*EPF302 01/09/2002
Transcript: State Department Noon Briefing, January 9, 2002
(Powell travel to South Asia/Japan, Israel/Palestinian Authority, India/Pakistan, Lifting Arms Sales Restriction on Tajikistan/Yugoslavia, Terrorism, Afghanistan, Russia, China) (4770)

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed.

Following is the State Department transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Monday, January 9, 2002

BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

ANNOUNCEMENT
-- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Travel to South Asia and Japan

ISRAEL/PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
-- Attacks on Israeli Military Base
-- Israeli Seizure of Vessel Containing Weapons; Palestinian Involvement
-- Zinni Meetings in the Region
-- American Muslim Organizations Inquiry into Deaths of Palestinian Teens
-- Israeli Intelligence Officials Meeting With Senior U.S. Officials

INDIA/PAKISTAN
-- Israeli Military Aircraft Sales to India
-- Secretary Powell's Meeting With India Home Minister
-- Situation in Kashmir

DEPARTMENT
-- Lifting Arms Sales Restriction on Tajikistan and Yugoslavia

TERRORISM
-- Secretary Powell's Interview with The Washington Times/Somalia
Connection with Terrorists

AFGHANISTAN
-- Comments on Amnesty for Surrendering Taliban Officials
-- Timing of Powell's Travel and Musharraf's Upcoming Speech

RUSSIA
-- Liquidation Proceedings of TV-6

CHINA
-- Arrests and Religious Persecution


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2002 -- 12:50 p.m.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. So I want to start off with an announcement, which I'm sure will come as a big surprise to all of you. The Secretary of State is going to make a trip. Secretary of State Powell will travel to South Asia and to Japan. In Japan, he will attend the International Conference on Afghanistan Reconstruction in Tokyo. We plan to depart for South Asia on Tuesday, January 15th, and return to Washington on Monday, January 21st.

In South Asia, Secretary Powell plans to stop in India, Pakistan and possibly other locations. Secretary Powell will meet with leaders of both India and Pakistan to urge reduction of tensions and to further improve our international cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

In Tokyo, Secretary Powell will represent the United States at the International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan, co-chaired by the United States, Japan, the European Union and Saudi Arabia. The Secretary will attend the January 21st session of the Conference. While in Tokyo, Secretary Powell will also meet with senior officials of the Japanese Government to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of concern.

Any further details on the itinerary will be announced as we approach the time of the trip. The sign-up sheet will go up. Press who wish to have a seat on the airplane to travel with Secretary Powell can add their name to the sign-up sheet in the Office of Press Relations, temporarily located in Room 2105 at the State Department.

So with that, I would be glad to take questions.

QUESTION: Unless there are questions about that, I would like to see if you have a comment on the incident at the Israeli military base. The Israelis are blaming the Palestinian Authority for it.

MR. BOUCHER: Let me make clear we condemn this attack. The attack, I think as far as we know, was carried out by the terrorist group Hamas. They killed four Israeli soldiers today. We find this attack particularly disturbing at a time when the situation on the ground had been relatively quiet, and when we have been working very intensively, including through General Zinni's mission, to help the parties achieve a durable cease-fire and move towards implementation of the Tenet recommendations and the Mitchell steps to build confidence and return to talks.

Hamas and other terrorist groups clearly oppose peace and oppose a better future, both for Palestinians and for Israelis. The attack is another in a series of direct challenges to the authority of Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. And once again, we think it makes clear that Chairman Arafat must immediately take steps against terrorist groups by arresting their leaders and dismantling terrorist infrastructure.

We also, in this particular situation, believe he needs to arrest those responsible and act decisively to prevent these particular groups from conducting further attacks.

QUESTION: Also on the Middle East, have we reached any further conclusions about Palestinian Authority involvement in the shipment of arms that were seized last week?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any new information for you at this moment. As you know, we have been working closely with the Israelis. We are meeting this afternoon with an Israeli team to learn more of the details from their investigation.

But, once again, I would say that we think the Palestinian Authority and Chairman Arafat need to take immediate steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure that perpetuates the violence and terror. They need to prevent serious situations such as this Palestinian arms smuggling. We condemn this effort to escalate the violence and we look to the Palestinian Authority to take immediate steps to prevent future attempts to bring in additional weaponry.

QUESTION: And one follow. Do we have any indications of whether this was an authorized shipment from Iran?

