STATEMENT BY JACK STRAW
UK FOREIGN SECRETARY

UK FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

September 20, 2002

Responding to the Iraqi Foreign Minister's speech at the United Nations on 19 September, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said today:

'After a decade of defying and obstructing the United Nations, Iraq has confirmed its record of evasion and deceit by telling the United Nations it has no weapons of mass destruction. This blatant untruth confirms that the world can put no trust in Iraq's word. It makes clear that Saddam Hussein's regime remains determined to flout the United Nations' authority. It underlines the need for extreme scepticism about Iraq's offer to admit UN inspectors without conditions. And already Iraq is trying to set conditions.

'Iraq's Foreign Minister was not telling the truth when he said that Iraq is clear of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Iraq does retain the capacity to use chemical and other weapons of terror against its neighbours and its own people, as it has done before. By pretending this is not so, Iraq has reinforced the need for the UN Security Council to insist on intrusive inspections with an urgent timetable.'