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Disarmament DocumentationBack to Disarmament Documentation 'The Evidence Will Be There For The World To See': Interview on Iraq with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, July 23US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, interview with Ghida Fakhry, representing Lebanese Broadcast Corporation and Al-Hayat newspaper, Washington, July 23. Question: Much is always said about the differences in approach and vision between the State Department and Pentagon with regard to how to deal with things in Iraq. Whose vision is being implemented today in Iraq... Secretary Powell: The President's. Question: ...yours or the Pentagon's? Powell: No, it's wrong. It's a wrong question. The President's vision is being implemented in Iraq today and the President's vision reflects the advice that he has received from both the Pentagon and State Department. The Pentagon and the State Department have been working very, very closely over the last eight months on this issue. I'm the one who went and presented the intelligence case to the United Nations on the 5th of February. And so surely there will always be some differences of perspective from the diplomatic side and from the military side, but what we are all doing is executing the President's vision and his decisions. And what you've seen is that a very terrible regime that was responsible for the death of tens upon tens of thousands of Muslims has been removed from power, no longer have weapons of mass destruction. I think the Arab world should look carefully at all of these graves that are now being opened up, mass graves filled with the bodies of people, Muslims, who were killed, not by the United States and not by the United Kingdom, but by Saddam Hussein and his sons and that regime - and it's gone. Question: I don't think anyone would argue the fact it was a terrible regime. We've seen all the evidence about it. But the war was fought on a different premise, on weapons of mass destruction being found. Now, with so many weeks and months having gone by without weapons of mass destruction being found, Saddam's still on the loose, rising toll of US casualties, what situation does that put the US in? Does that put you vis-a-vis the Europeans, who did not want this war to take place, in a position of we told you so? Powell: Some Europeans did not believe the war was appropriate. Most Europeans did believe it was an appropriate war and most Europeans did support the action of the coalition. With respect to weapons of mass destruction, I am confident that as we develop information, as more informants come forward, informants of the kind that helped us find the two sons of Saddam Hussein, the evidence will be there for the world to see. The world agreed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The world passed resolution after resolution in the Security Council saying that he had weapons of mass destruction and he had to do something about it, had to account for them, get rid of them, destroy them, and they didn't do it. And therefore I believe that the coalition was fully justified under UN Resolution 1441, which starts out with an indictment of the regime, we were fully justified in taking the action that was taken. And one can debate the premise, one can argue about facts, one can argue about intelligence information and one can argue about perceived differences between the various departments of the US Government, but the reality of the world today, on this day, is that this regime is gone, the people of Iraq are now looking to a better life. They are going to have an economy that functions, they're going to be respected on the world stage. And I think that is what we ought to be looking at. ... Question: Mr. Secretary, in recent days, there has been a bit of stepped-up rhetoric from this administration towards Syria and Iran. Do you think that this administration can convince the world about - to the issue of weapons of mass destruction, the threats of them, or lack thereof - in the light of its inability to present the evidence in the case on Iraq? Powell: The evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction has been seen by the world for 14 years. Do not, do not suggest to your audience that Iraq did not have or has never had weapons of mass destruction. The evidence is there, and we have seen it. Question: We just haven't found the weapons. Powell: Yes, we have. We have pictures of all through the '90s, of weapons of mass destruction that they had. We had them throwing out the inspectors, making sure the inspectors had to leave. And I think the case I presented on the 5th of February, has yet to be undercut by what we have - what we have seen. Now, we have people searching all over Iraq now. And I am quite confident that when they finish their work, when they finish their report, there will be no question about it. But it should not be - no impression should be left that somehow Iraq was innocent of possession of weapons of mass destruction being used against their own people and against the Iranians. Now, with respect to Iran and Syria, the rhetoric hasn't been changed significantly. We have said to both of them that if they want to have a better relationship with the United States, and if they, frankly, want to contribute to the process of peace that is underway in the region, then they have to stop supporting terrorist organizations. They have to stop providing the wherewithal to Hezbollah to conduct terrorist acts. And we also believe both of those nations should foreswear, not get involved in the development of weapons of mass destruction, on the Iranian side especially, programs that would lead to the development of a nuclear weapon. I don't think these are unreasonable demands to place on both Syria and Iran. Do they want to see peace in the region? Do they want to see the roadmap executed, or do they want to continue to support organizations that are not for peace, that are not for a Palestinian state, are only for the destruction of Israel, which won't happen? ... Source: Powell Says Progress Being Achieved in Iraq, US Department of State (Washington File), http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/products/washfile.html, July 23. © 2003 The Acronym Institute. |