State Dept. Daily Press Briefing March 29, 2007

Daily Press Briefing
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
March 29, 2007

INDEX:

SYRIA
Statement on Release of Syrian Political Prisoners and Open
Political Discourse
Issue of Detention of Political Prisoners Raised with Damascus by
U.S.
Upcoming Sentence Phase of Labwani and Al-Bunni / Parliamentary
Elections in April

SAUDI ARABIA/IRAQ
Reported Critical Remarks by King Abdullah to Arab League on Issue
of Illegal Occupation in Iraq
U.S. and Saudi Arabia Has a Shared Interest in Iraq
U.S. and Saudi Arabia Relationship is Good
U.S. Operating Well within Boundaries of International Law
Saudi Arabia Taking an Active Diplomatic Role in Region to Solve
Region's Problems
Clarification of the Phrase "Illegal Occupation" / U.S. Wants to
Understand the Thinking Behind the Phrase

IRAN
Query on Assessment of Video of British Sailors Held by Iranians
The Nature of Iran's Relationship is Between UK and Iran
U.S. Supports UK in their Efforts
Future Neighbors Meeting on Iraq Viewed as a Separate Issue
Iran's Participation in Neighbors Meeting at Envoy Level /
Iranians Held by Multinational Forces in Iraq

GREEK
No Readout of Under Secretary Burn's Meeting with Greek
Representatives
U.S. Working Closely with Greek Government on Investigation of
Attack on Embassy
Investigation into Attack Ongoing

Middle East
Arab League's Re-Launching of Arab Initiative
The Exact Form of Active Diplomacy Needs to be Determined

ETHIOPIA
Status of Detention Case of Meshal

PAKISTAN
Institution of a Number of Reforms by President Musharraf
Pakistan is on a Different Pathway of Increased Democracy
U.S. Encouragement for President Musharraf's Efforts
Musharraf's Efforts Critical to Region

MEXICO
Query on Judicial Watch Lawsuit / A Matter for Department of
Justice
U.S. Has Good Cooperation with Mexican Government / Good Relations
on Border Issues

ZIMBABWE
SADC Countries / Encouraged to Change Behavior of Zimbabwe
Behavior in Zimbabwe Unacceptable / Query on Issue of Sanctions /
Difficult Choices Involved in Zimbabwe Situation

TURKEY
U.S. Supports Equal Human Rights for All Citizens of Turkey /
Equal Application of Rule of Law and Rights Throughout Turkey

NORTH KOREA
U.S. Confident (Banco Delta Asia) Issue Will be Resolved / Working
Hard to Bring Closure to Treasury Issue

TRANSCRIPT:

12:42 p.m. EST

MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody.

QUESTION: Welcome back.

MR. MCCORMACK: Thank you, it's good to be back. I have one short opening statement for you and then we can get right into your questions.

This is -- this concerns the release of political prisoners and open political discourse in Syria. We deplore arbitrary arrests and detention of political prisoners by the Syrian Government. We are concerned about the cases of Syrian political prisoners Anwar Al-Bunni and Kamal Labwani, who are being tried in criminal court for expressing their opinions. We join others in calling on the Syrian Government to immediately and unconditionally release them and other prisoners of conscience, including Mahmoud Issa and Michel Kilo. The continued use of arbitrary arrests and detentions of its opponents demonstrates the Syrian regime's contempt for accepted international human rights standards.

Open political discourse, where people do not fear imprisonment simply for expressing their views, is an essential element of democracy. The United States stands with the Syrian people in their struggle for universal freedoms and calls on the Syrian Government to end its abusive practices.

