Bill Clinton: “Good afternoon. Let me say first that I welcome U.N. Secretary-General Annan's mission to Baghdad. I thank him and his…”

“Good afternoon. Let me say first that I welcome U.N. Secretary-General Annan's mission to Baghdad. I thank him and his team for their hard work on behalf of the international community. I also want to commend each and every one of our men and women in uniform and our coalition partners for their steadfastness. Once again, we have seen that diplomacy must be backed by strength and resolve. The Government of Iraq has made a written commitment to provide immediate, unrestricted, unconditional access for the UNSCOM weapons inspectors to all suspect sites in Iraq, as called for by the United Nations Security Council resolutions. If fully implemented--and that is the big ``if''--this commitment will allow UNSCOM to fulfill its mission: first, to find and destroy all of Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; second, to find and destroy the missiles to deliver those weapons; and third, to institute a system for long-term monitoring to make sure Iraq does not build more. The Secretary-General has made clear that Iraq's commitment applies to all sites anywhere in the country, including eight so-called presidential sites, which are among the areas to which the weapons inspectors had previously been denied access. Senior diplomats appointed by the Secretary-General will accompany the UNSCOM experts as they inspect these sites, with repeat visits and no deadlines to complete their work. And Iraq has committed that all other areas, facilities, equipment, records, and means of transportation shall be open to UNSCOM under existing procedures. Again, this includes sites that were previously closed. There are issues that still need to be clarified to our satisfaction and details that need to be spelled out. We will hear from the Secretary-General tomorrow on these questions, and we will work with him and with UNSCOM to make sure the inspections are rigorous and professional. What really matters is Iraq's compliance, not its stated commitments; not what Iraq says, but what it does. In the days and weeks ahead, UNSCOM must test and verify. After two crises in the last 4 months, Iraq's failure to allow UNSCOM to do its job would be a serious, serious matter. If Iraq fails to comply this time to provide immediate, unrestricted, unconditional access to the weapons inspectors, there will be serious consequences. I have ordered our military to remain in the Persian Gulf. Our soldiers, our ships, our planes will stay there in force until we are satisfied that Iran is complying--Iraq is complying with its commitments. If the inspectors are allowed to inspect where and when they want, then they are the most effective tool we have to monitor Iraq's compliance with the commitment it made at the end of the Gulf war to give up all of its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, the missiles to deliver them, and the capacity to rebuild its arsenal. I hope today's agreement will prove to be the step forward we have been looking for. But the proof is in the testing. The United States remains resolved and ready to secure, by whatever means necessary, Iraq's full compliance with its commitment to destroy its weapons of mass destruction. Thank you.”