17 December 2001
Transcript: Rumsfeld Briefing En Route to Caucasus, Uzbekistan, Belgium
(Dec. 14: Said he would discuss anti-terror campaign, regional issues)
(2000)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld embarked on a trip December
14 to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Belgium to discuss
the campaign against terrorism as well as bilateral and regional
issues, and to attend the defense ministerial at NATO headquarters.
The events of September 11 "have shifted the priorities for an awful
lot of countries in the world and their perspectives about the United
States and about the problems of the world," Rumsfeld told reporters
on his plane after leaving Washington. This trip "does offer an
opportunity, it seems to me, for us to reconnect with those new
countries in this new circumstance."
Asked what would happen if U.S. forces captured Osama bin Laden,
Rumsfeld said, "Well, if we gain control over him, we then would
probably move him to a secure location and there would be a process of
interrogation as there has been with everyone else who has been
collected, as soon as time permits."
In addition to the stops on his itinerary, Rumsfeld made an
unannounced stop in Afghanistan to visit American troops and to meet
with the head of the interim Afghan government, Hamid Karzai. He
planned to be in Brussels December 18-19 for the NATO defense
ministerial and said he also expected to have bilateral discussions
then with officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Kyrgyz Republic, and
Kazakhstan.
Following is a transcript of the airplane briefing on December 14:
(begin transcript)
NEWS TRANSCRIPT
United States Department of Defense
NEWS BRIEFING WITH SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD H. RUMSFELD
Friday, December 14, 2001
(Media availability en route from Washington, D.C. to Shannon,
Ireland)
RUMSFELD: You asked me (earlier) about BRAC [base realignment and
closure]. Yes, I slept on it and I am not going to recommend it be
vetoed. The BRAC provision, needless to say, I wished had been
earlier, but it is in there, and there are a number of very important
things in the bill including pay for the men and women in uniform, a
sizable pay raise, and other infrastructure improvements. That is the
answer to that question.
With regard to the trip, I am going to use tomorrow, Saturday I
believe, to visit several countries that are members of NATO's
Partnership for Peace activity. I have felt since September 11 that it
was important to see that we dealt with the war on terrorism. But also
I have felt the events of September 11 have shifted the priorities for
an awful lot of countries in the world and their perspectives about
the United States and about the problems of the world. It does offer
an opportunity, it seems to me, for us to reconnect with those new
countries in this new circumstance. So I am looking forward to the
three visits tomorrow [to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia].
I'll be going into Uzbekistan after that, and then we have the normal
NATO meetings which are now at three different levels, the last one
including Russia. I have a number of bilaterals scheduled. (To staff:)
Do you have that list?
I know one is Ukraine, and I know I will have one with, as I mentioned
yesterday, with Minister [of Defense Sergei] Ivanov of Russia. We will
be beginning the next phase of that same process we have been in
discussing the framework that the United States and Russia want to
establish for the 21st Century. I would be happy to respond to
questions.
QUESTION: How does the United States want to reward these countries,
the former Soviet states, for cooperation against terrorism? Is this
an opportunity to help them, militarily and economically, move more
quickly toward Western-style democracy and free market economies?
RUMSFELD: It is, I think their economic health depends on their
creating an environment that is hospitable to enterprise. It means
that they need to take a series of steps that persuade investors
around the world that they want to invest there, and until that
happens, and unless that happens needless to say their economic
circumstances will be something less than they could be. So I think
that it is important for the United States to have a relationship with
them and in --
Q: (inaudible)
RUMSFELD: Well for one thing, we are able, at least we believe we will
be able, to have military-to-military relationships on a fresh basis.
Q: Mr. Secretary, it has been talked about that perhaps there's a
thought that Bin Laden may be surrendered in this valley south of Tora
Bora. Without getting into the barnyard and chicken that we don't have
--
RUMSFELD: Are you going to give my answers for me?
Q: Without getting into that, is there a chance you could paint a
picture of what's happening?
RUMSFELD: I don't know how to do it any better than I do it, I really
don't. There are a lot of people who believe he is in that general
area. There are people who believe he is not. And you cannot know the
answer until you have something very telling and hard and firm and
clear. When it is as conflicted as it is, the only way one can answer
is the way I answered.
Q: Can you describe the fighting or what's going on there as far as
our forces?
RUMSFELD: It has been tough fighting from the beginning of the
engagement and it will continue to be tough fighting. There were a
great number of pieces of ordnance dropped last evening -- a very
large number on tunnels and caves and (inaudible) and concentrations.
There is no question but that forces are being significantly damaged
in the conflict. They are fighting and the fighting in some instances
is fierce.
Q: You mean al Qaeda?
RUMSFELD: I am assuming it is almost all al Qaeda. But I don't know
that; it could be Taliban.