MR. BOUCHER: Again, I don't have any further information for you at this point. Certainly there is -- let me say there is credible information that indicates the arms were of Iranian origin. That is as far as I can go based on what we have -- what I am able to say about what we have at this point.

QUESTION: Has General Zinni come to Washington to brief the Secretary yet? Is he coming today?

MR. BOUCHER: No, he hasn't yet. I think he is on the West Coast because he had some other obligations. The Secretary still expects to see him in coming days.

QUESTION: And has there been any change in his vague plan to return to the region in one or two weeks, starting Monday?

MR. BOUCHER: Nothing particular to announce at this point. That remains our intention, for him to go back to the region in the near future, and I am sure he will be seeing the Secretary before he does.

QUESTION: I just have a question about American Muslim organizations in Washington recently said that they contacted the State Department for the US to submit an inquiry to the Israeli army over the mutilation deaths of three Palestinian teenagers, one of whom was run over by a tank and the other two were mutilated.

Do you know anything about that?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't personally know anything about this. I'll have to check for you and see what we know.

QUESTION: Has the State Department issued a statement perhaps condemning Israel for --

MR. BOUCHER: Not that I know of. I'll have to check and see if we know anything about this and what we might have done.

QUESTION: Can I go back to a question I know you're going to knock down instantly? It's about the trip. I had to walk out, but did you mention what the possible other stops might be?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: Or would you care to?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: But you meant to say that there would be possible other stops in the South Asia area?

MR. BOUCHER: South Asia, yes. One out of three is not bad.

QUESTION: On the meeting today with the Israeli intelligence officials, are they meeting someone in this building, and do we know what time approximately that is going to happen?

MR. BOUCHER: This afternoon is the meeting. They will be meeting with Assistant Secretary Burns, Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs. They'll be meeting with Assistant Secretary Carl Ford of our Intelligence and Research Bureau and the team of analysts that we have that work on these issues. And so it will be a good discussion, I am sure.

I guess I should mention in this context also that the Secretary did talk to Chairman Arafat this morning and reminded him of the seriousness that we attach to this issue and the need, the urgent need, for a full explanation.

QUESTION: How about -- the attack on the base, or on the ship?

MR. BOUCHER: On the ship. We're talking about the need for information on the ship and what was going on.

QUESTION: What did Chairman Arafat -- did he repeat his denial of any involvement?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, he repeated --

QUESTION: Did he provide an explanation that you found convincing?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, he provided -- as he said before, he said that they were -- that he was not involved, the Palestinian Authority was not involved. He said that they would fully investigate. But we don't have any new information from them at this point.

QUESTION: Okay. Did the Secretary -- the Secretary told the Chairman the need for a full explanation was urgent, yes? That's what you said?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes. He talked to him about the urgent need for a full explanation.

QUESTION: And the urgency is because why? Just because?

MR. BOUCHER: The urgency is because I think we all want to know. There's more and more information coming out, and anything they have to say we think they should say soon.

QUESTION: Did the Secretary tell Chairman Arafat what you told us yesterday, that there was -- that you believe that there was evidence that at least some Palestinians, maybe not the PA, were involved?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, that he -- certainly, told him that the indications of Palestinian involvement were deeply troubling to us, and that that's what we felt required a full explanation.

QUESTION: Okay. But he didn't make any judgment as to Chairman Arafat's response? He didn't say, well, we don't believe you or anything like that?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: He said that we're still waiting to hear more? And, from you?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes. That we're looking for the full explanation.

QUESTION: Did Chairman Arafat offer any rebuttal of the Israeli accusations and what the captain of the ship said the other day at all?

MR. BOUCHER: I know the various Palestinian Authority -- officials of the Palestinian Authority have made statements, but at this point we are looking for an explanation, we are looking for information, and as I mentioned, I don't think we have -- we don't have that yet from the Palestinian side. We are getting more and more information from the Israeli side. We continue to learn what we can about the incident with the ship and the arms being smuggled. And as I have said before, and as the Secretary said to Chairman Arafat, the indications of Palestinian involvement, the involvement of Palestinians is seriously troubling, and that we think it deserves a full explanation from the Palestinian Authority.

QUESTION: Richard, all the signs from Israel -- at least our reports from Israel -- suggest that the Israeli Government have realized that they have milked this affair for all it's worth, and they are getting ready to move on. Is the State Department willing to sort of follow their lead on this and stop flogging this dead horse?

MR. BOUCHER: Is that a question?

