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Military

28 March 2002

Transcript: Defense Department Briefing, March 28, 2002

(Death of Navy SEAL, earthquake, peace/stability, detainees/enemy
combatants, al Qaeda and Taliban/search, terrorists/detention, end of
war/terrorism, U.S. military/overextended, forces/Qatar, National
Guardsmen/weapons, munitions/depleted; al Qaeda/Pakistan;
security/cooperation; Taliban/Gardez) (7330)
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, briefed
reporters March 28 at the Pentagon.
Following is the Defense Department transcript:
(begin transcript)
United States Department of Defense News Transcript
Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Thursday, March 28, 2002
(Also participating was Gen. Richard Myers, chairman, Joint Chiefs of
Staff.)
Rumsfeld: Good afternoon. First, I want to convey my condolences to
the family of Chief Petty Officer Matthew J. Bourgeois, a Navy SEAL
who was killed by a landmine in Afghanistan. This is, we are reminded
almost weekly, a dangerous effort, and I am certainly enormously
grateful to him for his service, and to all of the men and women in
uniform who voluntarily put their lives at risk for our country.
Also, as we heard, northeast Afghanistan was struck by an earthquake
earlier this week. Many Afghans are dead or homeless. As part of the
relief effort, U.S. military helicopters are delivering medical and
various other supplies to the needy folks in the Hindu Kush Mountains.
I want to comment briefly on the importance of restoring peace and
stability in Afghanistan. Our goals, which the coalition forces of
course share, are to sustain an environment that will allow us to
continue our work while we hunt down the al Qaeda and Taliban that
still remain in Afghanistan or in the neighboring countries. To assist
the interim government in establishing reasonable order in that
country; to ensure that the conditions exist which will allow
humanitarian assistance to reach the needy, and so that refugees can
return from outside the country, or the internally displaced persons
from inside the country to their homes.
Clearly there is no blueprint for what we are doing. For example,
Afghanistan is a country some ten times the size, and five or six
times the population of Bosnia. It has been at war with itself or with
others for close to two decades. Also, foreign forces in another
country are, as we all know, an anomaly. And Bosnia of course is an
example of how their presence can allow circumstances to grow and
develop around them in an anomalous way. The -- when it comes time to
try to withdraw foreign forces from a country, one finds that much of
the country's daily life has come to depend on them, and that there's
a fear that withdrawal could conceivably create an instability, or at
least an uncertainty.
I think it's helpful to remember that those who developed the concept
for peacekeepers in Bosnia assured everyone that those forces would
complete their mission by the end of that year and be home by
Christmas. We are now heading into our seventh year of U.S. and
international involvement in Bosnia.
Many aspects of what we are doing in Afghanistan are really quite
different from what we faced before. There are a number of ideas being
discussed as to how best to help develop conditions for peace and
stability in that country. Some are urging that a large number of
additional international peacekeepers be brought in to patrol
potential trouble spots across the country. One drawback to that
proposal is that there really aren't -- the people making the
suggestions are not offering troops; nor are they offering money. And
the people who have stepped forward to help, like the Turkish
government, have indicated that they do not want to see it expanded,
and indicated in addition that they would be grateful if the United
States and others -- and we certainly will help them -- see if we
can't find some funds to help support and sustain the effort that they
have indicated that they are willing to lead, as the U.K. steps aside
from that leadership role. So a lot of people seem to have ideas, but
there are very few volunteers. I don't know quite why that is.
Others are recommending that it would be best to spend the time and
money and effort trying to build up an Afghan national army. Still
others are recommending that we do both at once -- that somebody do
both at once, I should say. There are still others who are suggesting
that it would be best if the Afghan people and their leaders decide
what approach they believe would be best to bring about security in
their country, either the interim government or the follow-on
government.
I will say this: there is no question but that very little is possible
in a country if there is not reasonable security. And therefore it is
regrettable that the donors conference that met came up with some
money, but they came up with money for things other than security. And
there's not a nickel in the donors conference funds that is available
to provide for the development, training, sustainment of an Afghan
national army. Nor is there money there for the International Security
Assistance Force.
So the United States is addressing the question of raising some of our
own money, and then helping to raise some money from other countries,
so that whatever is decided can in fact be accomplished. And we have
been busy doing that.