QUESTION: Are you stopping (inaudible) in Damascus?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know. We have raised this with them in Damascus, although we have in the past made public statements about these individuals. The reason why this comes up again right now, is the sentencing phase for the two individuals, Mr. Labwani and Mr. Al-Bunni, is coming up. We don't know exactly when that may occur, but prior to that occurring we wanted to make sure that we made another statement highlighting their continued detention. Also you are going to have elections -- parliamentary elections in Syria at the end of April and we want to do everything that we could to highlight the importance of free and open political discourse within the Syrian political system. Obviously, that's not something that is the case at the moment and we still hold out hope that at some future date that will, in fact, be the case.

QUESTION: Are you putting out a statement so that we can get the spellings?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes. I have the paper statement here. I can do it right now for you if you want. You'll wait for the -- I take it from your response, you'll wait for the paper statement.

QUESTION: Can you check with (inaudible) here or there?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes, I'll be happy to check for you.

Yeah, Charles.

QUESTION: I'm sorry. I'm not sure if I heard what Arshad just said, but I don't want to repeat it. But did you -- can you check for us to see whether it's been raised by the Embassy?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. MCCORMACK: That's okay. That's okay.

QUESTION: Can I move to Saudi Arabia? I know you said this morning you didn't want to dissect King Abdullah's remarks yesterday to the Arab League. But Nick Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. was seeking clarification of his remarks.

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: And that you guys were surprised by them. Do you have anymore on that?

MR. MCCORMACK: We hadn't -- we certainly had not seen that particular phrase before coming out talking about illegal occupation. I think it only stands to reason that we would be interested in understanding better what exactly King Abdullah meant by that phrase. We are operating under Security Council resolutions in Iraq as well as with the invitation of the Iraqi Government.

In any case, I believe that the United States as well as Saudi Arabia has an interest, a shared interest, in a Iraq that maintains its territorial integrity; that is an Iraq that is a place for all Iraqis whether you're Sunni, Shia, Kurd or other ethnic or religious background; a place that is more prosperous, more stable and more secure for all Iraqis. So that I believe is something that we all share and we have encouraged Saudi Arabia over the period of time to increase their engagement with the Iraqi Government in a -- at a variety of different levels. And one indication of their willingness to do so is their attendance in Baghdad at the neighbors conference, which is certainly a positive sign.

As for U.S.-Saudi relations, they're -- we have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia. They're good friends and allies. President Bush and Secretary Rice have excellent personal relationships with King Abdullah and we're certainly grateful for the hospitality that they have extended to us whenever we visit there. King Abdullah has visited President Bush down at his ranch.

So the U.S.-Saudi relationship is good. It's sound. That said, of course when issues like this come up, we will seek clarification as to exactly what it is that King Abdullah meant in his statement talking about illegal occupation.

QUESTION: How are you seeking clarification? Do you know through which channels?

MR. MCCORMACK: I assume through our Embassy, our Embassy as well as through the Embassy here.

QUESTION: Whatever he meant, does it not dismay you that he used the word "illegal" to describe something that the United States has done?

MR. MCCORMACK: Look, you know, our view is very clear, and that is we are operating in Iraq under the invitation of the Iraqi Government, as well it is within the boundaries of Security Council resolutions, so quite clearly it is -- the United States is operating well within the boundaries of international law.

QUESTION: Are you happy in general with the role, the increased role, Saudi Arabia has played in the region as of late?

MR. MCCORMACK: Obviously, Saudi Arabia is taking an active diplomatic role in the region in trying to solve the region's many problems. The King has stated quite clearly that he has an interest in seeing a Middle East that is at peace, that is free from bloodshed. He is a man who is obviously going to operate in the best interests of Saudi Arabia, and we believe is making a variety of different attempts to see that the region is more peaceful, is more secure, and obviously more prosperous.

QUESTION: Sean, what exactly about the phrase "illegal occupation," which seems to be pretty cut and dried, needs to clarifying.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we want to understand what the thinking is behind it.

QUESTION: Okay. And -- but you're not operating under the assumption that he misspoke or didn't mean to say?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think it's just exactly what we said. We're going to -- we want to understand more clearly what it is exactly that he had in mind when he talked about an illegal occupation.