[Here are] the other bilaterals in Brussels: obviously with the
secretary general, I mentioned Ivanov, I am also going to have a
bilateral with Turkey, Ukraine, I mentioned, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan.
Q: Mr. Secretary why the ordnance last night?
RUMSFELD: Good targets.
Q: One specific target?
RUMSFELD: No, a series of caves and tunnels. They are just working
their way through there, hoping people will surrender and stop
fighting, but they haven't.
Q: On these good targets and on these extra troops you've got going in
there, these special forces troops, are they helping find more
targets?
RUMSFELD: Yes.
Q: Is that one of the reasons why you are using them?
RUMSFELD: It is. We have special ops and special forces people in
there and they are doing a good job of targeting.
Q: Are they going into tunnels and caves as well? U.S. forces?
RUMSFELD: We mostly thus far have been locating them and attacking
them. I would not want to say they have not in some areas maybe that
have been finished and cleaned out. I know we intend to gather up as
much evidence and documentation as is possible for the simple reason
that it helps us know more about the network and we are able to track
people down in the al Qaeda network all across the world.
Q: Mr. Secretary, have UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] been used in
the search for Taliban and al Qaeda?
RUMSFELD: Off and on. The weather was bad yesterday and I don't
believe they were up. I am almost certain of that. But they have been
very helpful over a period of time. But I think specifically
yesterday, probably not.
Q: Sec. Rumsfeld there is a report that the United States has Osama
bin Laden's --
RUMSFELD: Do you notice how loud you are talking because your
earphones are on?
Q: No, I can't hear with these earphones on. (Laughter)
RUMSFELD: I just thought that I'd mention it to you.
Q: Well, I'm way in the back.
RUMSFELD: No, I can hear you fine. (Laughter)
Q: It's for the benefit of the transcriber. (Laughter)
Does the United States have Osama bin Laden's DNA as one report
suggested yesterday, that would assist in identifying him, either dead
or alive if he is captured or killed?
RUMSFELD: I don't know.
Q: I have no follow up. (Laughter)
Q: Let the record say that was Jamie McIntyre.
Q: Mr. Secretary, do you have any new information today than there was
yesterday, on where is Omar?
RUMSFELD: The question is on Omar and the answer is it is very much
like bin Laden. We have got a lot of information that suggests he is
within a range of Kandahar and there are a lot of folks looking hard
at that. But there also is some modestly conflicting information. We
have people, both Afghans and Americans, probing around in areas where
he might be.
Q: Any sign of advertising the $10 million dollar reward?
RUMSFELD: I started yesterday in the press briefing. Whether the
actual leaflets have gotten out yet, I am not sure, but they are going
out.
Q: Without getting to hypothetical here, should bin Laden be in that
fight in there, in the valley south of Tora Bora, and we manage to get
him, where does this progress from there?
RUMSFELD: Well, if we gain control over him, we then would probably
move him to a secure location and there would be a process of
interrogation as there has been with everyone else who has been
collected, as soon as time permits.
Q: And then the tribunal process would begin?
RUMSFELD: If you will recall that military order by the president to
the secretary of Defense. It left to the president a decision as to
who he might assign to a military commission, so that would be a call
he would make at that time.
Q: Does the U.S. have any other battlefield detainees or prisoners in
its control or possession besides John Walker?
RUMSFELD: Yes.
Q: How many?
RUMSFELD: I don't know. What happens frequently is that somebody will
be detained. It will happen out someplace where he will be captured or
he will turn himself in and surrender. Or he will go to a prison where
a group of people are detained and then a process of interrogation
takes place. As that process goes forward, or as people are
identified, the United States then expresses an interest to the people
that are controlling them, that we like to have a fuller interrogation
and we then will undertake that. At some point the next step would be
to say we want to take control of them physically, as we did with
Walker, and move them to a place where we can do it at our leisure.
The obvious locations for that are either a compound inside the
country, a ship at sea, or back in the United States if one got to
that point.
Q: How many people fall under this category now? What is the number of
detainees under U.S. control?
RUMSFELD: Well see I don't know. Because sometimes we will take
control over them and then give it back. It is a number that isn't
fixed. We have preferred not to take control of large numbers within
the country simply because we do not have large numbers of people
there.
Q: Mr. Secretary, the Marines have moved forward from Rhino to the
airbase in Kandahar.
RUMSFELD: True.
Q: Is Rhino still an important base that we are maintaining and if so,
why? Will other troops come in for security there, possibly to hold
prisoners? What is going on at that base?
RUMSFELD: As several hundred people moved out of Rhino to go to
Kandahar and begin the process of securing the airport -- and I think
they have also made a modest presence in the city of Kandahar -- we
have backfilled into Rhino, and they are already there.
Q: Marines or Regular Army?
RUMSFELD: Marines.
Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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