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Daily Press Briefing

Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
June 6, 2007

INDEX:

12:50 p.m. EDT

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't have anything to open up with, so we can take your questions.

QUESTION: Well --

MR. MCCORMACK: The podium is like the battleship Missouri up here.

QUESTION: You can lower it, you know.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, I won't do it on camera.

QUESTION: Can you address these reports that are coming out of Turkey about incursions -- an incursion into northern Iraq?

MR. MCCORMACK: Bottom line it for you, don't think there's any substance to it. Our Ambassador in Ankara, Ross Wilson went in, talked to the Turkish General Staff and they said the reports weren't accurate.

QUESTION: I'm sorry, who said that, the Ambassador or the Turks?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, he heard that from the Turkish General Staff that the reports are inaccurate.

QUESTION: Okay, but is there any -- have your own people been able to -- I believe we have some people up there in that area.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. And we have been able to check along the border there and we haven't seen anything.

QUESTION: Sean, could you just address the broader question of how important it is to you that the Turkish military, which I think has pointedly not ruled out such incursions and indeed talked about them as a possibility, not actually go into northern Iraq?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I, and more important people than me, Secretary Gates, have said recently that this is not in anybody's interest that you have an incursion into Iraq. Look, we understand quite clearly that the Turkish Government is responsible for protecting the Turkish people against terrorist activities. There have been recent terrorist attacks perpetrated by the PKK in Turkey itself recently. Lives have been lost. And so we understand the Turkish Government's responsibility in this regard. And we are 100 percent with them in the fight against terrorism. We work very closely with them in the fight against terrorism. And in our view, the PKK is a terrorist organization. All of that said, Turkey and Iraq are neighbors, that's not going to change. And we don't think it is in the interest of either state that there would be a military incursion into Iraq.

Our track has been to work with the Turkish Government, work with the Iraqi Government and have the two of them work together, with us as well, to try to address this real problem of the PKK operating out of northern Iraq. And I would just as a footnote add that this has been their MO for quite some time, going back years and years and years and years where the PKK operated out of northern Iraq, made incursions into Turkey. So it's not a new problem that has been created recently, but it is one that needs to be addressed. We take it quite seriously. You can see a manifestation of that fact in that the Secretary asked, and the President asked retired four-star General Joe Ralston to take on this issue as his special envoy. So that is his full-time work as special envoy to deal just with this issue. So what we believe is needed is dialogue, cooperation, action in addressing the PKK threat, but not an incursion by the Turkish army into Iraq.

QUESTION: But even if it's a kind of a case of disinformation, don't you think that it's a sign that the situation is worsening, that this disinformation is happening today?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know. I just think probably it's bad reporting.

QUESTION: Well, you don't report 50,000 soldiers bad reporting. I mean, you don't want to say it or you don't --

MR. MCCORMACK: It's wrong.

QUESTION: -- want to say it.

MR. MCCORMACK: It's wrong.

QUESTION: Yeah, but --

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know what you want to call it. I'll call it bad reporting. It's wrong according to our sources and the Turkish sources.

QUESTION: Were there any other movements that could be confused for an incursion? What's your understanding?

MR. MCCORMACK: You know, Nicholas, I can't tell you. I can't tell you why somebody was confused or inaccurately reporting. I don't know why. You guys can go dig that up on yourselves and you're journalists, you have resources, you can find out. All I can tell you is that the Turkish General Staff has told us it was wrong. We have checked with our sources and they have said it was wrong.

QUESTION: Can you --

QUESTION: (Inaudible) you said you didn't --

MR. MCCORMACK: Sylvie, the report is wrong. There have been reports of Turkish military being along the border. That's normal. We understand that. But the report's inaccurate based on what we have been told by the Turkish General Staff and by our own sources.

QUESTION: Can you just say what you said -- during your opening you said we have been able to check along the border and we haven't seen anything. You were pretty confident that had there been something like what has been reported inaccurately -- as you say --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- you would have seen it. You would have noticed it.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, I think we would have noticed it. Yeah.

QUESTION: And when you say there have been reports of persons -- of some soldiers deployed along the border, is it a regular number or is it a higher number of soldiers?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sylvie, I can't tell you. I don't keep track on a daily basis. I know that there are Turkish troops along the border. The Turkish Government has talked about that. And as I said that is not an unusual fact that they are along the border.

