*EPF302 07/21/2004
Transcript: State Department Noon Briefing, July 21
(Sudan, Cuba, Haiti, Israel/Palestinians, Afghanistan, Greece, China/Taiwan, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, Cyprus, North Korea) (4510)

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed reporters July 21.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
2:00 p.m. EDT

BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

SUDAN
-- Secretary Powell to Meet with UN Secretary General Annan
-- Status of UN Security Council Resolution
-- Security Situation

CUBA
-- Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet
-- Oswaldo Paya

HAITI
-- Donor Conference Pledges

ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
-- Consolidation of Security Services
-- Attack on Former Minister Nabil Amr

AFGHANISTAN
-- Three American Citizens Arrested

GREECE
-- Olympic Games Security

CHINA/TAIWAN
-- Military Exercises

SAUDIA ARABIA
-- Paul Johnson

IRAQ
-- Iraq Names New Ambassador to U.S.
-- Coordination of Military Activity with Coalition Forces

CYPRUS
-- Alleged Turkish Use of U.S. Weapons

NORTH KOREA
-- North Korean UN Diplomats Attend Capitol Hill Conference
-- U.S. Policy Towards North Korea/Nuclear Program

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2004
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

2:00 p.m. EDT

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. If I can, I'd like to make a couple announcements. The first is on travel, the second is on the situation on prisoners in Cuba and the third is on the conference yesterday on Haiti's reconstruction. So why don't we do these one by one.

On travel, tomorrow afternoon, the Secretary will be going up to New York -- that's Thursday, right? Yes -- for meetings with the Secretary General of the United Nations. He'll meet with Secretary General Annan about 4:15 or so in the afternoon. He'll probably have a chance to stop by the press stakeout, maybe about 5:30, and then he'll be coming back to Washington. So it's not an extensive visit but it's a chance to go up and talk face-to-face with the Secretary General about the many things that are going on right now, particularly about Sudan and the situation in Darfur.

As you know, the Secretary and the Secretary General have been conferring every day or so, sometimes every two days, about the situation in Darfur. They have both visited there and talked directly to the Sudanese Government about what the Sudanese Government needed to do, and I think they both think it's time to get together now to look very carefully at the situation, as the Security Council is currently doing, and to see what more they can do to try to get progress on the ground, where it really matters for the people who are suffering.

QUESTION: So far as the UN is -- action at the UN is concerned, is there any alternative to a resolution? I mean, is there any other way you know of applying pressure that will bring -- you know, that will be effective?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I mean, there are several things that the UN does, part of them done through the Security Council, part of them done through the activities of the Secretary General and his special representative, so they have -- the Secretary General obviously has a public and a diplomatic role which he has exercised frequently on the situation in Darfur, including, as I mentioned, by visiting out there and putting directly to the government some of the things that they need to do, at around the same time Secretary Powell was doing the same thing.

So, in terms of our keeping in touch with the UN, we've kept in touch with the UN diplomatically, with the Secretary General and his representatives on diplomatic activities; we've kept in touch with the UN on public activities and kept in touch, obviously, with our colleagues in the Security Council. The Security Council is meeting this afternoon -- or has met this afternoon -- to hear from Jan Pronk, the Secretary General's special representative. He reported on the situation in Darfur. It remains of great concern to all of us and, I think, to all the members on the Security Council. So I guess I'd just say we agree with him and with the United Nations that more needs to be done by the Government of Sudan to meet the commitments that they have made. We all share, I think, grave concerns about the situation in Darfur and want to make sure that we do everything possible to get the Sudanese Government to meet its responsibilities.

We're going to be discussing a somewhat revised resolution tomorrow with experts from the UN Security Council member nations and then, as I mentioned, the Secretary will be conferring with the Secretary General late in the afternoon.

QUESTION: Forgive me -- the old genocide question -- it's only 24 hours since it was last asked. But is there any -- has the Secretary talked to his people?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything new on that question today.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: Ambassador Danforth came out of that meeting saying, a bit more frankly than you have, that the situation is not getting better, it's getting worse. That's what --

MR. BOUCHER: I think we've been quite clear on this. The Secretary yesterday, when he spoke, made clear that we're completely dissatisfied with the situation that --

QUESTION: In security, but you were -- but he also -- he said there was improvement in aid access.