Yeah.

QUESTION: So in other words, you have clarified that he did indeed say this and you've checked all the translations and you're satisfied that that's what he did say?

MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, I -- you know, I can't vouch for that. I -- you know, we have obviously read the -- read a variety of different translations, but I -- you know, I can't vouch for the precise translation in those.

QUESTION: Has the Secretary picked up the phone to speak to her counterpart in Saudi Arabia to find out whether he can explain where they're going with this?

MR. MCCORMACK: No. She has not.

Yeah, Nina.

QUESTION: Does she plan to?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't anticipate that she is. Anything else on Saudi Arabia?

QUESTION: (Inaudible).

MR. MCCORMACK: We'll get to you, Lambros, okay?

QUESTION: Can we move on to Iran, please? Specifically the video and the letters released yesterday, do you have any assessment of the video of the hostages in Iran yesterday?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Do you have any assessment of, you know, how the video appears? To you, does it look like they're being coerced? Does it look like they're in good condition?

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not going to try to insert myself in doing that kind of analysis. I know that Foreign Secretary Beckett as well as Prime Minister Blair have spoken to this issue. Let's be clear, we fully support the UK in demanding the release and return safely and immediately of their personnel as well as their equipment. The UK has stated clearly that their personnel were operating in Iraqi waters and we support them in that claim. They have provided detailed information in public in that regard. And we also support the UK in their efforts in the Security Council to raise this up with the full Council. I believe there's a discussion ongoing now as to exactly what form a statement might take, whether it will be a presidential statement or a press statement from the council, but we support them in those efforts.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you support them in the policy to stop contacts with the Iranians? So you will postpone the conference about --

MR. MCCORMACK: Those are two separate issues. First of all, on whether or not and what the nature of the relationship is between the UK and Iran, that's for the UK to make. That's not a decision that we would provide any input to. As for the conference, a location and a date has not yet been set, so we will take these issues as they come up. But at the moment we see them as separate issues.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: According to The Washington Post, an Iranian official threatened not to say that Iran would not participate to this ministerial meeting on Iraq that is still scheduled. If five or several Iranian arrested in Iraq are not released, can you confirm that? Do you have any information --

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't have any information in that regard. We consider these to be separate issues. And I would just note that they participated in a neighbors meeting at the envoy level. These individuals are still being held by the multinational forces in Iraq.

Lambros.

QUESTION: On Greece, Mr. McCormack.

MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, wait a minute. Hold on, hold on. We're going to stick on the issue, then we'll get to Greece.

QUESTION: Still on Iran.

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: Have you received any requests from Iran for some kind of a prisoner swap, swapping the British sailors for the Iranians who are being held?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, not -- certainly not to my knowledge.

Yeah, Lambros.

QUESTION: Yes, on Greece, Mr. McCormack. It's very important. Mr. McCormack, today at the State Department, Under Secretary Nicholas Burns is going to meet separately with the former Greek Minister of Public Order Mikhail Chrysochoides for a working luncheon and then with the chief of the Greek Police Tassos Dimoschakis to discuss the issue of Albanian-made rockets which struck your Embassy in Athens January 12th.

I'm wondering, may we have a written statement upon the completion of those meetings in order to figure out who actually carried out these brutal and barbaric actions, terrorists or others?

MR. MCCORMACK: On your first question, there is not going to be any written statement out of -- coming out of the meeting.

We are working very closely with the Greek Government to determine who is responsible for the attack on our Embassy. We take it very seriously. And the Greek Government has taken it very seriously as well. We're gratified by the immediate support that we received from the Greek Government. Foreign Minister Bakoyannis came directly down to the Embassy after the attack.

So we are going to work very closely with the Greek Government to determine who exactly was responsible for this attack as well as to see that those who perpetrated the attack face justice.

