State Department Briefing, September 26
26 September 2005
Lebanon, North Korea, Israel/Palestinians, Iran, Haiti, Uzbekistan, United Kingdom, Brazil, Secretary's meeting schedule, Update on hurricane aid, Status of donated MREs/Small number in question, Status of foreign nationals in hurricane region/Status of U.S. Passport Agency, China
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack briefed the press September 26.
Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Monday, September 26, 2005
1:35 p.m. EDT
Briefer: Sean McCormack, Spokesman
LEBANON
-- Attack on Lebanese Journalist May Chediac/Lebanese Authorities Investigating
NORTH KOREA
-- Understanding of Sequencing Regarding Agreement/Light Water Reactor
ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
-- Statement by Hamas/U.S. Views Well Known, Unchanged
-- Palestinian Obligations Under the Roadmap
-- U.S. Efforts to Build up Palestinian Security Apparatus/Gen. Ward
-- Israel's Right to Defend Itself/Consequences of Actions
-- Efforts to Build on a Successful Gaza Withdrawal
IRAN
-- Vote at IAEA/Goal to Get Iran to Negotiating Table/Iran Increasingly Isolated
HAITI
-- Secretary's Trip to Haiti/Core Group
-- Encouraging Progress in the Electoral Process
-- Brazilian Led UN Force/Security Issues
UZBEKISTAN
-- A/S Fried's Trip to Central Asia
-- Continued Access to K2 Base
-- Intersection of Human Rights, Strategic Interests
-- U.S. Support for International Inquiry Into Andijan Events
UNITED KINGDOM
-- IRA's Declaration on Disarmament/U.S. Welcomes
BRAZIL
-- Secretary's Meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister
DEPARTMENT
-- Secretary's Meeting Schedule
-- Update on Hurricane Aid
-- Status of Donated MREs/Small Number in Question
-- Status of Foreign Nationals in Hurricane Region/Status of U.S. Passport Agency
CHINA
-- New Internet Restrictions by Government
-- Any Effort to Limit Freedom of Press, Speech of Concern to U.S.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2005
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
(1:35 p.m. EDT)
MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon. I have a brief opening statement then I'll be happy to take your questions.
The United States condemns the brutal attack on the Lebanese journalist May Chediac, who was wounded in a car bombing on September 25, 2005. Ms. Chediac is a voice for dialogue and free expression in Lebanon. The United States joins her family and friends in wishing her a speedy recovery.
Those who attacked Ms. Chediac want to impede Lebanon's steady progress toward full independence and sovereignty. The United States stands with the courageous people of Lebanon as they emerge from decades of foreign occupation and chart their own democratic future.
With that, be happy to take your questions. George.
QUESTION: Do you see a Syrian hand in this?
MR. MCCORMACK: I know that Lebanese authorities are investigating what happened. I don't think that they've made any pronouncements on that. I would say that there are those still in Lebanon who want to impede Lebanon's progress towards a free, democratic and more prosperous future in which the Lebanese people decide for themselves the course for their country free from any influence -- any outside influence.
Peter.
QUESTION: To follow up? So you -- have you determined that this is a politically motivated attack as opposed to --
MR. MCCORMACK: Again, this just happened recently and I think Lebanese authorities are investigating who is responsible for this attack. But I think it is safe to say, given Ms. Chediac's expression in support of a free, democratic Lebanon that there are forces who would like to silence voices for a free and democratic Lebanon. We don't know who is responsible but certainly I think it stands to reason that there are those out there who do want to impede Lebanon's progress to a free and democratic future.
Okay.
QUESTION: Different subject?
MR. MCCORMACK: James Rosen.
QUESTION: A member of the Japanese delegation to the six-party talks told reporters today on background -- in a background briefing that Japan's understanding of the accord that was announced on September 19th is that the North must fully dismantle its nuclear weapons and its nuclear programs before the time will be appropriate for any discussion of a light-water reactor. And this individual was also asked if that position is identical to the U.S. in his understanding and he said, "Yes it is."