Meanwhile, while this is going on, this discussion, I should say that
the United States is currently working with the interim Afghan
government to train at least the beginning of an Afghan national army
and border patrol. And, in addition, the existing International
Security Assistance Force is already helping to train some Afghan
troops.
Finally a word about military commissions. There have been some
murmurs in the media about detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, and
specifically whether if one who is tried by a military commission and,
if acquitted, whether they would then be released or whether they
would still be detained. Let me explain this. During the course of
this war effort, the United States has detained several hundred enemy
combatants. As has been the case in previous wars, the country that
takes prisoners generally decides that they would prefer them not to
go back to the battlefield. They detain those enemy combatants for the
duration of the conflict. They do so for the very simple reason, which
I would have thought is obvious -- namely to keep them from going
right back and in this case killing more Americans and conducting more
terrorist acts. Any combatants who have the good fortune of being
captured instead of killed during an armed conflict are normally not
in a position to challenge their continued detention. To release enemy
captives so that they could return to the battlefield would put the
lives of more young American servicemen at risk, and in my view would
be mindless.
Let me explain the issue in detail, since it seems to be troubling
some people.
Out of the detainees there may be some who committed serious problems
and who, if the president were to decide, might be assigned to a
military commission to be tried on one or more of those charges. If
one were to be acquitted by a commission of, for example, a specific
criminal charge, that would not necessarily change the fact that that
individual remains an enemy who was captured during an armed conflict,
and therefore one who could reasonably be expected to go back to his
terrorist ways if released. It might -- the procedures we put in place
for the commission to provide full and fair trials. In some cases it
might not be possible to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that an
individual committed a particular crime, and therefore he might be
acquitted of that crime. However, it does not change the fact that he
is an enemy combatant. He may be guilty of other crimes, but at the
minimum he is someone to be kept off the battlefield, from going right
back and killing more Americans.
Even in a case where an enemy combatant might be acquitted, the United
States would be irresponsible not to continue to detain them until the
conflict is over. Detaining enemy combatants for the duration of a
conflict is universally recognized as responsible and lawful. This is
fully consistent with the Geneva Conventions and other war
authorities. This is a matter of simple common sense, I would say. The
detainees include dangerous terrorists who committed brutal acts and
are sworn to go back to do it again. To protect the American people,
the United States has every right to hold enemy combatants for the
duration. Today the conflict is still going on. Our troops are still
fighting in Afghanistan, and we do not as yet see an end. That said,
we will continue to treat detainees humanely and consistent with the
principles of the Geneva Convention. We will proceed with trials. In
some cases we will proceed with transfers to another country -- their
country of nationality in some cases, and in some cases releases if in
fact the additional information proves that they are individuals who
could be released without risk to -- that they might conduct
additional terrorists acts or go back to the battlefield to oppose
what we are doing.
I can assure you the United States does not want to keep any of them
any longer than we have to. While we will treat them humanely and
lawfully, we will do everything we can to protect the American people
and our friends and allies from being attacked again. And we have no
intention of releasing people who have shown that they are dedicated
to killing more Americans.
General Myers?
Myers: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and good afternoon. I too would like
to offer my condolences to the family of Chief Petty Officer
Bourgeois. I think it just points out that often our men and women
daily have their lives on the line. It also points out just how
dangerous a place Afghanistan still is.
As the secretary just mentioned, we are working very closely with the
Afghan interim authority, the administration, and non-governmental
organizations overseeing the earthquake relief efforts in Afghanistan.
In addition to the medical supplies that we sent yesterday, we are
preparing to send nearly two dozen pallets of rice, blankets, wheat
and cold weather gear to the people suffering from this disaster. Just
bear in mind that at the same time we are doing that we are also
continuing our hunt for the al Qaeda and the Taliban that are left
inside Afghanistan.
In that vein, we are still conducting surveillance and reconnaissance
of likely areas where they might be. And we are also searching through
several cave complexes, and gathering information and hopefully
intelligence. And with that we will take your questions.
Q: Mr. Secretary, you did provide a slight caveat in saying or
suggesting that some of these people who are being held in Guantanamo
could be released, if you find --
Rumsfeld: Oh, sure. We have already released any number of people, as
you may know.