MR. BOUCHER: Ambassador Danforth also said there had been some tangible improvements in the humanitarian access issues, but that the situation as regards security is unsatisfactory, that the things that we had asked to see, the things that we think need to be done have not been done and, in fact, we're continuing to get reports of violence, continuing to get reports of insecurity. As the Secretary said yesterday, not enough is being done to break the hold of the Jingaweit. Rapes are still occurring. People don't feel safe leaving the camps to go out and forage for food. The situation is very, very serious.

QUESTION: But rather than just a static situation as bad as it is, you agree that it's getting worse? I mean, he's -- that sounds like it's deteriorating even from that bad level.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know what, specifically, he was referring to. I think the fact that there are continued problems at this point is very -- is totally unsatisfactory.

QUESTION: Richard, when you say there is going to be discussions on a somewhat revised resolution, are you referring to the -- the sort of the revisions that have been going along, or from now until tomorrow are you going to do more revisions?

MR. BOUCHER: I, frankly, don't know exactly where the status of drafting stands, but it's based on, I'd say, partly based on the discussions that we have had with people at the UN and partly based on our view that the security -- that the situation in Darfur remains unsatisfactory and we need to be even more clear in the resolution about what needs to be done.

QUESTION: And is the need for the Secretary to go up there personally a symptom of the lack of support you have for a strong resolution in the Council?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think that's -- I wouldn't say that's the case. I think it's a symptom of -- it's a demonstration of the fact the Secretary has felt it was very important in this case to coordinate very closely with the Secretary General; that they did that before their trips, they did that during their trips, they have done that since their trips; and they think that with a combined effort by the Secretary of State of the United States and the Secretary General of the United Nations and the other countries who we want to see involved and who we want to see working in the United Nations and elsewhere, that perhaps we can get the government to finally do what it needs to do.

Jill.

QUESTION: What more can you tell us about the nature, what the resolution will constitute in terms of possible measures?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I want to do that today. We're going to work on the revisions overnight and maybe tell you a little more tomorrow about what we present.

Are we still on the UN?

QUESTION: No.

MR. BOUCHER: Okay. That's for the trip to UN. Now let me talk a little bit about Cuba, if I can.

The United States is deeply concerned that the Cuban Government has extended its harsh treatment of Cuban political prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet. Cuban authorities have now moved him to solitary confinement. Dr. Biscet, one of Cuba's leading dissidents and a staunch advocate of Martin Luther King's teachings on non-violence, was arrested on December 6, 2002 in his home. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He has been forced to live on handouts because the Cuban Government won't let his wife bring in the meager rations of food and medicine that other prisoners are allowed to receive. The Cuban Government has been doing this while his health has deteriorated markedly.

Dr. Biscet is only one of the 75 independent civil society activists who were sentenced to long jail terms. We call on the Cuban Government to allow humanitarian organizations to monitor their treatment. We would point out that, as we announced in March, that we're continuing to compile a watch list of people who were involved in mistreating prisoners and we call for the release of all these people who are imprisoned unjustly in Cuba.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on the efforts of Mr. Paya in Cuba to advance his cause?

MR. BOUCHER: Somewhere, I have something on Mr. Paya's situation. I thought I did.

MR. ERELI: At the end.

MR. BOUCHER: There we are. Oswaldo Paya has spearheaded the Varela project, which has so far collected more than 25,000 signatures for the petition calling for the national referendum on economic and political reforms. Despite the fact that it's -- he is permitted -- this is permitted under the Cuban constitution, the Cuban Government has harassed Paya and imprisoned several Varela project activists. So continued harassment of the effort that's permitted under the Cuban constitution.

QUESTION: On Biscet, do you know the status of his health, what his ailments are and how bad he is?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any details that I am able to share with you. We do believe that his health is deteriorating, that he's been suffering in confinement and would be expected to suffer even more in solitary confinement.

QUESTION: The same area?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, the same area -- if it's the same area, I get to do Haiti first.

