09 January 2002

White House Report, Jan. 9: Bush/Mideast, Testing, Detainees

President Bush "condemns the attack by the terrorist group Hamas that killed four Israeli soldiers today," Fleischer said.

"It's particularly disturbing because it came at a time when the situation on the ground had been relatively quiet, and the United States has been working intensely, including through General Zinni and his mission in the Middle East, to help the parties achieve a durable peace," the Press Secretary added.

This attack on the Israeli soldiers, Fleischer said, "is "a direct attack on the authority of Chairman Arafat. And the President believes it continues to be incumbent on Chairman Arafat to take immediate steps to arrest the terrorist leaders and to dismantle the terrorist network that is present in the region."

Asked for the White House view of the heavily armed ship intercepted by the Israelis that appears to have been carrying weapons to the Palestinians, Fleischer said "we are reviewing the facts about it. Clearly, the weapons were intended to be received by the Palestinians, and that is another reason why the President feels as strongly as he does that in the wake of that troubling report, that it's more important than ever for Chairman Arafat to demonstrate that he is a man of peace and not a man of war."

BUSH HAS NOT RULED OUT NUCLEAR TESTING, BUT NO PLANS NOW TO DO SO

Asked what President Bush's position is on the possible resumption by the United States of underground nuclear testing, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said:

"The President has said that we will continue to adhere to the no-testing policy. If that would change in the future, we would never rule out the possible need to test to make certain that the stockpile, particularly as it's reduced, is reliable and safe. So he has not ruled out testing in the future, but there are no plans to do so."

Fleischer reminded reporters that President Bush under an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he plans "to reduce the number of weapons in the American arsenal down to some 1,700 to 2,200 weapons. As those weapons are reduced, some will be removed from operational status and are earmarked for destruction; others will be replaced in retired status, awaiting eventual destruction, and still others will be maintained in a non-deployed status as a hedge against unforeseen technical or international events," Fleischer said.

STATUS OF PRISONERS BEING MOVED FROM AFGHANISTAN TO GUANTANAMO

The legal status of the prisoners who are being transferred from the Afghanistan theater to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo "is being reviewed by the lawyers to determine exactly what treatment they will receive," Fleischer said in anwer to a question.

"In all cases, the treatment they will receive will be humane and fair. They will be provided with food and appropriate medical care. And I think it's safe to say that no matter where they are, Guantanamo or anywhere else, their conditions will be much better than the conditions under which they existed when they lived in Afghanistan. But these people are people who are being detained for waging a war against our country."

Asked if they are considered prisoners of war, Fleischer said that under the Geneva Convention, the term prisoner of war "has a strict legal definition attached as to who is and who is not a prisoner of war. And that is going to be a case-by-case determination of each and every one of these individuals" to determine whether they meet that criteria.

The reason they are being detained, he said, "is because they were engaged in a war against America's Armed Forces. The question separately is, are they prisoner of war, under the Geneva Convention, which is a strict legal definition, and it's safe to say that strict legal definitions will be honored. But it's a case-by-case decision, as you know, to determine each individual's status."

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

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