PRESS BRIEFING BY UNSCOM EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNSCOM EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission on the disarmament of Iraq (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, said that yesterday UNSCOM Inspector William S. Ritter had handed in his letter of resignation.

"I read it, I talked with him about, and it was clear to me that the best course of action was to accept it", Mr. Butler said. "In doing so, I expressed to him my deep regret that his departure from UNSCOM would take away from us skills, knowledge and dedication that we needed and had been very valuable." Mr. Butler said he had also expressed his deepest gratitude for the enormous contributions made by Mr. Ritter, his sacrifices in the service of UNSCOM, and gratitude to his family.

Mr. Ritter had left, but UNSCOM would go on with its work, Mr. Butler said. There was work to do in disarmament, as well as the constant job of monitoring.

A correspondent asked whether Mr. Butler agreed with Mr. Ritter's reasons for resigning, and how he had reacted to the fact that the resignation letter had been leaked prior to its submission. Mr. Butler said he was not sure such a leak had occurred. Mr. Ritter's resignation letter expressed the strongly held views of a man of integrity. In accepting his letter, and deciding to do what he asked in giving immediate effect to his resignation, Mr. Butler had recognized that fact. He would not go into the question of whether or not he shared the views expressed in the document.

Mr. Ritter and Mr. Butler both agreed that there was work to be done in disarmament, contrary to the assertions put forth by Iraq that such work was complete, he said. As Executive Chairman of the Commission, he intended to strive to do that work -- to tell the Security Council at the earliest possible time, with surety and evidence, that Iraq was disarmed, so it could act accordingly and take a decision regarding the sanctions.

Another correspondent drew attention to a report in the Washington Post to the effect that three senior aides to the Secretary-General had said "there would be no tears if Mr. Butler resigned". The Russian Ambassador in the Security Council had also suggested in closed consultations that Mr. Butler should resign, the correspondent said. Was Mr. Butler considering such action? he asked.

Questions on reports pertaining to the office of the Secretary-General were more appropriately answered by the Secretary-General's spokesman, Mr. Butler said.

Mr. Eckhard said the Washington Post had suggested that associates of the Secretary-General had implied that the Secretary-General would not be unhappy if Mr. Butler resigned. However, the Spokesman had received fresh guidance from the Secretary-General in Ghana this morning. The Secretary- General had recommended the Ambassador's appointment by the Security Council, and he stood by that recommendation, as he had done throughout.

Asked by the same correspondent if he was considering resigning, Mr. Butler said he was mystified at why such a question would be asked. The Secretary-General and he remained in good confidence with each other. Mr. Butler said he had a job to do and he intended to continue to do it.

How could he continue to do it when the Security Council and two of its leading members were not prepared to back up its own enforcement resolutions? a correspondent asked. Mr. Butler said the title of his position contained the word "executive", which meant the person to execute policy. The Security Council made policy, his job was to see that it was carried out. There was no lack of policy guidance for UNSCOM. Detailed resolutions existed regarding disarmament and monitoring. The Council stood by those and had said, even a week ago, that Iraq must comply with them.

"Or else what?" a correspondent asked. Mr. Butler said she should speak to members of the Security Council about that. The Council was now discussing about what to do about Iraq's current stance. That was its job. Mr. Butler's job was to execute the law. He had never heard from the Council that it was not determined that Iraq should comply with the law. He had a letter from it saying the Commission should continue with its job.

A correspondent asked whether a replacement for Mr. Ritter would be sought and what the process for that would be. Mr. Butler said a preliminary discussion on the matter had been held this morning. There was need to replace Mr. Ritter because of his very real responsibilities at Headquarters, in addition to his work in the field. Mr. Ritter had accompanied Mr. Butler to talks in Baghdad a week ago because the Executive Chairman had, in June, foreshadowed to Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that if UNSCOM did its programme of work and started to get towards the end of the disarmament files -- in particular, in missiles and chemical weapons -- it would be in a position to clear up other issues in the area of concealment, for which Mr. Ritter had had a distinct responsibility.

If those high-level talks in Baghdad had not been stopped three weeks ago by the Iraqi side, he had hoped that issues of concealment would have been addressed, Mr. Butler said. Those issues remained and would need to be addressed at some stage, so a new person would have to be recruited.

A correspondent said there had been unconfirmed reports about an investigation being conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on whether Mr. Ritter had given information to Israeli

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intelligence. Was Mr. Butler aware of any such investigation? Had he or any other UNSCOM authorities been approached in connection with it?

Mr. Butler said Mr. Ritter had been asked in public about that and had said there was no basis for it. Since the issue was a United States matter, Mr. Butler could not and had not commented on its substance. The question was better addressed to authorities from the United States.

The correspondent said that Mr. Ritter had simply stated that he was not an agent of Israeli or United States intelligence. Mr. Butler reiterated that the question was better addressed to United States authorities.

A correspondent asked if Mr. Butler was satisfied that he held the confidence of the United Nations and the Security Council to carry on his work. He said Mr. Butler had been quoted in the Washington Post as saying that if he concluded he was "presiding over an empty shell", he would give up. Given that Iraq had suspended its cooperation on 5 August and the Council had done nothing since then except to authorize presidential statements, when would Mr. Butler reach such a conclusion?

The Security Council had made it abundantly clear that it was determined that Iraq should comply with its decisions and resolutions, Mr. Butler said. He was satisfied that the Council wanted UNSCOM to continue to do its work to the fullest. He had received such information in writing from the President of the Council as recently as 18 August.

Regarding the quote in the Washington Post, he said it was not precisely what he thought he had said, or did not reflect the whole of what he had said -- as sometimes happened with busy people, including those who wrote for newspapers. However, his basic point remained: he was satisfied that UNSCOM was strongly supported by the Security Council. There was still work to do. The Commission was nowhere near "an empty shell"; thus, the question was theoretical.

Was Mr. Butler concerned about the idea that entities from national groups could be investigating UNSCOM inspectors? a correspondent asked. The Executive Chairman said he wanted to make it clear that he had not been approached by the FBI. The story could be made to seem bigger than it was. The Special Commission was a multinational organization, to which some 40 Member States had contributed staff. "That was one of the things that made the Commission strong and good", he said.

One issue that had arisen as a result of Mr. Ritter's resignation involved questions about the degree of national interference in UNSCOM's work, Mr. Butler went on to say. The Special Commission regularly received and listened to the views of representatives of Member States, in particular those who contributed staff. He had never had experience of the line being crossed between States having the right to express their views and their recognition

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that, having heard those views, the operational decisions were Mr. Butler's. Those arrangements were correct under the law. He had no evidence of interference or investigations.

Asked further about the situation in Iraq, Mr. Butler said that, owing to decisions announced by the Government on 5 August, the scope of UNSCOM's monitoring had been reduced. It was now only permitted to monitor sites declared by Iraq in its regular six-month declaration of sites on which it was prepared to accept monitoring. The Special Commission would prefer to be able to monitor other sites as well. It was important that disarmament inspections be resumed as soon as possible. To date, monitoring under the reduced regime had not produced evidence suggesting that prohibited activity.

To a question about reports that Iraq was using offshore facilities to develop and produce prohibited weapons, Mr. Butler said that UNSCOM had for eight years received reports on all relevant activities, including those that could suggest conduct outside the country's borders. The Special Commission had an import-export regime that it monitored. Under the law, it followed any leads that had to do with Iraq's prohibited weapons programme.

A correspondent asked about the accuracy of alleged incidents cited by the Washington Post of the United States asking Mr. Butler to call off inspections or about removing Mr. Ritter. Mr. Butler said he had replied to that question when it was posed to him by that newspaper, and part, but not all, of his two-part answer had been used in the published article.

First, the claim that he had been subject to undue pressure by senior representatives of the United States was utterly false, the Executive Chairman went on to say. He had received representations from United States representatives both in New York and in Washington since he had been in the job regarding their concerns about implementation of the Council's policy decisions. He had never felt that the representation of those views could be described as undue pressure or persuasion, or that they crossed the line between legitimate policy interest and his responsibility for operational decisions. "Never", he stressed.

The second thing he had told the Washington Post was that the United States was not alone, Mr. Butler said. The sorts of opinions and views he had received from United States representatives had also been conveyed by representatives of a number of interested governments. That was absolutely normal and desirable. "The higher degree of communication, the better we are able to stay together and pursue our common task", he said. To single out the United States was contrary to the facts.

None of those who had made their views known had sought to cross the line between policy opinion and responsibility for operational decisions, Mr. Butler said. He would not go into detail about the chronology of purported events published by the Washington Post, because doing so would mean

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that UNSCOM would not be able to conduct its business in a confidential and diplomatic manner. The Special Commission had not put video cameras into conference rooms and then distributed the tapes, as the Iraqis had done. That was no way to do business.

That policy, however, denied him the possibility of pointing out aspects of those stories which were false, the Executive Chairman said. He would not elaborate, because he felt that would be wrong in principle. It was more important to stress that all countries which had expressed their views to him had observed the distinction between their right to do so and his responsibility to take operational decisions, as called for by the Security Council's resolutions.

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