QUESTION: Yes, sure. I mean, that's what the -- if you read the Israeli press, they are saying it's --

MR. BOUCHER: That's different than what you asked. We are supposed to follow the lead of the Israeli press? Is that what we're in fact --

QUESTION: And the Israeli ministers, too, are saying --

MR. BOUCHER: We're talking to a group of Israelis this afternoon. I just told you what the US position is. We are looking for information on this. The introduction of this kind of arms shipment into the region offers a serious potential for escalation. It's a real concern of the United States, it should be a real concern of all in the region, and we need to look into this matter and do something about it. And we have made quite clear that Chairman Arafat needs to do something about preventing these kinds of shipments, dismantling the groups, organizations or people that are involved.

QUESTION: Okay, let me put it this way. Even if it turns out that all these allegations are absolutely accurate and the Palestinian Authority some time back did order this consignment of weapons, what effect does that have on the future of the peace process?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, to some extent, that is speculative, but obviously the things that General Zinni has been working on to try to get the parties to take steps to stop the violence, the things that we have been encouraging, urging, pressing Chairman Arafat to do in terms of dismantling terrorist groups, stopping the production of weapons in the Palestinian areas, closing down mortar factories, stopping the potential for violence, of course that remains important and that's the only way forward. But this is part of it, but it certainly is deeply troubling to see this quantity and quality of weapons being brought towards the area, and it reminds us, I guess I would say, of the urgency of taking those steps to stop the violence and to crack down on the terrorist activities.

QUESTION: Yes, but does it also remind you of the urgent need to get the peace talks moving?

MR. BOUCHER: That's the first part, stopping the violence and cracking down, stopping the terrorist activities. Making it impossible for people to carry out terrorist acts is the first step of getting into the building of confidence and a return to talks, which is the ultimate goal that we all have.

QUESTION: Did Secretary of State Powell address Chairman Arafat's concerns that the weapons might fall into the cache of Israel's ammunitions and that they may later on be used against the Palestinians?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know if Chairman Arafat raised anything like that.

QUESTION: If the Israelis are providing all this evidence as they go, or their information anyway, is it troubling that the Palestinians haven't also been providing information as they get it to you? Doesn't that seem like then you're only getting -- or, as you say, you're getting only one side of it now? Why aren't they coming up with more --

MR. BOUCHER: No, I didn't say that either. I said we're hearing --

QUESTION: Well, you say you haven't gotten an explanation yet. Well, you've got plenty of explanations from the Israeli side, so are you asking the Palestinians to show you more information as they go along through the investigation?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we are interested in hearing whatever anyone has to say about this. Obviously we are looking at our own sources too to see what information we might have. We remain in close contact with the Israelis and we're awaiting a full explanation from the Palestinians. That is the factual situation where we stand right now.

QUESTION: Have you gotten some partial explanations?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I'd even go that far at this point.

QUESTION: Can we move on to -- can you explain -- yes, no?

MR. BOUCHER: One more over here.

QUESTION: What is the response through other governments, from the Iranians, and is there a worry that with Hizballah trying to undermine the PA? In other words, they go off on a tangent, which is --

MR. BOUCHER: Don't know and won't speculate. Sorry, I haven't seen anything from the Iranians, and I'm not their spokesman.

QUESTION: If you have other sources, which means in US intelligence sources of various kinds --

MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't talk about intelligence.

QUESTION: No, of course not. But hardly a dhow can move in the Arabian Sea or out of -- particularly out of Iranian ports without being monitored by the US Naval presence, which is massive in that area. Why didn't the United States pick up this ship instead of the Israelis?

MR. BOUCHER: You're making assumptions and asking questions about an entire area that I can't deal with. I don't talk about the ability of our intelligence to monitor things in the Persian Gulf.

QUESTION: Would they have picked it up if --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't talk about the ability of our intelligence to monitor the Persian Gulf.

QUESTION: What would be your policy on picking up ships like that?

MR. BOUCHER: Our policy is we want to know everything.

QUESTION: Housekeeping question. You're saying that the Secretary may visit Kabul on his way to Tokyo?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I didn't say that either. Barbara, you had another one on the topic?

QUESTION: Yes. Is Zinni definitely going back next week, or is that still being decided?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a date for Zinni's return to the region. It will be in the near future, though.

QUESTION: There have been reports that Israel is planning to sell military aircraft to India. The Phalcon has some American-made systems. And that follows an attempt earlier -- well, last year -- when Israel tried to do this with China, but didn't succeed. Does this building have any position on that, or is that a bilateral --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I haven't looked into it. Let me check on it for you.

