03 October 2001
Excerpt: Boucher on Rumsfeld's Trip to Gulf, Libya, Britain, Terrorism List
(Excerpts concerning the Mideast from Boucher's Oct 3 briefing) (1240)
Following are excerpts from the transcript of Boucher's October 3
media briefing containing his comments about the Middle East:
(begin excerpt)
QUESTION: Secretary Rumsfeld has just left to go to the Gulf. Does
State foresee sending anyone over as a special envoy in the near
future?
MR. BOUCHER: We think that Secretary Rumsfeld's trip is important and
he will work a great many issues. And, no, we don't have any
particular plans. We have embassies in all those places. We have
worked closely with the representatives of those governments. And, as
you know, the Secretary of State himself has seen any number of
representatives from that region, including today the Qatari Amir and
Foreign Minister and we have kept in close touch with them all along.
QUESTION: Recent newspapers have quoted State Department sources as
saying that the al-Qaida terrorist network has bases in Tunisia. Can
you comment on this?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know -- I don't think -- we've certainly not said
anything officially. Our information is that there are no particular
bases of al-Qaida in Tunisia. Obviously, we would want to hear from
the Tunisian Government if they were to find anything. But we don't
think there is any particular base operating there at this point.
QUESTION: Can you talk about contacts last week between the US Embassy
in Doha and the Qatar Foreign Minister regarding al-Jazeerah and their
broadcasts since September 11th?
MR. BOUCHER: I think the Amir of Qatar just talked about it. I don't
think I have anything to add to what they said.
QUESTION: Can you talk about what the concerns from this building have
been? I mean, has there been a concern about the balance of guests
that they have had on, or their airing of the bin Laden interviews?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I want to do any commentary on particular
news media from here.
QUESTION: Did you demarche the al-Jazeerah station?
MR. BOUCHER: We --
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. BOUCHER: Again, I am not going to get into the commentary on any
particular station at this point.
....
....
QUESTION: On a different topic. On the President's conditional nod to
a Palestinian state yesterday, can you give us an idea of how
influential the Secretary was in influencing that, prompting that
statement at this time, and why that statement might have been made at
this time?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't think I can go into whatever discussions they
might have had. I would say we all recognize the President leads, the
President decides, and the President spoke yesterday. That is US
policy.
QUESTION: Yesterday, there had been a series of other attacks near
Gaza Strip. And Prime Minister Sharon is demanding now that both Hamas
and Islamic Jihad, if not the Lebanese Hizbollah be added to the US
list of terrorists. Are they on the lists, or are you about to put
them there?
MR. BOUCHER: All three of those organizations have been on the list
for some time, and I believe all three of those organizations have
been subject to specific and particular financial controls for some
time as well.
....
QUESTION: Middle East News Line reported this week that there were
efforts under way right now with Syria to possibly get them off the
terrorism list. Is this totally untrue?
MR. BOUCHER: I didn't see the particular report. As we have often
stated in the past, the goal on the terrorism list is not to put
people on, but to take people off. The goal is to get countries to
stop supporting terrorism.
The President has made quite clear that countries have a choice.
Nations that continue to support terrorism, continue to harbor
terrorist groups will be considered hostile. So we do consider it very
important that nations make this choice and fundamentally make the
decision not to support terrorism of any kind.
QUESTION: Are there any negotiations though specifically going on
right now about what Damascus can do, such as getting rid of some of
the Palestinian --
MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't get into any specific governments. But I think
pretty much all the governments on our terrorism list know what they
have to do. What they have to do in order to stop their cooperation,
support or harbor or get rid of the remnants or vestiges of terrorism
that may still exist.
QUESTION: Has anything changed in the last three weeks or
three-and-a-half weeks on this issue?
MR. BOUCHER: The --
QUESTION: In terms of getting certain countries off the lists?
MR. BOUCHER: I think what you have seen around the world in terms of
support for the effort against terrorism, the commitment for the
effort against terrorism, and the President's quite clear statement of
the decision that they have to make, that those things do in fact
change the situation. So we hope that governments would make the right
choices.
....
QUESTION: Is there a meeting coming up along with the British about
Libya that you can tell us about?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes, there is a tripartite meeting. We have had several
of those before, and we are having another one -- it is either today
or tomorrow. I think it is today.
It is today. Ambassador Burns, our assistant Secretary for Near East
Affairs, went out to London. They are having, with the British -- the
United States, the British and the Libyans are having a trilateral
meeting as part of a series of trilateral discussions that have
occurred following the verdict in the Pan Am 103 trial.
We used these meetings to lay out and discuss the remaining steps that
Libya must take to satisfy its UN Security Council resolution
requirements. We are continuing that process which we believe may
continue for some time and possibly in different venues. We think that
following the September 11 attacks, it is more important than ever for
Libya to comply with UN Security Council obligations.
QUESTION: You haven't gone into specifics with countries, but you have
talked about the level of pleasure that you have at certain countries'
cooperation or offers of assistance. Have there been any offers of
assistance in cooperating from Libya and, if so, are you satisfied
with that?
MR. BOUCHER: I would say that it still remains very important to us
that Libya comply with its existing obligations under UN Security
Council resolutions. And, frankly, that is the focus of our attention
to Libya these days.
QUESTION: How are things on that front?
MR. BOUCHER: They are having a meeting today. As we know, the Libyans
have not yet complied with all the requirements. We think it is even
more important that they do so.
QUESTION: How do the families of the victims' interests or needs or
desires or whatever fit into this meeting?
MR. BOUCHER: I think we have worked very closely with the families all
along. We have alerted them this week. We phoned leaders of the family
groups in order to alert them to the trilateral talks that are taking
place today -- got it, for sure -- between US, British and Libyan
officials. We have tried to work very closely with the families.
The goal, as we all know, is to get Libya to satisfy the UN
requirements, which include paying compensation and admitting its
responsibility for these actions.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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