Bill Clinton: “Well, those are two very different questions. Let me say, first of all, we are encouraged by the level of compliance so…”

“Well, those are two very different questions. Let me say, first of all, we are encouraged by the level of compliance so far with the U.N. inspections and by the evidence that has been adduced on the nuclear side that more progress has been made. And I believe we've already issued a statement that we believe that if Baghdad will continue to work with us, that by October the U.N. may well be able to certify that they are actually in compliance on the nuclear side, and they can go from the inspection to the monitoring phase. Keep in mind, even under the agreements, the U.N. resolutions, no matter what is found out in any of these areas, there will still be a monitoring regime there. Our position on lifting the sanctions is that the U.N. resolutions have to be complied with completely, and then we'd vote to lift the sanctions. So this is just the nuclear piece. But I am encouraged by that. Now, on the question of reducing our military presence in the Gulf, I would wait for a recommendation from the Pentagon with involvement from the State Department and the NSC on that. That is, we have a certain number of carrier groups and a certain number of assets to deploy at sea. They have to be trained; they also need to be deployed in different places for different reasons. So, inevitably, unless we believe there is some reason for it to be there at some point in the future, I would anticipate some reallocation of our resources. But I have not received a recommendation on that yet by the Defense Department. Sam [Sam Donaldson, ABC News]. Presidential Standards”