Military

MR. CASEY: Anyway, afternoon. I don't have anything to start you guys with, so let's go right to your questions.

Matt.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to add to what you told us earlier about the Quartet and its --

MR. CASEY: Well, I --

QUESTION: -- deliberations, discussions, whatever they were in Jerusalem?

MR. CASEY: Don't have a lot more to add for you, Matt, at least not on the subject I think you're most interested in. Obviously, the Quartet did meet today. Assistant Secretary Welch represented the U.S. there. They did have a good discussion of the situation in the Palestinian territories. They did, as I mentioned earlier this morning, discuss as well the desirability of having an envoy for the Quartet who could work with the Palestinians on things like building the rule of law, expanding economic development, coordinating assistance, otherwise helping to build up Palestinian institutions and try and assist the new government under Prime Minister Fayyad to accomplish its main goal, which is taking care of the needs of the Palestinian people.

In terms of any kind of Quartet statement or announcements, including things potentially related to the envoy, I think we'll just have to wait for the Quartet to make its pronouncements on that. And again, as I told you this morning, I think we're -- you would be wise to look for that, come tomorrow.

Yeah, David.

QUESTION: Tom, the envoy would not have any sort of mandate to negotiate the Middle East conflict itself, but would be narrowly limited to this institution-building?

MR. CASEY: Well, again, I'll let the Quartet talk about the terms of reference for this position, but the way we've described it before and the way I'd continue to do so is that this would be something similar to or an expanded version of what Mr. Wolfensohn did when he was a Quartet envoy. In his case, he specifically was focusing on issues related to Gaza and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. In this instance, as we've said, we'd like to be able to have an envoy to focus very specifically on helping with some of these institution-building tasks for the Palestinian Authority. But as -- my understanding is there's certainly no envisioning that this individual would be a negotiator on behalf of the Quartet between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Kirit.

QUESTION: Does the U.S. believe Tony Blair would be a good envoy?

MR. CASEY: Well, the U.S. certainly believes that Prime Minister Blair is a distinguished individual with a world record and history of support for bringing about a peaceful resolution of the Middle East. He's a dedicated individual. He's someone who, as President Bush said in their last Rose Garden meeting, is someone who is respected and listened to throughout the world. And certainly, it would -- he would be an individual that, no matter what he applied his skills to, would certainly be a welcome presence. And we look forward to seeing what new roles and tasks he'll take on for himself once he finishes his term in office tomorrow.

QUESTION: Do you have any indication of what time tomorrow he will -- he might be thinking of --

MR. CASEY: I don't, Matt. We'll try and get you some more logistical details as we have them available.

QUESTION: Is it a mere coincidence on the calendar that Tony Blair finishes his political career in Britain tomorrow and the announcement is coming out tomorrow?

MR. CASEY: We'll just leave it at that. The Prime Minister concludes his term tomorrow. And then we'll look to see what he has to say. We'll also look to see what the Quartet has to say. And I think at that point, you'll know what's coincidence and what isn't.

QUESTION: Absolutely. I'm curious, do you think that he fits the role as a Middle East peace envoy?

MR. CASEY: Well, again, I think -- we think that he's a very distinguished individual. He himself has said this morning that he thinks the Mideast and building peace between Israelis and Palestinians, building up support for the Palestinian people and building their institutions, are all tasks that are vitally important and are things that he personally would hope to be able to contribute to and let's see where we go from there.

Mr. Lambros.

QUESTION: Mr. Casey, on Turkey, the Turkish Supreme Court in Ankara only yesterday in a purely religious matter against the title of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, based in Istanbul, Turkey, saying that it's not ecumenical. Could you please clarify the U.S. position on this issue?

MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, I've heard about this issue, but I haven't really had a chance to look into it. We'll try and get you an answer on that later. As you know, we've always had greatest respect for the patriarch and for his role in the community there. But let me take a quick look at this, make sure we have a specific response to you on this court decision.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. CASEY: Okay.

Yeah.

