Military

MR. CASEY: Okay. So good afternoon, everyone. I don't have anything to start you off with. Let's see what you got.

QUESTION: Can I take you --

MR. CASEY: Go ahead, Matt.

QUESTION: -- take you back to the gaggle, which I missed?

MR. CASEY: Take me all the way back to the gaggle, which you missed.

QUESTION: Which I missed, yes. I -- just on the South Koreans in Afghanistan, is it -- it remains U.S. policy not to negotiate with --

MR. CASEY: It remains U.S. policy not to make concessions to terrorists, yeah.

QUESTION: Not to make concessions.

MR. CASEY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Well, what about to negotiate?

MR. CASEY: Again, the policy as written over the past 20 years or so is to not make concessions to terrorists and that remains our view.

QUESTION: Are you aware of this -- of growing -- apparently growing sentiment in South Korea for the United States to actually -- to change that on this -- in that instance or to make an exception?

MR. CASEY: I'm not aware that there's been any discussion of that, Matt. But again, you know, our views on this are well-known. We certainly have great sympathy for South Korea and for the people that are involved in this incident. This is a terrible incident. They should be let go. We want to see them let go as soon as possible. We're certainly keeping in close touch with the Government of South Korea, as well as with the Afghan Government and, you know, coordinating to the extent that we can. But in this instance, the burden, just like in other hostage taking instances, is on those who've done this and the Taliban to release them and to let them go. But again, I think U.S. policy, again is longstanding. It's been there for many, many years and I don't see any indication that we're going to be changing that any time soon.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Before the (inaudible) China passed. And Taiwan's leader Chen Shui-bian sent a second letter two days ago to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to try to join in UN in the names of Taiwan. So I wonder if the United States placed more pressure on Chen Shui-bian to (inaudible) it and warned him not to do that.

MR. CASEY: I'm not aware of any particular conversations that may have been held on this, but U.S. views on these issues are consistent and remain the same and don't think we have -- that's a surprise to anybody, either here or there.

QUESTION: On a definitely related matter, the Chinese have come out today and said -- warned the U.S. again about allowing visits by Taiwanese officials? Do you have any update on any travel plans by --

MR. CASEY: None that I'm aware of, Matt. And of course, you know, again, that's another issue where -- when individuals are traveling from Taiwan to the United States, there is a longstanding U.S. policy on that. I don't view that as anything that's likely to change, nor do I recall there being any particular reason why this might have come up recently. There have been some moves on Capitol Hill about issues related to travel of Vietnamese* officials, but they aren't matters that have been supported by the administration.

Yeah, Elise.

QUESTION: New subject?

MR. CASEY: Sure.

QUESTION: This was on TV Marti. There have been a couple of reports out lately that despite your best efforts and about $20 million a year on the program because of the efforts by the Cuban Government to jam the frequencies, nobody in Cuba actually gets to see TV Marti. So would you say that this is a practical use of taxpayer dollars that while the mission is commendable, that it's not being seen by your target audience?

MR. CASEY: Well, I think first of all, what I'd say is that the efforts by the Cuban Government to jam TV Marti or Radio Marti or to prevent any outside information from getting to the Cuban people is indicative of the kind of fear that the regime has -- a fear of actually having their people be able to understand what's going on and understand exactly what difficult circumstances they find them in. In terms of specifically TV Marti, I'd refer you to the board of governors who are the people who manage that.

U.S. policy, of course, for a long time has been to try and break the information blockade the Castro has imposed on his own people. And Radio and TV Marti are two of the vehicles that we try and pursue that with. And certainly we want to take every opportunity and take every effort to be able to do so because, particularly as we move into what is clearly some kind of transition phase in Cuba, we think it's very important to try and reach out to regular Cubans, as well as to those who are engaged in efforts and who want to be able to try and change the situation there. In terms of specific jamming or how much TV Marti is or isn't viewed, that I'd just have to let the BBG speak to. But, again, it's a program that has had extensive and longstanding support not only in this administration but in previous administrations and on Capitol Hill.

QUESTION: Support, but can you claim any success with the efforts?

MR. CASEY: Again, I -- in terms of specific audience issues or in terms of what the -- their actual estimates of viewership is, that's something you'd have to talk to the BBG about.

QUESTION: One more thing. One of your methods of beaming Radio Marti is through a gulfstream jet that's over Cuban airspace. Is that against international law?

MR. CASEY: I'm not aware that that's actually being done. Again, I'd refer you to BBG. I can assure you that all programs that the U.S. Government does, including those done by BBG, are in compliance with our own national as well as international legal obligations.

Yeah, James.

Sorry, same thing, Matt?

QUESTION: Isn't today the Cuban anniversary of some sort, or is that -- am I mistaken?

MR. CASEY: Well, let's see. Is there an anniversary of some sort? Well, I think --

QUESTION: Isn't this the year, to the day, after your friend, Fidel, handed power over to his brother?

MR. CASEY: Well, it's a year to a day, since the senior dictator decided to hand off control of the country to the junior dictator. Unfortunately, I think that's made little difference in the lives of the Cuban people. And I note that Raul Castro has said that he'd like to engage in a dialogue with the United States. And I think, as you've heard, others here say, we think that that's a great idea, but we think the dialogue that needs to happen is between Raul Castro and the Cuban regime and its own people, to allow them to have an opportunity to freely express themselves and to ultimately freely choose their own leaders in a free and fair election.

