[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 6 (Monday, February 10, 2003)]
[Pages 164-165]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Iraqi Regime's Noncompliance With United Nations 
Resolutions

February 6, 2003

    The Secretary of State has now briefed the United Nations Security 
Council on Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempts to hide those 
weapons, and its links to terrorist groups. I want to thank Secretary 
Powell for his careful and powerful presentation of the facts.
    The information in the Secretary's briefing and other information in 
our possession was obtained through great skill and often at personal 
risk. Uncovering secret information in a totalitarian society is one of 
the most difficult intelligence challenges. Those who accept that 
challenge, both in our intelligence services and in those of our friends 
and allies, perform a great service to all free nations, and I'm 
grateful for their good work.
    The Iraqi regime's violations of Security Council resolutions are 
evident, and they continue to this hour. The regime has never accounted 
for a vast arsenal of deadly biological and chemical weapons. To the 
contrary, the regime is pursuing an elaborate campaign to conceal its 
weapons materiels and to hide or intimidate key experts and scientists, 
all in direct defiance of Security Council 1441.
    This deception is directed from the highest levels of the Iraqi 
regime, including Saddam Hussein, his son, the Vice President, and the 
very official responsible for cooperating with inspectors. In 
intercepted conversations, we have heard orders to conceal materiels 
from the U.N. inspectors. And we have seen through satellite images 
concealment activity at close to 30 sites, including movement of 
equipment before inspectors arrive.
    The Iraqi regime has actively and secretly attempted to obtain 
equipment needed to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. 
Firsthand witnesses have informed us that Iraq has at least seven mobile 
factories for the production of biological agents, equipment mounted on 
trucks and rails to evade discovery. Using these factories, Iraq could 
produce within just months hundreds of pounds of biological poisons.
    The Iraqi regime has acquired and tested the means to deliver 
weapons of mass destruction. All the world has now seen the footage of 
an Iraqi Mirage aircraft with a fuel tank modified to spray biological 
agents over wide areas. Iraq has developed spray devices that could be 
used on unmanned aerial vehicles with ranges far beyond what is 
permitted by the Security Council. A UAV launched from a vessel off the 
American coast could reach hundreds of miles inland.
    Iraq has never accounted for thousands of bombs and shells capable 
of delivering chemical weapons. The regime is actively pursuing 
components for prohibited ballistic missiles. And we have sources that 
tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders 
to use chemical weapons, the very weapons the dictator tells the world 
he does not have.
    One of the greatest dangers we face is that weapons of mass 
destruction might be passed to terrorists, who would not hesitate to use 
those weapons. Saddam Hussein has longstanding, direct, and continuing 
ties to terrorist networks. Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and Al 
Qaida have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent 
bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with Al Qaida. Iraq has 
also provided Al Qaida with chemical and biological weapons training.
    We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network headed by a 
senior Al Qaida terrorist planner. The network runs a poison and 
explosive training center in northeast Iraq, and many of its leaders are 
known to be in Baghdad. The head of this network traveled to Baghdad for 
medical treatment and stayed for months. Nearly two dozen associates 
joined him there and have been operating in Baghdad for more than 8 
months.
    The same terrorist network operating out of Iraq is responsible for 
the murder, the recent murder, of an American citizen, an American 
diplomat, Laurence Foley. The same network has plotted terrorism against 
France, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Republic of Georgia, and Russia, and 
was caught producing poisons in London. The danger Saddam Hussein poses 
reaches across the world.
    This is the situation as we find it. Twelve years after Saddam 
Hussein agreed to disarm and 90 days after the Security Council passed

[[Page 165]]

Resolution 1441 by a unanimous vote, Saddam Hussein was required to make 
a full declaration of his weapons programs. He has not done so. Saddam 
Hussein was required to fully cooperate in the disarmament of his 
regime. He has not done so. Saddam Hussein was given a final chance. He 
is throwing that chance away.
    The dictator of Iraq is making his choice. Now the nations of the 
Security Council must make their own. On November 8, by demanding the 
immediate disarmament of Iraq, the United Nations Security Council spoke 
with clarity and authority. Now the Security Council will show whether 
its words have any meaning. Having made its demands, the Security 
Council must not back down when those demands are defied and mocked by a 
dictator.
    The United States would welcome and support a new resolution which 
makes clear that the Security Council stands behind its previous 
demands. Yet resolutions mean little without resolve. And the United 
States, along with a growing coalition of nations, is resolved to take 
whatever action is necessary to defend ourselves and disarm the Iraqi 
regime.
    On September the 11th, 2001, the American people saw what terrorists 
could do by turning four airplanes into weapons. We will not wait to see 
what terrorists or terrorist states could do with chemical, biological, 
radiological, or nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein can now be expected to 
begin another round of empty concessions, transparently false denials. 
No doubt, he will play a last-minute game of deception. The game is 
over.
    All the world can rise to this moment. The community of free nations 
can show that it is strong and confident and determined to keep the 
peace. The United Nations can renew its purpose and be a source of 
stability and security in the world. The Security Council can affirm 
that it is able and prepared to meet future challenges and other 
dangers. And we can give the Iraqi people their chance to live in 
freedom and choose their own Government.
    Saddam Hussein has made Iraq into a prison, a poison factory, and a 
torture chamber for patriots and dissidents. Saddam Hussein has the 
motive and the means and the recklessness and the hatred to threaten the 
American people. Saddam Hussein will be stopped.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 4:33 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq.