    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 46 (Monday, November 17, 1997)]
    [Pages 1808-1809]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on the Situation in Iraq

    November 14, 1997

        Two days ago and again last night, the United Nations Security
    Council sent a clear, unanimous message to Iraq: Stop obstructing the
    international weapons inspectors who are the eyes and ears of the world
    on your weapons of mass destruction capability.
        Instead of complying with the unequivocal will of the international
    community, Saddam chose to expel the weapons inspectors from Iraq, and
    in so doing, to defy the United Nations. Saddam has spent the better
    part of the last two decades and much of the wealth of his nation not on
    providing for the needs and advancing the hopes of the Iraqi people but
    on a program to build an arsenal of the most terrible weapons of
    destruction--nuclear, chemical, biological--and on the missiles to carry
    them to faraway places.
        The U.N. inspectors have done a remarkable job of finding and
    destroying the weapons and the weapons potential he was hiding and
    preventing him from building new weapons. These quiet inspectors have
    destroyed more weapons of mass destruction potential over the last 6
    years than was destroyed in the entire Gulf war. Their work is important
    to the safety of Saddam's neighbors and, indeed, to people all around
    the world. It must be allowed to continue.
        Today and in the days ahead, the United States will work intensively
    with our allies and our friends in the region and around the world to
    convince Iraq to comply with the will of the international community as
    expressed in the United Nations resolution.
        Meanwhile, the U-2 missions over Iraq must continue. Without
    inspectors on the ground, it is more important than ever to monitor
    events from the air. And we will maintain a strong military presence in
    the Gulf. To that end, I have ordered today the aircraft carrier George
    Washington to the region as a prudent measure to help assure that we
    have the forces we need for any contingency.

    [[Page 1809]]

        This is a crisis of Saddam's making. It can be unmade only when he
    can no longer threaten the international community with weapons of mass
    destruction.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:46 p.m. in the Briefing Room at the White
    House.