10 December 2002
Rumsfeld in Horn of Africa to Assess Anti-Terrorist Assistance
(Says Iraqi declaration is subject of "intense scrutiny") (1700)
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the war on terrorism
"absolutely requires the cooperation of countries of all sizes on each
continent on the face of the earth, if we're going to be successful in
tracking, finding and dealing with terror cells." The Secretary made
his remarks during a December 9 Department of Defense news briefing
while en route to Eritrea on the first leg of a trip to the Horn of
Africa that includes stops in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Qatar.
Responding to a question on whether the U.S. is receiving help from
countries in the Horn, Rumsfeld said the U.S. military is already
receiving valuable assistance from three countries in the region. He
also said the United States has seized the opportunity offered by
Djibouti to position some forces there.
Adding that he was not in the region "to put pressure on anybody,"
Rumsfeld said, "I'm here to demonstrate the fact that the United
States values what these countries are doing. We value what they've
offered to do, and we recognize the importance of it."
Questioned about Iraq's arms declaration, the defense secretary said,
"Certainly the United States will have an interagency team that will
be poring over it and discussing it. It clearly will need to be the
subject of attention on the part of nations in the Security Council
and elsewhere."
Following is a transcript of the news briefing as released by the
Defense Department:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of Defense News Briefing
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Monday, December 9, 2002
(En Route to Eritrea)
Rumsfeld: The three or four day trip that we're embarking on is very
much about the global war on terrorism. The fact that we're going to
Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, and Qatar, is an indication that it
is global. It's also an indication that the 90-plus countries that are
involved in helping, each in a distinctive way, are each important.
And having the chance to visit these particular countries is a way to
indicate to them the value we place on what they're doing. And also
it's an indication to the world of the value we place on what each of
these countries is doing.
The fact is, it's going to be a long war. The fact that it is a
distinctly different kind of war, I think, is emphasized by the fact
that it absolutely requires the cooperation of countries of all sizes
on each continent on the face of the earth if we're going to be
successful in tracking, finding and dealing with terror cells.
The visit, the last visit before we come back, will be in Qatar.
Obviously the exercise that is taking place there called Internal
Look, has been many months in the making, and it's an opportunity to
test and exercise a deployable command and control center. And I look
forward to being back there and having a chance to see precisely how
well we are arranged.
Q: [Prospects for CJTF (Combined Joint Task Force) Horn of Africa
tracking and capturing al Qaeda?]
Rumsfeld: Well, we know there are al Qaeda in the area, in several
countries, in varying numbers. We also know that to the extent we put
pressure on them in one place, they tend to be disrupted and have to
find other locations which is not always easy.
Q: [Are countries in the area providing resources?]
Rumsfeld: Sure. We've had activities in this part of the world in
cooperation with governments that are useful. Sharing intelligence and
the like.
Q: Eritrea and Ethiopia have apparently made offers to the United
States for use of facilities ... so far the U.S. has said no. ... Can
you talk to us about that issue? Why not?
Rumsfeld: It isn't so much a matter of saying no as that they have
representatives and liaison in CENTCOM [Central Command, covering 25
countries in the Gulf region, South Asia and Horn of Africa] and those
discussions are ongoing. There are all kinds of ways countries can
help. They can help by providing over-flight rights, which they do;
and provide some access to bases from time to time; they can share
intelligence; they can backfill in one country if we need to move
forces from that country to someplace else. They can cooperate in
maritime activities as some countries do. It is something that evolves
over time. But you're right, some countries have offered opportunities
and in the case of Djibouti, obviously we have seized that opportunity
and have some forces there at the present time.
Q: Is your trip to the Horn of Africa related to the recent bombing in
Mombasa, and what kind of help are you hoping for from countries
fighting terrorism?
Rumsfeld: We are already receiving assistance from all three countries
and we're very pleased with it and we value it. I'm not here to engage
in transactions, I'm not here to put pressure on anybody. I'm here to
demonstrate the fact that the United States values what these
countries are doing. We value what they've offered to do and we
recognize the importance of it.