Q: But you have said for months that these are the hardest of the hard
core. Are you saying then in effect, with the statement you made
earlier, that virtually all of these people will be held until the end
of this war?
Rumsfeld: No. I liked what I said and the way I said it. The fact is
that the first people we brought down were in fact the hardest of the
hard core, because we wanted to get them out of the Kandahar and
Bagram facilities. Now we have brought down a large portion of the
people, and now it is [a] mix, and they vary. They run pretty much
across the spectrum. It seems to me that that being the case one can
expect that what will happen will be exactly what I said: that some
may be transferred to other countries, some may be released, some may
be held for the duration, some may be tried in one or more of the
various mechanisms that are available -- the United States criminal
justice system, military commissions, or the Uniform Code of Military
Justice.
Q: So what you are saying though is what was said originally when you
talked about this, is that some of these people might continue to be
held, even if they are acquitted, but not necessarily all of them?
Rumsfeld: Certainly not necessarily all, because not necessarily all
will even be there or be tried by us or be acquitted, let alone tried.
The -- there will be -- I assume, given my understanding of the
make-up of these folks, and I've had a chance to look at some
smattering of them -- that there will be a good number that regardless
of whether or not they are tried by a commission, or by some other
mechanism, or acquitted, that we would not want back on the street for
some period of time.
Q: Sir?
Q: Mr. Secretary?
Q: Among those detainees are, if I am not mistaken, at least six who
are not in fact captured on the battlefield but were taken in Bosnia.
Do you believe that you have -- that the United States -- and I don't
think charges were pending against them, and no charges have been
brought against them -- do you feel that you have the right
essentially to pick up anyone anywhere in the world whom you believe
to be a terrorist and hold them indefinitely, without bringing charges
against them for as long as you want, regardless of whether they are
actually captured, quote, "on the battlefield"?
Rumsfeld: No. I'd like to say it my way, and it would be something
like this: that I will leave it to the lawyers to answer the question
the way you cast it. And I will say this: There is no question but
that the United States of America has every right -- as does ever
other sovereign nation -- to defend itself. There is no way to defend
against terrorism except finding terrorists. And to do that you must
go where they are. And that is what we are doing. And they may be in
Afghanistan, they may be in Pakistan
-- and we have some people who have been turned over to us from
countries other than Afghanistan. And we place them where we can. And
at the moment we are placing them for the most part, some in the
United States as you know, and some in Guantanamo, and there are still
some in Bagram, and there are still some that we are looking at that
we do not have in custody in Afghanistan, and some we do not yet have
in custody from Pakistan, and may or may not decide to take.
And I think to try to make a blanket statement like your question
suggested would be a poor way for me to approach it.
And I can tell you that I think that there is not going to be a single
cookie mold that will be pressed down over this aggregation of people.
But we do know that we don't want prisoners, we don't want detainees.
What we want to do is to defend the American people and our friends
and allies and our deployed forces. And to do that, you've simply got
to go find people and detain them.
Q: Mr. Secretary, you've said that you reserve the right to hold the
detainees until the end of the war. You've also said that there won't
be a signing ceremony on the Missouri in this war.
Rumsfeld: Right.
Q: So what exactly is the end of the war? And are we talking about the
war on terrorism or the conflict in Afghanistan?
Rumsfeld: Well, at the moment, we all know the conflict in Afghanistan
is still going on, so we're not past our deadline or our due date. I
don't know how to describe it, and I suppose that will be something
that the president would make a judgment on, as to when it was over.
I think the better way to look at it is not at that group of people in
the aggregate, but as I've indicated, individually. And there may be
individuals that tomorrow one will come to a conclusion that they're
no longer a threat for whatever reason. And as I say, that's already
happened; we've released people already.
So, I think that the way I would characterize the end of the conflict
is when we feel that there are not effective global terrorist networks
functioning in the world that these people would be likely to go back
to and begin again their terrorist activities.
Q: Mr. Secretary, are you in discussions, sir, that one day or some
day you have to go inside Pakistan to find real al Qaeda and Talibans
or Osama bin Laden?
And also, sir, if you have a comment that India yesterday passed
anti-terrorist legislation just like the United States.
Rumsfeld: Did they? I was not aware of that. Well.
