Bill Clinton: “Well, I think he has admitted that he has to honor commitments he made back in '91. You know, I think that our tough…”

“Well, I think he has admitted that he has to honor commitments he made back in '91. You know, I think that our tough response was essential to getting him to admit that. The Secretary-General has conducted a hard mission. I am satisfied that he has done the best he can. And I am satisfied that we would not have this commitment to open all these spots had not the United States and our allies--and there were lots of them, don't forget--been prepared to go further and to take whatever actions were necessary. But the main thing we need to do now is to focus on clarifying the details of the agreement to our satisfaction, then going ahead and testing it and verifying the commitment. I think that is the most useful thing. What we want here is to secure the safety of the people who would be exposed to chemical and biological weapons and to whatever nuclear capacity that he might still have. You know, the United States--I think I should point this out, it's not been part of my statement, but the United States--and Ambassador Richardson was there carrying the ball for us--we strongly supported expanding the program under Resolution 986 in the Security Council to let Iraq sell even more oil to go for food, to lift the Iraqi children above the minimum caloric requirement for all growing children in the world, to build 5,000 more schools, to put a lot more medicine into that country, to rebuild the water and sewer systems and the agriculture system. We care a lot about the people of Iraq, and we want them to have a decent life. But we all--we must still be vigilant and steadfast about this regime. This is--and I say again, one of you asked me this question--this is not about trusting. First, we need to be clear on what it means, and he needs to be clear on what it means. And then we need to see whether it is enforced. And if it is, fine. If it's not, then the alternative will be a clear course of action to everyone in the world.”