QUESTION: One more question to this issue. The chief of the Greek police for three days now on the same issue visited the headquarters of the FBI, met with Mr. Crouch of the National Security Agency at the White House, and tomorrow in New York is going to visit the FBI operational center. Since, Mr. McCormack, the FBI is refusing adamantly to say anything about that and referred me to the State Department, could you please say something on the investigation because you are leading the investigation, according to the FBI?

MR. MCCORMACK: How about this? It's ongoing.

QUESTION: Excuse me?

MR. MCCORMACK: The investigation is ongoing.

QUESTION: That's the answer?

MR. MCCORMACK: That's it. You asked for a description. You got it.

QUESTION: I know you addressed this to some degree in the gaggle this morning, but can you comment on the Arab League summit, its communiqué, and whether or not you are disappointed that at least in the first instance it does not appear to have generated the kind of active diplomacy to follow up on the initiative that Secretary Rice said she was hoping for.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, it is a positive development. The Arab League has re-launched its Arab initiative. As we have said previously, it is not for us to tell the Arab League what should be in its initiative. It is for them to determine.

They also talked about forming a number of different committees that would be available to explain the Arab initiative to interested parties, including the Quartet, the G-8 and other interested parties in the region.

What we have encouraged the Arab League to do is to use this initiative and the re-launch of this initiative as a basis for active diplomacy. Now, what exact form that active diplomacy might take is something that needs to be determined and ultimately it is going to be up to them to determine what that looks like.

But certainly this is an effort to reach out to be constructive on an issue of interest to all the countries of the region, and we are encouraged by this development and we certainly welcome it.

QUESTION: Do you get any -- I mean, when you say all the countries of the region, you're obviously including Israel since it's one of the countries in the region. Do you get any sense from this or from your tracking of the conference that there is any more of a disposition for countries that don't have relations with Israel to deal with them in any kind of forum?

MR. MCCORMACK: We'll see, Arshad. There are a variety of different levels of contact or non-contact among Arab states in the region with Israel, going all the way from Egypt and Jordan, which have signed peace treaties with Israel, to other states who have absolutely no contact, formal or informal, with Israel. So ultimately it is going to be up to each individual state to determine what their level of contact will be, and also on the larger question of whether or not there's any form of diplomatic relations with Israel.

But what we would encourage is that member-states of the Arab League use this as a moment to reach out and try to explain to all interested parties the nature of their initiative and the thinking behind their deciding to re-launch this initiative.

QUESTION: Sean, do you have any update of the case of this guy Meshal who's in detention in Ethiopia? Specifically, have your consular people been able to see him again? And also, is it -- are your efforts there limited just to making sure that he is okay, or are you asking -- trying to get the Ethiopians to release him?

MR. MCCORMACK: As for consular contact, we have had consular contact with him. There has been a consular visit.

QUESTION: Just the one though, last week?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: Last week?

MR. MCCORMACK: Exactly. Beyond that, I honestly don't have a lot more details, Matt. I'm happy to look into it for you.

QUESTION: Can you? Because I've been trying to get this for a couple days now, but I'm curious if you want him -- if you're asking the Ethiopians to release him or if your efforts that way are confined to -- are only confined to --

MR. MCCORMACK: Okay, let me check for you. It's not something that I've remained current on in the past week.

Nina.

QUESTION: Pakistan, please.

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: Just an updated assessment. In very general terms, how concerned are you about Musharraf's increasing isolation and the rise of extremism across the country for elections coming up next year? Just looking ahead, are you concerned, you know, that his position will be significantly weakened?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, President Musharraf has instituted a number of reforms in Pakistan in reaction to the threat from violent extremism that is resident in Pakistan and that is a direct threat not only to President Musharraf but also to friends and neighbors of Pakistan. And in those efforts we certainly do support him. He has made certain commitments with respect to the presidential elections that are going to be coming up at the end of the year, but certainly we would hope that he abides by those commitments.