With respect to the question, we have a very good working relationship
with the Pakistani army. They have been very cooperative, as have
other elements of the government, and at the present time, we don't
see a need to change our current policies.
Yes?
Q: On the terrorism bill passed by the Indian government, any comments
on that antiterrorist bill? Rumsfeld: Well, I haven't had a chance to
look at it, but if it's similar to the kinds of pieces of legislation
that we've passed, clearly they would be the type of thing that the
United States would favor.
Q: And also, sir, in the  -- 
Rumsfeld: Oh, wait a second. This would be number four now. Why don't
we go over here?
Q: Mr. Secretary, recently some of the CINCs testified before
Congress, saying that U.S. troops are overextended and exhausted.
Without getting into where the next step would be, can the U.S. fight
a major-theater war simultaneously to current operations in
Afghanistan? And what would need to be done before that happens?
Rumsfeld: Well, first, I don't believe some of the CINCs did say,
quote, "that the American troops are overextended and exhausted."
There may have been a CINC who said it. And there's no question but
that if you looked around the world, you could find a troop or two
who's tired, and with good reason. They've been doing a great job.
But I think it would be a fundamental misunderstanding for him to
think or for anyone to take his words and believe that the men and
women in uniform around the world for the United States would even
begin to fit that characterization. They don't. Those of you have been
out and talked to them, you know that. You know they're up. Their
morale is high. They're doing a great job. They're proud of what
they're doing. They recognize the importance of what they're doing.
And it's a disservice to them to leave that impression, in my view.
I would like -- a second -- I'll answer the second part of the
question. Then I'd like General Myers to comment on it, because I
think it's an important question. You can be absolutely certain that
to the extent that the United States of America decides to undertake
an activity, that we will be capable of doing it.
Dick Myers.
Myers: Let me take on the first part of the question. You said
"overextended," and I think -- to put that in context, I think the
question was --
Rumsfeld: "Exhausted," he said.
Myers: Well, overextended and exhausted.
Q: No, these are not my words.
Rumsfeld: No.
Myers: No. No, I understand.
Q: Okay. Quote.
Myers: I understand. That's the quote. But I think, to put the
"overextended," we -- I think the secretary covered the "exhausted"
piece
-- certainly we have people that are tired. But I think, in general,
our force is ready and fit, I mean. And everywhere I go -- and I've
traveled -- even during this war on terrorism, I've been able to
travel some, and I think if you ask people that travel and if you
would ask -- put that question in the right context, you would get a
much different answer.
And that -- but let me talk about the overextended piece just a
minute. That was in the context of what we do every day around here. I
mean, certain unified commanders were asked, "Do you feel like you
have the assets you need to everything you need to do in your
theater?" Clearly, we've made some prioritization decisions here in
the Pentagon that have distributed resources perhaps different[ly]
than before 9/11. And that's appropriate, we think. And so some
unified commanders might feel they don't have everything they need to
do everything they want to do. But those were
-- to put it in context, that was in very specific -- a question that
was asked to the various commanders. So in general and to sum up, I
think the secretary's absolutely right. There should be no doubt in
anybody's mind that whatever the president would ask us to do, we're
ready to do.
Q: Simultaneous to operations in Afghanistan?
Myers: I would not qualify it. We'll be ready to do whatever the
president asks us to do, and it's unqualified.
Q: General Myers, is there one area  -- 
Q: Mr. Secretary  -- 
Rumsfeld: Way in the back -- yes.
Q: Mr. Secretary  -- 
Q: Mr. Secretary, the Saudis said yesterday, "One strike on one Arab
country is a strike on all." Does that --
Rumsfeld: Who said this?
Q: A Saudi prince embraced the Iraqi  -- 
Rumsfeld: "A Saudi prince" -- do you know how many Saudi princes there
are? (Laughter.)
Q: Or a major Saudi -- (laughter).
Rumsfeld: The rest of them are going to be hurt. (Laughter.)
Q: Well, does that affect your future plans in war on terror? And
also, can you talk a little about the military move to Qatar?
Rumsfeld: Well, with respect to the first part, I'll let Dick Myers
answer the second part.