QUESTION: Cuba still.

MR. BOUCHER: Okay.

QUESTION: The L.A. Times had a story either Monday or the day before about the President's speech in Tampa about a week ago, in which he said the Cuban Government encourages sex tourism based on a report that was written in 2001, and the author of that report challenges the conclusions that the President drew in his speech. And I understand the State Department had a role in supplying information to the White House on this. Do you have anything to say about that?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't really have anything to say on that. I think there have been several statements by Castro that were interpreted, I think, in different ways by different people. We had a role, certainly, in finding those statements, but that's about as much as I would say.

Okay, we're moving along to Haiti first, unless you want to ask about Cuba.

QUESTION: No.

MR. BOUCHER: Oh, okay.

QUESTION: I'm concerned about it.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm sure. I'm sure. All right.

I wanted to point out yesterday's donors' conference on Haiti resulted in total pledges of $1.085 billion. We're very pleased to see this result. This is more than $160 million more than the amount that was sought under the Haiti Interim Cooperation Framework. That's the joint government and donor plan for the island's development through September 2006. So we're very pleased to play our part in the conference, our part in the pledges with about $230 million we were able to promise, and to see that the international community responded so well to the needs of the people of Haiti.

Now I'll take questions on this or other topics. Okay, we'll start -- work our way back.

QUESTION: I don't know if you had time to see a report on Arafat. He's issued a decree, according to a senior aide, to unify the dozen or so security agencies into only three, which would seem to be along the lines of the consolidation you've always asked for.

Do you have a reaction?

MR. BOUCHER: I just saw the story. I don't think we have any reaction until we're able to see in more detail what he's done.

The two questions that will arise are: Is this a real consolidation; and two, is this under the control of the Prime Minister and the government? Those are always the two issues that we'd raise, but that's how we'll examine, how we'll look at what's being done.

Joel.

QUESTION: I have a question concerning -- apparently, three prisoners -- Joseph Idema -- Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett and an Edward Caraballo, who were supposedly in Afghanistan, are being brought up on torture charges.

MR. BOUCHER: These are the three Americans who were arrested July 5th in Kabul. I think we've talked about their situation before, but let me give you an update. They were formally charged with operating a private jail, taking hostages and torture on July 18th. The trial began on July 19th and continues today on the 21st.

Once again, I'd like to make clear, the United States did not and does not employ or sponsor these men. Our Embassy has made that very clear in Afghanistan, as well. Our consular officials have visited them on July 6, July 8, July 11, July 19 and July 21. So we continue to monitor the men, see to their welfare, to the extent we can, but the matters of the trial and their activities are really nothing that we're involved in.

Okay.

QUESTION: On the Olympics, Mr. Boucher. Mr. Boucher, do you finally reach agreements, with a capital S, with the Greek Government regarding the security of the Olympic Games, and more specifically for the deployment of U.S. armed military personnel, Special Forces, FBI and CIA agents, DOS security personnel, and the use of force for the protection for the American VIP and athletes?

MR. BOUCHER: The simple answer to what you're asking is to say that we're all working very closely with the Greek Government, but I'm not going to be able to identify any particular areas of security for the Olympic Games. Security is the responsibility of the Government of Greece, and in that responsibility they have the support and cooperation of the United States, of course, of NATO and of other nations who have been working closely with Greek authorities to support the Olympic security effort. But I don't think we'll ever be in a position to comment on the specific kinds of security arrangements that might be made for an event like the Olympics*.

QUESTION: In general, did you reach any agreements? This is the question.

MR. BOUCHER: I've said we're cooperating closely with the Greek Government, we're doing many things together to support them. But as far as specific measures and agreements, I really can't get into that.

QUESTION: How do you explain the fact that only out of 220 countries which are going to participate in the Olympic Games, only the U.S., Great Britain and Israel are going to send armed personnel, something against the Greek constitution and, of course, the Greek national pride? How do you explain on the part of the U.S. Government?

MR. BOUCHER: I would say that a good Olympics, a secure Olympics, a safe Olympics for everyone who attends, should be a source of great pride to the Greeks and we'll work with them to help ensure that.

Sir.

