For Immediate Release
December 18, 2002
Global Message
KEY POINTS
Disarming the Iraqi regime is a central commitment of the war
on terror. We must prevent terrorist groups and outlaw regimes from
threatening the American people with catastrophic harm. As the new
inspections process proceeds, the United States will be making only one
judgment: Has Saddam Hussein changed his behavior of the last 11 years
and decided to cooperate willingly and comply completely, or has he
not? Thus far we are not seeing the fundamental shift in practice
and attitude that the world is demanding. Iraq's letters to the UN
regarding inspections show that their attitude is grudging and
conditional. And in recent days, Iraq has fired on American and British
pilots enforcing the UN's no-fly zone. Iraq was required by the UN
to provide a full and accurate declaration of its weapons of mass
destruction and ballistic missile programs. As Secretary Powell has
said, there are problems with the declaration. We will be sharing our
thoughts on this in greater detail later this week.
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