QUESTION: Sean, is it possible that it's just a question of words and semantics here in terms of the numbers or whether there was an invasion or whether there was a following -- some PKK people back across the border by a smaller number of Turkish troops?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know. I mean, the story was pretty specific. You know, I can't tell you. I don't keep track of the movements of every single Turkish soldier. But as I said, as reported by our Ambassador, based on what the Turkish General Staff has told him, based on what our own resources have told us, the story's not accurate.

QUESTION: Okay. The reason I bring it up and sorry to -- I don't know if it's beating a dead horse, but the latest -- one of the latest stories says, quoting a Turkish official, is it's not a major offensive and the number of troops is not in the tens of thousands. So I'm asking whether or not it's possible --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, then that would make the story wrong because it talked about tens of thousands.

QUESTION: Yes, but is it possible that some Turkish troops have followed the PKK across the border?

MR. MCCORMACK: You know, Charlie, I don't know. I can't tell you, you know. People inquired about the news story that was running on the wire, we asked a question -- you know, it's wrong.

QUESTION: But you cannot say with certitude that there was not a limited incursion in northern Iraq.

MR. MCCORMACK: Sylvie, I can't tell you if a Turkish soldier stepped through the Habur gate. You know, I don't know. I don't know that. I'm responding to the story that hit the wire and I'm conveying to you what we have been told. Now if there's anything else to it, whether or not two -- you know, two, three, 10 Turkish soldiers stepped across the border, I don't know. If I find out, I'm happy to tell you.

You can also check with the Turkish embassy and the Turkish Government. I'm sure that they will probably have something to say on it, but the story that I was asked about, that I saw come across the wire, we asked the Turkish Government about it, we checked with our own sources. That story is wrong.

QUESTION: Well, can I just follow up? Just as a kind of general policy, I mean, the Administration has been kind of low key about its concerns that the Turkish would, in fact -- I mean, there is a huge military build-up on the border. You said you're working with the Turks, you think the PKK is a terrorist group, you have --

MR. MCCORMACK: I think you missed the first part of the briefing.

QUESTION: Oh, I'm sorry.

MR. MCCORMACK: Arshad asked the question and I think you missed Secretary Gates just several days ago saying that the Turkish Government should not go into Iraq --

QUESTION: No, I did see --

MR. MCCORMACK: I think that's pretty direct. I don't think that's low key.

QUESTION: I did see that, but like, how much are you pushing the Turks to make sure that this doesn't happen?

MR. MCCORMACK: Did you hear what I said? Did you hear what Secretary Gates said?

QUESTION: Sorry. Sorry. Okay. Sorry.

MR. MCCORMACK: Okay. Lambros.

QUESTION: Yes, on Turkey, a follow-up. Mr. McCormack --

(Laughter.)

MR. MCCORMACK: Lambros --

QUESTION: Mr. McCormack --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, no, I'm happy to --

MR. CASEY: See, he's foiled when you --

(Laughter.)

MR. MCCORMACK: No, no, I think we have officially crossed the line into flagellum equus mortuus territory.

QUESTION: The question is --

MR. MCCORMACK: But go ahead. If you -- with that warning, Lambros, go right ahead. Plunge in.

QUESTION: Okay. The question is, did your Ambassador spoke to the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan alone or with the Turkish military, as you said, who told you that "The reports are inaccurate"?

MR. MCCORMACK: I just said, Lambros, that our Ambassador talked to the Turkish General Staff. I don't think the Prime Minister was there.

QUESTION: Okay. The other question is, do you know if the Ambassador spoke direct to the dictator-to-be General Yasar Buyukanit?

(Laughter.)

MR. MCCORMACK: Lambros, that's just frankly out of line.

Yes.

QUESTION: It's got nothing to do with Turkey, I promise.

MR. MCCORMACK: What's that -- yeah.

QUESTION: This is about these new immigration travel rules that -- people wanting to go to Caribbean, Mexico, Canada now have to present a passport. It's affecting a lot of ordinary people.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Vacations are being derailed, honeymoons, this kind of thing. How are you addressing the problem and why did you implement this scheme and --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, two things. One, we are implementing the law that Congress passed, so -- we didn't write the law. The Congress did.