There will always be a variety of viewpoints on any subject. The fact
that a person from a country was asked something and at least it is
quoted as having said something along the lines that you said he said
-- and that's a number of corners away -- is no surprise. What it
means now or what it might mean later is -- is it -- it seems to me no
knowable. Clearly it would be wrong -- if somebody said that -- let's
pretend there was a Saudi prince, and the Saudi prince said what you
said he said -- he's wrong to suggest that the United States would be
attacking others in the world. We have a concern that's a legitimate
concern, and it involves a number of countries which the president has
talked about and the State Department has listed, and these are
countries that are engaged in the development of weapons of mass
destruction. They're countries that have had close relationships with
terrorist organizations. And we, as I said, have every right to defend
ourselves. How to -- what will be required to do that and what the
president's judgments will be prospectively is not knowable at the
present time.
Q: Follow up on that?
Myers: At the -- at the  -- 
Q: Oh, I'm sorry.
Rumsfeld: He has to answer the second part of her question.
Myers: You asked about Qatar, I think. Okay, we'll start at the top.
The important thing to recognize is that we're always reviewing our
force posture or where or forces are. We're only in countries where
we're invited to come in. And so in that context, we're looking at
options all the time. It's just something we do in our natural course
of business. And we've gotten great support, as people I think know,
in the Gulf states for our force presence. Some of these relationships
go back decades, many decades. And we'll continue to review those. And
beyond that, I think I'll just leave it right there.
Q: General Myers  -- 
Q: A follow-up on that?
Q: -- can I go back to the  -- 
Q: Could I follow up on this one, please.
Q: Go ahead.
Q: You don't mind, Tony, do you? At the Arab summit  -- 
Myers: He hasn't asked it yet. (Laughter.)
Q: And it's not  -- 
Myers: This is very good.
Q: At the Arab summit in Beirut, there were also very public displays
and declarations of reconciliation between Iraq officials and Kuwaiti
officials, Iraqi officials, Saudi officials. Couldn't that complicate
ongoing U.S. military presence, operations out of Saudi and Kuwait and
any future military operations against Iraq that might be launched
from those countries.
Rumsfeld: All I can say is that at the present time, our relationships
with the countries you've characterized where we have working
relationships, if anything, are better today than they were three
months ago. So I just don't know quite why -- why that would be the
case.
Yes?
Q: Mr. Secretary, the National Guard Association and a large number of
senators are calling for Guardsmen assigned to border duty to be
issued weapons. They feel the decision to leave them unarmed puts them
in unnecessary danger. What's your position on the issue, and is it
under review?
Rumsfeld: I have seen -- as a matter of fact, there have been no
articles, but someone -- a retired general had raised the issue to me
in a meeting I was having with him, and he pointed out that he had
asked some of the people involved and he had gotten uneven answers,
that is to say different one place from another.
I asked General Myers to look into it; he has been looking into it.
And I believe your folks have been in discussion with some of the
people to whom our folks are detailed and that it is under review.
Myers: Yes. And once that's complete, working with the departments and
agencies that our folks are detailed to, we'll come to the secretary
with a recommendation.
Q: As a follow-up, now that it is under review, do you think that
providing weapons to National Guardsmen could send an undiplomatic
message to Canada about the militarization of the border, and is that
a consideration in the review?
Rumsfeld: Not to my knowledge. Certainly, whatever we do along that
border we do in close cooperation with Canada, and we have a wonderful
working relationship with them, and I'm sure that they would be fully
knowledgeable of whatever it is that's decided.
Q: General Myers, could I go back to this issue of "exhausted" and
"extended" that Brett made -- asked? Isn't it true, though, that the
U.S. is almost exhausted and overextended in the use of precision
weapons over there? I mean, you've dropped like 5,000 of these
satellite-guided bombs and the inventory is depleted. In that respect,
isn't the --
Myers: That's not correct, Tony. The inventory is not depleted.
Q: Give me a sense of how drawn down.
Myers: No, I mean, even my wife understood this one when  -- 
The Press: Ooohhh!!! (Laughter.)
Rumsfeld: You're in trouble everywhere now! When you say "even my
wife" -- even I know better than to say that! (Laughter.) I'm
shocked!!
Myers: Mary Jo, turn off the TV because  -- 
(Cross talk. Laughter.)
Myers: Thank you for your patience. (Laughter.)