QUESTION: Well, I mean, okay, fair enough, but why is it not okay for Cuba to do this when you're offering, you know, $20 billion arms deals to a country in the Middle East that's doing basically the same exact thing, according to your human rights and religious freedom reports? I mean, what -- you know, one person you call a dictator, the other person you call a force for stability in the region.

MR. CASEY: I think it'd be pretty hard to argue that there's any country in the world that's had a worse record on religious freedom, human rights, on support for terrorism, on negative activities throughout the world over the last 50 years than the government of Fidel Castro. And I think successive U.S. administrations have been very clear in terms of how we view that particular regime, in terms of the threat that we've viewed it posing to its own neighbors as well as its repression of its own people. And I think the record on that is very clear and I think that's very much in contrast to the relations we have with other countries that actually in many ways are on the side of stability, on the side of peace and are working with us successfully on a number of different areas. So I don't think the comparison is really valid.

QUESTION: Well, not to be a thorn in your side, Tom, but I do --

MR. CASEY: Well, it's kind of -- not quite, not quite -- I understand, but --

QUESTION: I recall -- I do recall the Pope visiting Cuba and I do know that actually, people who are of the faith other than Islam do have a right to -- are able to worship as they see fit and --

MR. CASEY: Well --

QUESTION: -- the comparison to Saudi Arabia just is not --

MR. CASEY: Well, I do think, Matt, that you might want to talk to some of the priests and other religious leaders who've been taken political prisoner and who have spent a lot of time in Castro's jails simply for trying to do more than hold a religious ceremony, but actually try and speak out about the values that the religion represents. Look, I don't think there's any question in anyone's mind about what Cuba under Fidel or Raul Castro represents and again, I think U.S. policy on this has been consistent not only throughout this Administration, but across the decades.

James.

QUESTION: Change of subject, please. What is your understanding about the status of efforts by the United States, both our government and private entities, to improve Mexico's capacity for wiretapping and law enforcement?

MR. CASEY: Well, first of all, we have a longstanding and fairly extensive relationship in law enforcement cooperation with the Government of Mexico. And of particular concern to us as well as to the Calderon government is trying to deal with the threat and challenge posed by organized crime, particularly narcotics traffickers, but also other criminal elements as well.

I know that there has been efforts through our Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement to provide some assistance to Mexico, including giving them an opportunity to purchase some off-the-shelf computer hardware and software that might make it easier for them to be able to figure out what some of the bad guys are doing and give them an opportunity to follow some of the same procedures that the FBI and other agencies here domestically use to deal with those kinds of criminal elements.

In terms of what they're specifically planning, I understand there are a number of ideas on the table that the Mexican Government is considering and I'd let them speak to any specific plans they might have.

QUESTION: Was it explicitly agreed with Mexico that in response for our financial assistance to enable them to do this, that the United States would benefit, to any extent, from the intelligence developed?

MR. CASEY: Well, again, we have a very close law enforcement relationship with Mexico, particularly in terms of combating drug trafficking. But at this point, I'm not aware that the Mexican Government's actually changed any policies or implemented anything. Again, my understanding of what's being purchased here is some off-the-shelf technology that's not covered by export controls or regulations. But certainly, I expect that there'll be continued cooperation between the United States and Mexico on law enforcement issues and again, particularly in trying to work together to deal with the very serious challenges posed, among other places, in the border region by some of these criminals, gangs, and narcotics traffickers.

QUESTION: Did this deal require the approval of Secretary Rice?

MR. CASEY: Not that I'm aware of. I think this was a pretty straight contract award that was done sometime in February.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros.

QUESTION: On Turkey, Mr. Casey, do you know if your government congratulated the election of the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan on his victory of the elections, July 22nd?

MR. CASEY: I believe we put out a statement on that last night.

QUESTION: Last night?

MR. CASEY: Yeah.

QUESTION: And what is -- what did you say?

MR. CASEY: What did I say? I'd go -- I'd refer you back to the statement, but we congratulated the -- Prime Minister Erdogan and his party on their victory in the elections and said we looked forward to continuing to work with him once the new government was formed.

QUESTION: One more question. On June 28th, you asked me specifically to respect the Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit; not to call him dictator-to-be. I'm wondering --

MR. CASEY: Which you just said again. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: It's a very serious matter. I'm wondering how do you describe him, since yesterday, once again, he stated clearly that the next President of Turkey must be secular, period, ignoring the Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and the 47 percent of the votes of the Turkish people, making General Buyukanit de factor dictator?

MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, look, we've covered this before. I believe his title -- though you could check with the Turkish Government -- is head of the Turkish General's Staff. I believe that's how the Prime Minister refers to him and I just thought it might be a nice courtesy to refer to him the same way.

QUESTION: And the last one --

MR. CASEY: And the last one, okay.

QUESTION: According to Robert Novak in the -- yesterday's Washington Post: "High-level U.S. officials are working with their Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to (inaudible) Kurdish guerillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq." Any comment on that?

MR. CASEY: Sounds like a great basis for a spy novel to me, but nothing that I would know about or be able to comment on, even if I did. So I'd refer you to the respective intelligence agencies if you'd like comment on U.S. intelligence activities.

QUESTION: Well -- but should we infer from your description of it that it sounds like a great spy novel, that you're casting some aspersions on the legitimacy of the report?

MR. CASEY: You can infer from it that I have no reason to believe that that has any basis in fact, but I'd invite you to check with other agencies of government.

QUESTION: Do you have any reason to believe it has no basis in fact?

MR. CASEY: Again, I have no information about it of any kind, James.

QUESTION: Thanks.

MR. CASEY: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 12:59 p.m.)

*Taiwanese

DPB # 136