Military

MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody. I have one brief opening statement, a travel announcement for you. Secretary Rice will travel to the Middle East, Africa and Europe from July 16th to the 20th. Secretary Rice will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah for meetings with officials from the Israeli and Palestinian Authority governments. She will then travel to Africa, making stops in Accra, Ghana to participate in the African Growth and Opportunities Act Forum and in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Secretary Rice will also visit Lebanon for meetings with senior officials from the Portuguese Government.

QUESTION: You said Lebanon.

QUESTION: Lebanon.

MR. MCCORMACK: Lisbon. (Laughter.) Oops, Lisbon. (Laughter.) Okay. Lisbon.

QUESTION: Why the stop in Kinshasa? What is the purpose of that?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, this is a country that is seeking to emerge from a number of political perturbations, shall we say. And within the past year, they've had a presidential election, there's been a transition of power that was at points somewhat contentious yet the political process emerged. So we wanted to mark that event and mark the fact that this is a country that has made progress in trying to develop democratic institutions after emerging from a long period of conflict and it's also an important country in the region. In Central Africa, it plays a -- it's a large country. They have a lot of resources, a lot of potential and -- but there is also many potential trouble spots along its border as well. So it's an important visit. And it's important to mark the fact that they are working hard to push in the right direction.

QUESTION: And can you tell us what she hopes to achieve in her conversations with Israeli and Palestinian officials? This will be her first trip in nearly four months and her first time since the fall of Gaza to Hamas forces. What does she hope to do here?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, this is, once again, to try to move the process forward, move the Israeli-Palestinian track forward -- a number of different levels, to talk on a very practical level day to day, how can each side try to make the lives of their respective populations a bit better. And on both sides, we know what that entails, so -- and also to try to talk a little bit about the political horizon and the fact that it is important to work at both levels. So it's also a trip that was intended to support Prime Minister Olmert's statements about wanting to build a foundation for discussions about a future Palestinian state. It's also a trip that's designed to support President Abbas. There has been a lot of turmoil within the Palestinian political system as -- over the past couple of months we all know about. And it's a trip also designed to underscore the fact that we as well as others, support this new Palestinian Government as well as President Abbas.

QUESTION: The horizon -- I mean, there's only 18 months left to the Bush Administration, so the Administration's horizon for trying to maintain progress on this, let alone trying to actually get some kind of a peace deal in place between the Israelis and the Palestinians that you deal with is pretty imminent. Does she still hope that that is indeed what is even possible in the next year and a half or is what you're just hoping some kind of incremental movement that you've given up on the idea of actually achieving some kind of a peace agreement between the two sides?

MR. MCCORMACK: First of all, we're not going to do something that we think is not prudent, you know, just in the name of trying to rush something through to, you know, accomplish something in the next 16 months. If the conditions are such that we are able to make progress, make substantial progress, then that will be positive. But at the very least, what Secretary Rice would like to do is to move the process forward and to lay the foundations for an eventual Palestinian state.

If there's more that is able to be accomplished in that period of time, absolutely, she is going to push as hard as she can. She's talked a lot about the groundwork that we have tried to do in terms of changing the underlying conditions. But she believes that it is important to try to move this process forward for the Israeli people, for the Palestinian people, for everybody in the region, for us, for the United States. So she's going to devote a lot of time and energy to it. She has over the past years devoted quite a bit of time and energy to it and I think you're going to continue to see that effort from her as well as the Administration.

QUESTION: Do you believe that the prospects for peace are better, now that you have an interim Palestinian Government that meets the Quartet conditions, that it's on -- or do you think that they're, in fact, worse because the Hamas takeover in Gaza has very boldly exposed the schism between or among -- within the Palestinians and therefore, make it harder to sign some kind of agreement, because you have one side that doesn't represent the entire population?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, that divide within the Palestinian political system always existed. This is not something that has occurred in the past six months, year, or even the past couple of years. And it's always been the fact that the Palestinians themselves need to reconcile this division and they need to reconcile themselves to what pathway they want to proceed. President Abbas has outlined a pathway whereby the Palestinian people could possibly realize a state. They're going to do that via the negotiating table. There is also the alternative that Hamas has laid out, which leads to nowhere.

In terms of the conditions for peace, I think that you've heard us say that we think that the underlying conditions now at present are better than they have been at any other time in the recent past. But whether or not that promise is actually realized is going to depend ultimately on the parties, the Israelis and the Palestinians and their willingness to seek to bridge any differences, to come together and realize that this is going to be in both of their long-term interests.