QUESTION: Richard, is there anything you can say about the agenda items that will either be discussed today with the Indian Home Minister and Secretary Powell, or that will be on Secretary Powell's agenda in South Asia? Specifically, questions like the matter of extradition? Will all these things be part of the mix?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think it's politic to go into it in too much detail at this point, since they are about to meet. Our discussions this afternoon with the Indian Home Affairs Minister, with Minister Advani, will be primarily about US-India cooperation against terrorism. That is what they discussed when the Secretary was in New Delhi, and I am sure they will continue their discussions on that topic, emphasizing what we can do together in the fight against terrorism.

Clearly, the tensions between India and Pakistan at present will also be on the agenda. And then, as far as when we go to the region, I think you can count on those two things being front and center in our discussions with India and Pakistan.

QUESTION: Another question on India. You asked --

MR. BOUCHER: We sort of moved on without moving on. Sorry, Matt.

QUESTION: You were asked the other day about whether the United States might make any suggestions for how the Indians might contribute to a reduction of tensions, specifically the actions they might take in Kashmir. Have you had any time to think about that and come up with any conclusions?

MR. BOUCHER: I thought I thought about it the other day, and decided I didn't have anything to tell you on it.

QUESTION: No, you said you hadn't thought about it.

MR. BOUCHER: We have continued to work with both sides, with the Indians and the Pakistanis, about how to deescalate, how to reduce tensions. We are discussing the overall need to do so, as well as looking forward to steps that they might take to reduce tensions and to deescalate.

Our ambassadors in Islamabad and New Delhi have been in very close touch with the Indian and Pakistani Governments. The Secretary spoke to President Musharraf yesterday. He spoke to Foreign Minister Singh this morning, continuing to discuss with them the current situation to encourage them to find ways to deescalate the tensions. And that's, I'm afraid, the level of specificity I'm prepared to go into. I'm not going to stand here and start dictating or listing steps for the parties to take.

Now, do you want to change the subject from the Middle East?

QUESTION: Yes. And India-Pakistan, if I might. Can you explain to us why you have decided to lift the arms sales restrictions on Tajikistan and Yugoslavia, and what the practical effect of this decision is?

MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Part 126.1 of the International Traffic and Arms Regulations --

QUESTION: I'm still not going to get an answer in plain English. (Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Anyway, there's a list of countries in the regulations, where we have a policy of denying export or the temporary import licenses for defense articles and services.

From time to time, countries are added and deleted from this list, in accordance with changes in our policy and our outlook on things. Tajikistan was put on the list on July 22nd, 1993. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro was added in July of 1991. Since September 11th, Tajikistan has been cooperating closely with the US as a member of the international coalition against terrorism. We believe this cooperation and other changes in our relations merit removing Tajikistan from the proscribed countries list.

In the case of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia has been cooperating with the International War Crimes Tribunal. The UN embargo has been lifted and we are working to normalize our bilateral relationship.

This doesn't mean, in practical terms, that all exports or import licenses for defense articles and services would be approved, but there is no longer a presumption of denial, and individual items would be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

QUESTION: Do they have pending -- or are you aware that they have any pending --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know, actually, and I think there are provisions of the law that prevent us from disclosing any specific transactions.

QUESTION: That prevent you or prevent the entire government? I'm just wondering, does this usually come out of the Pentagon when there is a --

MR. BOUCHER: No, we usually -- if there are private commercial transactions for items on this list, I think we are prevented from disclosing. And then if there is a point -- if there's a government transaction, there's a point when it does become public, but I'm not aware of any that I can talk about at this point. I don't know if there are any pending at all.

QUESTION: Okay. And I know that the decision took effect today, but there was a date in the announcement of it that said December 3rd. What was -- do you know what that date refers to?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't.

QUESTION: Okay. But it did take effect today?

MR. BOUCHER: January 9th. It's in the Federal Register. Yes.

QUESTION: Is Uzbekistan on the prohibited list, and, if so, why don't you remove them?

MR. BOUCHER: Don't know. I have to check.

QUESTION: Change of subject?

MR. BOUCHER: Please.

