is a free nation emerging that will take on the burden of the fight against this insurgency. The Iraqis want to put this insurgency down and they will," the secretary said.

Acknowledging that there may be difficulties with elections in Afghanistan and Iraq in coming months, Powell said, "[T]hese elections are going to take place, and they will be, for the first time in their modern history or any history of either of these countries, where they will have freely elected government. That's something we should be proud of looking forward to."

Following is the transcript of Powell's remarks:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
August 4, 2004

INTERVIEW

Secretary Of State Colin L. Powell
With Brit Hume of Fox News Channel's
"Special Report with Brit Hume"

August 4, 2004
Washington, D.C.

(3:35 p.m. EDT)

MR. HUME: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.

SECRETARY POWELL: It's my pleasure, Brit.

MR. HUME: I want to ask you about something that the President's opponent said the other day because it bears on the work you do. "I know what we need to do in Iraq. I know what we need to do. It's what we should have done in the first place. We need to reach out to other countries. We need to be willing to share responsibilities, share reconstruction in the Arab states, have as much interest in not having a failed Iraq, as we do, but they're not there today. The European countries have as much interest in not having a failed Iraq as we do, but they're not there today. And the fact is it will take new leadership, fresh start," and so on. Your reaction?

SECRETARY POWELL: Thirty-one countries other than the United States, 31 countries, to include most of the NATO members, have put troops on the ground in Iraq. It's a fact, not speculation, there is a coalition there. The Arab countries are participating in other ways. Prime Minister Allawi just completed, the prime minister of the new Iraqi interim government, just completed a tour of his neighborhood and met with every one of those Arab leaders and got their support.

Now, we all agree it's not in the best interest for those neighboring countries to have troops in Iraq for a variety of historical and other reasons. But everybody wants to see this a success now and everybody is contributing in ways that they can, and we're going to continue to solicit additional help. We've had donors conferences, billions of dollars are available, the reconstruction money is starting to flow.

I was in Iraq last week and I saw how the ambassador, our ambassador, Ambassador Negroponte is working with the new interim government. The interim government is dedicated, committed, they want to build a solid democracy for their 25 million people and we're going to succeed in doing that.

MR. HUME: What about this idea that the opposition says that the team says, "We'll do what we should have done in the first place?" How do you respond to that?

SECRETARY POWELL: What we did, in the first place, was to remove a dictator. We removed a dictator and there is no question in our mind that we did the right thing. No more mass graves will be filled. We don't have to debate weapons of mass destruction, intention, capability of actual stockpiles anymore because this new Iraq will not have such weapons of mass destruction and the coalition came together. I mean, Prime Minister Berlusconi, Prime Minister Blair, Prime Minister Howard of Australia, it was a coalition of nations who decided this had to be done, and that's what we did last year.

I'm not sure what others might have done if they had been in positions of leadership but President Bush determined that this was a real threat to the region, to the world, it was a violation of obligations that Iraq had entered into, with respect to UN resolutions for the previous 12 years and President Bush would not simply walk away from this, he acted, and he acted with a coalition of the willing, which was a strong coalition, and that coalition has lost a few members but it's still strong and is present on the ground, helping the Iraqi people.

MR. HUME: The slogan of the Democratic ticket this year is, "Stronger at Home, Respected in the World." As someone who is heavily responsible for whatever respect we may have in the world, what is your response to that?

SECRETARY POWELL: Why should I respond to a political slogan?

MR. HUME: Well, let me put it this way --

SECRETARY POWELL: We're respect -- look, I have just come from being out in the world. I was in Poland where I was privileged to speak before tens of thousands of Poles on the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. They invited the American Secretary of State to be there, warmly received. Poland is in the coalition, in Iraq. I was in Hungary, where I spoke to a number of groups in Hungary and spoke to all of the Hungarian ambassadors and thanked them. For what? For being a part of the coalition. Hungarian troops are in Iraq.

It's difficult for them to be there. Public opinion is not that supportive. But they know it's the right thing. It's the right thing to be part of a coalition and to respect being in that coalition. And so I can't get involved in commenting on the various political slogans in a political year. It's not my job as Secretary of State.

MR. HUME: Well, could you perhaps comment on the idea that seems to be held in a number of quarters that the Iraq war has cost us, in terms of the regard in which this country is held in the world?

SECRETARY POWELL: The Iraq war has generated considerable anti-American feeling, in Europe and in the Arab world. There are a number of nations who said, "Don't do this. There are other ways to solve it." But you know, the President has to do what the President has to do to protect the country when he believes the country is threatened and when he believes it serves our interests, and that's what President Bush did.

Now, we are facing a difficult insurgency in Iraq, but we are organizing ourselves with the new Iraqi government to deal with this. The new Iraqi government is showing up for work every day in the face of assassination attempts. They're losing people and more people are stepping forward. As policemen are killed defending their cities and towns, more policemen are showing up to be recruited and to perform those functions.

So we'll put this insurgency down. And then the world will see what the United States has done in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fifty-five million people would not be free had it not been for the leadership of President Bush, if it had not been for his determination to deal with this threat of terrorism, and the nexus, potential nexus in Iraq, between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

And both of these nations are headed toward elections. And yes, there are difficulties ahead, but these elections are going to take place, and they will be, for the first time in their modern history or any history of either of these countries, where they will have freely elected government. That's something we should be proud of looking forward to.

