03 July 2003
Transcript: U.S. Exploring All Options For Its Liberia Policy, Powell Says
(Confirms U.S. has offered $25 million reward for Saddam's capture)
(2650)
President Bush "is exploring all of the options -- political options,
diplomatic options and military options as well," towards Liberia,
Secretary Powell told reporters at a press availability at the State
Department July 3.
"We have provided the president no recommendation yet, and therefore
he has not made a decision," Powell said.
"We believe strongly that President Taylor should leave, and I have
been in touch with leaders in the region and I've also been in touch
with Secretary General Kofi Annan, and I'm expecting to talk to him
again today.
"We also realize that there is a severe humanitarian crisis emerging
in Monrovia and in other parts of Liberia that has to be dealt with,
and we are concerned also about the security of our embassy officials.
So all of these factors are being taken into consideration. We'll be
discussing it among the national security team members today. But we
have made no recommendation to the president yet, and therefore the
president has not yet made a decision."
Asked about U.S. administrator Paul Bremer's July 3 announcement of
the offer of a $25 million reward for the capture of or confirmation
of the death of Iraq's former dictator, Saddam Hussein, Powell said
"We have always been considering this option, and after studying it
and making sure that we had a proper basis for such an announcement, I
signed off on the declaration this morning and Ambassador Bremer
announced it in Baghdad.
"And I will confirm it. It's authority that we have and we are using
that authority. We believe it's important to do everything we can to
determine his whereabouts, whether he is alive or dead, in order to
assist in stabilizing the situation and letting the people of Baghdad
be absolutely sure that he's not coming back. And this is just another
tool to be used for that purpose."
Powell made his remarks following a meeting at the State Department
July 3 with the delegation that represented the United States at the
just concluded conference on anti-Semitism in Vienna, Austria, hosted
by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). It
was the first time the OSCE had hosted such a conference.
Powell told reporters he was "pleased to learn that there is such
interest in this subject and the conference was so successful that
there is every desire to hold another conference on anti-Semitism next
year in Berlin."
He said he hopes that the OSCE will formally approve that proposal and
the United States will do all it can "to make sure that we have a
strong and powerful delegation representing us at that meeting as
well."
Delegation leader Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City,
said "different European countries are at different stages" of dealing
with anti-Semitism, "some more effectively than others."
Delegation member Abraham Foxman, National Director of the
Anti-Defamation League, said anti-Semitism continues even today and is
not just an historical issue.
But, "(t)he good news is that, unlike 50 years ago or 60 years ago,
there is enough leadership in the international community, starting
with the United States, to urge and to inspire the good people to come
together to deal with it as a present problem.
"I am a Holocaust survivor," Foxman said, "so for me to stand in
Vienna and to listen to voice after voice of countries who, only 50,
60 years ago were part of the problem, to begin to address the issue
of anti-Semitism today is very encouraging."
U.S. Representative Christopher Smith (Republican-New Jersey) said the
Vienna Conference "was an unmitigated success." It "put all of the
countries of the OSCE -- that's 55 countries -- on record in not only
opposing, but taking concrete steps to mitigate and hopefully end this
cancer" of anti-Semitism.
Following is a transcript of the remarks by Powell, Giuliani, Foxman
and Smith:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
July 3, 2003 2003
Remarks by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, The Honorable Rudolph
Giuliani, Mr. Abe Foxman, and Representative Christopher Smith
July 3, 2003 C Street Entrance Washington, D.C.
(11:20 a.m. EDT)
SECRETARY POWELL: Good morning, everyone. I was pleased to welcome
Mayor Giuliani and Abe Foxman of the ADL, as well Congressman Chris
Smith, who just returned from an important conference on anti-Semitism
hosted by OSCE. Mayor Giuliani led our delegation and it was a very
successful meeting, where the conference focused on the problem of
anti-Semitism in Europe and, frankly, throughout the world. And the
Mayor gave me a very positive report and I'll let him talk to that
report in a moment.
