Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: PM Health and Iraq.
PM Health
Asked if he had been able to clarify the outstanding issues from this morning’s press briefing about the Prime Minister’s health, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that we had spoken to President Clinton’s spokesperson, Tammy Sun, who had said that she had read the report and had spoken to President Clinton about it herself. According to Ms Sun, he had said that he had been asked if the Prime Minister’s recent health scare should cause him to resign. He had replied no, because from what he had heard it was a minor isolated problem. He had specifically not said it was a long term health problem or that he had known about it before.
In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that we had checked and rechecked the facts of the case with the Prime Minister’s cardiologist who was aware of his medical history. It was clear that what we had been saying reflected his view accurately, namely that the Prime Minister did not have, and had never had, a heart condition. He had had an episode of irregular heartbeat from which he was now fully recovered. Asked if last Sunday was the first time he had ever experienced such an episode, the PMOS said yes. According to the cardiologist, an episode of irregular heartbeat like this was not self-correcting. Consequently, were he to have had it before, he would have received treatment for it, in the form of a cardio-version. However, he had not been treated for it because self-evidently he had not had it before.
Asked if he had spoken to the Prime Minister to ask him whether he could recall a conversation with President Clinton about his health, the PMOS said that journalists could assume that a number of people might have spoken to the Prime Minister subsequent to last Sunday. Given President Clinton’s own office were denying the story, and he, as the Official Spokesman, was responding with the authority of the cardiologist, he hoped they would be satisfied with his reply. Pressed repeatedly as to why he was refusing to clarify whether the Prime Minister was able to recall a conversation with President Clinton about his health, the PMOS said that he had already indicated that the Prime Minister had spoken to a number of people subsequent to last Sunday. However, he had no intention of briefing on the detail of those conversations. Asked to explain the point he was trying to make, the PMOS said that we had never been in the business of confirming every single telephone conversation or otherwise which the Prime Minister might have had. If he was being asked whether the Prime Minister had spoken to President Clinton in the context being suggested, he was answering the question in a way which he hoped was helpful. As he had underlined this morning, we were mystified by the weekend’s report. In the end, the important point was that the Prime Minister had never been treated for a heart episode of this nature - the simple reason being that he hadn’t had one before.
Asked if the Prime Minister would have to undergo a medical check-up, the PMOS reminded journalists that, as we had said last Monday, he would have to have a check-up during the next three weeks or so. Asked if the Prime Minister had to wait three weeks because he was unable to get an appointment sooner, the PMOS said he thought it was because three weeks was an appropriate gap to make a judgement about the treatment. However, that was a clinical decision.
Iraq
Asked if he was able to provide further information about the scale of the attacks in Iraq today, the PMOS said that he only knew what the journalists themselves had seen on the wires in the last half an hour, which appeared to suggest that there had been additional attacks this afternoon. At this stage, he did not know the scale of them. No one was pretending that the attacks today had not been serious. Obviously they were and, as we had said this morning, they were clearly the work of wicked, evil people, who did not wish to see a stable, prosperous Iraq. These were enemies of the Iraqi people. Nevertheless, we would continue to work to give ordinary Iraq citizens their freedom and their country back.
Asked who we thought the subversives might be, the PMOS said that we didn’t know, other than the fact that they were terrorists. Put to him that the fact that suicide bombers were being used - a method favoured by religious extremists - meant that it would be safe to assume that the secular Ba’athists were not to blame, the PMOS said that at this stage we did not know who had committed the atrocities. It was still too early to say. However, it was clear that what we were seeing was the last remnants of a regime that was on its way out fighting to the death. It was also important to recognise that Iraq had attracted people from outside the country who also wished the Coalition and the Iraqi people ill. Put to him that the difficulty with his analysis was that far from being on their way out, the terrorists appeared to be on their way in, the PMOS acknowledged that it would be folly to pretend that the security situation inside Iraq was anything other than very difficult in places. However, that did not mean we should allow the attacks and the atrocities we had seen today to mask all the progress that had been made. We were determined to see this through. Yes, it was difficult. However, we had seen the removal of a brutal dictatorship which had visited many evils on its people. Obviously there were still groups of terrorists inside Iraq who were intent on trying to keep that legacy alive. That said, it was important for the Coalition to remain focussed on the prize - namely a stable, prosperous Iraq for the Iraqi people, by the Iraqi people.
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