QUESTION: But how are you doing --

MR. MCCORMACK: You know, we didn't have a vote in that, okay? So we are responding to a requirement that was placed upon us by Congress. Now the answer to your question of what -- well, what are we doing to -- doing about it; well, we're trying to apply a lot of manpower to the issue. We have opened up at least one new passport processing center that I know of and folks are working around the clock to get through what has been a backlog. I understand that.

I know that there are people who are worried about their travel plans and we do have mechanisms that people can use in order to speed up the process. If they have some immediate travel plans, we can fast-track something. There's a fee for that, but we can fast-track things. So we're aware that it's an issue and the Secretary has been watching this closely, and she wants to make sure that we do everything that we can and that all of the resources are being put against the problem that need to be put against the problem so that we don't run into things like this.

You know, our objective is to make sure that people, anybody who wants to travel can travel when they need to travel if they take account of the processing times, and if there are circumstances that arise with individuals or families or groups where they need to travel on short notice or short fuse and somebody doesn't have a passport, we're going to do everything that we can to make sure they get a passport in their hand.

QUESTION: And what was the logic behind this? Was this to do with the war on terror? Was this to --

MR. MCCORMACK: I think it was part -- go back and check the record, but I think it did have something to do with making sure that our borders were safe and secure.

QUESTION: Do you think it's working?

MR. MCCORMACK: Do I think what's working?

QUESTION: Do you think it's working? Do you think it's a good idea?

MR. MCCORMACK: What -- not for me to say if it's good or bad. It's for us to implement the law.

QUESTION: Can you give us a readout on the Secretary's conversations with Israeli Transport Minister Mofaz?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, he's -- I can give you a little flavor of the conversation. He is here as part of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Dialogue on the American side that's being led by Nick Burns, and they had some meetings, I think some preliminary meetings this morning, prior to Minister Mofaz meeting with the Secretary. They're going to continue those. I think really the bulk of them happen today and tomorrow.

They talked about all the issues you would expect that they talk about. They talked about the Israeli-Palestinian track, the importance of that. They talked about Iran. They talked a little bit about Lebanon, talked about a little bit about Syria. Those are the basic topic areas that they talked about.

QUESTION: Did he give you -- did he raise at all the possibility of a revived Israeli dialogue with the Syrians on peace?

MR. MCCORMACK: In the Secretary's conversation, it was very brief -- the discussion about Syria. And the Secretary reiterated in private what she has said in public about that. Essentially, it boils down to -- these are my words, not hers -- it essentially boils down to, look, we're not going to manage Israeli foreign policy. Those -- you will make your own decisions.

But you know, let's take a look at -- take a look at Syria's behavior over the recent past and I don't think you're going to find many indications of Syria showing the rest of the world that they are interested in playing a constructive, positive role in trying to bring about a more peaceful, secure region. And coming on to that -- coming in from the other side of the line, you know, separating itself from Iran, separating itself from behaviors that support violent -- the use of violent extremism and support those forces that continue to destabilize the region. So again, it's -- that's a decision for the Israeli Government to make.

QUESTION: So, I mean, it would be a fair summary to say you're not going to tell them what to do, but it's not -- you don't feel like there's much of an opportunity here?

MR. MCCORMACK: I'll leave it where I left it. You guys can -- you guys can describe it as you will.

QUESTION: One other thing on Iran. Minister Mofaz told some of us outside that, you know, he favored diplomatic efforts with Iran until the end of this year. Sort of an odd timeline, but the inference was, yes, continue with diplomacy through the end of 2007. Did that come up? Did he suggest in a conversation that the diplomatic efforts now underway for many years on a multilateral basis on Iran on its alleged nuclear -- military nuclear program should not go beyond the next --

MR. MCCORMACK: Didn't hear a timeline, but clearly Israel as well as the rest of the world is concerned about Iran's nuclear activity. Look, we believe that the diplomatic pathway is the right pathway to try to resolve this. There are existing options in the absence of doing nothing that are out there. Nobody wants to see those come about. So the Secretary and the President decided on this diplomatic pathway to see if we can use the concerted effort of the international community, the leverage of the international community, to get Iran to change its behavior. Thus far, they haven't.

