*EPF402 07/15/2004
Transcript: State Department Noon Briefing, July 15
(Secretary Powell to Speak at U.S. Institute for Peace, Report on UN Population Funds, Egypt, Japan/Indonesia, Israel/Palestinians, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Greece, Macedonia) (4500)

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed reporters July 15.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Thursday, July 15, 2004
12:45 p.m. EST

BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

DEPARTMENT
-- Secretary Powell to Speak at U.S. Institute for Peace
-- Report on Whether UN Population Funds Will Be Withheld Because of Activities in China

EGYPT
-- Position on Decision to Shift Part of Its Military Assistance to Economic

JAPAN/INDONESIA
-- Sergeant Charles Jenkins/Current Medical Situation/Request for Legal Custody
-- Status of Forces Agreement

ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
-- Program to Reroute Part of the Security Barrier
-- House of Representatives Vote on Bill to Condemn the Ruling of the International Court of Justice Concerning the Illegality of the Security Barrier
-- U.S. Support of the Peace Process
-- Investigation to Find Those Responsible for the Attack on Embassy Personnel in Gaza

SAUDI ARABIA
-- Accusations Made by the Family of American Citizen Paul Johnson
-- Ambassador Oberwetter's Comments to the Johnson Family

PHILIPPINES
-- Withdrawal of Troops from Iraq

GREECE
-- The Olympic Games/Security/Cooperation
-- Ambassador Tom Miller's Meetings With Federal Authorities Regarding the Olympics/Suspicions of "Covert Operations" to Disrupt the Olympics in the Name of Terrorism
-- Permanent Representative in NATO Nicholas Burns' Negotiations With NATO Representatives About Involvement of the U.S. and NATO During the Olympics

MACEDONIA
-- New Territorial Organization and Adopted Draft Laws

MISCELLANEOUS
-- Policy of the U.S. and Other Countries Against Negotiating With Terrorists

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2004
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

12:45 p.m. EDT

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to just begin by reminding you the Secretary has remarks that he'll deliver this afternoon at 3:30, U.S. Institute for Peace. You'll have pool coverage, I think, of the event itself, as well as feeds that can be watched either at the location or, for those of you with televisions in the building, back here.

Stop with that and take your questions.

QUESTION: Well, this might be a little bit out in left field. But has Egypt communicated to the United States a position, and I would mean a negative position, on a congressional move to shift part of its military assistance to economic? Now, I know the Secretary has come out against it but --

MR. BOUCHER: As far as Egypt's position on that, I'll have to --

QUESTION: I know.

MR. BOUCHER: -- leave it to Egypt. As far as our position on that, I'll try to get you something.

QUESTION: Well, I know the U.S. position on it. Well, since I haven't seen his letter, maybe I should drop it right there. But I thought the whole approach, or anyhow, the focus of the U.S. presence, at least, is try to improve the economic situation and emphasizing economic assistance might be preferable, but wouldn't it be, to buying more weapons?

MR. BOUCHER: Barry, I'm not up to date on this right now. I'll have to check for you and see what I can get you.

QUESTION: It just came up and I --

MR. BOUCHER: Okay.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: On the fate of Mr. Jenkins, we have reports that he is expected to go to Japan for medical treatment, and we also have U.S. officials at the Pentagon saying that the United States will ask the Japanese Government for custody of him, if he goes there. What is the position of the U.S. Government on this? Will you seek custody or not?

MR. BOUCHER: Our view is that Mr. -- Sergeant Jenkins, Mr. Jenkins is a deserter from the U.S. Army. He has been charged with extremely serious offenses. We do understand the Japanese Government plans to bring Sergeant Jenkins to Japan later this week to undergo emergency medical treatment. Once he is in Japan, he becomes subject to the terms of the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement and falls under the authority of the U.S. military.

Status of Forces Agreement gives us the right to request custody of Sergeant Jenkins, and we intend to request custody when we have the legal opportunity to do so.

QUESTION: That means when he gets there?

MR. BOUCHER: When we have the legal opportunity to do so.

QUESTION: Well, why aren't those two statements the same? If he wasn't in Japan, he's under --

MR. BOUCHER: I think they are the same, but exactly, you know, when we're going to submit the piece of paper or the request I can't -- I don't know at this point.

