US State Dept Daily Press Briefing: 02 August 2007

Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
July 2, 2007
1:43 p.m. EST

U.S. State Departmentt Daily Press Briefing: 02 August 2007

INDEX:

DEPARTMENT

Death of Military Attaché in Cyprus / Investigation Ongoing / Condolences

YEMEN

Suicide Bomber Attack / No Information on Americans

RUSSIA

Charges Against Boris Berezovsky

ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS

Quartet Meeting Possible in Coming Weeks
Restructuring of Aid to Palestinians / Unrelated to Israeli Release of Funds
Aid Must be Evaluated to Most Effectively Build Palestinian Institutions

IRAQ / IRAN

Iranian Influence in Iraq / Iranian Quds Force Training Violent Extremists
Iran Destabilizing Force in Iraq
Hezbollah Presence in Iraq a Concern / Hezbollah Working Closely with Iran
Gas Rationing an Indication of Government’s Mismanagement
Sanctions Making Illicit Activities More Difficult

LEBANON / SYRIA

Travel Sanctions Against Lebanese and Syrian Political Figures

RUSSIA

Preventing Outflow of Nuclear Material and Technology
Cooperation with Russia on Preventing Nuclear Terrorism

TRANSCRIPT:

MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody. Don't have any opening statements. We can get right into your questions.

QUESTION: All right. Well, after the exciting preview in the hallway --

MR. MCCORMACK: (Laughter.)

QUESTION: I'm just wondering, do you have anything to add to what you said this morning about either -- the military attaché in Cyprus?

MR. MCCORMACK: Nothing new on that one, nothing new on that score. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and the people at the embassy lost a good colleague. At this point, the Cypriot police working with the embassy are going to continue doing their investigation, but I don't have any other information for you at this point.

QUESTION: What about reaction to the attack in Yemen today and Spanish (inaudible)?

MR. MCCORMACK: At this point, we're still gathering information on that attack. I understand that there are reports of some Spanish citizens that were killed. Obviously, any time you have a terrorist attack, that's of deep concern. I don't have any information regarding any American citizens that were caught up in this attack, but certainly, our thoughts go -- are with those individuals who were injured or the families of those who lost loved ones.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to say about the -- what appear to be new charges filed by the FSB against Boris Berezovsky?

MR. MCCORMACK: We're still looking into that and at this point, I understand that there were some previous charges that were -- had been filed against Mr. Berezovsky and that there is a longstanding extradition request pending between the U.S. -- between the U.K. and Russia, but at this point, I don't have anything more for you on that.

Yeah, Sylvie.

QUESTION: Can you confirm that there will be a meeting of the Quartet mid-July in Egypt with Israel and the Palestinians?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we're looking at a Quartet meeting sometime in the next several weeks. I don't think that we have finally nailed down a date for that Quartet meeting, but it should be in the next several weeks.

QUESTION: Mr. Solana spoke about it on the --

MR. MCCORMACK: Like I said, we're looking at one in the next several weeks. Mid -- mid-July is about the right timeframe, but we still haven't nailed down the exact date yet.

QUESTION: Ministerial?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, ministerial-level, yeah.

QUESTION: Okay. And what about the money for the Palestinians, now that the Israelis gave the money -- the tax money to the Palestinians, what about the money the U.S. was thinking about restructuring for --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. We're still thinking of looking at how we might restructure it. There's no connection between the two, the Israelis --

QUESTION: No --

MR. MCCORMACK: -- releasing the tax revenues and our looking at this money. We're still looking at the full amount, how we might restructure it. Our guys are looking at how they might do that internally. At some point, we're going to go to the Hill and talk to them, because they have a say in this, about reprogramming money, but nothing new to add on that score, Sylvie.

QUESTION: So you have to reprogram -- I don't understand. Since this money was already approved, you still have to go to the Hill to reprogram --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, there was some money that was set aside over -- in a reserve, I think about $27 million and that, we would need to go back to the Hill and talk to them about.

QUESTION: And what about the 83 or 86 million you decided --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, that's the total amount, so you take -- it's the 27 million plus -- doing quick calculations, I think -- like, 59 million, so it's about 86 million. That's the -- that's the total, so we're still looking at how we might rearrange that money, redistribute it and make sure that it's spent effectively to help build up Palestinian institutions, help build up a more professional Palestinian security force, take a look at what projects we might either resume or implement that would benefit the Palestinian people. Previously, there have been things like water projects, sewage treatment projects that would directly benefit the Palestinian people and could also -- we could also work with the Palestinian Government in terms of the ongoing upkeep and maintenance of those projects.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Can we go back to one question from this morning that was hanging over? You're well aware of the briefing that the American military gave in Iraq.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Can you tell us whether you can close the loop and say that you believe that the Iranian authorities are directly ordering the Al Quds Force and any elements that they may be supporting in Iraq or can you say that they're, if not ordering it and directing it, that they're at least tacitly accepting this being done, even if -- by elements of their government?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, as General Bergner talked about today at his briefing, they -- the MNFI via an arrest or several arrests were able to glean new information about the relationship between the Iranian Quds Force which is the external arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah. In terms of training up Shia militia, violent extremists groups operating inside of Iraq, they have targeted not only Iraqi civilians, but also most importantly to us our troops. And these are groups that are involved in the EFP networks.