And I was also pleased to learn that there is such interest in this
subject and the conference was so successful that there is every
desire to hold another conference on anti-Semitism next year in
Berlin. And I hope that the OSCE will formally approve that proposal
and we can have a similar event next year in Berlin. And we'll do
everything to make sure that we have a strong and powerful delegation
representing us at that meeting as well.
And so, gentlemen, I thank you for representing the United States in
such an effective way, and, Rudy, I invite you to say a few words.
MR. GIULIANI: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. The first thing we
should really note is that this conference would not have taken place
without the direct intervention and very, very strong support of
Secretary Powell, and as well as very, very hard and effective work
done by the State Department.
This was not exactly a topic that there was an overwhelming desire to
discuss, but because of the hard work of the United States, the
Secretary, the President and the State Department, for the first time,
the OSCE held a conference on anti-Semitism. And you couldn't miss the
significance of the fact that it was being held right essentially
inside the square in which Hitler announced the annexation of Austria.
And you kept saying to yourself, "Well, why are we still discussing
this?" But we still have to discuss it because, in certain areas of
Europe, anti-Semitism has gotten worse.
The good news is that the efforts of the United States and the hard
work that's been done over the last four, five, six months, led to a
great deal of support to institutionalizing an analysis of
anti-Semitism within the OSCE. And to that end, Germany offered to
hold a follow-up conference next year to discuss in Berlin the
progress that's been made in setting up statistics, passing hate
crimes legislation, and looking at where there have been successes and
where there have been failures in reducing and eliminating
anti-Semitism in Europe.
And that was supported by Russia, was supported by France and other
countries. And now, of course, it has to be done officially, but that
would be, in and of itself, really a great step. A first conference in
Vienna and a second conference a year later in Berlin -- you can't
miss the significance of discussing the progress being made in
eliminating anti-Semitism in Berlin.
And I want to thank Congressman Smith and Congressman Hastings, who
accompanied us and worked very, very hard. And Congressman Smith is
now going to the parliamentary assembly in Rotterdam. And I want to
thank Abe Foxman and all of the NGOs that were there that participated
and really represented the United States in a very effective way.
And again, Mr. Secretary, without you and all of the terrific work
done by the State Department in preparing us, we never would have
gotten to this stage of their agreeing with us.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you. Abe, would you like to say a word?
MR. FOXMAN: Yes. The bad news is that there is a need in our lifetime,
in our time today, to deal with anti-Semitism as a clear and present
issue, and not a historical fact. The good news is that, unlike 50
years ago or 60 years ago, there is enough leadership in the
international community, starting with the United States, to urge and
to inspire the good people to come together to deal with it as a
present problem.
I am a Holocaust survivor, so for me to stand in Vienna and to listen
to voice after voice of countries who, only 50, 60 years ago were part
of the problem, to begin to address the issue of anti-Semitism today
is very encouraging, for, to me, it says that for my children and
grandchildren they will not have to ask the question, "Why, why was
the world silent again?" Nor will they have to ask the question, "What
if? What if the good people, what if the responsible leadership, stood
up to say no?"
And for those of us there, Mr. Secretary, to know that it was your
leadership and American leadership that challenged the European
countries to stand up, to stand up, unfortunately again, but to stand
up, and as the Mayor said, ironically, the first coming together to
face anti-Semitism today in Vienna, the second coming together in
Berlin. But it is a very pointed message of history for the future.
So thank you again for your leadership and thank you for your standing
up.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thanks, Abe. Chris.
MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I want to thank you, Secretary
Powell, President Bush, Rudy Giuliani and our delegation. The United
States is leading the world in trying to stop this, unfortunately,
this rising tide of hate called anti-Semitism. We've seen it often
under the pretext of disagreeing with policies in the Middle East.
There has been this unfortunate rise in hatred towards Jews in Europe,
in Canada and in the United States.
This unprecedented conference, which was an unmitigated success, put
all of the countries of the OSCE -- that's 55 countries -- on record
in not only opposing, but taking concrete steps to mitigate and
hopefully end this cancer.
