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<P>Verbatum of press interview</P>
<P>UN New York, 1 April 2003 - Press encounter by the Secretary-General
</P></B></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ff0000>
<P>Q:</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"> 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? </P></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>
<P>SG:</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"> 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. </P>
<P>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.</P></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ff0000>
<P>Q:</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"> 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. </P></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>
<P>SG:</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"> 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.</P></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Henry McCubbin</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>