Now the conditions have to be ripe all around and this -- that means also that the Arab states are going to have to play a role. Now they have stepped up and they have said that they are going to send a delegation to Israel on July 12th to talk about the Arab League proposal. That is, we believe, a positive development. Prime Minister Olmert has said that he's going to release tax revenues and he has also announced the release of some Palestinian prisoners. So there are some signs at the -- I guess the tactical level, if you will, that there's a willingness to reach out on both sides. And President Abbas has talked about the fact that he is committed to peace and he has named a prime minister that is somebody with whom the entire international system can work and somebody in whom the international system has a lot of confidence and made a lot of strides in making the Palestinian Authority finances -- well, it's something in which we can -- we'll have confidence, including the Palestinian people.

So there are some promising developments. We believe that the underlying conditions are moving in the right direction. And whether or not we actually are able to achieve some real concrete steps to a Palestinian state, Palestinian institutions that function on behalf of the Palestinian people, progress along the political horizon between the Israelis and the Palestinians and progress on a political horizon between Arab states and the Israeli Government, that ultimately is going to be up to the parties involved. We are going to push, we are going to do what we think is right in terms of moving the process forward. But ultimately, it's going to come down to hard decisions on the ground by political leadership there in the region.

QUESTION: Sean, (inaudible) that this is -- the chances are -- that the prospects are better now than they have been at any time in the recent past? How do you arrive at that when you have a huge swath of Palestinian territory under the control of a group that doesn't even recognize Israel? I don't see how you get from Hamas in control of Gaza to the prospects. Are you talking about over a real bifurcation now, this --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, no, no, not at all. I mean, it gets back to -- I mean, this is all -- you know, it all proceeds from the premise that ultimately, the Palestinians are going to have to make a decision for themselves what sort of future they want; do they want a state, do they want to live in the current state in which they find themselves now?

When I think about the prospects for peace in the region are -- between the Israelis and the Palestinians are better than they have been in any recent time, I'm referring back to the era of, you know, 2001, just around the time President Bush came into office. Remember --

QUESTION: A.D.?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, step back for a second. Remember the situation in which we found ourselves back in January 21st, 2001. And President Clinton made Herculean efforts to try to bring the parties together. Ultimately, it was Yasser Arafat who scuttled those efforts. But you had a raging intifada. You had a situation where Yasser Arafat was running the Palestinian Authority as his own personal fiefdom and apparently for his own personal gain as well as the gain of many of those around him. He had just turned down what, by the account of most pundits, was a very attractive deal for the Palestinian people. He just couldn't bring himself to make the compromises necessary to reach an agreement.

You had Israeli politics which was bitterly divided. You had a situation where there was a new prime minister who was coming in who was the father of the settlement movement and unalterably opposed to any compromise involving the West Bank. But, and now we find ourselves in the situation where Israeli politics has re-centered around the idea of an accommodation with the Palestinians, and that re-centering of Israeli politics was led by the very person who previously was unalterably opposed to any sort of accommodation with respect to the Palestinians, including in the West Bank. And by the way, the Israelis back in 2005 gave up some settlements on the West Bank.

We now have in place a Palestinian Government that is led by a well-respected, internationally well-respected Palestinian Prime Minister, a President who is foursquare for a negotiated settlement for a Palestinian state and who is also interested in reforming Palestinian institutions and is interested in reforming his own political party.

You also have a situation now where the Arab states have reissued an offer to Israel regarding how Arab states could recognize Israel. Now, everybody understands that the Israelis have problems with the proposed solution as it stands right now, but what we have encouraged is for the sides to look at it as a starting point, as a basis for discussions.

So that's sort of the thumbnail version of why we think now the underlying conditions are better than they have been in the recent past. Now, that is not to say, as you pointed out, that there aren't great challenges, that the fact that the Palestinian people still need to reconcile the fundamental contradictions within their political system still exists. But that existed back in 2001 as well. Hamas was not just something that appeared within the past two or three years. It was something that was building strength over time. It was building strength over time because you had a Palestinian Authority that was not well-governed and that did not serve the needs of the people. So as a result, it was able to build strength. Now, you have something out there for the Palestinian people to look towards. They have a Palestinian Authority that is interested in trying to serve their needs. Now, they have a ways to go and that's part of what Tony Blair is going to be working on with President Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. So that's my case in brief.

QUESTION: Oh, that was the brief version?

MR. MCCORMACK: That was the brief one.

QUESTION: Well, I'm glad we didn't get the long one.

MR. MCCORMACK: That was the brief version. Yeah, that was the brief version. That was the brief version. Yeah, none of this -- and again, none of this is to say that there aren't challenges and the fact that Hamas took actions against the legitimate Palestinian institutions doesn't pose challenges, not the least of which is how does the international system continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza, because we're not going to forsake them just because of the actions of the most radical elements of the terrorist organization, Hamas. And it also, as I have said a couple of times, it leaves open that question that if you are able to make progress on the political track and on other tracks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, at some point how do you incorporate all the Palestinian people into that. Now, it's our view that President Abbas is the President for all the Palestinian people that Prime Minister Fayyad is the Prime Minister for all the Palestinian people. But ultimately, they're going to need to reconcile those differences.

