Little Hope Iraq Intends to Comply, Negroponte Says
(U.S. ambassador's remarks outside U.N. Security Council)

United Nations -- Reports from the chief U.N. weapons inspectors do
not give the United States hope that Iraq intends to fully comply with
Security Council demands to disarm, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte
said January 27.

Speaking with journalists after hearing a report from the chief U.N.
weapons inspectors on the first 60 days of their work in Iraq,
Negroponte said "what we have seen ... is that, in spite of the
urgency introduced in resolution 1441, Iraq is back to business as
usual. The danger is that the council may return to business as usual
as well."

The ambassador said "it benefits no one to let Saddam think he can
wear us down into ‘business as usual' as he has practiced it over the
past twelve years."

Negroponte, who is the chief U.S. envoy to the United Nations, pointed
out that Iraq's declaration of its weapons program "did not even
address the most basic questions of concern dating back to 1999." He
noted that in recent weeks undeclared chemical warheads have been
found by the U.N. inspectors, and he said that Baghdad has "an entire
state apparatus ... whose sole purpose is to obstruct the
inspections."

Following are abbreviations and terms used in the text:

-- UNMOVIC: United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection
Commission.
-- IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency.
-- WMD: Weapons of Mass Destruction.
-- UNSCOM: U.N. Special Commission.

Following is the transcript of Negroponte's remarks:

(begin transcript)

Remarks by Ambassador John D. Negroponte
United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Following the Security Council Briefing on Iraq at the Security
Council Stakeout
January 27, 2003

Ambassador Negroponte: Eighty days ago, on November 8, in a historic
display of unity, the Security Council passed Resolution 1441 and gave
Iraq a final opportunity to voluntarily disarm.

Unfortunately, nothing we have heard today gives us hope that Iraq
intends to fully comply with Resolution 1441 or any of the 16
resolutions that preceded it over the last twelve years.

The purpose of 1441 was disarmament. It was never the task of the
inspectors to look under every rock to find Iraq's hidden weapons.
Inspections are a means to verifying and achieving disarmament when a
country has determined that it will voluntarily disarm. Inspections
are a means to an end and they cannot be expected to achieve
disarmament when a country has an active program of denial and
deception, as is the case with Iraq.

The international community knows what voluntary disarmament looks
like. We've seen it with South Africa, the Ukraine and other nations.
And what we have seen from Iraq over the past 12 years and over the
past 80 days is not it.

Resolution 1441 presented Iraq with at least two important tests.
First, would Iraq submit a "currently accurate, full and complete"
Declaration of all aspects of its WMD programs and delivery systems
and second, would Iraq "cooperate immediately, unconditionally and
actively with UNMOVIC and the IAEA"?

What we have seen over the past 80 days is that, in spite of the
urgency introduced in Resolution 1441, Iraq is back to business as
usual. The danger is that the Council may return to business as usual
as well.

We received a revealingly inadequate declaration that the inspectors
themselves have called "rich on volume and poor on information." It
was a declaration that did not even address the most basic questions
of concern dating back to 1999 as contained in the Compendium of
Outstanding Disarmament Issues, prepared by UNSCOM. And we have seen
nothing since the December 7 Declaration to indicate that they plan to
remedy this situation and come into compliance with Resolution 1441.

In the past few weeks alone, inspectors found 12 chemical warheads
that should have been in the declaration but were not. They also found
3,000 pages of secret Iraqi government documents -- documents, I would
note that should have been included in the declaration but were not --
hidden in the home of an Iraqi scientist. This is physical evidence
that Iraq's declaration is inaccurate and incomplete.

In terms of cooperation, there is an entire state apparatus in Iraq
whose sole purpose is to obstruct the inspections. Inspectors are
outnumbered by minders, sometimes by as many as 5 to 1 each time they
head out on a mission. Iraq has cancelled interviews and has refused
Dr. Blix's request to employ the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, a clear
violation of Resolution 1441. They are not cooperating
unconditionally.

Iraq is failing both of these tests and in the days ahead, we believe
the Council and its member governments, must face its responsibilities
and consider what message Council irresolution sends to Iraq and other
proliferators. It benefits no one to let Saddam think he can wear us
down into "business as usual" as he has practiced it over the past
twelve years.

Thank you very much.

Reporter: Which way America will go? Will go unilaterally, or it still
wants to work with Security Council?

Ambassador Negroponte: We're going to go into these consultations now
and again on Wednesday, and I'm sure there will be more on this as the
situation unfolds, but I must excuse myself.

Reporter: Dr. ElBaradei has made a plea for a few more months. Sir,
what is your reaction?

Ambassador Negroponte: Time is getting short.