2003 Press Releases

Powell Says Iraq Must Not Be Allowed to "String Out" Inspection Process

Feb. 21, 2003

Iraq must not be allowed to "string out" the U.N. weapons inspection process until the world turns to other concerns, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the U.N. Security Council February 14, following reports to the council by the heads of the U.N. inspection team.

"We cannot allow this process to be endlessly strung out as Iraq is trying to do right now -- string it out long enough and the world will start looking in other directions," Powell said.

Powell said the time is fast approaching when the Security Council will have to consider whether Iraq must face "serious consequences" for its refusal to offer "immediate, active, unconditional, full cooperation" to U.N. attempts to verify whether it has gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction.

Powell said the improved cooperation that Iraq has begun to show toward U.N. inspections has not resolved the central issue -- Iraq's failure to comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 that demands the elimination of Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological weapons and its weapons delivery systems.

Powell said the reason Iraq must be forced to disarm is the potential harm that weapons of mass destruction could cause if they fell into the wrong hands.

"The reason we must not look away from it is because these are terrible weapons. We are talking about weapons that will kill not a few people, not a hundred people, not a thousand people, but that could kill tens of thousands of people if these weapons got into the wrong hands," Powell said.

The secretary said the United States is preparing to provide evidence of connections between Iraq and terrorist organizations.

The United States is deploying armed forces to the Persian Gulf in the event that military action is needed to force Iraq to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction.