Thirty countries have agreed to be part of the coalition for the immediate
disarmament of Iraq, and several more countries are offering other forms of
military and post-conflict support, said State Department Spokesman Richard
Boucher.
Briefing reporters at the State Department in Washington March 18, Boucher
said, "these are countries who have all stood up and said it is time to
disarm Iraq, and if Iraq doesn't do that peacefully, we need to be prepared
to do it by whatever means are necessary -- people that are associating
themselves in public with the effort to make sure that Iraq is disarmed and
disarmed soon."
Boucher listed the countries in alphabetical order: Afghanistan, Albania,
Australia, Azerbaijan, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador,
Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea,
Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines,
Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and
Uzbekistan.
"Each country is contributing in the ways that it deems the most
appropriate" and has talked publicly about its contributions, Boucher said.
Boucher said that in addition to the 30 countries listed, at least 15 more
countries are offering defensive assets in the event that Saddam Hussein
resorts to using weapons of mass destruction.
"Some of these people are what you might call boots on the ground, in
terms
of providing military support or deploying defensive military units like,
for example, nuclear, biological and chemical specialists to be available
for defense of areas if the Iraqi regime should use chemical, biological,
or nuclear weapons," Boucher said.
Boucher said that the 15 countries that have not been listed as part of the
coalition "are in fact participating in defensive measures or other things,
but just don't feel they want to be publicly listed at this point, so this
is a -- I got to say this is a changing list and changing numbers."
Boucher noted that still more countries are offering to provide access,
basing, and overflight rights, as well as post-conflict peacekeeping and
reconstruction.
Following is an excerpt containing Boucher's March 18 remarks on the
coalition for disarming Iraq:
(begin excerpt)
MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. All right. I
don't have any statements or announcements. I'd be glad to take your
questions.
QUESTION: Can you, in any way you can, describe the functions of the 30
countries listed as part of the coalition? The first question, of course,
would be, are more than a handful contributing troops? And -- well, let's
begin with that.
MR. BOUCHER: There are 30 countries who have agreed to be part of the
coalition for the immediate disarmament of Iraq. I'd have to say these are
countries that we have gone to and said, "Do you want to be listed?"
and
they have said, "Yes."
I'll read them to you alphabetically, so that we get the definitive list
out on the record.
They are: Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Colombia, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia,
Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the
Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain,
Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan.
Each country is contributing in the ways that it deems the most
appropriate. Some of these countries, I suppose all these countries have
talked in public about what they're doing.
In addition to these countries, there are actually another 15 or so that we
know of, probably more than 15, that are cooperating with us in -- and the
coalition, or perhaps offering defensive assets in the event that Saddam
resorts to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Some of these people are what you might call boots on the ground, in terms
of providing military support or deploying defensive military units like,
for example, nuclear, biological and chemical specialists to be available
for defense of areas if the Iraqi regime should use chemical, biological,
or nuclear weapons.
There are other countries who may be providing access, basing, or
overflight rights. Still others have committed themselves to post-conflict
peacekeeping and reconstruction. And you have some -- for example, Japan
was very clearly not in the former category, but in the latter.
I think all these countries, one way or the other, and some others, have
talked about what they're doing.
QUESTION: Well, in the list -- excuse me. But there's a footnote next to
Japan specifying that their cooperation or support is postwar.
MR. BOUCHER: I think this has got to be the list, the way I just discussed
it, but --
QUESTION: No, no, no. I hear you, but --
MR. BOUCHER: Yes.
QUESTION: -- what we -- I understand that Japan is postwar.
MR. BOUCHER: Yes.
QUESTION: Let me put it that way. Are there others among the 30 who are
simply part of a postwar reconstruction effort?
MR. BOUCHER: Many of these people are associated somehow militarily with
the action. I think most, almost all is probably a better description.
Some of them, like Japan, are probably exclusively interested in the
post-conflict situation and helping out if we get to that, but I think most
of these others, if you look at what they, themselves, have said, are in
some ways willing or participating in, or supporting potential conflict, if
that's where it ends up.
QUESTION: Richard, the --
MR. BOUCHER: And I would have to say some of the other 15 who have not
listed themselves a part of the coalition, are in fact participating in
defensive measures or other things, but just don't feel they want to be
publicly listed at this point, so this is a -- I got to say this is a
changing list and changing numbers.
QUESTION: Okay. So I think that might answer my question. Are you saying
that your coalition of the willing and coalition of the unwilling to be
named is expandable, you're still out there recruiting?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes, it is.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. BOUCHER: There are people who may want to be named in the future, and
there are, I am sure, people who will be participating in other things if
we have to go forward.
QUESTION: And two, I know you don't want to get into specifics of what
each country would offer, but at least two countries on this list kind of
jump out at me in terms of their abilities to do anything, and that would
be Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
I understand that Afghanistan might be overflight rights, but what kind of
thing would -- and not to denigrate the Ethiopians, but what kind of thing
would you --
QUESTION: Eritrea.
QUESTION: -- Eritrea -- what kind of things are these countries which, you
know, do not have great amounts of resources and are not really --
MR. BOUCHER: They may not be deploying. They may not be providing a
specific resource, or they may just be allowing access, overflight, or
other participation in that way, or they may just have decided they want to
be publicly associated with the effort to disarm Iraq. Remember, that is
the fundamental of this, that these are countries who have all stood up and
said it is time to disarm Iraq, and if Iraq doesn't do that peacefully, we
need to be prepared to do it by whatever means are necessary -- people that
are associating themselves in public with the effort to make sure that Iraq
is disarmed and disarmed soon.
QUESTION: In terms of the size of this coalition, compared with others
that you've created, to do with international goals, how big is this? I've
heard it's the third largest assembly?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't quite want to do that yet, because of the question
that Barry asked, because I want to make sure before I start saying. I
think the generally held number for the Persian Gulf War was 31.*
But I do, I want to check that. I am not sure that we have the same
standards or inclusion. This is a list of countries, 30 countries, that
want to be publicly associated with the idea that Iraq needs to be disarmed
now. They are all participating, contributing in some way, or interested
in participating in some way. I suspect the numbers don't quite compare
yet, and so I'm going to be very careful about not making that comparison
yet.
QUESTION: Richard, the standard -- it's a very diverse, eclectic list, and
obviously the standard for inclusion is very low. Does this mean that --
well, agreeing to be listed --
MR. BOUCHER: I would point out --
QUESTION: Does that mean --
MR. BOUCHER: -- it is probably higher than the standard for inclusion in
the room here. But anyway --
QUESTION: Ooh. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Did -- I assume that you asked everybody in the world whether
they were willing to go on this list, and therefore you had 160 rejections,
were there?
MR. BOUCHER: No.
QUESTION: How many did you ask, then?
MR. BOUCHER: We asked a number of countries that we knew were involved or
potentially involved. I don't have the exact number, but I think the fact
that you have this many countries that want to stand up and associate
themselves with the effort at this point and that, as you know, there are
others who are taking steps and doing real things to contribute to the
effort to disarm Iraq is significant.
QUESTION: If any country in the world said, "We want to be listed,"
you
would not turn them down for any reason?
MR. BOUCHER: I suppose we would at least -- we would want to see that
there was something on their part that merited inclusion, and I think all
these countries have something that merits inclusion.
QUESTION: Let's get it straight. You said some of them only -- were only
listed because they wanted to be associated publicly with this.
MR. BOUCHER: And had an intention -- were either involved or had an
intention of participating in the future.
QUESTION: That's not what you said, really.
QUESTION: But you have no other country --
MR. BOUCHER: I think I said those things, yes.
QUESTION: -- no other country --
MR. BOUCHER: Let's slow down.
QUESTION: One big question and one small one.
Have France, Germany, Russia, or China offered things like overflight
rights for US military aircraft?
And secondly --
MR. BOUCHER: That is a question you would have to ask them. As I have set
the precedent before, I continue it today, not talking about others,
contributions by others, unless I am absolutely sure they, themselves, have
talked about it; so you would have to ask them first.
QUESTION: And secondly, what happens with diplomacy now? Are we beginning
to draft resolutions to go back to the Security Council to ask for help
with humanitarian aid in post-conflict Iraq, stabilization forces, a UN
mandate to -- for food distribution, for a host of things?
MR. BOUCHER: It is a very good question. If I can -- it is a big
question, and I want to answer it fully, so if I can, I am going to answer
his question, and then I will come back to this.
He was going to say --
QUESTION: So no --
MR. BOUCHER: -- what about the Arab countries?
QUESTION: -- no Arab country volunteered to be on the list?
MR. BOUCHER: At this point, I think the Arab countries have explained
their steps at this point in perhaps slightly different ways. I'll leave
it to them --
QUESTION: What do you mean?
QUESTION: They don't want to be named?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll leave it to them to explain exactly what their position
is.
(end excerpt)
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Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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See also: http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/
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