*EPF203 07/06/2004
Transcript: State Department Noon Briefing, July 6
(Iraq, Israel/Palestinians, Russia, British detainees at Guantanamo/ U.S. discussions with British government on detainee issue, Sudan, Korea, Indonesia) (4870)

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher briefed reporters July 6.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
1:10 p.m. EDT

BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

IRAQ
--Securing Iraq's Border
--Threats by Foreign Fighters
--Prime Minister Blair's Comment on Weapons of Mass Destruction

ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
--Status on Dismantlement of Outposts
--Egypt's Effort to Reorganize and Strengthen Palestinian Security Services
--Read-out of Secretary Powell's Meeting with Foreign Minister Shalom

RUSSIA
--Query on Due Process in Khodorkovskiy/ Yukos Cases

MISCELLANEOUS
--British Detainees at Guantanamo
--U.S. Discussions with British Government on Detainee Issue

SUDAN
--Discussions Between Secretary Powell and UN Secretary General Annan
--Access Allowed to Humanitarian Workers

KOREA
--Proposal to Resume North-South Talks By Japan
--Goal of Denuclearization of Peninsula by the Six-Parties
--Secretary Powell's Meetings with Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministers

INDONESIA
--Issues Discussed at Meeting in Jakarta

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2004
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

1:10 p.m. EDT

MR. BOUCHER: Thank you for your patience. It's good to be here with you. I don't have any statements or announcements. Be glad to take your questions.

QUESTION: A lot of ground to cover. Could I try you on reports, most prominently in the New York Times the other morning, that there's a surge of infiltration from Iran and Syria into Iraq, both men, fighters, and supplies. There were a couple of Iranians picked up trying to detonate a bomb, yesterday I believe. Is there some change, a new cause of alarm or concern?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a definitive picture and I think you'd have to ask either the coalition forces on the ground who are following that much more closely or perhaps the intelligence agencies.

I would say that the matter of securing Iraq's borders has been an important matter for us and for the new government in Iraq. I've seen Prime Minister Allawi's spoken about it as one of the tasks they want to undertake with their security forces and, indeed, a lot of the training that we have been doing is for people who will help protect Iraq's borders.

Teri.

QUESTION: What do you make of the USA Today story today that draws the inference that because less than 2 percent of those detained in Iraq are foreign fighters that that indicates that there is a smaller number of foreign fighters in the country than the Administration has been saying?

MR. BOUCHER: Again, I'm not in a position to give an estimate of the numbers. It's certainly apparent to all of us that some of the foreign fighters, however many they are, that they represent some of the most terrible threats, difficult threats to deal with that do exist in Iraq. We know there are a variety of sources of the violence, but we also know that the beheadings that we've seen and other kinds of very horrible attacks have been carried out by foreigners.

So it's a combination of different threats. It doesn't matter how many they are; they need to be gotten rid of. Iraq can't be a place for foreign terrorists to operate, and that's, I think, the determination that people in the coalition have. It's the determination the people in the Iraqi government have as well.

QUESTION: Richard, do you have any information on the whereabouts and well-being of Mr. Hassoun, the U.S. Marine whose brother apparently says he's been released?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't. I've seen a variety of reports over the last few days. I don't have any confirmation of any of them.

QUESTION: Can you talk about the status of any witness protection program on --

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: -- in Iraq? You can't speak anything to it?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: Has the Iraqis -- have the Iraqis asked for a bilateral agreement extending the witness --

MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't be able to talk about any methods we might use to protect people.

QUESTION: Okay. There are some reports that the gentleman that handed in Saddam's sons to the U.S. Government, that members of his extended family are being threatened by Iraqi insurgents. Is there anything that the U.S. government could or should be doing to help protect --

MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid that's not a topic I can talk about in any way.

QUESTION: Well, then, can we go back to subjects -- at least one that the Secretary and the Israeli Foreign Minister --

QUESTION: Before we go on to that, can we ask about the foreign fighters, since we're on that issue?

MR. BOUCHER: Sure.

QUESTION: Since the number is so small, maybe out of 5,700 of those held are foreign --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have the number. I'm not going to confirm the number.

QUESTION: No, that's what the Army is saying. I mean, that's -- the report is from the U.S. military.

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: And (inaudible) that it is a small number, is there any way to determine whether these fellows actually crossed the border or were they in Iraq beforehand? Because Iraq had a lot of foreign --

MR. BOUCHER: Again, you might ask people on the ground who follow these things, Iraqis and Americans or coalition forces. But no, I don't have that kind of information to share for you.