QUESTION: Do you deny this story in The New York Times today?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not commenting one way or the other on the story that appears. I'm not able to confirm or deny it, just because we're not going to break the practice of not talking about security measures from this podium.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: While we're moving on, you're on this?

QUESTION: At least -- I'm on this. Can you at least say that U.S. personnel are going to be going?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I can't say who in particular might be going.

QUESTION: Well, not who, but Diplomatic Security doesn't exactly identify people too individually.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to describe what kind of security personnel the Greek Government, the United States Government or other governments might have working at the Games.

QUESTION: Who is going to protect the President's family there, his daughters and his parents?

MR. BOUCHER: That's a responsibility of the Secret Service and you can ask them not to comment on what they might be doing in that regard. (Laughter.)

Nadia.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on the attack on Nabil Amr, the ex-Palestinian Information Minister, and he considered as an assassination attempt and whether you still stand by your position two days ago that you do not want to comment on the resignation of Abu Alaa, whether you still welcome it or do you think he should -- it's time for him to resign or not?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, at this point, he hasn't resigned, so there's no resignation to comment on. But as far as the violence against Mr. Amr, we certainly have noted it and condemn it. The kind of violence that's been occurring, unfortunately, has demonstrated once again the importance of real authority, real security, real action in the Palestinian areas, to give everybody who lives there a chance at normal, secure and safe lives. That's why the consolidation of the security services, under the control of the Prime Minister and the government, remains a most important task on the agenda.

QUESTION: Does the U.S. (inaudible) want or plan to hold separate military exercises between now and August in the East Asia? Is the U.S. concerned about so many exercises being held around the same time in the same region, that any miscalculation or incident can easily --

MR. BOUCHER: I think every -- military exercises are a normal part of things, and as far as what's being planned by the militaries, you can check with each government that may or may not be involved. But we understand that military exercises are normal. We think that everybody who conducts them or observes them or whatever should be very careful not to allow any incidents, not to allow any steps that might be provocative or that might lead to an increase in tension.

QUESTION: And since --

MR. BOUCHER: But other than that, no, I don't have any particular comment on what different places -- people may be doing.

QUESTION: Yeah, but since China and Taiwan have no military hotline or direct communication, has the U.S. talked to, I mean, Taiwan or China about how to avoid the incident the U.S. doesn't want to see?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know to what extent we've talked to one or the other. We do have contacts with people in the military in these places, but no, I don't know to what extent we might have talked to them specifically about these exercises.

Sir.

QUESTION: Have you received new information from Saudi Arabia concerning Johnson's body?

MR. BOUCHER: We understand that the Saudi Government has recovered some remains, which they believe to be of Paul Johnson. We are in contact with his family. We've been in contact with his family today and I think that's about all we can say at this moment.

Okay. Who do we have? Back there.

QUESTION: On Iraq. Do you have any information on the new ambassador, the new Iraqi ambassador? The Iraqi government named a new ambassador. When do you expect him or her to --

MR. BOUCHER: I didn't see that. I know yesterday, Foreign Minister Zabari said they were going to announce, I think, 43 ambassadors today, but I didn't see that it had been made. Okay, we'll -- I don't know anything about who the individual might be, but we welcome him or her, I'm sure.

QUESTION: I think it's one of the Prime Minister's relatives, Allawi.

MR. BOUCHER: As I said, we'll look forward to working with whoever the Iraqi government decides to send here.

Okay.

QUESTION: Richard, this morning, the Middle East Media Research Institute here in Washington has released a report entitled, "Islamic Terror Websites and Their Hosts," and apparently, they're saying that 76 percent of these Islamic terrorist sites are hosted here in the United States, also one in Canada. And it's a "who's who" of all these various terrorist organizations.

I thought we, the State Department and Department of Justice, Homeland Security, were going to clamp down on --

MR. BOUCHER: I think you'll have to ask the domestic agencies about that, about what authority and effort there can be domestically. If it's a domestic question, I don't think I'm in a position --

QUESTION: But it also is --

MR. BOUCHER: -- to try to comment on it.

