REMARKS OF VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY
AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR
AT 9/11 COMMEMORATION CEREMONY

10 Downing St., London, England

March 11, 2002, Monday

Excerpts

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QUESTION: Andrew Barr, from BBC. Could I ask both leaders about the second phase of the war against terrorism and the weapons of mass destruction issue? What evidence can you lay before the world that Saddam Hussein does have or shortly will have the capability to threaten not only his own people, but countries in Western Europe and indeed the United States itself?

PRIME MIN. BLAIR: If I can answer first of all, let's be under no doubt whatever; Saddam Hussein has acquired weapons of mass destruction over a long period of time. He's the only leader in the world that's actually used chemical weapons against his own people. He is in breach of at least nine U.N. Security Council resolutions about weapons of mass destruction. He has not allowed weapons inspectors to do the job that the U.N. wanted them to do in order to make sure that he can't develop them.

Now we have said right from the very outset -- you have heard me say on many, many occasions -- no decisions have been taken on how we deal with this threat, but that there is a threat from Saddam Hussein and the weapons of mass destruction that he has acquired is not in doubt at all. So what is important, obviously, is that we reflect and consider and deliberate, as we have done throughout all the various aspects of this campaign since the 11th of September.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: I would embrace and endorse what the prime minister said, would add one additional factor to consider, and that is, we know, from the work we've been able to do in Afghanistan, the training camps and the caves where al Qaeda was holed up, that they were aggressively seeking to acquire the same capability -- nuclear weapons, biological or chemical weapons. How far they got, we don't know, but we know they clearly, given their past track record, would use such weapons, were they able to acquire them. And we have to be concerned about the potential marriage, if you will, between a terrorist organization like al Qaeda and those who hold or are proliferating knowledge about weapons of mass destruction.

So the concern is very real, it's very great, and we need to find ways as we go forward to make certain that the terrorist never acquires that capability and that it can never be used against the United States or the United Kingdom or our allies.

QUESTION: Mr. Vice President and Mr. Prime Minister, there were reports over the weekend that the Pentagon has told Congress that it is reexamining its nuclear targeting procedure or -- and is looking at the possibility of using nuclear weapons in places, perhaps, like Iran. As you set off on this trip, does this undermine your attempt in any way to get support from the Arab countries on taking a tougher stance against Iraq?

And in England, how does this play, Mr. Prime Minister, in terms of keeping support high in England for the U.S.-led effort?

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: The report you had reference to, Tom, has to do -- it's called the Nuclear Posture Review. We're required to submit it periodically to the Congress. It talks about broad questions of nuclear strategy. There are some noteworthy developments in this year's review; among other things, for example, the fact that we're going to reduce our operationally deployed strategic warheads by about two-thirds, from roughly 6,000, where we are today, down to somewhere between 1,700 to 2,200 over 10 years, a policy the president announced unilaterally last fall and that the Russians have now agreed to.

We also in that study direct that the Pentagon take note of and consider the possible threats to the United States from those nations that are seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. And the report specifically cited, as the press has reported, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea. It -- the question of targeting, though, isn't really addressed in the Nuclear Posture Review. Right now today, the United States on a day-to-day basis does not target nuclear weapons on any nation. We do have, and we maintain and continually update, something called the Single Integrated Operating Plan, or the SIOP. That's classified. That's what actually deals with the selection of targets and how nuclear weapons might be applied.

But I would look on the nuclear planning -- Nuclear Posture Review statement as just that. It's a regular report to the Congress on the overall state of our capabilities and gives some idea of directions we'd like to move in in the future. But the notion that I've seen reported in the press that somehow this means we are preparing preemptive nuclear strikes against seven countries, I believe was the way it was reported, I'd say that's a bit over the top.

PRIME MIN. BLAIR: I agree to that.

QUESTION: Mr. Cheney, what would you say to British -- many people in the British public who are reluctant, really, to see British troops possibly deployed against Iraq in support of the United States, when they feel that they can't trust the United States after the unilateral action taken last week over steel?

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, I -- I think it's important first of all to recognize there are enormous differences under those circumstances. I would suggest that were the United States to undertake further military action of any kind that involved our British allies, that it would be done only in the closest possible consultation and coordination, and that Britain certainly retains the right to decide whether or not to participate in any particular action. But to draw a parallel between that and the decision the president made with respect to steel, I think, is inappropriate. There is no comparison. The decision he made on steel was one he thought long and hard about. We recognize it's not without controversy. Our view is that it was done within the confines of what's consistent with WTO provisions. Obviously, it's going to be challenged. Obviously, there are different points of view. The prime minister's made it clear that his government holds a different view than does mine. But we'll move forward working with these kinds of issues, just as we always have.

QUESTION: To both the vice president and the prime minister. Does the U.S. position that it is Iraq which constitutes the greatest threat to stability in the region undercut by what the vice president did not mention, the conflict now between the Palestinians and the Israelis?

PRIME MIN. BLAIR: Well, of course we want to see a resolution of the Middle East peace process. That is vitally important. It's important not just in terms of the stability of the region, it's important in terms of sheer humanity, when we see what is happening there with the carnage and the death and the terror. And of course we will do everything we possibly can to assist the U.S. in the efforts to bring about some relaunching of that process there. I think it's tremendously important. I think it is absolutely clear that the only basis upon which we're going to get lasting peace in the Middle East is through people accepting first of all that Israel has the right to exist secure in its own borders, and that being accepted by the entirety of the Arab world, and secondly, that there will, as the outcome of this process, be a viable Palestinian state.

Now I think if we start from those principles, we can make progress.

But I think the issue of the threat that Saddam Hussein poses is an issue in its own right, because the reason why the U.N. Security Council passed these resolutions was precisely because we know the threat that there is from the weapons of mass destruction that he has. So of course we want to see progress in the Middle East.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, the -- I think it would be inappropriate -- and I certainly agree with the prime minister -- to assume these two are linked. I'm they're linked in some minds, but the fact of the matter is, we need effective policies to deal with both situations, both the need to find some way to establish peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as the need to find and pursue policies that limit the threat to the United States and the United Kingdom from weapons of mass destruction. We have an obligation to deal with both simultaneously.

PRIME MIN. BLAIR: Time for one more from each -- thanks.

QUESTION: Mr. Vice President, if the inspectors are allowed into Iraq, will that negate the need to take military action against Baghdad? If you do have to take military action against Baghdad, what will -- the legal basis of that action? And if you can't build a coalition of any support, will you go ahead anyway?

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: They did the same thing here they do in the States -- just ask these long, complex questions. Well, let me -- I'll try to be brief. I never speculate about prospected (sic) military actions.

Let me address the issue of inspectors.

The question is whether or not Saddam is in compliance with resolution 687, under which he pledged to get rid of all weapons of mass destruction. The inspectors were there as a device to be able to assure the world that he had, in fact, complied with the resolution.

He's not complied with the resolution. He's now kicked the inspectors out. There's a lot of evidence that he does, in fact, have and is continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction. So if the issue of inspectors is to be addressed, we feel very strongly as a government that it needs to be the kind of inspection regime that has no limitations on it, that is a "go anywhere, anytime" kind of regime, so that, in fact, the outside world can have confidence that he's not hiding material that he's promised to give up.

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