QUESTION: There's some discord, obviously, on Israeli outposts, totally different positions taken by the Secretary and the Israeli Foreign Minister. The Foreign Minister says we're reducing, we're down to 28. The Secretary is distressed on the subject. I don't know if I could ask you, but I'll ask you for a count if you have one, but there have been suspicions that Israel is not making good on its promise and that maybe outposts are becoming settlements.

Do you have anything you could add to what was said downstairs?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything much to add to what was said downstairs. I think the -- it's important to remember that Israel made commitments in public and in private during the course of our discussions over the last year or two about dismantling these outposts. They have made clear what their policy is and their position is. We have made clear all along that that is important to us, the issue of settlement expansion is important to us, and that we have continuing and ongoing discussions with the Israelis about meeting those commitments, about where they stand in meeting those commitments.

And so when we do talk to the Israelis, we talk about their progress or what they're doing to dismantle outposts, what they're doing to dismantle roadblocks, what they're doing to ease the daily lives of Palestinians. Those are all things that they themselves have made commitments on. And as long as these things are not resolved, they're issues of concern to us that we'll continue to raise.

QUESTION: Which reminds me, the reference to outposts, remember the Foreign Minister said their work on the wall -- excuse me, with the reference to roadblocks, the Foreign Minister said their work on the wall has made it possible to, because it's effective, the fence has made it possible to end some -- many roadblocks.

Obviously, the fence came up. I think I know what the U.S. position has been. Is there any change? Is Israel redeploying, whatever the word would be, reconfiguring the roadmap at the -- the wall -- in a way that's satisfactory to the U.S. or do you need some further adjustments?

MR. BOUCHER: As far as the U.S. position, there's been no change. As far as the Israeli position and how they intend to respond to the decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court, I'll leave that in the hands of the Israelis.

QUESTION: How many outposts do you believe are still there?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a count for you at this point. As you heard, the Israeli Government count is 28.

QUESTION: Richard, Omar Suleiman has been trying to stop the Palestinian militants. Are you adequately surprised at the Egyptian position, and do you think it should be strengthened or --

MR. BOUCHER: We work very closely with the Egyptians on all these matters. We've worked very closely with them as far as what they could do to help the Palestinians reorganize and then strengthen their security services so they can take real responsibility in Gaza. We've worked closely with the Egyptians on how they could take responsibility for their areas that are near Gaza.

And I think you'll remember that last week, when Ambassador Burns was out meeting with the Quartet in Egypt, that he also had discussions with the Egyptian Government about the role that they could play. And we've welcomed that role, we've supported that role, and we intend to continue to work with them very closely.

QUESTION: I knew you'd welcome whatever help you can get. You just said near Gaza, which may be just the perfect word to be ambiguous, because the issue would seem to be whether they're prepared to do anything on the Gaza side. They've always been prepared to help out on their side in Egypt-proper. Are the Egyptians disposed to help on -- in Gaza itself?

MR. BOUCHER: If you listen to what I said, I started by saying --

QUESTION: You said near Gaza.

MR. BOUCHER: If you listen to what I said, not just one word but the whole sentence, the whole sentence said the Egyptians have been working with the Palestinians to help them organize and strengthen their security services to take real responsibility in Gaza.

QUESTION: Fine.

MR. BOUCHER: Right? And we welcome that and we welcome anything the Egyptians can do in Gaza, along the border with Gaza, along the border with Israel, near Gaza, kind of close to Gaza, around the corner from Gaza, or somewhere in the neighborhood.

QUESTION: Are they willing to do anything in Gaza?

MR. BOUCHER: The Egyptians have said they are. They're willing, as I just said, to work with the Palestinians to reorganize and strengthen their security system.

QUESTION: The question is where, okay?

MR. BOUCHER: In Gaza. Third time, fourth.

PARTICIPANT: The same subject --

MR. BOUCHER: Something.

QUESTION: In the last few days, there's been an increased or a heightened level of Israeli incursions and attacks in the West Bank, in Nablus and other places. Did the Secretary express concern about the accelerated violence and did the Israeli Foreign Minister give any promises on that issue?

MR. BOUCHER: I think they discussed, in general, the situation and the need to make -- to see a positive evolution of the situation, for the Palestinians to control the violence, for the Israeli disengagement in Gaza to go forward as part of a roadmap, and for progress to be made in general. But no, not -- they didn't get down to analyzing specific incidents.

