20 February 2003
Powell Says U.S. Firm on Level of Assistance to Turkey
(Secretary, NATO's Robertson brief Feb. 20 after meeting in
Washington) (2570)
The United States remains firm about the level and kind of assistance
available for Turkey in the context of a possible war with Iraq,
Secretary of State Colin Powell said in response to a journalist's
question February 20, but added, "There may be some other creative
things we can do."
Powell was speaking at a press availability with NATO Secretary
General Lord Robertson after their meeting at the State Department.
Both men expressed satisfaction with NATO's decision to provide
support for Turkey, Powell saying it "shows the vitality of the
alliance."
Powell also said he was pleased that NATO is willing to play a "more
forward leaning role" in the International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) in Afghanistan, pronouncing it a sign of "the continuing
relevance of the alliance."
Robertson, in his remarks, said Afghanistan had been "for too long an
exporter of trouble, instability, drugs and trafficking," and that "if
we can help to reduce that threat to the whole of Europe, then NATO
will play its part and do it strongly, too."
Regarding Iraq, Powell said that the United States is in close
consultation with other nations about Iraqi noncompliance with United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1441 and expects "in the
near future" to introduce a new resolution.
"We still believe that a resolution is appropriate. We're working on
such a resolution. And we don't put a resolution down unless we intend
to fight for that resolution, unless we believe we can make the case
that a resolution is appropriate," he said.
Powell denied pressuring elected members of the Security Council on
Iraq, saying: "We present our case, and hopefully the power of our
argument will persuade them to vote with us."
The Secretary also discussed his upcoming trip to Japan, China, and
South Korea.
Following is the State Department transcript of his remarks with Lord
Robertson:
(begin transcript)
Treaty Room
Washington, D.C.
February 20, 2003
SECRETARY COLIN L. POWELL
PRESS AVAILABILITY WITH NATO SECRETARY GENERAL LORD ROBERTSON
(9:40 a.m.)
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I have had
the pleasure once again to receive the Secretary General of NATO, Lord
George Robertson, and we've had a very good discussion following on
the discussions that Lord Robertson had with President Bush last
evening.
I had the chance this morning to again thank George for the superb
work that he and his team, working with the United States team, and,
frankly, the teams of many of the NATO nations, most of the NATO
nations, in finding a solution to the problem we had with respect to
providing support to a fellow NATO member, Turkey.
And I think we had a good outcome and I know that the Turks are
pleased and we are certainly pleased, and it shows the vitality of the
alliance and how we can find solutions to the most vexing, difficult
problems. But what you need to find such solutions is a good leader,
and George Robertson is such a good leader, and I thank him again for
the hard work he and his staff put into this effort.
I also briefed the Secretary General on where we are with respect to
Iraq and other issues. We also talked about Afghanistan, noting the
work that has been done there over the past year plus in putting a
society and a country and a government back together, and the
continuing need there is now, will be, for military presence in the
form of not only OEF, Operation Enduring Freedom forces, but the
International Security Assistance Force.
And we noted that perhaps NATO can play a more active role as an
alliance and not just member-nations of the alliance participating in
ISAF. And so in the weeks ahead, we'll be exploring with Lord
Robertson and his staff how best to accomplish this, and I'm very
pleased that NATO is willing to play this more forward leaning role.
And it's, once again, a sign of the vitality of the alliance and the
continuing relevance of the alliance.
And so, George, it's a great pleasure to welcome you here, sir, and I
invite you to say a word.
LORD ROBERTSON: Thanks very much, Colin. It's good to be here in the
State Department and I like compliments and praise as much as anybody
in politics or out of politics, but I want to place on record my
thanks to you and to your people, both here and in Brussels, for the
efforts that they put in, and indeed to those of the other nations who
were determined to find a solution.
After some pretty tough talking and some strong opinions being raised,
we got a result on Sunday night, late Sunday night, and we made a
decision that led to a deployment yesterday of the protective measures
for Turkey, and within a week the AWACS planes that defended America
after the 11th of September will be flying over Turkey defending
another ally under threat. That's what the alliance is about: strong
and powerful in defense of the common interests and common values that
we stand for. And I'm assuring everybody in the United States that the
transatlantic link remains as strong as possible, that we can repair
any damage to NATO's public reputation quite easily by the comments
that are made and especially the deeds that are done.
As you say, Colin, Afghanistan is an area where NATO is now helping
Germany and the Netherlands to mount the International Security
Assistance Force, helping to bring peace and stability to that
troubled part of the world, and the countries that are there just now,
the Netherlands and Germany and to be followed on by Canada, are
looking for more NATO support and that is something that the alliance
will look to because we're interested in stability. And of course,
Afghanistan has been for too long an exporter of trouble, instability,
drugs and trafficking, and if we can help to reduce that threat to the
whole of Europe, then NATO will play its part and do it strongly, too.
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.
Barry.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, is the aid package for Turkey still at an
impasse? Has there been any give on either side since we last saw you?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, as you know, we spent a lot of time over the
weekend with our Turkish colleagues. I was with them till midnight
last Thursday night and the President saw them on Friday, and then I
reaffirmed to them yesterday morning in a phone call to the Prime
Minister that our position was firm with respect to the kind of
assistance we could provide with respect to the level. There may be
some other creative things we can do, but the level was our ceiling.
And I know that they are in consultation now within their government,
within their council of ministers, and I expect to hear back from them
before the day is out. But I have nothing further to report, Barry.
QUESTION: Thanks.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, when do you expect a second resolution to be
put forward, roughly what shape do you think it will take, and will it
set any explicit deadline for Iraqi compliance?