QUESTION: Okay. And also, by the State Department --

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I don't know. I mean, obviously, we don't like Islamic terror, we don't like any terrorists, we don't like terrorist websites. But what can be done legally in the United States to shut these down, that's a domestic law enforcement matter.

Sir.

QUESTION: I have a question on Cyprus.

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: There was a parade yesterday in the occupied part of Nicosia, and the Turkish army showing new weapons from the United States. My question is that is it legal for the Turkish occupied forces to use American weapons?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to check on that and see what was displayed and what the requirements might be.

QUESTION: Are you taking the question?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

George.

QUESTION: Were you asked about the visiting North Korean?

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: Nope.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on him?

MR. BOUCHER: It was 'them'. The conference was yesterday. I'm looking through here to find out -- is that, do you know - is that -- was it just a one-day visit or are they still around?

MR. ERELI: Don't know.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know, either. Okay. But yes, we did give them permission to come down and attend a conference on Capitol Hill. The North Korean Ambassador -- Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and the Deputy Permanent Representative were authorized to come down and visit.

Some have asked me if this is the first time -- it's not the first time they've visited Washington. There was a Asia Society event in November 2002 they received permission to come down and participate in. But it is the first time they've visited on Capitol Hill. Based on the reporting I've seen on the event, participants, including senators and congressmen, found it important and interesting, and obviously, we're always supportive of their work to examine U.S. policy and U.S. -- and the situation in places like North Korea.

We didn't organize the conference, we didn't participate in it, and we didn't meet with any of the visitors.

Yeah, David.

QUESTION: Do you have any -- anything to say about what Mr. Pak told the conference? He said that North Korea would not test a nuclear weapon, and eventually dismantle its program if the U.S. dropped a "hostile policy"?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, we've made clear I don't know how many times, directly and in public, from the President to the Secretary and other authoritative leaders in the United States, that we don't have a hostile policy, we have no intent to invade North Korea, no intent to attack North Korea. In fact, the United States has put proposals on the table to resolve these issues peacefully. The President has asked that we seek a diplomatic and peaceful solution to the problems that were created by North Korea's nuclear programs. The way to resolve these issues is through the kind of proposals the United States has made to go in an organized fashion to the complete and verifiable elimination of these programs.

And so that's what we have on the table. We hope the North Koreans look at it very seriously.

QUESTION: Have you ruled out using force against North Korea should the negotiations to --

MR. BOUCHER: I really wouldn't speculate on it. You always know the answer to any question like that about any option is we don't -- we haven't taken any options off the table. But we are seeking a peaceful and diplomatic solution. We have put down specific positive proposals to achieve that and we look to the North Koreans to respond to those proposals.

QUESTION: But given their insistence, despite your public declarations, that you've got a hostile policy, wouldn't it be worth taking that option off the table?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think in any situation we take -- we just don't take that option off the table anywhere.

QUESTION: Is there any inconsistency between you have no intention of attacking North Korea and we haven't taken any option off the table?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. BOUCHER: Sir.

QUESTION: Richard, there is an activist from California, Pang Ming (ph) and a colleague, Zhan King (ph), who were arrested in Myanmar and turned over to Beijing, according to World Rights, a group based here in Washington. Are you interceding in any way to get their release?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know about their situation. I'll have to look at it.

Okay, sir.

QUESTION: A question on Iraq procedurally. When there is a coordination to attack, like what happened in Fallujah the other day, is it the U.S. military directly with the Iraqi government, or is it the U.S. military through Ambassador Negroponte to the Iraqi government? How do you coordinate it?

MR. BOUCHER: There are coordinating mechanisms that have been established by the government of Iraq. They have direct -- you know, we have a lot of talks and a lot of liaison in different ways with the government of Iraq. But I think if you look at the letters attached -- to the Iraqi letter attached to the UN Security Council resolution, you'll see that they described in there some of the sort of higher level coordinating mechanisms.

So whether a specific military activity goes that high, goes to that sort of committee or not, I just don't know, but there are a variety of levels, both direct military as well as for the more broad policy level coordinating mechanisms between the coalition forces and the Iraqi security authorities, where, you know, military and others participate as well.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:35 p.m.)

(end transcript)

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