And through these arrests as well as other intelligence information, they were able to put together a picture where we have found that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has essentially subcontracted out to some elements of Hezbollah -- Hezbollah being the terrorist organization resident in Lebanon. This training, using them as a pass-through for material, technology and material -- other material assistance funding. So it is of deep concern to us. And in terms of the command and control relationship between this group and senior Iranian leadership, I can't really offer you a full picture of it. It's a opaque regime. But it would be surprising if the Iranian leadership or Iranian senior officials weren't at least -- at the very least witting of the activities of this group in Iraq.

QUESTION: Sean, do you think you need to address this with the Iranians in another meeting coming up, now that you've gone a little bit further on this?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, there's at this moment no meeting that's scheduled. If we do have another meeting with them, you can be certain that this will be a topic of discussion. And the message will be clear that the Iranian Government needs to cease and desist these kinds of activities. They say that they want to play a more helpful role in Iraq, that they want to help stabilize Iraq, well, these kinds of activities serve exactly the opposite purpose. No matter what Iran may think of the presence of the United States military in Iraq, it is serving as a stabilizing influence in Iraq and it is there at the invitation of the Iraqi Government trying to help out the Iraqi people. So the Iranian Government -- we would urge the Iranian Government to reconsider its current course of action.

QUESTION: Sean, you said -- your choice of the word and I have -- I'll have to go back to the dictionary and look -- but when you say "witting" you're not intending to imply anything other than aware of?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Correct.

Yeah, Kirit.

QUESTION: You mention that there were several arrests. Can you tell us how prevalent Hezbollah is in Iraq to this point?

MR. MCCORMACK: I can't give you numbers. But, you know, any presence of Hezbollah in Iraq and certainly involved in these kinds of activities is of real concern to us and real concern to our soldiers on the ground there. These are people that have -- that are on the ground in Iraq that have long experience in terrorist activities and that are deeply involved in the kinds of attacks that we have seen around -- that Hezbollah perpetrated around the world. So I can't give you exact numbers, but it would appear that they are working very closely with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and that's a real concern.

QUESTION: Do you have an indication of how long they've been operating in Iraq?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't have any info on that for you.

QUESTION: And is that based on these recent arrests particularly?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, in large part, it is -- the information that they have derived, some of the more detailed information they have derived, was based on these arrests. But they have been building up this picture over time based on other intelligence information that they've been able to collect. We have, going back quite some time, suspected Hezbollah's involvement. We've seen traces of it, and over time we've been able to build up more and more of a picture of Hezbollah's involvement. I can't tell you that we have the whole picture at this point, but certainly these arrests have provided us a great deal more information than we had.

QUESTION: Just going back to the ambassador-level meeting a few weeks ago, have the Iranians followed up on anything that they promised or were any promises really made? Have they done anything at all in the interim?

MR. MCCORMACK: Probably the folks on the ground -- Ambassador Crocker and MNFI -- are in a better position to give you sort of the most calibrated view of whether or not they've seen any changes recently in Iranian behavior. I'm not aware of any, but they would probably be in the best position on the ground to give you the fine-grain detail on that.

Zane.

QUESTION: If you could just comment on the gas rationing that's going on in Iran and the sort of domestic turmoil situation they have there. Do you think it's a result of U.S. and international pressure? How do you see that (inaudible)?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I'm not an expert on the Iranian economy, but I guess the short answer is the domestic conditions you see in Iran are a result of the mismanagement of the Iranian economy by this government. The fact that you have gas rationing, the fact that you have inflation, the fact that you have the Iranian Government borrowing against its future are all indications that this is a government that is writing a lot of checks with its promises but it doesn't really have the expertise to properly manage the Iranian economy.

In terms of the sanctions that have been placed upon Iran by the UN Security Council, there are indications that it has made it more difficult for the Iranian Government to engage in illicit activities. And also it has raised some of the costs for the Iranian Government operating in the international financial system. Now, that's not something that would have been our first choice, but it's the choice that was made by the Iranian Government for us and by their failure to cooperate with the international system. And if they continue in that sort of defiance of the international system, you're going to see more of these sanctions and there are going to be more costs to the Iranian Government.

Now, we and others of our allies are working hard to make sure that these sanctions aren't -- you know, the cost of these sanctions aren't borne primarily by the Iranian people because we don't want that. But there will inevitably be some effect on the Iranian people, but that effect really only adds marginally to the larger problem of the Iranian Government's mismanagement of their economy.

QUESTION: Is there any discussion at all about down the road or this time around targeting oil and gas in Iran?

MR. MCCORMACK: It's not something at this point that we've contemplated. I think Secretary Rice has made it clear when we first started talking about this is the imposition of sanctions that we weren't looking at imposing sanctions on the oil and gas sector, and that's something that still holds.

QUESTION: Yes. Mr. McCormack, one more question on Cyprus for the death of your military attaché Thomas Mooney in Cyprus. Did you send any special team of U.S. expert for the investigation you mentioned earlier?