MR. MCCORMACK: I think Assistant Secretary Hill in Beijing made it very clear what our understanding of the sequencing is. Of the other -- five other delegations other than North Korea made statements regarding their understanding of sequencing; all are in agreement. What has to happen is that North Korea must dismantle its nuclear programs, must be back in the NPT in good standing and have full IAEA safeguards. At that point, and only at that point, could there be -- would it be appropriate to perhaps have a discussion about light-water reactors. All that is in the Statement of Principles is a commitment to "an appropriate" time have a discussion about light-water reactors but only after that sequencing takes place.
QUESTION: So the dismantlement must be complete, though, before that discussion takes place.
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, again, you have to have full IAEA safeguards back in the NPT and their nuclear programs have to be dismantled.
QUESTION: To have been dismantled?
MR. MCCORMACK: They have to have been dismantled.
Okay. Anyone else? Elise.
QUESTION: What do you make of the statement by Hamas over the weekend that it's halting all attacks against Israelis? Do you welcome this statement? Are you taking it with a bit of skepticism? Do you think this is enough to calm the recent violence that happened over the weekend?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, again, our views about Hamas as a terrorist organization are well known and unchanged. And I would note that before making this statement they launched a rocket attack, in which several missiles landed in Israel and injured a number of people.
What we have done is we have, over the weekend, been in touch with both sides, with Israeli officials, with Palestinian officials. We've urged all to help maintain an atmosphere of calm, free from violence. We have also made it very clear that these sorts of violent attacks, these sorts of terror attacks can't happen. And the Palestinian Authority has the responsibility. They have taken actions to try to prevent such future attacks; that is very important. It is important that they take up their obligations to stop terror attacks, to dismantle terrorist organizations.
We also understand Israel's right to defend itself, but in taking actions to defend itself, we ask Israel to consider the effect that its actions may have on reaching the overall goal that all share of achieving two states living side by side in peace and security.
And let me make one other point. The -- late last week, many innocent Palestinians died. They died as a result of an explosion caused by Hamas, a terrorist organization. And this is, if anybody needed anymore example of why you can't have armed groups operating outside the rule of law, this is it. And you've seen the Palestinian Authority speak out against this and to this very point.
Barry.
QUESTION: Can you give us some examples of how the Palestinian Authority has taken action against Hamas? I thought they invited them into elections?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I said that they have taken some actions to maintain an atmosphere, a greater atmosphere of calm. They understand what their obligations are. We encourage them to take steps to again stop terror attacks, to prevent them from happening and we urge them also to act to dismantle terrorist organizations. We and the other members of the international community have been working very closely with the Palestinian Authority to build up their capabilities, their security apparatus.
General Ward has been working very closely with them. We all know what a great job he has done in working with the Palestinian Authority, working with the Israeli Government to ensure that the Palestinian security forces have a greater capability. This is a work in progress, though. They have made progress in terms of their organization, in command and control and in terms of what equipment they have to act as a cohesive security force. But like I said, there is more to be done.
QUESTION: And do your remarks cover the Israeli attack when you say Israel has a right to defend itself, you want everybody to be careful. Or do you have something further to say about Israel going after them even though Hamas has promised to cut out -- stop attacking?
MR. MCCORMACK: I don't have anything further, Barry.
QUESTION: Did you take their promise seriously?
MR. MCCORMACK: Again, Barry, our views concerning Hamas are well known and they're unchanged.
QUESTION: When you say that -- and I know you've said this before, previous administrations -- that you understand Israel has a right to defend itself but that it should think about the consequences of its actions, are you specifically in this case talking about the attacks back into Gaza by Israel?
MR. MCCORMACK: Again, this is a difficult -- you know, we understand the situation in which Israel finds itself and we fully understand Israel's right to defend itself. But again, as we have said before, we also hope that Israel, in deciding to take whatever actions it does take, that it takes into account the effect of what they do on the overarching goal that all share here. And that is what we -- the question that I was asked concerned the most recent actions in Gaza, so it does cover that, yes.
Peter.