QUESTION: No, I just wanted to make sure there's no wiggle room like you --

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Okay. So once he gets there, eventually you're going to ask for it?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

QUESTION: So have you communicated that to the Japanese? They're saying we're going to bring him over and you're saying, well, we're going to take the legal opportunity to --

MR. BOUCHER: We've had a lot of discussions with the Japanese, stay in close touch with the Japanese Government on this issue. I think they know our position.

QUESTION: Are you going to consider about giving treatment first?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we'll just have to see how the medical situation evolves.

QUESTION: On another thing, the Israeli Defense Ministry has announced a large program to reroute part of the completed part of the security barrier. We know the U.S. position that it needed to be reconfigured. Has the U.S. seen it? Has the U.S. got an instant appraisal of what the Israelis are doing? Is it the right approach?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have an instant appraisal at this point. As you know, we have, indeed, talked to the Israelis in recent days about this issue and they have been reconsidering the routing of the fence based on the Israeli Supreme Court decision. So we'll, obviously, look at anything new they've come up with, and see to what extent it might satisfy some of the concerns that we ourselves have raised about the routing of the fence.

Sir.

QUESTION: If I could change the subject to --

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: The family of Paul Johnson, Jr., is saying that the Saudi Government has not done enough to cooperate with them in trying to locate Mr. Johnson's body. The Saudi Government disputes that and says they are cooperating. Are you helping the Johnson family in this matter, working, you know, talking to the Saudis?

MR. BOUCHER: We certainly have worked very closely with the family in this matter. I think our Ambassador in Riyadh made a statement yesterday because the investigation, the search for the body, has drawn to a close without finding his remains.

We've had the Federal Bureau of Investigation out there. They have been working with the Saudis and will continue to work with the Saudis on the investigation into the murder. Our Ambassador, Ambassador Oberwetter, has informed the Johnson family of the outcome of the search by telephone, through his son, expressing our sympathy for the difficulties that they face. As the Ambassador said, we did everything we could to find Paul and to bring him home.

QUESTION: The Johnson family has suggested that the Saudis are not being forthcoming, though, in all the information. So I'm just wondering if the Ambassador shares that view, and if he does, is there anything that the U.S. can do?

MR. BOUCHER: Our view has been that the Saudis have worked hard on this, that, you know -- they invited the FBI to go out and work with them on the Johnson case right after the kidnapping, and we've had their total support in the search for Johnson. We anticipate the same kind of continuing cooperation in the investigations. We've been meeting almost daily with the Saudis for over a month on this case. There's a lot of sharing and examination of evidence. So we do feel there's been a lot of cooperation with the Saudis, by the Saudis, with a joint effort to find the perpetrators and to search for the remains.

Sir.

QUESTION: The House of Representative at this moment is trying to vote on a bill that would condemn the ruling of the International Court of Justice concerning the Israeli wall, the legality of the wall. Does the State Department consider talking to -- or do they consult with the State Department at the House of Representative about the impact of this in the Arab world? I mean, this is like supporting Israel, right or wrong. Do you do anything to --

MR. BOUCHER: Sometimes they consult with us. Certainly, we have made our position known publicly through the media and directly with statements that we have made on the World Court decision on the wall and our position on the wall itself, and we have also made our position known in terms of our efforts for peace.

The Congress of the United States, as I often point out, is an independent body. They have their views and they have a right to state their views as they wish. So sometimes they take our views into account and sometimes they don't, but they have a right to state what they think. And I'll leave it at that.

QUESTION: But the impact of that, that goes against the American public policy in the Arab world and the money that has been appropriated from the Congress, this kind of decision would make it a waste of their money. Will they do anything like this?

MR. BOUCHER: I think most people understand the facts of the matter, they understand what the U.S. Government is actually doing for peace in the region, what the U.S. Government is actually doing to try to improve the plight of Palestinians and Israelis alike who have suffered from violence, suffered from disruption and suffered from the difficulties that have been faced out there. They see what U.S. policy is, where our money is going and how we're supporting the peace process.