QUESTION: A bill by -- authored by Tom Lantos, imposing sanctions on firms that invested in Iran's oil cleared committee today. How does the State Department view this policy or the idea that calls from within the United States to strengthen sanctions on supporting Iran?

MR. CASEY: Well, I'd have to check. I believe there actually is a statement of administration position on that legislation, but let me take a look at it for you. Certainly, we believe that we need to do everything that we can to continue to raise the stakes for Iran in terms of its nuclear program. We, as you know, have worked with our friends and allies in Europe and elsewhere to be able to gradually ratchet up sanctions on the Iranian regime and we're in the process now of looking at what additional measures we can add on to those as a result of Iran's continued noncompliance with Security Council resolutions and IAEA Board of Governors resolutions.

In terms of the specific legislation, again, I think there's a statement of administration position on this and I'd refer you to that. Certainly, while we want to do everything we can to push the Iranian Government towards compliance with its international obligations, we also want to make sure that that's done in a way that continues to hold together the broad international coalition that we've worked to build and I think we'd look at this and any other legislation in that light.

QUESTION: Tom, can I ask another Congressman Lantos question?

MR. CASEY: Yeah. Sure.

QUESTION: Yesterday he and Congressman Ackerman sent a letter to Deputy Secretary Negroponte imploring the State Department to make use or to hire some of the 300 or so Arabic, Farsi and Urdu, I think, language military people -- people with those skills who have been discharged from the military under "Don’t ask, don't tell." Do you have any idea what, if (a) if there's been a response or what the Department's position is on hiring or would be hiring some of these people?

MR. CASEY: Well, a couple of things, Matt. My understanding is we just received that letter this morning and I'll certainly want to allow the Deputy Secretary's staff as well as our legislative affairs folks an opportunity to take a look at it. Certainly, we'll give an appropriate response to Congressman Lantos and Ackerman.

In terms of hiring, as you know, the Department is very much interested in recruiting Foreign Service Officers and folks for Civil Service and other appropriate positions who possess what we call critical language skills and that does include Arabic and Chinese and a variety of other languages out there. And we are certainly open to any individuals possessing those kinds of skills to come and apply for work with us. We do actively look for individuals who have those kinds of skills and we certainly do not discriminate in our hiring practices has been our longstanding policy.

I will make sure that we, you know, give you a response in more detail specifically to the issues raised in the letter once people have had a chance here to look at it. But again, we would certainly welcome any Americans with talent and skill and interest to contact us if they are interested in employment. And we do, as I said, spend a good deal of effort trying to recruit individuals who represent the diversity of America as well as individuals who have certain critical skills, among them included being Arabic language.

QUESTION: Maybe you don't know the answer to this because it hasn't been fully gone through -- the letter. But you are open to the possibility of recruiting them or you would actually actively go out and seek them or do they have to come to you?

MR. CASEY: Well, again, all I'm talking about, Matt, is just the general principle we have of we are actively looking for individuals with these kinds of skills. We also are certainly open to individuals coming to us to seek employment with those kinds of skills or qualifications. So you know, as far as I know, there has been no active recruitment campaign related to these specific individuals, although there is a general effort to recruit individuals that have these kinds of skills.

Again, in terms of what our response will be to the Congressmen, we just received the letter, and I want to let our folks take a look at it first and then determine what the response ought to be.

Yeah.

QUESTION: I submitted this earlier -- I mean, I don't know if it got to you yet. But Venezuela there's a nationalization program of all ages and several, largely U.S.-based firms, have bucked this and has decided to go -- basically they're not going to take the deal that Chavez has offered. Does this -- is that considered a commercial matter or does State have a view on this in terms of relations with Venezuela?

MR. CASEY: Well, I'd refer you to the individual companies in terms of the specific decisions.

Now you all know what the controlled detonation feels like in the briefing room -- there we go. I hope that wasn't a sign from anybody. (Laughter.)

Well, in terms of the issue you're talking about, these are as I understand it individual business decisions that have been made. But the important point for us, and it's the point we've always stressed on this issue, is that while that Government of Venezuela, like any other government, has the right to make these kinds of decisions to change ownership rules or other kinds of regulations. The standard has always been that we want to see them meet their international commitments in terms of providing fair and just compensation in accordance with international standards for any property that does come under government ownership or otherwise changes hands as a result of this.