QUESTION: Just on a general note, you had been talking for months, just about, that the Gaza withdrawal would be a new impulsion towards progress on the roadmap. Are you a bit disappointed to be at the position you are now, where you have just a rising tensions between the two sides, as opposed to this movement towards more work on the roadmap?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, again, I think the Israeli Government, working with us as well as the Palestinian Authority, are -- we are all acting together towards the goal of having -- trying to reenergize progress towards implementation of the Sharm el-Sheikh understandings with respect to the roadmap. That's everybody's goal and that's what we're working with all sides to do.
Let me point out, though, that it is these terrorist organizations that are acting in a way that for whatever reasons they may have to derail this process. There are terrorist organizations like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad that are operating outside the current consensus. They very clearly want to derail this process.
What I think we need to do is keep our focus on working with the Palestinians, working with the Israeli Government and other concerned parties to try to build on what was, overall, I think most would agree a successful withdrawal process. There were some problems towards the end of that withdrawal process, specifically -- most specifically with respect to the southern -- with respect to the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. The Egyptian Government, working with the Palestinians, has taken steps to address those issues that existed early on.
So what the Secretary's focus is on, what our focus is on is trying to address these issues as they come up. And in resolving them, build on what most view it as a successful withdrawal.
Yes, Elise.
QUESTION: New topic?
MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.
QUESTION: The IAEA resolution over the weekend, could you talk a little bit about what the next steps are? Are you going to just push to get this referred at the next meeting or are you hoping that Iran will come back to the table and kind of avert this from deteriorating any further?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, what we have -- from the beginning of this process, the goal, our goal, working with the EU-3 and others on the IAEA Board of Governors has been is to get Iran back to the negotiating table with the EU-3. Nobody wants to see Iran obtain nuclear weapons, especially not under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Nobody wants -- the other parties of the Board of Governors don't want to see Iran have access to sensitive nuclear fuel cycle technology as well as know-how. That is the goal -- that's what we're trying to achieve here. The process is not an end to itself; the process is merely a way to get to that goal.
The vote that we saw over the weekend, I think, was a good first step. We hope that Iran heeds the signal that it sent and that is, get back to the negotiating table. I think that Iran, if you look at how the vote actually unfolded, Iran finds itself increasingly isolated on this question. The next step is we'll see what Iran takes from this. They have an opportunity here; we hope that they do take that opportunity. There will be a report as a result of vote on Saturday. There will be a report to the Security Council. What is contained in that report and the timing of that report will depend on what Iran does.
If it continues with its defiant actions, and I would expect that that report would be much less good than we had -- than we would hope. But again, what is contained in the report is going to be up to Iran. We'll see how they respond to this message that has been sent to them. But I think they clearly have to understand that they find themselves more and more isolated as a result of their actions.
Okay. James Rosen.
QUESTION: New topic. On Haiti?
MR. MCCORMACK: Okay.
QUESTION: What does the Secretary hope to achieve with this trip? What are the outstanding issues where American involvement in Haiti is concerned?
MR. MCCORMACK: I think her trip is an outgrowth of some meetings, most recently up in New York, in which the Core Group concerned with Haiti got together once again. It includes, among others, the Secretary General Insulza and his Special Representative; the Foreign Minister from Brazil; Foreign Minister of Canada; Foreign Minister of -- let's see, we have -- who else is on the list here? I don't want to leave anybody out.
QUESTION: Argentina.
MR. MCCORMACK: Argentina. So you got together this Core Group, very concerned about encouraging progress along in the electoral process. And I think what Secretary Rice is interested in doing is demonstrating the United States' support for this electoral process moving forward. It is a Haitian process but also she wants to go down there and see what progress that they have made and can urge them to make continued progress as they come up on the elections.
QUESTION: Will aid issues also be discussed -- U.S. aid issues?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, if, we'll be certainly ready to discuss whatever is on the minds of our interlocutors. She's going to be meeting with President Alexandre, Prime Minister LaTortue as well as members of the Provisional Election Committee as well. So if there's something that's on their mind, we'll be happy to listen to them. But I think her focus is on the election process that's unfolding right now.
QUESTION: Violence has been a problem for the past year and a half. Do you have an evaluation of where Haiti stands with respect to violence?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, there have been problems, George. And we have a very capable and active UN force in Haiti right now led by Brazil. The Secretary met with the Brazilian Foreign Minister just before I came out here for the briefing. This is one of the issues that they talked about. Certainly, security is very important so that people have the opportunity to express their will in a manner unfettered from violence or threat of violence.
