[Media-watch] UN Secy Gen

[Henry McCubbin]

Verbatum of press interview

UN New York, 1 April 2003 - Press encounter by the Secretary-General 

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, this was a war that many people questioned the legitimacy [of] it out of the gate. To this date no weapons of mass destruction have been found. What do you think it does even more so to the legitimacy of this action? 

SG: As I have indicated, the work of the inspectors has merely been suspended. If and when they can resume their work they should go back to Iraq. If anything were to be found, they should go back to test it. I hope the time will come when they will be able to do that. 

As to your question, whether the fact that they haven't found weapons of mass destruction diminishes the impact or the legitimacy of the war, you should know that, yes the issue before the [Security] Council was disarmament, but the Council had not endorsed this war and several reasons had been given for the action.

Q: The Arab ambassadors are calling for a General Assembly condemnation of the military action. What are your thoughts about that and what purpose can this serve at this point? The US seems determined to forge ahead. 

SG: I know there has been quite a lot of discussion about convening the General Assembly to discuss the war. I am not sure if they have agreed to do it or not, but obviously there is lots of unhappiness in this building about the war. I am not sure at this stage if there will be a General Assembly discussion or not. As you would recall, members had a chance to speak openly at the Security Council session.

Henry McCubbin
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