MR. HUME: Two years ago, the President issued a challenge to the United Nations at the United Nations to prove, if it could, that it was still relevant in the world, that its resolutions meant something. Two years down the road, how well, in your judgment, has the UN met that challenge?

SECRETARY POWELL: In this particular instance, we didn't think they met the challenge. We passed Resolution 1441 in November of 2002, and we subsequently were not able to generate support for another vote. We believed there was sufficient authority in that resolution and we acted and we took out this regime.

Now, in the last year or so, I have worked on -- I think it's four or five, I'd have to get the exact counts for you -- resolutions dealing with Iraq before the United Nations and every one of them has passed unanimously: 1483, 1500, 1511, 1546 -- four. How's that?

MR. HUME: That's a better number than I have, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY POWELL: I'm assuming I'm right, Brit.

(Laughter.)

MR. HUME: We'll check.

SECRETARY POWELL: But the point here is that they were all approved unanimously. Why? Because all of the members of the Security Council do not want to see Iraq as a failure for the United States or for the international community. All of the members of the international coalition recognize that it is in our interest now not to review the history of last year's disagreement or to use it for political purposes this year, but to do everything we can to help the Iraqi people build a democracy.

I mean, look, NATO just last week approved the dispatch of a training machine to Iraq to help the Iraqi people train their police and military forces. France and Germany, opponents of our conflict last year, were part of that NATO consensus to get going on this training.

MR. HUME: I want to ask you about Sudan. You, probably as much as any world leader, have done all you could to call attention to the humanitarian calamity that has been happening there. We're looking at a government that, at a minimum, I think it's fair to say, has tolerated that, and yet the UN was not able to bring itself to use the word "sanctions" in the resolution dealing with Sudan. What do you say about an international organization that won't do that?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, you know, the UN is not one single organization, it is an organization of sovereign nations, and specifically in the Security Council, each nation brings its own sovereign interest to that. Our job, when we put forward a resolution, is to write the resolution in such a way that it gets the maximum number of votes.

We had originally put sanctions in the resolution and some people thought it was premature to think about sanctions, so we substituted another word right out of the UN charter called "measures." And if you look up what measures mean, it includes sanctions. And so, we didn't give up on the principle. We made it easier for some nations to say yes when they might have abstained. Therefore, you've got a 13-0 with two-abstention vote. And 30 days from now, if the Sudanese Government has not acted in accordance with the resolution, then you can go back to the Council and say, "Let's look at what measures might be appropriate."

Now, I've done more than just be a cheerleader for the problem in Darfur. We've worked hard. We put a lot more U.S. dollars into it. We have mobilized other nations in Africa and elsewhere in the world to put pressure on the Sudanese regime. There has been improvement in access to these beleaguered people and the camps they're in. And what we're concentrating on now is getting the security situation under control and we're pressing the Government of Sudan to do more on security.

MR. HUME: I just want to ask you one final thing about the UN and the path we took there. People ranging from Richard Holbrook on one side to James A. Baker on the Republican side said, at the time that we went to the UN on Iraq that we would get credit in the world for trying, even if in the end, we didn't get all we wanted.

You tried, the President tried, in the end, as you pointed out, we didn't get all the resolutions we wanted. If you look at the response in the world and the criticism we've taken and the political divisions at home and the emphasis that came to be placed on weapons of mass destruction as a result of the debate in the UN, was it worth it?

SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, of the six resolutions that we were considering, we took five to a vote; 1441, and the other four that I mentioned, all passed unanimously. The famous second resolution was not going to be passed because the French said they would veto it and the Russians said they would veto it, so we pulled it down. We didn't ask for a vote on it.

Now, the fact of the matter is that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, was a dictator, he's gone. All of the things that he has done in the past are now visible for the world to see. He destroyed his infrastructure, he filled graves, he had rape rooms, he suppressed the Shia in the south; all of that is going to be seen now and the world can see what we actually accomplished.

That regime is gone and now what the world is going to see is a free nation emerging that will take on the burden of the fight against this insurgency. The Iraqis want to put this insurgency down and they will.

And so, yes, I think it was worth it. He had the intention to develop weapons of mass destruction, he had the capability. As Tommy Frank says in his new book, he might not have had a loaded six-gun, but he had all the parts there and he had the bullets lined up. And if pressure had ever been released off of Saddam Hussein and the international community had stepped away and not done anything, some critics might want to believe that he never would have gone back to weapons of mass destruction.

Oh, no, I am not one of those. So we took the issue to the United Nations, asked the United Nations to act, the United Nations did act with 1441. The question was: would the United Nations have imposed the consequences that that resolution called for? And when it became apparent that some members of the Council will veto it, the President, boldly and correctly, decided to take an international coalition, put it together, a willing coalition and go and get the job done, and the job was done.

Now, are there challenges, are there continuing difficulties? You bet. Are we going to surmount them? You bet.

MR. HUME: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much.

(end transcript)

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

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