Tammy.

QUESTION: New topic?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: There were some armed Mexican soldiers who apparently disrupted the funeral of a U.S. Marine in Mexico. Do you have any response to this?

MR. BOUCHER: I have not heard about it. I'll have to look it up.

Okay. Sir.

QUESTION: New topic and I apologize if this was addressed last week when I was away, but do you have anything to say about Yukos and the rule of law as it is being applied on Yukos and on its enormous tax bill?

MR. BOUCHER: I just want to make sure this wasn't addressed last week when I was away. Let me talk about it now. I don't think it did come up. We -- as we -- as you know, we've been following the situation in Russia with regard to the prosecution of Mr. Khodorkovskiy and the situation of Yukos very closely. We've had, I think, things to say along the way. We've always called on the parties to arrive at a solution that resolves the case in accordance with the rule of law and due process, without undue influence from political considerations, and also prevents the destruction of one of Russia's largest energy companies which has embraced Western practices of transparency and corporate governance.

We have also expressed, I think, along the way, our concerns for the market situation, the effect that this might be having on investors, and, indeed, there are some numbers that indicate that might be true. But the appearance of a lack of due process and the possible threat to private property rights have put domestic and international business communities somewhat on their guard and have raised serious questions about the Russian Government's respect for investment rights and willingness to arrive at equitable solutions to promote business development.

So, for both those reasons, both the question of due process and lack of political influence, and second of all, the effect it might have on other -- or might be having on other investors as regards the investment climate, we've been concerned about this case all along and we'll continue to follow it closely.

QUESTION: You said an appearance of lack of due process. Is the government convinced, the State Department, there is a lack of due process, because even the appearance can be detrimental, but how far does it go -- your suspicions?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I cited the appearance because the appearance is detrimental in terms of how it has put the international and domestic business communities on guard. As far as sort of how the process proceeds, it's underway now. I don't have any judgments to make to what the Russian Government might do on next steps, but we are concerned that due process be followed and that it be done without any appearance of political influence.

QUESTION: Besides being concerned, what are you doing? I mean, how high up have you raised this?

MR. BOUCHER: We --

QUESTION: And also, you didn't say anything about Mr. Khodorkovskiy's personal situation. And when he first was taken into custody, you spoke more about your concern about how he may be treated. That was now many, many months ago.

MR. BOUCHER: It has been many months. He's been in jail, released and there've been several permutations of this.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: I thought he was out for a while. Maybe I'm -- maybe I'm in error on that.

QUESTION: He's in that little cell sometimes, so inside the courtroom?

MR. BOUCHER: Maybe I had that one wrong. But I think, you know, if I remember back to the beginning of this, certainly we would be concerned about Mr. Khodorkovskiy himself, but the key is that he gets due process. We haven't taken a position on the merits of the specific case, but we have been concerned about how this process has unfolded and the effect it might have on investment. And our concerns have been raised with the Russian Government repeatedly at different levels. You remember this was a subject on the Secretary's agenda when he went in January and has been raised since then at all kinds of different levels.

QUESTION: Recently when? Can you tell us?

MR. BOUCHER: Our Embassy raises it on a regular basis. I'd have to check records to see what other high-level meetings it might have been raised at.

QUESTION: Can you address more specifically the question of whether due process is taking place and the rule of law is unfolding as it should here?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't, at this point. It's a process that is -- we're in the middle of it, at this point.

Yeah, okay.

QUESTION: The Secretary didn't raise it with Minister Lavrov in Jakarta, did he?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to check my notes. I'll have to check somebody else's notes that are better than mine. I'll have to check and see if it came up during the course of that conversation. I don't frankly remember.

QUESTION: What can the U.S. really do? I mean, if you've expressed concerns all the way along and it just seems to be getting -- I mean, the situation with Yukos now possibly going under just seems to be getting worse and worse. It doesn't seem that your concerns are having any effect.

MR. BOUCHER: I think it's important for us to point out the problems that this can create. In terms of the perceptions of Russia, both in the international community at large and also in the investor community, domestic and international investors. And we'll continue to point those out.

QUESTION: Do you think, as a practical matter, Yukos ought to be given more time to pay the enormous tax liability that it, I think, has to pay by tomorrow night?

MR. BOUCHER: As I said, it's very hard for us to take a specific position on issues involved in the case itself, but we do want to see those adjudicated transparently and fairly.

Jill.

