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DoD News Briefing -- Part 2 of 2.

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M2 PRESSWIRE-31 January 2003-US DOD: DoD News Briefing -- Part 2 of 2(C)1994-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:01282003

Wolfowitz: No. In fact, that's a very good question, because people ask it all the time, but it's an opportunity to say something very clearly. There is no hope of solving this peacefully unless Saddam understands that there's a threat of force. We've had 12 years of clear evidence that he will never give up these weapons unless he has to. And to be honest, many of the people who mean well, who want to prevent a war, are sending their message in the wrong direction. Every time Saddam sees that some other country says, "Washington, you should wait," he says, "Oh, I have a little more time. I don't have to be serious." Every time he hears another country say, "Washington, we're with you if Saddam doesn't disarm," Saddam has to start taking it more seriously. I don't know whether he'll change, but I know the only hope, the only hope that he will change, is if he's convinced that it's his only alternative. And as long as people keep sounding as though he can play this out, that he has many more years, he has another 12 years, then he knows he's winning, and he won't change.

You know, there's a historical example that's helpful, although I don't think we're dealing with a leader that's as rational as Nikita Krushchev was, but in 1962, President Kennedy resolved the Cuban missile crisis peacefully by a clear threat of force. If he hadn't had that threat of force, the diplomatic solution would not have worked.

Q: Yes. How is the (inaudible) active participation of the Arab countries in solving this problem in order to avoid war if possible?

Wolfowitz: Well, first of all, by the way, I don't know of any country that doesn't want to avoid war, most emphatically including the United States. I mean, this President, our President, has had to meet with widows of soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan, and every one of those meetings is agonizing. And he knows that if we go to war against Saddam Hussein, that it will -- he'll have more such meetings. The only reason he's prepared to face that is because he thinks the risks of leaving Saddam with his weapons is even worse.

So, no one wants a war, but for some fairly obviousreasons, I think the Arab governments are particularly afraid of a war. For one thing, they're afraid about how their own people will react if there's a war. For another thing, I think even though most of them know that Saddam is a terrible dictator and that his people are treated horribly, the idea of the world attacking and taking on an Arab government is obviously not appealing. So, they're doing what they can diplomatically to try to avoid one, including a lot of creative efforts to convince the people around Saddam that the best thing he could do would be to leave peacefully. And I think there...

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