QUESTION: In an interview that the Secretary did yesterday with the Washington Times board, he seemed, from their reports, Nicholas, to single out Somalia, even though we all -- you always say you're not singling out any country. Would you say that is an accurate reflection of what the Secretary said? Did he talk more about Somalia? Did he lend weight to the idea that Somalia is on the list that doesn't exist?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, the newspaper was kind enough to print virtually the whole transcript of the interview, which I think is a great service to the readership, in addition to writing their stories about it. So I'll leave you to read it, but I think you'll find, if you actually read the text of what the Secretary said, he talked about a number of places and said what we were doing in different places.

Because this is a worldwide campaign against terrorism. There is a lot more to do. There is a lot more to do in Afghanistan. There's a lot more to do in the rest of the world to get the al-Qaida organization, and we are committed to doing that in different ways and different places.

QUESTION: Did you rule out concerns about the AIAI, for example?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I'm not going to go to that level of particular groups. You can look at what we have said in Patterns of Global Terrorism and elsewhere about particular groups that do have associations with al-Qaida. We are quite aware of a number of those around the world. And, as we have said before, al-Qaida operated in some 50-60 countries. You have seen arrests and detentions in -- I forget what the estimate is now; at one point it was 40-some countries. It's probably much higher. And you have seen a lot of different cells broken up, everywhere from Germany and France and Spain to Singapore and Malaysia and elsewhere of groups or cells with ties to al-Qaida.

QUESTION: Are you still (inaudible) that kind of progress in Somalia yet, with our -- since September 11th?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have anything that specific I can talk about in Somalia at this point.

QUESTION: Afghanistan. The new interim administration says that it had arrested -- or it had custody briefly of the ministers of justice and defense of the Taliban, and that they have amnestied them, in effect. Does the United States have a position on that amnesty? And have you expressed any views on that to the interim administration in Kabul?

MR. BOUCHER: At this point, it's not clear to us what their status is. We have seen the press reports about this, about the Taliban officials who surrendered in the Kandahar area. We have said before that we believe that senior Taliban officials should be taken into custody. We would expect that to be the case with these individuals, and I am sure we will be looking into this matter further. But for the moment, it's not really clear to us what their status is.

QUESTION: I mean, do you claim any kind of jurisdiction over these people, or what? I mean --

MR. BOUCHER: As I said, we believe these people ought to be in custody. Let's leave it at that for the moment.

QUESTION: On what basis?

MR. BOUCHER: On the basis of --

QUESTION: Would they be in custody --

MR. BOUCHER: -- of their support for al-Qaida and the terrorists that have operated in Afghanistan.

QUESTION: TV-6 in Russia is in trouble again. Do you guys have anything to say about that situation? And I have one more unrelated to that, before Charlie tries to end this early.

MR. BOUCHER: In this case, there is a strong appearance of political pressure in the judicial process against the independent media. There have been unusually rapid developments in the TV-6 liquidation case at high judicial levels, where legal action normally takes months.

On December 29th, the Moscow District Federal Arbitration Court suspended a lower court's order to liquidate TV-6. On January 4th, which effectively was the next business day, the Supreme Arbitration Court ordered the liquidation continued. The suit brought against TV-6 is based on what we believe -- what is considered by many to be a flawed civil law that lapsed on January 1st. This law has applied only in two cases, NTV and TV-6. We think the case raises a number of very important issues: media independence, fair and transparent application of business law, freedom of Russia's judiciary from political pressures.

As I don't think I need to remind you, but I will, the Secretary raised these issues, specifically concerning TV-6, in his discussions with the Russians, including the last time he was in Moscow in early December. He also did an interview with TV-6 while he was there to show our support for the independent media. And we continue to urge Russian officials to ensure that TV-6 gets a full and fair hearing, and ensure that press freedom and the rule of law can be best served by keeping TV-6 on the air.

QUESTION: Would the Secretary of State make his trip to South Asia on the assumption that by the time he arrives there, President Musharraf would make an important address?

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary is going to South Asia because it is important for us to talk to the leaders of those countries, and to talk to them about any number of things. Yes, we do expect President Musharraf to make a speech in the coming days, and given the timing, chances are he will have made his speech by the time we get there.

But that exists as a fact. I would say our goal is to talk to the leaders in these two countries, to talk to them about the fight against terrorism and also to talk to them about the tensions that exist between them now.

QUESTION: You can probably do this really quickly. Have you heard back from the Chinese yet about your protests about this bible distributor? Or are they ignoring you?

MR. BOUCHER: Let me double-check. I didn't see anything today, but I haven't done a complete check.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Thanks.

(end State Department transcript)

(end transcript)

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