So, and I think most people do understand the U.S. Government to the extent of knowing that there are a variety of views in the United States, there are a variety of views in our Congress; sometimes Congress gets together and states their views collectively and sometimes they just have expressions by individuals or groups.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Sir.

QUESTION: A press report in the Middle East quoted a State Department official as saying that the U.S. --

MR. BOUCHER: There's a lot of those. (Laughter.) Sorry.

QUESTION: That the U.S. Government gave Palestinian government names of Palestinians that were involved in the killing of the three American guards in Gaza last year. Do you have anything you can tell us about it?

MR. BOUCHER: I think, actually, there were some press reports that quoted Palestinian officials on the subject, too. Let me try to tell you where we are.

The United States Government has continuously pressed the Palestinian Authority since the October 15th attack on Embassy personnel in Gaza. We are looking for a complete, thorough and accurate investigation that will culminate in the arrest, the prosecution, and the conviction of those responsible for this attack.

We think that Palestinian Authority officials have yet to conduct such a thorough investigation, nor to present any credible evidence identifying the perpetrators of the attack. We have shared some information with the Palestinians on who may be responsible for this, but this needs to result in a serious and credible investigation of the kind that we have not yet seen in the Palestinian side.

If the Palestinian Authority has information themselves on the bombing and the identities of the attackers, we would expect them to present the evidence against the individual and arrest, prosecute and convict them. So we're looking for action here.

QUESTION: Do you think anything is imminent? Because that Palestinian security official you sort of referred to a few minutes ago suggested yesterday that something is about to pop on it.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I don't know if it is or not. We've been pressing very hard for this. We think that there's a great deal of activity that needs to be done that we have not seen yet, and the kind of thorough and professional investigation that we have a right to expect and that everybody should expect in this matter has not yet occurred. We would hope that it would.

QUESTION: Have you identified the names of the people you think are responsible?

MR. BOUCHER: As I said, we've passed some information on who might be responsible, but I would not -- I can't go into the information any further and I would not say that we have anything that would substitute for the kind of thorough and professional investigation the Palestinians need to conduct in this matter.

QUESTION: Change the subject?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: The UN Population Fund -- I believe that a report is due out today from the State Department saying whether or not funds will be withheld again because of activities in China. I was just wondering if you could update us on that.

MR. BOUCHER: I can confirm that a report's due today. We may not make it. We may be a little bit late on that one.

QUESTION: Will it be public?

MR. BOUCHER: But we keep in touch with the Congress and we'll make the appropriate announcements at the appropriate time.

QUESTION: Will it be publicly released when it is released?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to check and see if we release the report in public, but we certainly will make the appropriate announcements and tell you what the policy is.

Yeah. Jill.

QUESTION: A little more clarity, please, on the Philippines and the issue of withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not sure I have any more clarity. I think clarity is for the Government of the Philippines to provide.

QUESTION: Clearly, the negotiations are still ongoing, are they, in terms of the contact--

MR. BOUCHER: We're still in touch with the Philippine Government and we'll keep in touch with them. But as far as exactly what their plans are, I'd leave it to them to describe.

QUESTION: Are you doing anything to convince other countries not to negotiate with terrorists, other countries who have--

MR. BOUCHER: I think, first of all, our views have been very clear. Second of all, the views of many other countries have been made clear, as well, both in their own individual circumstances, but also more broadly, I've seen statements by the Australians and other coalition partners about their policies on this matter that are very similar to our own.

So I think it's important that everybody remember that we have a strong policy on this that we've stated clearly, but many other governments do as well.

QUESTION: But have more phone calls been made in recent days to countries that have hostages, to talk about them?

MR. BOUCHER: Whenever a country has hostages or any other concerns about the situation in Iraq, we talk to them. We talk to the Bulgarians all the time now; we have since their people were taken hostage. We were in close touch with the Japanese when the Japanese were held hostage or the South Koreans when their people were held hostage.

So it's a matter of course that we're in very close touch with governments, not just on the policy issues, but on the human issues. We, and they, do want to do everything possible to get these people out without making concessions that might only encourage further hostage-taking or terrorism.

QUESTION: What are the alternatives?

MR. BOUCHER: Are to find the people and rescue them.