David.

QUESTION: Can you discuss a little bit more, we had the transitional Prime Minister, I think of Somalia, in the building for a couple of days. Could you tell us who he met with and does this suggest that the United States is going to elevate this transitional government to a, you know, full-scale -- a government that we're going to have diplomatic relations with?

MR. CASEY: Well, we did have an opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Gedi here over the last couple of days. He met with a variety of officials mostly from the Bureau of African Affairs. They met with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, as Jendayi Frazer is actually with the Secretary or on her way back from Paris with the Secretary where she attended the meetings on Sudan.

But this was an opportunity for us to talk with him a little bit, to particularly emphasize the importance we place on strengthening the Transitional Federal Government and particularly in seeing that the conference and a reconciliation conference in that country move forward. We've said and continue to believe that it's very important that all Somalis who are willing to participate peacefully in the establishment or in the development of democratic institutions in Somalia have the opportunity to do so and the way to help Somalia achieve what, for so long, it hasn't been able to have, which is a government that is stable and that can effectively manage and control the whole country is to ensure the broadest possible participation from all relevant sectors of Somali society. So that was the basis of our discussions there.

QUESTION: There's a suggestion that he hasn't been out -- forthcoming enough in reaching out to Islamists, for instance?

MR. CASEY: Well, we've said, again, that there should be the broadest possible discussion. Certainly, individuals committed to violence, individuals not willing to work in a democratic system are not people who we would need to or want to see participate. There's no point in that.

But in terms of the other elements of Somali society, we do want to see the net cast as broadly as possible. That's why we've been supportive of this reconciliation conference and I know there have been some delays in holding it, but that's also why we believe it needs to move forward in as speedy a way as possible.

QUESTION: One more.

MR. CASEY: Sure.

QUESTION: In terms of bringing in an international force and allowing the Ethiopians to leave, has there been any progress on that front?

MR. CASEY: Don't have anything new to offer you on that, David. I know it's something people continue to work on, but you're right; it has not moved forward as fast as we would want to see it.

Yeah.

QUESTION: What's the response to your strong statement on "our expression of concern in relation to the arrests of and detention of" what you called prominent citizens and officials of NGOs?

MR. CASEY: In --

QUESTION: At the meetings.

MR. CASEY: No, I don't have anything for you on that. Let me take a look.

QUESTION: That was a statement by the State Department yesterday --

MR. CASEY: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- basically express -- saying that (inaudible) we all express concern.

MR. CASEY: Yeah, and we did, but beyond the statement, I don't have anything more for you, so let me see if there's any additional details we can provide.

Mr. Lambros.

QUESTION: One on Kosovo. Mr. Casey, the Albanian Kosovar Hashim Thaci said, raising the (inaudible) independence, "Enough is enough. The time was yesterday. Today is already too late. Tomorrow will be dangerous." Could you please comment since the U.S. is on the same line with Albanians of Kosovo?

MR. CASEY: Well, Mr. Lambros, we believe that we are on the side of all the people of the region. We want to see a successful and peaceful resolution of the situation in Kosovo. As you know, we continue to believe that the way to do that is through adoption of the Ahtisaari plan as a basis for moving forward.

We're going to continue to talk about this issue in the Security Council. We expect to do so over the course of the coming days and weeks, but certainly, we believe this issue needs to come to a resolution as quickly as possible. It's in the interests of all the people of the region; of the Kosovars, of the Albanians, of the Serbs, of everyone to see a -- at last, an end brought to a conflict that began, really, with the initial breakup of Yugoslavia in the 90s.

This is, in many ways, one of the last pieces of the puzzle and we believe that the resolution of this will help enhance stability of not only Kosovo, but of Serbia and the rest of the region and help the countries of the region also achieve their own objectives for integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions, whether that's the EU, NATO, or other bodies.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. CASEY: Okay. Thank you, guys.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:05 p.m.)

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