Pakistan is on a different pathway than it was in August of 2001. He has -- President Musharraf has made quite clear that Pakistan needed to make a decision; they were at a crossroads. And he put them on a certain pathway, and that is a pathway of increased democracy, economic-political reform, looking at those areas in Pakistan where perhaps they had been lacking in the past in terms of human rights, freedom of expression and in other areas.

He's accomplished a lot, but there's a lot more left to do. And in that task, certainly we stand with President Musharraf and we encourage him in his efforts. A stable, prosperous, secure Pakistan is obviously in the interests of the United States as well as, importantly, in the interests of countries in that region. It has over the years been a source of instability, if you look going down from Afghanistan to Pakistan and the tensions between Pakistan and India back in 2001. Those tensions were evident when they teetered on the brink of open conflict. So trying to encourage economic and political reforms in that region and to encourage better relationships among all those different countries in the region are certainly very important to us. And President Musharraf's efforts in that regard are critical to not only Pakistan's future, but the future of that region.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) be able to hang on for another five years?

MR. MCCORMACK: There is a set of presidential elections at the end of the year and that one -- that is going to determine who's going to lead Pakistan as president for the next five years, I guess. So I'm not going to try to predict the outcome of those elections.

Yeah.

QUESTION: On Mexico, do you have anything on this judicial watch lawsuit? It's seeking records, it's against the State Department and the Justice Department related to this Mexican drug smuggler that was shot on the border.

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't have any info on it. Usually, in these cases when the government is being sued or subject to court order, it's the Department of Justice that handles questions on behalf of the U.S. Government. But I'll be happy to look into it and if there's anything beyond simply referring you to the Department of Justice on it, we'll get you an answer.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: On Zimbabwe, has the United States reached out to SADC members or leaders meeting in Tanzania to try to put pressure on them to do more --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- about Robert Mugabe?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. I checked on this for you. What I understand is that we have reached out via our embassies in each of the SADC countries to encourage them to do everything that they possibly can to help and encourage a change in behavior in Zimbabwe. It's a sad case, it's a tragic case, and it is unfortunately the Zimbabwean people that are bearing the brunt of the misguided policies of the regime of Robert Mugabe.

Whether that's in the decrease in political and human rights or whether it's taking this country down the pathway to economic ruin, it's a sad case and it certainly has our attention and we have been doing what we can to try to bring about a change in behavior and we encourage others in the region to do so.

QUESTION: So are you looking for -- Tom yesterday said that -- essentially said yesterday you were looking for a statement out of the SADC countries, suggested that you were looking for a statement out of them to make clear that what they've been doing is unacceptable. Are you looking for just that, in other words, something rhetorical or were you looking for something more like some kind of sanctions, for example? What do you want?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, what we want is a clear indication that the behavior in Zimbabwe is unacceptable and we're not going to dictate to these countries exactly what form that takes, whether it's rhetorical or -- and that's backed up by other actions or whether it's as dramatic as imposing sanctions. So we'll see. We'll see what actions they decide to take and once we have an assessment of what it is that they've done, maybe I'll offer you a better answer on it.

QUESTION: Regardless of whether -- I mean, have you raised the possibility of sanctions with them? I mean, you're not telling them, please do this, if you --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah -- no. I honestly don't know. I'll have to -- I'm happy to check exactly what we've asked them to do. But typically in these cases, you know, we're not going to try to dictate to them exactly what they do. There has been, I think it's fair to say, some reluctance on the part of some members of SADC up to this point to really press Robert Mugabe and his regime, so we'll see what steps they decide to take.

Yeah.

QUESTION: And how far have you got with your own assessment on how to react? As you've mentioned before, sanctions might not necessarily be the best route, especially if they have a greater impact on the people of Zimbabwe or make their lives even more difficult.