So I think what we have seen is an environment that has become increasingly secure. That said, there are still pockets of real difficulty and we are going to be working with MINUSTAH as well as other members of the international community to see that Haitians have the safest, most secure possible environment for their election.
I'm going to go back here.
QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit about Dan Fried's mission to Uzbekistan, talking to the President there? Is he going to ask to maybe reopen the dialogue about this base that the Uzbeks have shut down?
MR. MCCORMACK: He is going to, you know, Assistant Secretary Fried is on a trip to Central Asia. He will be traveling to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. He's going to be talking about bilateral issues in each of these countries as well as regional issues. I think that he will be meeting with President Karimov while he's there.
I expect that the issue of access to the K-2 base -- continued access to the K-2 base will arise and issues surrounding that. But as the Secretary has said and made very clear, we believe that with respect to Uzbekistan, that our strategic interest as well our interest in promoting democracy and human rights intersect here. And certainly, we are not going to sacrifice one for the other in this regard. There is an intersection here. So he has not had his meeting yet. As soon as he has had his meeting, I'll try to get you whatever readouts I can of that.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Not only -- Mr. Karimov not only turned down the idea of an international inquiry about the Andijan events, but he put 15 people on trial this week in Uzbekistan. In some testimony that people think may, at least some say, may not be entirely spontaneous. In any event, one of the witnesses linked the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent to the unrest and I just wondered if you had any reaction to that.
MR. MCCORMACK: First of all, you know, with respect to Andijan, we continue to support an independent, international inquiry. As for Embassy involvement in this tragic incident, this has come up before and there's just no basis for it.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Can I change the subject?
QUESTION: One more on this. Unless things change, the U.S. will no longer have access to those -- to that base by the end of the year. Is that correct, the timetable?
MR. MCCORMACK: You'll have to talk to the Department of Defense about this, what their understandings are with the Uzbek Government as well as their access to other bases in the region.
Saul.
QUESTION: Change of subject?
MR. MCCORMACK: Congratulations.
QUESTION: Oh, thank you.
MR. MCCORMACK: Mr. Hudson is a proud father --
QUESTION: A proud father, proud husband.
MR. MCCORMACK: A proud father, proud husband. And I believe the little boy's name is -- proud general. (Laughter.) The boy's name is Thomas?
QUESTION: That's right.
MR. MCCORMACK: Congratulations to you and your family.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. Thank you.
QUESTION: It's a good name, Saul.
QUESTION: It's a good name. Tom. Right. (Laughter.) It's bilingual, because he's Tomas in Israel.
MR. MCCORMACK: Tomas.
QUESTION: So the IRA, they -- a monitor say that they've scrapped their arsenal and there's some skepticism among Protestant leaders. What's your reaction to the monitor's declaration that the arsenal has been scrapped and do you share any of the skepticism that this might not have actually happened?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, the White House is going to have a statement as well on this, but I think that our view is that we welcome today's statement by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, that the provisional Irish Republican Army has completely -- comprehensively and verifiably disarmed, a critical step in reaching the goals of the Good Friday Accord has always been decommissioning. And today's report by the IICD states that this has been accomplished. The action by the IRA is an important step forward on the path toward a sustainable political settlement in Northern Ireland. And the United States calls on all other paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, whether loyalist or republican, to engage with the IICD to bring about total decommissioning at the earliest possible date.
The U.S. remains steadfast in its support for the peace process to achieve lasting peace and reconciliation for the people of Northern Ireland.
Peter.
QUESTION: You mentioned a bit about the meeting -- the lunch that the Secretary had with the Foreign Minister of Brazil about Haiti. Can you give us a bit of more of a readout on what else was discussed at this?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, they had -- the way it break down is they had a short meeting, one on one, and then they had about an hour-long lunch, working lunch, with their aides present. They talked about a wide variety of issues. Brazil is an important country in the neighborhood and we have a very broad and deep relationship with Brazil. They really covered the waterfront on regional issues to bilateral issues. They talked about UN reforms, Security Council reform, they talked about Haiti, they talked about Iran and that really about covers it.