No, the issue is, are we going to stand up here and tell you how many
JDAMs we have? No, we are not. But I just told you we are not
exhausted -- what term did you use? -- depleted. We're not depleted.
And during Allied Force, there was a big listing of our munitions,
some of our precision munitions, and it was Mary Jo who turned to me,
my wife, and said, "Why are we telling the world what our -- the
status of our munitions? Shouldn't that be classified information?"
And it should have been, and for some reason we felt obligated to spit
it out there. In this case, we are not depleted; let me just say that.
It goes --
Rumsfeld: It also happens that the admiral, who was discussing this
subject, was wrong. He -- maybe not wrong; he may have been speaking
of something he knew something about but should not -- been speaking
about, because the levels of munitions is not everybody in the world's
business, to be perfectly honest, and he should have known better. But
he may have been talking about what he did know about, in a narrower
area, but not a worldwide area. And --
Q: Mr. Secretary  -- 
Q: The comments that the -- I think it was from Admiral Blair and
General Ralston, as you said, talked about the fact that they were
asked specifically, that they do not feel they have the forces and
capabilities to conduct the missions that they have now, and that what
that means is that, as General Ralston said, "I do not have the forces
in EUCOM to carry out these missions."
But if asked to do something else, he would come back to you  -- 
Rumsfeld: Exactly.
Q: -- and say, "I need more."
Rumsfeld: And they do all the time.
Q: And what that means is, then, there will have to be a decision made
and a trade-off.
Myers: Right. We prioritize all the time. That's what we do. And --
Rumsfeld: Every day we're faced with those issues, and he's quite
right. No one person is necessarily going to have every single thing
they need at any given moment, unless they ask for it and then a
judgment's made as to how you want to balance those risks and how --
what priorities you think are appropriate. And that's what General
Myers and I do.
Q: Doesn't that also beg the question how long can you maintain the
war on terrorism? How long can you even maintain the --
Rumsfeld: The answer to that question is, how long can you keep doing
what it is that is necessary to protect the American people from
having more World Trade Center crashes, more crashes into the
Pentagon, and the use of weapons of mass destruction? And the answer
is, the United States of America is capable of doing that as long as
it is necessary, and let there be no doubt.
Q: Can you be more specific on what you said earlier about your forces
would be ready, if the president called on you tomorrow, to do
anything he called on -- there have been major questions raised about
whether there are enough JDAMs and other weapons. To be more specific,
about Iraq, what you're saying is that if you were called on to attack
Iraq tomorrow or next week, that you would be ready to do it; that
wouldn't be a problem. Is that what you're saying?
Rumsfeld: You have to understand how government works.
Myers: Right. (Laughter, cross talk.)
Rumsfeld: I mean, let me just take a moment and -- (laughter) -- the
president is not going to call up the Secretary of Defense, and the
Secretary of Defense is not going to ask for the advice of General
Myers if
-- and ask us if we would please put on our wings personally and fly
over to the White House and talk to him. He knows we can't do that. He
knows our capabilities. We deal with him every day. We talk about
these things. We make investments in advance for things. We arrange
forces. Presidents don't ask people to do things that are undoable.
And if they do, if they ask -- they more normally would ask, "Is this
doable? On what basis? At risk? And over what time period?" And that
-- that's how things get sorted out in government. I can assure you
that anything that the United States needs to undertake and decides to
undertake, we will undertake, and we will undertake it successfully.
Q: In that vein  -- 
Q: General Myers, beyond that, on the Tokyo issue: The State
Department is saying that the question of getting money from other
countries to pay for peacekeeping forces or arming and training of the
army never came up, that that wasn't even on the agenda in Tokyo. You
seem very specifically miffed at the results of the Tokyo --
Rumsfeld: Oh, I don't mean to! No.
Q: -- conference, as if there was something proposed and rejected.
Rumsfeld: No, no, no. I don't mean to. All I can say is, when I asked
how much of the money from the Tokyo conference -- when the interim
government asked how much of that money is available for the security
purposes, and we were all advised -- the Afghan government and I
happened just not to be aware of the details of the donors' conference
-- I was just -- said, "Well, that means something else has to be done
now. We're going to have to get our things together and go out and do
that" -- because without security in that country, not much else is
possible. There's not going to be a stable government. There's not
going to be humanitarian assistance. Things aren't going to work. The
borders are going to remain open without border patrols. The police
work won't be done because there won't be policemen. The national
government will not have a national Afghan army because -- and
therefore not be able to provide any stability from the center, from
the capital of that country. We've got to get about the task and do
that.