QUESTION: A question on WMDs in Iraq. Tony Blair has made headlines today saying, for the first time, that we may never find WMDs in Iraq. Could you -- do you have any reaction to that and could you clarify, please, for us, the current thinking in the State Department on whether -- how that search is going and what will be found?

MR. BOUCHER: I really don't have any further reaction to that. I think both the President and the spokesmen at the White House have addressed it. The Secretary addressed it, to some extent, outside with another question.

But if I read the -- what I saw Prime Minister Blair saying was also, he doesn't know if they had been removed, hidden or destroyed, and that's true. We have the Iraq Survey Group still doing its work. Hopefully, they will be able to tell us more about what happened. We all know, for many years, UN reports, the U.S. Intelligence reports, other foreign intelligence reports said that Iraq had a lot of material that it never accounted for and had programs that it maintained to try to get -- to try to produce more weapons.

The issue really boils down to stockpiles. We all know that he wanted these weapons, that he had had them and had used them. He wanted to get more. He was keeping the capability to get more and he was a danger and a threat that we had to deal with. So I think the fundamental big picture issue is that Saddam Hussein embodied a threat of weapons of mass destruction because he wanted them and he had used them already.

We had to deal with that danger. Whether he actually had stockpiles on hand or not, I think a lot of this other work is going to have to tell us.

QUESTION: Do you have a reaction to the New York Times report today that actually relatives of scientists in Iraq told the CIA since 2000 that the Iraqi --

MR. BOUCHER: No. The Secretary answered the question outside. I don't have anything --

QUESTION: Sorry, I wasn't out there. I missed it.

MR. BOUCHER: George.

QUESTION: That was my question.

MR. BOUCHER: Oh. The Secretary answered it outside.

QUESTION: Good. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: On another thing that Tony Blair said, we did ask the Secretary this but he gave a very brief response. On the issue of Guantanamo, Tony Blair called the detention camp there an anomaly that has to end. What's your reaction to that?

MR. BOUCHER: I saw some of the quotes. It's not clear to me exactly whether he said the whole detention system or the situation with regard to British prisoners. But in any case, I think the answer is the same, that we have established now a series of ways of reviewing and dealing with these cases. We have continued to release people to the custody of foreign governments, including some that were released earlier to the custody of the British Government, for them to make the final decisions about detentions or release.

We have set up a process of tribunals to try the gravest offenders who need to face trial and we have set up a regular review process for the cases of all others to make sure we make fair and regular determinations of whether they still need to be incarcerated, whether it's still a situation where they would be dangerous if released.

So, through a variety of these mechanisms, we have established the ways of resolving as many of these cases as is possible. And, of course, now we know the Supreme Court has also taken some action that may lead to other ways of resolving these cases.

QUESTION: Can you expand on the Secretary's remarks that he knew that the British have requested or are interested in their four? I mean, are there any action going to be taken specifically in these cases?

MR. BOUCHER: We have maintained our contacts and our discussions with the British Government on the situation of their detainees. As you know, this goes back some time. The President and Prime Minister Blair have discussed it, and the President's made clear to Prime Minister Blair that if the legal mechanisms that we put in place are not adequate that the British could request the return of those people.

QUESTION: Is that a recent request? There's been a longstanding request for the release of --

MR. BOUCHER: If there has been a longstanding request, there has been also a -- but it's been pending further clarification of what legal action we would take, and I think that's where we've had ongoing discussions with the British Government. Whether they've renewed a specific request for these people or not, I frankly don't know.

But since the British have expressed their interest and the President gave them a basic commitment last year, we've had a very continuous contact with the British Government on these individuals.

Joel.

QUESTION: Richard, since last week, your trip to Sudan, any headway with what the Secretary's envisioned to get humanitarian-type equipment and supplies in? And also, the UN is looking a little bit different toward that. But are you basically, between yourselves and Kofi Annan, working on the same page?

MR. BOUCHER: Absolutely. The visit and discussion that we had with Kofi Annan before -- the discussion we had with the Secretary General, the Secretary had -- let's start over.

The discussions that the Secretary had with the Secretary General before they both visited Sudan, I think, were an important part of the coordination of their visits and of the kind of results that we expected from their visits. And then the Secretary and the Secretary General had a meeting in Khartoum as the Secretary was leaving and the Secretary General was coming back. And they then compared notes, and the Secretary told the Secretary General that the Government of Sudan had made commitments to us in areas that we felt could be measured and that we would be monitoring and measuring.