QUESTION: On the Olympics, Mr. Boucher. The Deputy - excuse me, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Lawrence Di Rita, with the Brigadier General David Rodriguez, Deputy Director of Operations J-3 of the Joint Chief of Staff stated yesterday, during a special briefing with the Olympics -- at the Department of Defense, "Well, we will always act to defend our national interest and to defend U.S. citizens around the world," including Greece, answering to the specific question, "Of course, U.S. policy remains that the (inaudible) is unilaterally undermined." It will, in the case of the Olympics. May we have your comments since such a statement is (inaudible), and of course, making a mockery of the national pride and the national dignity of the Greek people.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think there's any question of the sovereignty or the national pride of the Greek people. We work with the Greeks, with the Greek Government very closely on these issues. We are in touch with them, as regards to security for the Olympics and all the steps that we can take to support security there.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) unilateral action. This is the most important statement. It has been made --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think that's the most important statement. I think the most important statement is the one I just made because the facts of the matter are that we have cooperated and worked with the Greek Government in many, many ways to try to help them ensure security for the Olympic Games. That is our policy. That remains our policy.

QUESTION: So that's fine, but why then he said that?

MR. BOUCHER: If you want to ask him more on his statement, you have to go ask him.

QUESTION: But this is a diplomatic issue. It's not a military issue at this point.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm sorry. I've told you what the policy of the United States is. I've expressed it clearly here. I don't think there is really much more to discuss.

QUESTION: In a couple of days, your Ambassador to Greece, Tom Miller, is in a grand tour in the U.S. and had a series of meetings with a bunch of federal agencies --

MR. BOUCHER: I can confirm I saw him in the elevator yesterday, yes.

QUESTION: So let me finish. That's very good statement. (Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: Okay.

QUESTION: That's a very good point because you may have to say something, and he had a bunch of serious meetings with federal authorities, the Department of Defense, regarding the Olympics. May we know how many days Mr. Miller is in the U.S. and specifically in (inaudible), what is the purpose of this visit and for how long he is going to stay, keeping in consideration this is the 11th visit in 90 days, creating a lot of concern in Athens and giving clearly the impression that he is -- that there is some kind of "covert operation," for the interruption of the Olympic Games in the name of terrorism in order to prevent collateral damages, as he's claiming, according to my sources.

MR. BOUCHER: That's an amazing question.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: All right, let's try to piece it out. Number one, there is no covert operation being run by our Ambassador. He comes back periodically on consultations, and as you point out, he's been back fairly frequently in recent months because the upcoming Olympics is very important to us, it's very important to him and to us that we do everything possible to support the Greek Government in providing security for Olympics.

It's very important that the United States Government work smoothly with the Greek Government and our Ambassador is one of the main people to ensure that, and so he comes back on consultations, goes back, works with the Greeks, comes back here. He's been very active. As you know, he's a very active Ambassador. He's not hesitant to get on the airplane when he thinks he can do something useful and so he's been back quite a few times on consultations.

But there's nothing nefarious going on here. This is a very important matter for us to ensure security for the Olympic Games, it's a very close area of cooperation between the United States and Greece, and it's altogether fitting and proper that our Ambassador be active in that regard.

QUESTION: Mr. Boucher, I was told from extremely reliable source with full access to the FBI that, yes, your government is prepared for "covert operation" to disrupt the Olympic Games in the name of terror in order to prevent collateral damages, considering Greece as a Banana Republic, to be honest with you.

MR. BOUCHER: I, frankly, think you're going to have to check your extremely reliable source on why he would say something like that.

QUESTION: I can't disclose the name but --

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I know, but I can't -- it's not fair to me to try to deal with him if I don't know who he is. So I've given you the position of the United States Government as a whole. If you think somebody in some agency has a different idea or policy, you can check with him.

QUESTION: But tell me, the whole thing is diplomatic, political, or military, or intelligence? I want to know to have a clear picture who is in charge and what he is doing in order to --

MR. BOUCHER: The whole thing is a matter of close cooperation between the United States and Greek governments. That cooperation is channeled through our embassy, in many cases. It involves people from throughout the U.S. Government with different kinds of expertise, just as it involves people throughout the Greek Government with different kinds of expertise. It's not a single agency in the Greek Government, either.