Q: Are you feeling that there are  -- 
Rumsfeld: I wish there were money for it. And we're going to try to
raise some. And I think we now have an amount, if I'm not mistaken,
don't we?
Myers: I think we have a little bit, sir.
Rumsfeld: Something like 28 or something?
Myers: Yes, sir. I don't  -- 
Rumsfeld: I'm not sure enough to say -- (laughs) -- the amount.
(Laughter.) I think I know the amount, but I -- (laughter) -- I don't
want to be wrong. I noticed that the estimates on the number of
Afghans killed in the earthquake have now varied between 1,800 and 600
all within 24 hours. So I don't want to end up doing that myself.
Q: General Myers, I'd like to ask you -- you said that the U.S.
continues, military forces, to go after al Qaeda inside Afghanistan.
And if I'm al Qaeda, I'm not likely to stay inside Afghanistan. So I'd
like to prod you a bit on the challenge from going after al Qaeda in
Pakistan. We are sending folks to Georgia. We are sending folks to the
Philippines for small numbers of terrorists in those countries. In
Pakistan, we've got al Qaeda. Are there al Qaeda there? If there are
al Qaeda there, do we know where they are, or are we not going into
Pakistan to conduct any military operations in Pakistan because of
General Musharraf?
Myers: First of all, there are still al Qaeda, I can assure you,
inside Afghanistan. Not all of them have fled. I mean, we're pretty
sure of that. And so we'll continue to after the remnants of Taliban
and al Qaeda there.
Most certainly there probably are Taliban in Pakistan. But let's
remember, when we started talking about this, as the secretary has
said and the president's said, we're going to use all instruments of
national power to defeat this enemy. And so it's not just military
action that can -- that can bring pressure on these groups and
actually bring them in -- bring them into detention and to justice.
And so the Pakistani government, I think the secretary said it earlier
in this conference, that they have been very, very cooperative in this
--
Q: Have we asked him for permission to conduct joint military
operations inside Pakistan?
Rumsfeld: I don't know that I want to get into exactly what we do --
have asked or do or might do with them. All I can tell you is what
General Myers told you, and that is that we have a very good
relationship and we're very pleased with it.
Q: But can you tell us why you haven't done any operations in
Pakistan?
Rumsfeld: I think I just answered that question. I told you, it's not
-- I'm not inclined to discuss what we have done or are doing or might
do. All I can say is we have very good relationship with the
government of Pakistan, and we're very pleased --
Myers: Pleased with the results.
Rumsfeld: -- with the results.
Q: So does Washington  -- 
(Cross talk.)
Rumsfeld: Could I -- could I just make a quick comment back here. The
thing that disappoints me is not that the donors conference there
didn't come up with money -- although it would be nice if they had,
but they didn't, so now we have to get about the task -- it's that
there seems to be so little understanding of all that is going on.
We are already helping to train an Afghan national army; the
International Security Assistance Force has been doing that. And I
keep reading that the Pentagon is an impediment to a secure
environment in the country, and that's just utter nonsense, it's just
not true. We are leaning very far forward. We recognize the importance
of that. Indeed, it's important to our ability to go around and find
the al Qaeda and the Taliban, it's important to our ability to conduct
the global war on terrorism elsewhere in the world that that country
be reasonably stable. And there's just a good deal of mischief or
misinformation being circulated, I think.
Q: Mr. Secretary?
Rumsfeld: Yeah?
Q: You had said on that issue that something else must be done. Are
you thinking that the U.S. military will have to do a little bit more
in terms of protection?
Rumsfeld: Training? Training or protection?
Q: In terms of protection -- both.
Rumsfeld: Security?
Q: Both.
Rumsfeld: We're doing quite a bit, if you think about it. We have
folks at Kandahar, folks at Bagram, we have folks in Kabul. We are
helping the ISAF by providing intelligence, logistics and quick
reaction force. We have Special Forces people embedded in most of the
major Afghan units that are around the country creating a certain
presence. We're assisting people to get in and out. We're providing
humanitarian assistance by helicopter right now for the earthquake
victims.