MR. MCCORMACK: You can check with DOD. I'm not aware of any State Department officials that have gone over specifically to investigate this.

Yeah, Gollust.

QUESTION: Can you discuss what you expect to achieve with those travel sanctions that were announced Friday against some Lebanese and Syrian political figures? There's a report in the press today that the United States is concerned that there might be an effort in the coming weeks to set up a -- sort of a counter-government to the Siniora government. Is that a real concern of yours?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I know it's been something that's been threatened by the antidemocratic forces in Lebanon as well as those who support those forces. Quite clearly, I think that's something that we as well as other responsible members of the international community would reject out of hand. The imposition of the travel restrictions is intended to restrict the ability of these people, in a way, to negatively influence the events in Lebanon so that they cannot travel abroad to help organize activities that might be detrimental to the growth of political reform in Lebanon.

Yeah, Nina.

QUESTION: A question on CTR. The 9/11 report recommended a few years ago that this was ramped up and that the Proliferation Security Initiative should be on top also. Do you feel that there's been any significant progress, you know, particularly in reigning in -- you know, possible loose nuclear material in former Soviet republics?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, we have a number of initiatives that are ongoing. There is, of course, the Nunn-Lugar program that has been quite successful and it's still funded at quite a substantial amount. And as you point out, the real focus of that is to try to prevent the smuggling of nuclear materials. Now of course, you -- you know, the real danger here is you don't know what you don't know, but we have had some successes in interdicting transit of nuclear materials outside the territory of the former Soviet Union, as well as elsewhere throughout the world.

We are also working quite closely, incidentally, with the Russian Government on a program to prevent nuclear terrorism and we -- this is -- it's built on the same sort of model as PSI. There's not a formal organization, but it's an association -- we hope that it will become an association of states built on this partnership between the U.S. and Russia designed to prevent the smuggling and trafficking of these kinds of nuclear materials that might be used by terrorists in a nuclear device.

QUESTION: Well, are you satisfied with the level of progress? I mean, did this come up at the meeting between Bush and Putin, particularly?

MR. MCCORMACK: You can check with my colleagues at the White House on that one.

QUESTION: Well, are you confident? I know the CTR has been extended for another seven years --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- as of last year. Are you confident that we'll see some more significant results?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we certainly hope so. You know, in any endeavor like this, you can build the structures, you can build the monitoring regimes, you can physically put in place all the equipment that's required to help detect any of these potential transits of nuclear materials. And we think to date, that it has been a good program, that it has had some positive effects. This is the kind of endeavor in which you have to constantly be upgrading your capabilities and expanding your network of cooperation, so there's always more to do, but I think -- thus far, we think it's a solid program.

QUESTION: Okay, (inaudible) says Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine are all nuclear-free now. What would you say are the trouble spots now?

MR. MCCORMACK: The trouble spots around the --

QUESTION: -- the former Soviet Union.

MR. MCCORMACK: I can't point to one spot in particular. It's a -- you know, it's clearly a danger that is not limited just to the former Soviet territories.

QUESTION: Are you concerned about the material itself or are you also concerned about former Russian nuclear scientists lending their expertise to other rogue nations?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think both. And I wouldn't limit it just to former Russian scientists. But of course you're concerned about that and that was a deep concern in the immediate aftermath of the breakup of the former -- of the Soviet Union. We devoted a lot of resources to making sure that those scientists didn't put that knowledge to work on behalf of other states that might be seeking illicitly to develop a nuclear weapon, and certainly in today's world we wouldn't want to see any sort of cooperation between those scientists and potential terrorist entities.

Again, you don't know what you don't know. But at this point, we think that we have the right assets in place and good cooperation with Russia as well as those former Soviet states. For the most part, they have an interest in seeing that this material and this know-how doesn't flow out because it would pose a threat presumably to them as much -- as much as to them as it does to us.

QUESTION: Are you satisfied with the degree of transparency and cooperation you have with Russia at the moment on this issue?

MR. MCCORMACK: As far as I'm aware. I know the Department of Energy recently put out a report on the Bratislava process. And at this point I think that the two presidents I know were going to discuss this up in Kennebunkport, so I can't tell you what the results of their conversation were. But I think at the lower levels, people were generally satisfied with the level of cooperation. This is one of those areas of overlap of mutual interests between the U.S. and Russia where we're working quite well together.

QUESTION: Sean, on the off chance that you used the extra hour to attend the opening of the U.S.-Japan-Australia --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, (inaudible).

QUESTION: It was an off chance. Okay. Is it possible to find out something about it by the end of the day?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, we'll try to get you some more on the results of the meeting. Yeah, Dave.

QUESTION: I was wondering if you could possibly look into an issue. The parliament of Armenia, perhaps as early as tomorrow, is going to pass legislation backed by the government that would effectively or technically would put Armenian language foreign broadcasters off the air in Armenia. And this legislation appears mainly aimed at RFE/RL but it looks like it's coming to a head this week. And if you had talked to the Armenian Government about it or --

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure, I'd be happy to check into it for you, David.

QUESTION: Thank you.

ENDS

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