We have law enforcement cooperation, intelligence cooperation, military cooperation, NATO cooperation -- you know, land, sea and air -- all kinds of things that we do together with the Greek Government and with other countries to ensure the safety of the Olympic Games.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Maybe we should move on. Our Ambassador represents all of the agencies and he's the guy that brings it together.

QUESTION: And the last one --

MR. BOUCHER: Promise? (Laughter.)

QUESTION: The last one for me. As I understand, your permanent representative in NATO, Nicholas Burns, is negotiating with NATO authorities, with the Greek representatives about NATO and U.S. involvement during the Olympics. Do you know if he finally reached an agreement? Because we have only 29 days --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know exactly where they stand in NATO and on specifics. I do know that NATO has taken up the charge to support Greece, that NATO has made some decisions already, but I'll leave it for NATO to sort of describe their decisions as they make them up there. Our Ambassador's clearly involved, as are all the other ambassadors to NATO.

Yeah. Sir.

QUESTION: Richard, can have just one follow-up on Jenkins? I don't want to get nit-picky with your words, but earlier on, to one of my colleagues' questions, you said that you'd have to see how it evolves. Are you acknowledging the fact that the United States might actually not pursue Jenkins, depending on how it evolves?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I said we were going -- once he is in the legal jurisdiction, a legal jurisdiction, as he would be in Japan, where we can request legal custody, we will do so.

QUESTION: Have you reached any kind of an agreement with the Japanese that if they don't hand him over, you're going to kind of look the other way?

MR. BOUCHER: We've discussed all these things with the Japanese. Let's take this one step at a time. That's as far as I can go at this point.

QUESTION: But I think it's a reasonable question. You're saying you're going to request it. It doesn't mean they're going to hand him over. I mean, do you feel like they're obliged to hand him over the SOFA agreement?

MR. BOUCHER: Again, I'm going to say, we're going to take this one step at a time. We'll see how -- see what happens. Yeah.

QUESTION: Did the North Korean Embassy to UN ask your Department to allow them to travel to Washington, D.C. to join the session which will be held on training --

MR. BOUCHER: Did we check again this morning?

MR. CASEY: We did not check again this morning.

MR. BOUCHER: As of yesterday, the answer was no; they hadn't made any requests.

QUESTION: If they do, are you going to allow it or not?

MR. BOUCHER: If they do, then we'll look at it.

QUESTION: Richard, can I come back to Jenkins for a second?

MR. BOUCHER: Can she ask a question first?

QUESTION: Question on Macedonia. Macedonian Government yesterday agreed on new territorial organization, and today the Government adopted draft laws on this issue. What would be your reaction to this? And also, on the other hand, the opposition condemned the compromise, assessing it as betrayal on Macedonia.

MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to check and see if this is something we want to get into or not. Okay. Sorry.

QUESTION: I'm perplexed why you can't say that you would expect Japan, a close ally, to hand him over if you ask for him? I mean, you've got an agreement with them; it's a written agreement. You know, why can't you say yes, we would expect the Japanese to give him to us?

MR. BOUCHER: We have a legal agreement. We have a Status of Forces Agreement, under which we will request custody, jurisdiction.

QUESTION: They're not obliged to hand him over under that agreement?

MR. BOUCHER: I assume they are. I haven't read the agreement myself. But as far as, you know -- you're sort of asking me to predict their behavior in some ways. And I know you're trying to phrase the question differently now, but I think still I'm going to stick to saying we'll take this one step at a time.

QUESTION: But I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask you to predict the behavior of a close ally when you make a request of them. Normally, you would expect them to agree to accede to it, particularly when you have a written agreement.

MR. BOUCHER: The provisions of the Status of Forces Agreement will cover this. I'll leave it at that.

QUESTION: Are you going to give some consideration to his treatment from the humanitarian side before you take your legal action?

MR. BOUCHER: You know, all I can tell you is we'll take everything into account. We'll talk to the Japanese Government. We -- our intention is to request custody under the Status of Forces Agreement once he arrives in a jurisdiction where we can do that. But all these matters will continue to be discussed with the Japanese Government.

QUESTION: Thanks a lot.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:10 p.m.)

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents