Global Policy Forum

By Reuters

Following is the text of a statement made Thursday by John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, after U.N. Security Council consultations on Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration. He was the only member of the 15-nation body to declare a "material breach."

"Today the Security Council met in informal consultations to discuss the Iraqi Dec. 7 declaration. We informed the Council that we were deeply disappointed that Iraq has again defied council's demands and chosen deception and concealment over full disclosure.

"The Dec. 7 declaration clearly shows that Iraq has spurned its last opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations. Padded with reams of extraneous material, the declaration fails to address scores of questions pending since 1998; it seeks to deceive when it says Iraq has no ongoing weapons of mass destruction programs. It also fails completely to comply with the provisions of operative paragraph number three of Resolution 1441.

"It is truly unfortunate that Iraq has begun what was supposed to be a new chapter in compliance with Council resolutions by falling back on the regime's practice of omissions, evasions and untruths.

"As you know, Dr. (Hans) Blix and Dr. (Mohamed) ElBaradei have told us that most of the 12,000 pages in the December 7 Declaration simply rehash previous full, final and complete declarations that UNSCOM (the now defunct U.N. Special Commission), IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the Council have already assessed as inadequate.

"It should be obvious that this pattern of systematic holes and gaps in Iraq's declaration is not the result of accidents, editing oversights or technical mistakes.

"These are material omissions that in our view constitute another material breach. It is up to Iraq to prove that there is some other explanation besides the obvious one, that this declaration is just one more act of deception in a history of lies from a defiant dictator.

"In the days ahead, we intend to continue our analysis of this declaration. We will be consulting with friends, allies, and other members of the council and we will support the efforts of UNMOVIC (U.N. Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission) and IAEA as they carry forward with their work.

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