E 6RET SECRE'F 7063 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION SUBJECT Telephone Conversation with President Francois Mitterrand of France PARTICIPANTS The President President Francois Mitterrand Notetaker Adrian Basora NSC Staff DATE TIME September 6 1990 7 23 - 7 43 a m Oval Office President Mitterrand you U The President Good day how are you I am happy to hear Bonjour U President Mitterrand I received your letter and saw that you would like to talk before your meeting in Helsinki I am glad of an opportunity to do so Z The President Yes I would like to hear your views $ President Mitterrand I spoke with President Gorbachev by phone and I wanted to tell you about it He'is very cautious about any movement toward open warfare but he emphasized the need to maintain a cornmon front regarding the Kuwait situation I found him in a very positive frame of mind He said he had a very difficult visit with Aziz 2 The President So you spoke with Gorbachev after the Aziz visit 7J President Mitterrand Yes and Gorbachev said that we should keep up our cornmon front and that there should be no weakening He is concerned that we succeed France has specific concerns because of our hostages but this does not alter our policy On the contrary this irritates us and strengthens our resolve 1$ The President We cannot allow our policies to be changed because of the hostages $ President Mitterrand Absolutely Saddam Hussein is making things more difficult I told Gorbachev that no diplomatic solution is possible unless the UN resolutions are applied What SEe 'f Declassify on OADR DECLASSIFIED PER E O 12958 AS AMENDED £ '2 11 et GRET 6ECRE'P do you think The President I think that this must be the case but I am worried about a weakening of the sanctions King Hussein is asking for interpretations of humanitarian assistance Any broadening of the definition of humanitarian aid would be a bad thing Uit President Mitterrand cri teria $ We must use common sense in setting the The President Yes the image of children dying of starvation would not be good $ President Mitterrand Yes certainly so we must use judgment $ The President Did Gorbachev raise the question of his military advisors in Iraq This worries me 7 President Mitterrand He did not raise it nor did I military advisors are there in Iraq 7 How many The President We understand there are about 2 000 and that the Soviets plan to leave them there until their contracts expire I plan to raise the issue at Helsinki j3' President Mitterrand Gorbachev insisted that our common front should sho solidarity so I feel that he will be favorably disposed if you raise the issue $ The President Thank you I will raise it I also want to make it clear that this meeting is not an attempt by the U S and the Soviet Union to get together and dictate how the Iraq crisis will be managed President Mitterrand I am not at all concerned about that The President The idea is to show a common front with the Soviets just as your telephone call with Gorbachev shows solidarity $ President Mitterrand The call was at Gorbachev's initiative The President That is interesting What do you think his reaction would be if we took military action to enforce the embargo $ President Mitterrand This would be within the framework of UN resolution 665 If it is necessary to fire on an Iraq vessel it must be done But I don't think that with Saddam Hussein's current posture it will be necessary The President SECRE'P I hope this is the case sEeREt £$ President Mitterrand I believe your sizeable deployment will prevent any aggression against Saudi Arabia unless the embargo makes Saddam Hussein desperate $ The President Do you think the embargo will work '- President Mitterrand It is already two-thirds effective Iraq is in a bad situation geographically It is not like the sanctions against South Africa where anyone can reach there by sea Iraq is land-locked except for Jordan Iran is a question mark and the Iranians may try to fool all sides But Iraq is very dependent on oil and therefore very vulnerable The embargo must be severe As for humanitarian assistance the UN Embargo Committee can assess the level of food assistance that is required 7 The President What are your thoughts on King Hussein President Mitterrand I just saw him a couple of days ago It was an interesting meeting He says he is joining the embargo -I didn't know that he was doing so His peace plan is interesting it is similar to the Tunisian plan He proposes an Arab peace-keeping force under a UN mandate provided that Iraqi troops withdraw from Kuwait Perhaps the Arabs could reconcile the differences between themselves at least for this purpose But Hussein said that this would only be possible if Saddam evacuates Kuwait He is taking a more reasonable approach now i The President I worry about the reestablishment of the status quo ante even if Saddam does withdraw from Kuwait yt President Mitterrand Yes but we must be clear about what we are trying to achieve The primary goal is Iraq departure from Kuwai t 2' The President I hear disturbing reports that Saddam Hussein is dismantling Kuwait taking whole factories back to Iraq and leaving Kuwait a wasteland n President Mitterrand In that case we would have to move quickly I understand that Saddam has already taken $2 billion from Kuwait In a way his hold-up has already succeeded If he evacuates Kuwait there must be international safeguards to prevent a reoccurrence j5' The President I will let you know about my meeting with Gorbachev I am very encouraged by the positive attitude that Gorbachev conveyed to you in your phone conversation I appreciate your phone call and we will stay in touch Z President Mitterrand I would like to repeat that Gorbachev is concerned but he does not conclude any weakening is justified Rather he is open to a common united front by the signatories of the UN resolutions You will see for yourself but I wanted EGRE1 flECM'f to tell you directly about my phone conversation The President stay in touch Thank you for the heads up as we say - End of Conversation - SECRE'3 Let's