Q: Is the help they're giving mostly related to al Qaeda in Yemen and
Somalia, or are there pockets in their own countries?
Rumsfeld: It varies from country to country, and I think the way to
think of it is that we need to strengthen relationships with countries
in many, many parts of the world as we have in Central Asia. If you go
back and think about it, shortly after September 11th and indeed when
I first came into office, I said I thought the 21st century offers an
opportunity to change relationships among countries.
The event on September 11th accelerated that opportunity and deepened
it. What you're seeing happen in the world is that the United States
is working with a large number of countries that we did not previously
have close relationships with of a political, economic, or military
type. And it is a good thing for our country.
We need to build that cooperation, to have change (in) what we're able
to do. I think it's a mistake to think of it as transactional. And I
think the right way to think of it is relationships that are evolving
over time. Just as they have been in Central Asia, just as they are in
South Asia.
Q: Has a US Secretary of Defense ever visited Djibouti, Eritrea, or
Ethiopia before?
Rumsfeld: I don't know.
Q: Can you tell us what we've learned so far about the Iraqi
declaration?
Rumsfeld: Yes. I've got some word on that today and it's long. It's in
more than one language. How am I doing?
It clearly will need to be the subject of attention on the part of
nations in the Security Council and elsewhere. Certainly the United
States will have an interagency team that will be poring over it and
discussing it. Given the length of it, I would think it would not be
the kind of thing that someone would skim through overnight.
Q: Are they in material breach?
Rumsfeld: I think if you go back and read the resolution, you'll find
that the resolution says they were already in material breach and
anything that occurred subsequently would be considered, I believe the
phrase was, additional material breach.
Q: Are they in additional material breach?
Rumsfeld: How would one know? It just arrived. It hasn't even been
translated. There's no way in the world to know what's in that
declaration in five minutes.
Q: If the declaration does not add to what was known in the UNSCOM
report in 1998 - would they then be in additional material breach?
Rumsfeld: You know, I'm not going to do hypotheticals on the
declaration. It has been, I believe, received by the United States.
It's the subject of intense scrutiny at the present time on the part
of a multi-departmental and interagency team. I think the thing to do
is to not prejudge it, but to be patient and expect that it will take
days and weeks probably to go over it and come to some judgments about
it.
Q: Is the US prepared to come forth with evidence of Iraqi WMD?
Rumsfeld: It seems to me that the state of play is that the president
went to the United Nations. Previously the United Nations had not been
terribly attentive to Iraq. They decided to unanimously pass a
resolution. Fortunately the resolution called for a declaration. The
declaration's just been supplied. My impression is that the rational
thing to do is to read the declaration and come to some judgments
about it. And jump off those other bridges when you get to them.
Furthermore I would say this is really a matter that the White House
and the President are going to be dealing with and handling, not the
Department of Defense.
Q: Bab el Mandab is obviously an important strait - with the attack on
French tanker not long ago and the attack in Kenya, is there any
indication of al Qaeda operating in that area, not just transiting
through, with the idea of disrupting shipping in that vital passage?
Rumsfeld: As you know we have various ship activity, naval activities,
multinational naval activities that take place in this part of the
world on an ongoing basis. And from time to time -- I've forgotten
what the proper word is -- we communicate with either the nation, the
owners or the skippers of the vessels that seem to merit interest on
our part, and then have discussions with them.
Sometimes those ships are then taken, and their illicit cargo is
disposed of in ways other than they originally intended. The things
are going on continuously, let there be no doubt.
Q: My impression was no terrorist related cargo in the Red Sea?
Rumsfeld: I have to go check and I guess it may be definitional. The
Red Sea begins and ends and then there's an area just beyond the Red
Sea and it may very well be that people choose to do it before they
get in the Red Sea or after they're in there-- possibly, probably,
certainly. [laughter]
Press: Thank you, Sir.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
