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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

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QUESTION: Do you all have an opinion on the report, the human rights report on Iraq, given by Mr. Van der Stoel in Geneva?

MR. RUBIN:Let me say this. UN Security Counsel Resolution 688 condemned the repression of the Iraqi civilian population by the government of Iraq and that resolution demanded that Iraq end this repression. So, clearly, Iraq is in violation of Resolution 688. This report has underlined in stark terms the total lack of basic freedoms in Iraq. As Max Van der Stoel put it, the only solution is a radical change in the political-legal order.

The increasing pace of summary executions is clearly troubling and demonstrates that this is a regime out of control when it comes to human rights. The regime reportedly returned bodies bearing clear signs of torture to families and reportedly charged the families for the bullets used. These are the kinds of heinous, unconscionable acts that turn all of our stomachs.

Mr. Van der Stoel explains that the suffering of the Iraqi people is due to actions by the Iraqi regime, not the imposition of international sanctions; that there is plenty of money available to make more food and medicine available for the people, if that were the decision of the Iraqi leadership. We will continue to raise the issue of human rights at the highest levels in various international fora until the predatory actions of the Iraqi regime against its people come to an end.

QUESTION: Another Iraq question. There was a report that five members of a US-based group, called Voices in the Wilderness, arrived in Iraq yesterday to deliver $75,000 worth of medicine to Iraqi hospitals. Are you aware of that?

MR. RUBIN: I don't have anything on that. But again, I think it demonstrates that we, in the international community, have made clear that we're prepared to do our part to see that the sanctions regime doesn't affect food and medicine going to the Iraqi people. If only the Iraqi regime would spend even a fraction of the resources it spends on its luxurious palaces and cars and body guards and other luxury goods for its leadership, then any concerns that might exist about food and medicine would probably go away.

QUESTION: This would be illegal for a private group to do this?

MR. RUBIN: Well, it depends on whether they had a license and whether they've been approved and who they were with and whether the Sanctions Committee approved it - all questions that I absolutely don't have answers to right now.

QUESTION: If you could get something on that, I'd appreciate it.

MR. RUBIN: Sure.

QUESTION: Also on Iraq, UNSCOM reports that a (inaudible) - access to Presidential sites?

MR. RUBIN: Can you be more specific?

QUESTION: The report submitted Tuesday to Annan by the special investigator, said there had been a problem in connection with defining boundaries at a Presidential site.

MR. RUBIN: Well, I would prefer to wait. That's a premature description of a report that we haven't had an opportunity to receive officially and examine, and so until we have the entire set of information, it would be hard for me to comment, other than to say with respect to obstruction in the future, regardless of what people may or may not say now, the real way to insure that UNSCOM is not -- and to test whether UNSCOM will be obstructed in the future is for UNSCOM to go forward and seek additional access.

In our view, the memoranda of understanding states unequivocally that Iraq must give immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted access, meaning that this was clearly not a one-time-only exercise.

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QUESTION: Your review on the S-300 missile purchase from Cyprus is well-known. But at the same time, many times from the podium you have called on Turkey to restrain itself from military threats against Cyprus regarding the missile purchase. Yesterday the Turkish Foreign Ministry repeated the military threats against Cyprus for the missile issue. Do you have any comment on that?

MR. RUBIN: The S-300 missile deal increases the danger of conflict on the island and is a serious obstacle to our efforts to reach a settlement of the Cyprus dispute. We continue to urge the government of Cyprus to cancel the deal, but the missile problem cannot be resolved by brandishing threats. We have urged Turkey to address the S-300 issue through diplomatic means and to refrain from threats to take the missiles out militarily.

QUESTION: Last week the State Department's c Special Cyprus Coordinator, Mr. Miller, told several Greek newspaper Turkey using softer language against the Greek Cypriot S-300's. That remark, is it just his view, or the State Department's view?

MR. RUBIN: Ambassador Miller works for the State Department and, normally, I get most of this terrific information that I provide to you from Ambassador Miller, so any attempt to distance Ambassador Miller from the State Department will fail.

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