QUESTION: Did Latin America come up?
MR. MCCORMACK: They did talk about the region. They did talk about the region, yeah.
QUESTION: I thought this was a courtesy call. I thought the schedule said this was a courtesy call with the Brazilian Foreign Minister.
MR. MCCORMACK: A bit more lengthy than that. She did have a courtesy call with the Malaysian Foreign Minister. She also met with the Prime Minister of East Timor as well this morning.
Yes.
QUESTION: The Government of China, over the weekend, announced some new restrictions on the internet. They already heavily filter out websites and that sort of thing from their citizens. I wonder if you have any response to that.
MR. MCCORMACK: Freedom of the press, freedom of expression is important in any society. We speak out in support of those rights, rights that we consider to be universal rights and that any attempt to limit freedom of expression and freedom of the press is of great concern to the United States.
QUESTION: A follow-up?
MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: People who are critical of China's approach to the internet also say that some U.S. companies, famous for producing equipment like routers and that sort of thing, have actually provided the Government of China with the wherewithal to do the internet filtering that they do. And I was wondering if that's a matter of concern to you and has this been raised with the U.S. company?
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, again any effort to limit freedom of expression, any effort that would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and freedom of the press is something that is of concern to us.
QUESTION: Will this be a matter of discussion between the U.S. Government and these American companies?
MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not aware of any direct discussions we've had with them.
Louis.
QUESTION: Have there been any offers of international aid for Hurricane Rita?
MR. MCCORMACK: I'll check. I'll check for you. Off the top of my head, I'm not aware of any.
QUESTION: And as to Hurricane Katrina relief, do you have an update as to how much of that aid has actually been distributed domestically in the United States?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, there are different types of aid. You had aid, you know, aid in kind, you had cash donations, you had expertise. So we'll try to get you an update on exactly what has been given and what has been used.
QUESTION: And one more on this. When Ambassador Thomas came here and gave us a briefing here, he said, you know, there's some countries that are giving us products in kind and what we really need right now are MREs. It turns out that USDA actually set aside some of those MREs because they did not comply with U.S. food importation regulations. There was actually, I think, an inaccurate report in the British press that these MREs were incinerated. The USDA denies that.
But the fact that you were soliciting materials which, in turn, have been warehoused in Arkansas and not being distributed, I mean, is there a disconnect here between two agencies in the fact that you are looking for certain items for immediate relief and yet nothing ever gets done with them and they, in fact, get --
MR. MCCORMACK: A few things. One, what you're -- the items to which you refer are a very small subset of the overall aid that was provided by a hundred-plus countries, whether that's in-kind aid or cash donations. Even under the most difficult circumstances, there are agencies of the U.S. Government that have a responsibility to fulfill in terms of enforcing rules and regulations.
We'll check for the latest disposition of this small number of MREs that are in question, but I think it is safe to assume that these MREs, these items, will be put to good use. And exactly what their final disposition is we'll keep you -- try to get you an update.
QUESTION: Also on that, have you had any communications with any embassies that had consulates in the Houston area that they're missing any nationals or are you helping them with anything like that? It doesn't seem like a whole --
MR. MCCORMACK: We'll try to get you an update. I'm not aware of any missing nationals at this point.
QUESTION: And wait, just one more thing, your Passport Agency in Houston --
MR. MCCORMACK: In Houston, yes.
QUESTION: Was there any damage to that? Have all those employees been accounted for? I know that you were trying to take precautions beforehand, so --
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, they are -- our Bureau of Consular Affairs has accounted for all the Passport Agency staff members in Houston. And we have been inside the Passport Agency offices in Houston and the report back is that the facility is undamaged. The facility in Houston is closed today, but we expect the Passport Agency to reopen on Tuesday. But I think that there is probably going to be a -- what was that?
QUESTION: Tomorrow.
MR. MCCORMACK: Tomorrow, yeah. There is probably going to be a gradual ramp-up in terms of getting back to full speed, as people are dealing with any damage that may have been done to their homes in the area.
Thanks.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:03 p.m.)
(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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