But we are going to be in the coming days, weeks and months talking with friends and allies around the globe about how we can -- how we can increase the pressure on Iran. I think we're going to be talking about in the not too distant future another Security Council resolution. There are, of course, efforts that are still underway with European countries, with Japan as well as others, to see what we can do to use the financial system as a way to pressure the Iranian Government into changing their behavior. And this is -- and when I say use the financial system, that is to not allow Iran to use the international financial system for illicit purposes.

And that's -- that is an effort that has had some effect, but we think that there is more room there for action. And so you can expect that we're going to be continuing discussions on those two tracks: the Security Council track, more sanctions, and then also working bilaterally with states on how we might pressure Iran outside of the Security Council.

QUESTION: And from your point of view, there's no timeline on ending --

MR. MCCORMACK: I haven't heard -- I certainly have not heard the Secretary apply any timeline to the diplomatic efforts.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Did Mr. Mofaz give any assurance to the Secretary about the fact that Prime Minister Olmert will indeed meet with President Abbas at the end of the month?

MR. MCCORMACK: Did she --

QUESTION: Did he give any assurance?

MR. MCCORMACK: They -- he indicated that they have a very direct and continuing interest in President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert meeting and working together on issues. I'd use the term "problem solving." Move forward the Israeli-Palestinian track. Yes, so they did express a continuing interest in that. We're confident that they will meet. I understand that there was a delay in this meeting and we understand that. We think it's really up to the two parties, the Israelis and the Palestinians, to decide on the precise date as well as all the modalities that go into these meetings. We are encouraging both sides to meet, and -- but I -- in that regard, I think we're pushing on an open door. They both want to meet. And it's just a question of making sure that they make maximum use of all of those opportunities and they're going to have to make some of those calculations.

QUESTION: The Palestinians announced that they will meet in the -- well, during the next Quartet meeting which has been announced at the end of the month. Do you think it's the same -- it has the same interest for the peace process? Do you think it -- the result will be as good for the peace process if they meet with other countries or if -- do you think it would be better to meet --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, it's not a substitute. They're -- the Israelis and Palestinians meeting with the Quartet, which is something that at the last Quartet meeting they had talked about happening in June as well as a Quartet meeting with some Arab states, is something that they announced back in Berlin. The date hasn't been set yet. But that's not a substitute for the Israelis and the Palestinians talking directly. There is no substitute for that.

Yeah, Elise.

QUESTION: New topic?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure. Nicholas?

QUESTION: Back on Iran just quickly. Apparently, Foreign Minister Steinmeier has met with Larijani. I thought Solana was the person who did that. Was the Secretary aware of that meeting? Did they talk about it back in Berlin last week? And what was his purpose? Why did he meet with Larijani?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think the main purpose was to talk about issues outside of the nuclear issue. Now, I don't know --

QUESTION: Bilateral issues or -- with Germany or more general --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, I think -- I think broadly speaking. And I'm sure they talked about bilateral issues as well. I don't want to get into reading out their meeting, but yes, we were aware of this meeting. But I think if you ask the German Government as well that they will say that it wasn't -- it wasn't intended to focus on the nuclear issue. We're all very clear, including the Europeans, on the fact that the Solana-Larijani channel is the authoritative channel for the nuclear issue. So it's not -- it wasn't intended in any way to take away from that.

QUESTION: But you haven't heard any reporting back of what happened in the meeting?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think -- I'm sure the Secretary and Nick have talked with folks. I just haven't -- I haven't gotten much of a readout beyond the fact that it was a meeting not intended to talk about the nuclear issue.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Now there is some talk about -- or rumors about peace between Syria and Israel. The Israelis have conducted -- have been conducting today and yesterday war games against what is called and named Syrian villages and towns. This is rising the tension in the area. Why you are not encouraging in great words the peace talks between Syria and Israel? Would you discourage Israel from raising the tension in the area and pursuing different --

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know if those are waters you want to travel into, talking about others raising the tension in the region when you're ignoring everything that the Syrian Government is doing, whether that's in Lebanon or Iraq. So I'm not sure that's a characterization pathway that you want to go down.