Yeah.

QUESTION: What about the Quartet meeting which was not scheduled, but a lot of countries talk about the 16th of July? What is it -- it's postponed again?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, they're -- well, first of all, there was never formal agreement on a date. And I'm not going to rule out that there will be a ministerial level Quartet meeting in the coming weeks. At this point, there's not an agreed upon date. David Welch is going to be in London tomorrow for an envoy's level Quartet meeting and there -- this is going to be one of the topics of discussion when is it the right time for ministers to gather together as a Quartet. So on that issue, stay tuned. We'll keep you up to date.

QUESTION: Do you expect them to issue a statement or --

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not sure this will be a meeting that produces a statement. We'll see.

QUESTION: Would you expect Blair to be at the next ministerial?

MR. MCCORMACK: I would expect he probably will. I mean, of course, you know, working to accommodate his schedule, but I expect that he would be.

QUESTION: His schedule? I thought it was pretty open right now. No?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Well, there's a -- Prime Minister -- former Prime Minister Blair can speak for himself about his schedule, but I'm sure that he has a lot on his plate.

QUESTION: What about the participation of the Arab Quartet established meeting? Is it still in the cards?

MR. MCCORMACK: I can't tell you for the next one. Certainly it's been a grouping that has proved interesting and useful. I can't tell you when the next time will be that we actually get to --

QUESTION: But they do have (inaudible) together.

MR. MCCORMACK: The Arab --

QUESTION: The Arab Quartet and the Arab -- even the Quartet and the real Quartet.

MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, I see what you're saying. It's certainly a possibility and we'll take a look at what groupings, what geometries might be most efficient, most useful at a given point in time and I'm not going to rule it out.

Yeah.

QUESTION: A different subject or --

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure, I don't -- I think I've worn Charlie and Matt out.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) definition that says that --

MR. MCCORMACK: (Laughter.) Yeah.

QUESTION: Sean, today is the eighth anniversary of the student protest in Tehran when the regime, in retaliation to the student, took action and -- to control (inaudible) prison. And today again, they put some of them in prison regarding the eighth anniversary. My question is, what kind of statement can you ask the government (inaudible) violation of basic human rights in Iran right now? Any action by the international community, any serious action?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, it's a sad fact that unfortunately for the people of Iran, their situation hasn't materially changed. They still suffer from the fact that they are not able to freely express their legitimate opinions in a peaceful manner, that the rights that are commonplace around the world are regularly trampled upon by this Iranian Government.

You can see, in a variety of different ways, some of the discontent of the Iranian people with this situation. You still have protests, you still have a variety of political and economic matters. And we, as well as others in the international system, are going to continue to speak out about the lack of basic human rights in Iran. And at some point, certainly, the Iranian people will take notice of that as well.

Libby.

QUESTION: New topic?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: This may be a little out of your lane, but there was a story in The New York Times over the weekend about an aborted raid on al-Qaida at the 11th hour, that U.S. forces were ready to go in and launch an attack on al-Qaida and it was aborted because of concerns over our relationship with Pakistan with Musharraf.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Is there -- do you have any comment on that story at all?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, you're right. It's out of my lane.

QUESTION: Well, what about just relations with Pakistan in general, though? Is there sort of the dynamic there that you have to -- that, you know, Pakistan is actually an ally in the war on terror --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- and also, you know, may be inhibiting some of our operations there because we don't want to leave a large footprint?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I'm not going to buy into that premise. I'm not going to get into operational details of our working relationship with the Pakistani Government in fighting terrorism, but let's also remember Pakistan is a sovereign country. And they have a sovereign government that's responsible for law and order within their borders. We believe that Pakistan is a good ally, a good friend in fighting terror. They have an issue there with violent extremism. It's an issue that affects the Pakistani people as well as others in the region as well as the United States. So we have a real interest in working with them in terms of fighting violent extremism. But with respect to any particular military or intelligence operations, that's not something that I would comment on.

Yes.

QUESTION: Can you talk about the Iraqi refugees and the arrival last month of more than 60 Iraqi refugees in the United States?

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Any details of that and whether this suggests that there'll be a speeding up of the allowance of Iraqis coming in?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we're working aggressively to try to process Iraqi refugees who have been classified as refugees by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. We have -- I think we're up around 163* thus far that have entered the United States. I'll check that number for the transcript. And we're working very closely with the Department of Homeland Security on this. They have to go through and they have to do a vetting procedure, which everybody understands the need to do. While we want to meet our humanitarian obligations here, we also want to make sure we do so in such a way that our borders and the American people are protected.

