REMARKS WITH COLIN L. POWELL
U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE
AND ANA PALACIO
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF SPAIN

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

August 13, 2002

Excerpts

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QUESTION: Madame Minister, if the United States decided to attack Iraq, and you know the reasons, would Spain be supporting?

FOREIGN MINISTER PALACIO: Well, may I just say that, first of all, this is a hypothesis that I don't think that we should address now. It's not realistic. Having said that, Spain and the United States are committed to what I would call the rule of law in the world, and the fight for the rule of law in the world, but are committed, too, to the community of states within the United Nations. And this would be my general remarks.

QUESTION: Well, is Iraq a part of that community? Does Iraq deserve the consideration of --

FOREIGN MINISTER PALACIO: Well, I would say very clearly that the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, which is my answer right now.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, another question on Iraq. I'm sorry. After some meetings now with the Iraqi opposition, what do you make of their viability as a cohesive organization?

And also, what were they able to tell you about the attitude of Iran? There were some Iranian-based representatives here. What do you make of Iran and its typically rather hostile policy towards the US in the case of an attack on Iraq?

SECRETARY POWELL: I don't have anything to say about the Iranian part of the discussion. I didn't participate in that.

I think the meetings we had with the opposition over the past several days were very useful. I met with them on Friday briefly while they were here, and the State Department and the Defense Department hosted them, and then of course, as you know, the Vice President and Secretary Rumsfeld spent time with them on Saturday.

This is one of a series of meetings we will be holding to measure the effectiveness of the opposition elements, to get to measure how each of them interacts with the others, and to see what possibilities exist if and when regime change takes place for putting in place people who would help the Iraqi people come up with a representative form of government that will reflect the best values of the 21st century world and not the criminal values represented by Saddam Hussein.

So it was a good start, and look forward to other such meetings with the opposition.

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