MR. MCCORMACK: It's a tough case, Sue. It's really hard to see what else, at this point, what other diplomatic levers, we might apply. We always take a look to see what else that we might do acting in concert with others, because frankly that's probably the best way to do this is to generate international pressure on all sides on this regime to get them to change their behavior. But as you point out, there are difficult choices involved in this because you certainly don't want to do anything that increases the suffering of the Zimbabwean people, as they are sadly the victims of the behavior of this regime.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Yeah, just back quickly to Saudi Arabia. It seemed that the King's larger point was that the situation in Iraq -- no matter how he defined it -- was a result of failures in the region, failures of countries in the region. I was wondering what the view would be here of that part of what he said.

MR. MCCORMACK: Certainly there's been an interpretation of the King's speech that it was a rallying call to other states in the region to play a positive role in solving the -- bringing about solutions to the ills of the region. And certainly that's something that in the abstract that we can support: states in the region playing a positive role in trying to solve the problems that exist there. But beyond that I'm not going to try to do an analysis of the entire speech.

Yeah, Lambros.

QUESTION: On Turkey. Mr. McCormack, the prominent Kurdish Turkish politician Leyla Zana stated March 25th, Greek independence day, to my surprise, "Kurds have proven themselves in the Dardanelles and Cyprus wars. They did not betray the Turks." Calling then the Turkish Government to conduct a survey in which Kurdish people are asked whether they would want to live together or separately from the Turks, she said, "I'm sure they would choose to live together with the Turks." Since your government is trying to bring the two sides together, may we have your comments on those remarks?

MR. MCCORMACK: What two sides? Bring together what two sides?

QUESTION: The Kurds and the Turks together. It's obvious. You are trying very hard.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, obviously, we support equal political, human and economic rights for all citizens of Turkey. The Turkish Government is also fighting against the terrorist group, the PKK, and we support the Turkish Government in those efforts. This is a terrorist group that has claimed numerous innocent lives in Turkey. But as just a matter of general principle, of course, we support the equal application of the rule of law and rights throughout Turkey for all of its citizens.

QUESTION: Sean, I'm sorry, but I have to try again. I know this morning you said to talk to Treasury, but given that on the Chinese side, the Chinese Foreign Minister is taking the lead, and then on the U.S. delegation Ambassador Randt is leading and State is obviously involved, so what can you tell us about the current situation and how soon you can expect the transfer issue to be resolved?

MR. MCCORMACK: We're confident that it will be resolved. I'm not going to try to apply some specific timetable to it, because every time you do that sort of thing, you're always proven wrong, so I'm not going to venture into those waters. But we are working hard to bring to closure implementation of the agreement that was reached and the actions that we have taken in terms of resolving the Treasury piece of this.

QUESTION: There's one possibility out there in the February 13th agreement which is for the 60 days --

MR. MCCORMACK: 60 days.

QUESTION: -- and the ministerial meeting. Are you -- do you still expect to be able to have that ministerial on time?

MR. MCCORMACK: I haven't heard anything that would indicate that that deadline would not be met at this point.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, a couple more. Yeah, in the back.

QUESTION: Thank you very much. And the Mexican Attorney General yesterday continued chastising the U.S. for not doing enough in controlling the flow of illegal guns from the U.S. into Mexico -- this before the American Society in Mexico City. Does this thing help both ambassador last week and now the attorney general? Does this help cooperation (inaudible) do you have negotiations towards a new, you know, aid fund to Mexico?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. I haven't seen the Attorney General's remarks, so I'm not going to try to comment on it. Look, we have good cooperation with this Mexican Government and President Calderón. I think that there is a common vision in terms of the issues that need to be dealt with along the border and where there isn't, certainly we're willing to talk about it. That's what friends do. We have a long shared border. We have many cultural ties. And we both on both sides of the border have an interest in resolving whatever issues that exist out there. So all I can say is that from our side we have good cooperation, excellent working relationship on those border issues with the Mexican Government.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:09 p.m.)

DPB # 55

Released on March 29, 2007

ENDS

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