I want to thank again the Secretary for his leadership. Vienna, Berlin
-- I'm leaving for Rotterdam, as was mentioned just a moment ago. The
parliamentary assembly, which is the part of the OSCE where all of the
parliamentarians get together, we will be raising the issue of
anti-Semitism over this weekend to keep this issue alive so that we
can stop this hate in the world.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you. A question or two?
QUESTION: A question for Mayor Giuliani.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary -- do you want to ask about this subject?
QUESTION: Yes. Mayor Giuliani, you said moments ago that anti-Semitism
is rising in some European countries. Can you explain why you think
this is?
And secondly, there is a new artwork at the Whitney Museum, on a
different note -- wanted to get your comments on that -- lampooning
you, apparently.
MR. GIULIANI: Well, I'm really not an art critic. If it was an opera,
if it was an opera, I'd be able to comment on it. But works of art I'm
not -- I'm not an expert on. And I haven't seen it so I don't know
what it is.
The conference was, I think, enormously important because it focused
on a subject that there was a resistance to discussing, and we got a
tremendous amount of support. I think we were very, very strengthened
by that, but we also realized that a tremendous amount of work is
going to have to be done between now and next year. And the Secretary
and the State Department are critical to that.
So I believe this can have a very, very big impact, but it's going to
have to be sustained over a long period of time. And there's no
question -- and the conference was clear about this -- that, in
essence -- this may be oversimplifying it, but you're dealing with two
different types of anti-Semitism: the traditional 2,000-year-long or
more anti-Semitism that has plagued Europe and still exists, and then
the rising anti-Semitism is the anti-Semitism that disguises itself as
anti-Zionism and then, you know, expresses itself in burning down
synagogues and attacking people. And that has to be dealt with. And
it's perfectly fine to have a political debate, but it's not perfectly
fine to want to see the destruction of a people or to begin physically
attacking them. And different European countries are at different
stages of dealing with it, some more effectively than others.
SECRETARY POWELL: Barry.
QUESTION: Can we catch up, please, on Liberia -- the diplomacy going
on? I wouldn't imagine the U.S. is trying to find asylum for Taylor
because you want him tried as a war criminal, but can you bring us up
to date? Will troops go there? What about the Taylor situation?
SECRETARY POWELL: The President, as you have heard, is exploring all
of the options -- political options, diplomatic options and military
options as well. We have provided the President no recommendation yet,
and therefore he has not made a decision.
We believe strongly that President Taylor should leave, and I have
been in touch with leaders in the region and I've also been in touch
with Secretary General Kofi Annan, and I'm expecting to talk to him
again today.
We also realize that there is a severe humanitarian crisis emerging in
Monrovia and in other parts of Liberia that has to be dealt with, and
we are concerned also about the security of our embassy officials. So
all of these factors are being taken into consideration. We'll be
discussing it among the national security team members today. But we
have made no recommendation to the President yet, and therefore the
President has not yet made a decision.
All of the what ifs and wherefores in your question will be dealt with
as we move forward, and we'll make announcements when it is
appropriate and we're ready to make announcements.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, apparently in Baghdad today, and officials
here confirmed that there will be a reward announced for the capture
of Saddam Hussein or proof that he is dead. Can you say why you had to
go to this, and how long has that debate going on as to why you're
going to this route?
SECRETARY POWELL: It hasn't been a debate. We have always been
considering this option, and after studying it and making sure that we
had a proper basis for such an announcement, I signed off on the
declaration this morning and Ambassador Bremer announced it in
Baghdad. And I will confirm it. It's authority that we have and we are
using that authority. We believe it's important to do everything we
can to determine his whereabouts, whether he is alive or dead, in
order to assist in stabilizing the situation and letting the people of
Baghdad be absolutely sure that he's not coming back. And this is just
another tool to be used for that purpose.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, as you determine -- to go back to Liberia. As
you determine what it is the U.S. should do, how critical is Charles
Taylor's departure from the country in order for any mission to be
successful in bringing stability to the country?
SECRETARY POWELL: We believe stability will only come to the country
with the departure of President Taylor. In some of the earlier
negotiations that led to the ceasefire he agreed that that would be an
appropriate step to take, and we hope it's a step that he will take at
the appropriate time. I think it is important for him to depart.
Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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