SECRETARY POWELL:  Well, good evening, first of all and Ramada Karim to all of your viewers.

The resolution that was passed today by the Security Council has several parts to it:  one, to again remind everybody of Iraq's failure to abide by previous resolutions, secondly, to put in place a solid inspection regime so that the inspectors can go back into Iraq and see whether or not they still have weapons of mass destruction.  If Iraq cooperates with the inspectors, then we have a peaceful way out of this problem.

If Iraq does not cooperate or if Iraq makes it clear that they intend to continue to develop weapons of a chemical nature, a biological nature, nuclear weapons that are so threatening to the people of the region, then the Security Council will come together again and make a judgment about what should happen at that time.

I can't predict what the Security Council will decide to do at that time, but I must say that the United States will be watching this carefully and will always keep open the option of working with other nations to force Iraq to give up these weapons of mass destruction.

MS. RAHME:  But in this resolution it was mentioned that this was the last chance for Iraq, but Iraq says, they said a new resolution is only a preparation for a military attack under an international cover.  What is your comment?

SECRETARY POWELL:  Well, they are wrong.  It is not an excuse for a military attack.  If we wanted to conduct a military attack, we would not have needed an excuse.  This was an effort for the international community to come together and say to the world that Iraq has violated its obligations to the international community. 

The United States is not looking for an opportunity to hurt the Iraqi people.  The United States is trying to get rid of these terrible weapons that Saddam Hussein is developing and which he has used -- he has used against Iran in the past, he has used against his own people, and so what we are interested in is disarmament.  We hope that through this resolution disarmament can be accomplished peacefully.  We are not looking for an excuse for war.

Americans don't like war.  We don't want war, and we do not go out looking for wars in an aggressive way.  We fight wars when it is necessary to defend our interests and the interests of our friends.  But in this case, we want to help the Iraqi people use the oil treasure that they have for peaceful purposes to improve their society and not to develop weapons and missiles that threaten their neighbors.

MS. RAHME:  Mr. Powell, about this resolution, how were you able to cancel the reservations, the French and Russian reservations on this resolution, especially?

SECRETARY POWELL:  We worked very closely with the Russians and the French and all the other members of the Security Council and we listened to the concerns they had about our original proposal.  We were able to modify our position, they were able to change some of their positions so that slowly we were all able to come into agreement, to include Syria, come into agreement that Iraq has been responsible for these violations in the past, that we need a new, tough inspection regime and that we have to hold out the likelihood of consequences if Iraq fails to comply with this new resolution.

What we have seen over the years is that in the absence of some pressure on Iraq, it will not comply.  It will merely frustrate the work of the inspectors.  And this time we believe it is important that we keep the pressure on for Iraq to comply.

This is not just the United States speaking now.  All 15 members of the Security Council and through them all members of the United Nations, the entire international community, are united in this effort.

MS. RAHME:  Secretary of State, thank you for your participation.

SECRETARY POWELL:  You're welcome.