Look, we've made it clear. I've answered just today, I answered yesterday -- we're not going to dictate to the Israeli Government what pathways they take in their foreign policy. But of course, we're going to point out to them the fact that the Syrian Government hasn't really demonstrated through its actions any sort of intent to actually play a constructive role in the region.

Secretary Rice had a meeting with Foreign Minister Muallem in Sharm el-Sheikh. They talked about what Syria might do vis-à-vis Iraq to help stabilize the situation there. Syria has an interest in that. We're not asking Syria for any favors in that regard. The Syrian Government has in the past allowed foreign fighters to travel through their territory, and I'm sure that they don't want more than anybody else for some of those foreign fighters maybe not to continue into Iraq and maybe stay in Syria. So nobody wants to see that.

We would welcome if the Syrian Government would take the opportunity to actually demonstrate
that it will follow up on its words when it says it wants to play a positive role in the region -- haven't seen any evidence of that though.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on that? Minister Mofaz said outside that the Israeli Government had discerned some military activity on the Syrian side of the Israeli-Syrian border, but that it regarded this as defensive. Have you discerned any unusual military activity by the Syrians near Israel and can you tell us whether you would share that characterization of it as defensive?

MR. MCCORMACK: You know, first I heard of it, at least in the portion of the meeting that I was in. They met separately just for a few minutes afterwards -- didn't hear that. I'm not sure what our guys would say about it. I don't know if it's anything that I could get into. I'm happy to look into it for you. If there's anything we can share in that regard, happy to do so.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Elise.

QUESTION: A couple of unrelated ones. First of all on Colombia, the trial is starting on these FARC members who are accused of kidnapping three Americans and continuing to hold them. Can you talk about any efforts that you're -- with the Colombian Government to try and secure their release? The Colombian Government has been talking about a hostage trade and whether you think the Americans should be included in that.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I don't have a lot of details that I can share with you, Elise. But we're going to do everything that we can, and we have been doing everything that we can, that we think is effective in getting these three people back, reunited with their families. Everybody wants to see that. It's something that is always on our radar screen and something that I know the Secretary watches herself. And all I can say is that we do work on a daily basis closely with the Colombian Government on this issue. Nobody wants to see these people reunited more than us.

QUESTION: But I know that the United States itself is against trading hostages or any sort of prisoner swaps or anything like that. But there has been talk that the Colombian Government is working on some kind of humanitarian agreement with the FARC where they would -- and their kind of dispute -- and that the hostages could be involved in that and that there was some talk about the Americans being --

MR. MCCORMACK: I hadn't heard such talk.

QUESTION: Okay. I just have one more on Fidel Castro.

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: He gave an hour-long interview on television, looked a lot healthier, said he was in good spirits. But that he wasn't going -- he wasn't going to be going back -- he didn't indicate that he was kind of taking the mantle again and he was just going to be writing about the revolution. Do you think that says anything, that the transition is, in fact, in place and that he has no intention of coming back to power? And do you have any thoughts about the interview that he gave?

MR. MCCORMACK: I didn't see it. I saw snippets of it. Look, I'll just repeat what we've said, there is clearly some form of transition that is underway from Fidel Castro to his brother. Certainly, we don't want to see a transition from one dictator to another. We think the Cuban people deserve better than that. A lot of other countries around the world, they believe the same. So we're -- we are working with other countries around the world to make sure that as this takes place that you do not, in fact, have a de facto transition from one dictator to another.

QUESTION: But do you have any thoughts on, you know, his kind of appearance in his interview that he does seem to be gaining strength and the fact that he could -- even though he's not necessarily in power that --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- the sign that his health is improving that he could still be kind of working behind the scenes?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. I don't have -- I can't offer a medical assessment of his condition. I'm not qualified to do that.

Yeah.

QUESTION: The U.S. State Department came out with the U.S.-Japan Investment Initiative Report today.

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Would you say that the U.S. is -- Prime Minister Abe's efforts to open Japan to FDI have met U.S. expectations thus far?

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm going to have to get you an answer on that.

QUESTION: Okay, sure.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:17 p.m.)

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