SECRETARY POWELL: We are in close consultation with our friends in the
Security Council and other nations around the world about continued
Iraqi noncompliance with 1441. There was an article in the paper this
morning that illustrated once again that they will take process and
convert process into a way of avoiding their obligations under 1441,
and we view this with great seriousness. It's the case we made last
Monday at the United Nations that's what is wanted is compliance, and
not necessarily more inspectors or more monitoring, because Iraq knows
how to thwart those kinds of efforts.
And in the absence of such compliance, we believe that it is
appropriate to put down a resolution in the very near future. I can't
tell you exactly when we will do it, but it is not going to be in the
far distant future, but in the near future.
And I think I will not discuss what the elements of the resolution
will be until I've completed the consultation with our friends, and
the same goes with respect to any timelines associated with a
resolution.
George.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, have you heard from Dr. Blix on what he is
asking of the Iraqis vis-à-vis the al-Samoud II missile and other
components related to it?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, I haven't heard anything today. As you know, the
al-Samoud is -- he identified it and components such as engines and
test stands and casting machinery and casting chambers and things of
that nature -- are all prohibited items. They're not supposed to have
them. And they are in the process, I think, of being positively
identified and tagged. And I will wait to see whether Dr. Blix directs
Iraq to take any action with respect to those specific items, but I
haven't heard anything today.
Andrea.
QUESTION: Secretary Powell, as you know better than the rest of us,
right now, the U.S. does not have the nine votes that would be
necessary to pass a resolution. Is it a definite that the U.S. will
submit a resolution, even if you think you don't have the votes? And
how do you intend to win over at least nine, if not more members of
the Security Council to persuade them that Iraq is not in compliance?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, there's no resolution down so whether we have
the votes or not is something of an academic question. We still
believe that a resolution is appropriate. We're working on such a
resolution. And we don't put a resolution down unless we intend to
fight for that resolution, unless we believe we can make the case that
a resolution is appropriate. And when we put a resolution down, we
will then convey the argument to all the members of the Security
Council as to why it is a proper resolution to support, and I hope
we'll be able to achieve the support needed to pass it.
Terri.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, today in the paper, some representatives of
smaller countries on the Security Council are saying they actually
wish they weren't in those seats right now because of the extreme
pressure that the U.S. and other people are putting on. What can you
say to that?
And I'm also interested in whether you agree with Lord Robertson that
the sort of breaks and tensions in NATO can be easily overcome.
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to the latter part of your question, I
certainly do agree with George. I've been around this business for
many years and I don't know how many times I have gone through whither
NATO, the end of NATO, what comes next, the Warsaw Pact has gone away,
why hasn't NATO? And voila, it's still here.
And I remember when I was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all
the Russian generals would say to me, "Well, we got rid of the Warsaw
Pact. When are you going to get rid of NATO?" I said, "How can we get
rid of an organization where people keep applying to join?" And so it
has gone from the 16 nations that we had, heading now to 26 nations,
and it's a vibrant alliance which can deal with the kinds of problems
that it just dealt with and it continues to be the single, the single
organization that links the transatlantic community, North America
with Europe. And it will continue to have value far into the future,
and these problems come, they get dealt with by democratic nations
working together, and they get put behind us and the alliance
continues to move forward.
With respect to the elected members of the Security Council, there are
always tough issues before the Council. All I ask of each of these
nations is to weigh the facts, to weigh the evidence, read Resolution
1441 again, and come to a considered judgment when it's time to vote.
I believe that we should put trust in these countries, whether they
are big or small. They all have sovereign rights to decide. We present
our case. We don't threaten. We don't suggest that blackmail is in
order. We present our case, and hopefully the power of our argument
will persuade them to vote with us. But there are always difficult
issues before the Council and this certainly is one of them
One last one.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, can you tell us what you expect to get out of
the trip to Asia this coming weekend? How long after that do you think
there might be a meeting with the North Koreans? And do you have a
response to these articles of late that suggest that by not traveling
more that you're somehow abdicating the job there?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yeah, I found that interesting over the period of
the last ten days. Just for the record, I took 16 trips last year, 41
countries, and I also received a large number of visitors here, so I
think I'm on the road a bit.
But I ultimately have to make the judgment of where my time should be
spent. I am principal foreign policy advisor to the President and so I
have to spend a goodly part of my time with the President, but I also
have responsibilities to travel, and I do that.
But through the power of modern technology, the use of e-mail and
telephones, that is another way to be in touch with the world without
only living in an airplane to do so. So I think I have a right balance
between phone diplomacy, diplomacy here in Washington and diplomacy on
the road.
With respect to the trip coming up, I'm looking forward to
conversations in Japan to thank them for the strong support that they
have provided to the United States in a number of areas, but
especially with respect to the Iraq crisis.
In China, I look forward to discussions with Foreign Minister Tang and
other leaders. This, I think, will be the fifth time that I've met
with Foreign Minister Tang in the last seven weeks, which I think is
some evidence that we are in touch with our colleagues around the
world.
And certainly the situation in North Korea will be a subject of
considerable interest and discussion, but I cannot say to you now that
we have found a way to arrange a meeting, a multilateral meeting, to
consider the North Korean situation, but the United States and China
do have a shared view that the North Korean nuclear program is not
acceptable and that the Korean Peninsula must not have nuclear
weapons. And that is a position that President Bush and President
Jiang Zemin took publicly when President Jiang Zemin visited Crawford
[Texas].
And then, of course, I think the highlight of the trip will be the
inauguration of President Roh in Seoul next Tuesday, and I am very
much looking forward to returning to Seoul for that occasion.
Thank you very much.
(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
|
|
|