We are not the only country on the face of the earth who can do
things, and there are other countries who are perfectly capable of
doing things as well. And it's an awful lot easier to stand back and
point a finger and say why isn't something bigger, better or longer or
richer or more of this, than it is to say, "Okay, I'll line up and
help."
And we've got wonderful cooperation from folks all across the globe on
the
-- in terms of the coalition forces. Now what we need is some more
cooperation from folks around the world on the security environment in
the country, and I'm hopeful that that will occur.
We'll take two more questions -- one here and one in back.
Q: Mr. Secretary, getting back to the ongoing operations about --
against
-- 
Rumsfeld: I couldn't hear  -- 
Q: Getting back to the ongoing operations against al Qaeda  -- 
Rumsfeld: I'm sorry, I still can't hear you. You swallowed it.
Q: Getting back to the ongoing operations  -- 
Rumsfeld: Ongoing. Good.
Q: -- against al Qaeda and Taliban, there is a report out of Kabul
this morning that Afghan and international forces killed 50 al Qaeda
and Taliban fighters near the town, I believe Narkez, south of Gardez.
Can you comment on U.S. involvement in that and confirm if there was
any U.S. involvement --
Rumsfeld: (To General Myers.) Is this the first report?
Myers: Yes.
Rumsfeld: Yeah.
Myers: We've checked into that and went back to Central Command, and
we cannot validate that that took place. So that was from Afghan
radio, right?
Q: Right.
Myers: Right. And we can't validate that.
Rumsfeld: Last question.
Q: Back to the detainees, if you please. First of all, a
clarification, which I hope doesn't count as a question. (Laughter.)
Regarding the release that you mentioned, of some of the detainees --
Rumsfeld: Yeah.
Q: -- none from Guantanamo, correct?
Rumsfeld: I don't care to respond. (Laughter.)
Q: Oh, please do.
Rumsfeld: I guess the question is, what does that mean, really? If --
we have released that we have retained. We have done it in a variety
of locations. That is to say we have gotten some people from other
countries, took custody, looked at them, and released them. We have
done -- gotten people in Afghanistan, looked at them, and released
them. We have had people in other locations, looked at them, and
released them. And I don't know that I want to get into a detailed
situation where I say it was this place, and then who is that person,
and why did you release him, under what circumstances, because it
isn't helpful to what we're trying to do.
Q: Okay. But if I could argue, probably unsuccessfully  -- 
Rumsfeld: That -- no.
Q: -- that I'm asking where, there were 300 detainees in Guantanamo.
Are the same 300 detainees still there?
Rumsfeld: I doubt it. I'd have to go back and check. I lose track --
correction; I don't try to keep track. I get involved in things early.
They then go in train, and I go on and do other things. And when
things actually take place thereafter, I don't know. That's as good as
I can do.
Now comes the question.
Q: No. This is what is going to have to  -- 
Rumsfeld: This is the second clarifying?
Q: This is going to have to qualify as a follow-up.
Rumsfeld: (Laughs.)
Q: And that is, are you in a position  -- 
Rumsfeld: Do you get a follow-up to a clarification? (Laughter.)
Q: Are you in a position yet whether you can specify whether the
military commissions that you discussed will be conducted at
Guantanamo?
Rumsfeld: I don't know. It seems to me it would be premature to decide
that, since no one's been assigned. When someone's been assigned,
we'll have the maximum information at that point, and then I'll say,
"This person's been assigned. We're going to try this person in this
location." If I said something now, and it turned out that the person
came in, and it was an inappropriate place -- the location I'd
announce -- then you would say I changed my mind and wonder why. And I
will not have changed my mind. I just don't need to decide that right
now.
I'd like to say that our good friend General Hugh Shelton is in the
hospital and is a terrific person, and unfortunately, has injured his
back. And we're getting good reports that he's in stable condition.
And I hope he's watching, and we wish him well.
Q: Mr. Secretary, which countries do you want to see more
participation from on the security side -- more money or more --
Rumsfeld: Gosh, when it comes to money, I'll take it anywhere I can
get it. (Laughter.)
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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