07 July 2003
U.S. Military Team in Liberia to Assess Needs
(White House Report, July 7: Liberia, Iraq, Wilson/Niger) (940)
A team of U.S. military experts is in Liberia determining whether U.S.
troops are necessary as part of an intervention force that would
establish stability in the nation that has suffered from years of
civil war, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters at
an early morning briefing July 7.
The Fleischer briefing took place just hours before President Bush was
scheduled to depart on a five-day trip to Africa that will take him to
Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria.
"The assessment team has landed on the ground, and the president
awaits their reports," Fleischer said. "They will engage in a number
of conversations with nations in the region, and we have not yet
received their reports back. We will await their reports before the
president makes any call [decision]. The assessment team is on the
ground to determine what is necessary, and I can't predict what the
outcome will be."
President Bush is encouraged by Liberian President Charles Taylor's
recent indications that he is planning to leave Liberia to take exile
in Nigeria, but Bush wants to see actions rather than hear words,
Fleischer said.
In recent days, the press secretary noted, Taylor has "twice indicated
that he will leave. This remains encouraging. At the end of the day it
still remains essential that he leave, that actions follow words. This
is a question of deeds. It remains encouraging, but the president will
still wait and see to make certain that he does indeed go. That is a
vital first step in order for stability to be maintained."
U.S. REMAINS DEDICATED TO BRINGING STABILITY TO IRAQ
Asked about the recent U.S. casualties in Iraq, Fleischer said the
situation is dangerous but the United States remains dedicated to
bringing "stability to the Iraqi people." Fleischer said people who
murder American troops are "the worst enemies of the Iraqi people."
"Those who engage in the murder of American military personnel, who
are there to help reconstruct Iraq, do great harm to the Iraqi
people," Fleischer said. "Their actions are at odds with the situation
in most of the rest of Iraq, where the reconstruction efforts are
accelerating, where conditions are peaceful, but there are certain
very bad neighborhoods. The American military is there in a dangerous
mission to help bring stability to the Iraqi people, and they will
remain dedicated to achieving that mission."
FLEISCHER SAYS BUSH DID NOT HAVE FACTS ON NIGER URANIUM BEFORE SOU
ADDRESS
President Bush did not know, Fleischer said, that British information
indicating Iraq had received uranium from Niger was wrong before he
gave his January 28, 2003, State of the Union Address in which he
said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Fleischer was responding to questions about a July 6 op-ed article in
the New York Times by former U.S. Ambassador to Gabon Joseph Wilson,
who also was interviewed July 6 on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Wilson, a career diplomat who served in the U.S. foreign service from
1976 to 1998, was asked by the Central Intelligence Agency to
investigate reports that Niger sold Iraq processed uranium in the
1990s that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Wilson traveled to Niger in February 2002 to investigate purported
sale uranium yellowcake -- a form of lightly processed ore -- from
Niger to Iraq in the late 1990s. Through further processing of the
yellow granular solid, yellowcake can be used in fuel rods for nuclear
reactors or in nuclear weapons. Niger is the world's third-largest
producer of mined uranium.
"He [Wilson] is saying that surely the vice president must have known,
or that the White House must have known, [about his conclusion] but
that's not the case prior to the State of the Union," Fleischer said.
In his op-ed piece, Wilson said, "It did not take long to conclude
that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken
place." Wilson also said that the office of Vice President Dick Cheney
asked the CIA if Niger had sold uranium to Iraq. Wilson said his
negative answer was given months before Bush announced in his State of
the Union Address that Saddam Hussein sought uranium from Africa.
"The vice president's office asked a serious question," Wilson said.
"I was asked to help formulate the answer. I did so, and I have every
confidence that the answer I provided was circulated to the
appropriate officials within our government."
Fleischer said the vice president's office knew nothing of Wilson's
trip to Niger until the media reported the story.
"The vice president's office did not request the mission to Niger,"
Fleischer said. "The vice president's office was not informed of his
mission. He was not aware of Mr. Wilson's mission until recent press
reports accounted for it."
It is now old news that the report saying Iraq acquired uranium
yellowcake from Niger is false, Fleischer said, but "The information
about the yellowcake and Niger was not specifically known prior to the
State of the Union by the White House."
"We've acknowledged that the information turned out to be bogus
involving the report on yellowcake," Fleischer said. "That's not new.
Dr. Rice has said it repeatedly. I've said it repeatedly."
Committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are
investigating pre-war intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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