We are also working very hard to make sure that for those who are still in the region, whether that's in Jordan or Syria or elsewhere, that we are able -- we are able to do our part as a member of the international community to meet some of the humanitarian needs of those people who have left Iraq. Everybody, including a vast majority of the people who are -- who have left Iraq want to one day return to Iraq, and certainly that is our hope.

But for those who are there right now, we want to make sure that, for example, their children can enroll in school. We're working towards the goal with the Syrian and the Jordanian governments so that you can get 100,000 children enrolled in school so that they can continue their education. We want to make sure that they have the basic minimum -- at the very least, minimum humanitarian needs in terms of shelter, clothing and food and immunizations.

It's a big task, and we're doing our part. We want others to do their part. Certainly, credit should be given where it's due. The Syrian and the Jordanian governments have worked to meet some of the strain that this places on their system. So we are -- we need to continue working hard to process those people who have qualified for refugee status and who have been directed our way for resettlement.

QUESTION: Isn't it a fair criticism though to say 63 last month, or whatever it was, versus 2 million, maybe 2.5 million refugees, that doing the U.S. part still is not sufficient?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, first of all, you have -- I can't tell you the exact number of people who have left Iraq. Now, that's the universe of people. Now, the subset of that are people who have been classified as refugees. UNHCR can tell you about how many of those people have been classified as refugees. A further subset is the number of people who have been classified as refugees that have been referred to the United States for resettlement. That number is about 7,000. So clearly, the 7,000 is a much smaller subset of the overall 2 million -- let's just use that figure -- but we have more work to do. And that's evidenced by the fact that only -- thus far, only 163* of those referrals have actually made it through to the United States. But we're going to work to close that gap.

Yeah.

QUESTION: You said that you would look into the reports of a troop buildup on the Turkish-Iraqi border.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, the Turkish military can talk about the position of their troops, but I think in general if you look at the situation in the southeast of Turkey, and that includes areas well beyond just the immediate border region, that there is a substantial presence of Turkish troops that are engaged in counterterrorism operations. This is an unusual -- is not unusual in the springtime when you have the PKK that usually goes on its offensive. But you can talk to the Turkish officials, but I would steer you away from that number of troops being immediately along the border.

Yeah.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) NHK reported about a meeting between Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister of Japan and Australia at the upcoming ARF meetings or around that time? Can you confirm those reports?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, no further travel at this point to announce. We'll keep you up to date on that.

QUESTION: Can you go back to Turkey one second? Did the Secretary speak with Gul this weekend?

MR. MCCORMACK: She spoke with him on Friday. I didn't talk to her about the conversation, but we're happy to see if we can look into something for you.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) but didn't get a commitment that they would --

MR. MCCORMACK: I'll talk to her about the conversation. We can maybe post something up.

Okay?

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Thanks.

QUESTION: Sorry, I've got two more quick ones. I apologize to everybody. I asked you this morning about the Russian tennis coach --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right, right. I believe that he -- the information I received is that he has applied for a visa and that that application is still pending and under review. And I will add at the bottom of that answer the usual disclaimer about the privacy issues related to visa applications.

QUESTION: Well, then why are you saying that he's applied?

MR. MCCORMACK: Because we can -- we can go so far. There's a line that we can walk up to in terms of application and application being under review. But --

QUESTION: Is there any possibility that he'll get here in time to coach his team?

MR. MCCORMACK: I can't -- wouldn't speculate.

QUESTION: And one other thing. Ethiopian authorities have requested the death penalty for 38 opposition officials and journalists who were convicted of trying to overthrow the government for treason and inciting violence.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on that?

MR. MCCORMACK: I do. The United States is surprised by the recommendations -- by the recommendation by the Ethiopian Government prosecutor that the High Court sentence the 38 opposition leaders found guilty on June 11th with the death sentence. We call on the Ethiopian Government and High Court to take action in making a final sentencing determination which is consistent with the greater objectives of bolstering the rule of law and promoting much-needed reconciliation.

That's it?

QUESTION: You can't say that you really don't think these people should be put to death for this?

MR. MCCORMACK: Again, that's what we would say about it.

QUESTION: Could I ask -- could I ask (inaudible).

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes, indeed.

QUESTION: Does the United States have a policy whether former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega should be allowed to return to Panama when he comes up for parole set for September?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think that that's something that we would take a look at. I know that there are other extradition requests for him that are pending, but I can't tell you at this point the status of those requests.

QUESTION: Thanks.

(The briefing was concluded at 12:32 p.m.)