And then the Secretary General was able to reinforce those in terms of a joint statement that he and the Sudanese Government issued that had some of those commitments in it. And so we welcome that joint communiqué that they issued.

We also note that the Sudanese Government has made announcements today about allowing unhindered access by humanitarian workers along the lines of the things that we had expected them to do.

Now, the bottom line on all this is what happens on the ground. And so you can't judge any of these commitments by the government or the statements by the government until we actually see action on the ground that allows unhindered access by humanitarian workers and unhindered access for humanitarian relief supplies.

There have been some reports of progress on the ground, in both security and humanitarian areas, some issues resolved, but we've also continued to get reports of ongoing violence on the ground, including violence by the government militias.

So we have made very clear to the government, and I think the United Nations has as well, that all these things are only to be measured by the actual situation of people on the ground and that we'll continue pressing and monitoring for that kind of real, concrete progress that helps all the individuals who are suffering and all the individuals who are at risk.

QUESTION: Two very short ones, I hope, on Korea. Lavrov is quoted as saying he is willing to get the North and South Koreans together for some kind of a discussion. Are you in favor of those kinds of three-way talks, or do you want all such things to be either done bilaterally between North and South Korea or in the six-party talks?

And Japan, a senior Japanese official said they are open to resuming talks on normalization of relations. And I wonder if you take a position on whether Japan should move toward normalizing relations or even resume talks on it.

MR. BOUCHER: We have not tried to take positions on things that some of our partners might or might not be considering. We've, at the same time, coordinated very closely with them. I've not seen this proposal by Foreign Minister Lavrov, whether it's a continuation of North-South talks such as they've had or something different. So I wouldn't want to comment at this point.

As far as Japan's decisions on its own relationship with North Korea, those are for Japan to make, but we do coordinate all these things pretty closely with our friends and allies.

QUESTION: Well, could I add to the mix what the Russians are doing with respect to helping North Korea with their electricity and gas supplies? Do you have an observation on that, even though this could relate to what you're attempting to do with respect to their weapons programs?

MR. BOUCHER: My only comment would be that it could relate to what we're all attempting to do with regard to North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. As you know, the six-party talks, the six parties have all agreed the goal is denuclearization of the Peninsula, an end to the North's nuclear weapons programs, and that a variety of different countries at various stages were prepared to offer some kind of support for North Korea, in terms of its needs, as we went down that road.

How, exactly, these offers or ideas that were floated were phrased, and at what point in the process they might kick in, I don't know. I'd just point out to you that we have been coordinating very closely with Japan and South Korea. We've been talking a lot with Russia and China as we've gone through this process. And the Secretary had further meetings with Russian Foreign Minister and the Chinese Foreign Minister as well as Japanese and South Korean Foreign Ministers when he was in Jakarta just a few days ago.

QUESTION: In the discussion that you had with the North Korean Foreign Minister, did you get any sense about how long they would need to review the proposal and what -- whether they would come back to an answer at the next round of talks or did they hope to --

MR. BOUCHER: No, there was no timeframe given for a more complete response.

QUESTION: The National Security Advisor, Dr. Rice, will visit China on Thursday and Friday. We learned that her visit may result in some adjustment in U.S. policy toward China. Do you have anything to say or can you update the latest bilateral meeting between Secretary Powell and the Foreign Minister?

MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't get into the National Security Advisor's trip to China. I'm sure the White House can brief you on that. It was discussed during the meetings between the Secretary and Chinese Foreign Minister Lee in Jakarta. At their meetings, they talked about Iraq, they talked about UN business, they talked about North Korea and the six-party talks and they talked about Taiwan.

QUESTION: Also, the Foreign Minister, they also raised China's opposition to the potential U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and also he pointed out that it obviously violated the third U.S.-China communicate. What did Secretary --

MR. BOUCHER: Secretary Powell reiterated our "One China" policy as well as our actions under the Taiwan Relations Act.

Ma'am, one more.

QUESTION: Sorry, I still have two questions. After Dr. Rice's visit to China, it is said that the Chinese President Hu Jintao is also coming to Washington, D.C. to have a state visit. Can you confirm that?

MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't announce a state visit even if I knew about it. Sorry.

QUESTION: Okay. Final question, the source in Taipei said that the American Institute in Taiwan already sent a note to Taiwan government saying that the U.S. already has agreed the nomination of David Lee to be the head of TECRO and express your welcome for him to come to Washington. Can you confirm that, too?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I can't.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:50 p.m.)

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(end transcript)

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