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Daily Press Briefing, Spokesman Sean McCormack, FULL STREAMING VIDEO, file is windows media format, running time is 16:18 PODCAST, file is mp3 in m3u format for streaming playback, running time is 16:18, DOWNLOAD, file is mp3 format for PODCAST, running time is 16:18, Washington, DC, August 10,, 2006
 | Department Spokesman Sean McCormack (shown during the Daily Press Briefing) was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Department Spokesman on June 2, 2005. |
MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody. No opening statements. We can get right into your questions. Who wants to start?
QUESTION: Well, on the terror threats, the French Minister is saying the suspects are of Pakistani origin. Does the U.S. have any idea of the origin or the identity or the nationality of the --
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I'm sure intelligence and Homeland Security people have a lot of information that, at this point, they are not at liberty to share in public. I think the British authorities made clear that this is still an ongoing investigation and an ongoing operation, so far be it for me to breach their desire not to talk in more detail about this terrorist plot which was apparently foiled. And President Bush has spoken to it. Secretary Rice has been involved in the briefings via the Homeland Security Council meetings both this morning as well as earlier this week.
Our role in this, Barry, is doing what we can, working with the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and other U.S. Government agencies to support their efforts. Homeland Security has the lead in this regard. The Embassy of London and our consular affairs people here are doing everything that they need to do in terms of helping American citizens who may be waylaid in their travel schedule. Thus far, there have not been -- there really hasn't been any noticeable increase in the number of calls coming into the Embassy of London or to our call center either from families or from -- for travelers.
We are advising -- we have put out a public statement which you all have available to you. I think it has a lot of information in there about what numbers people can call if they are interested in finding about the travel situation. We would advise people before getting -- going out to the airport to check their travel schedules. Because of additional security measures, there are some longer waits. I think people will appreciate the fact that those people doing the additional security checks are doing those for their safety as well as the safety of their fellow passengers.
QUESTION: Is the U.S. Embassy in London functioning the normal way?
MR. MCCORMACK: They are functioning. I believe all offices are open. Barry, of course, in these kind of situations, you know that the emergency action committee gets together, they assess the situation that -- for people not familiar with the term, basically, what it is, it's a -- the heads of the departments of the various parts of the embassy, they get together and talk about the threat situation, assess their security posture based -- against that threat information and if need be, make any changes. I think that they have been in -- done what they think they need to do, Barry. They've been working very closely with British authorities as well.
Okay.
QUESTION: Move to Lebanon?
MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.
QUESTION: Apparently, the French are circulating -- not a new draft, but a new paragraph in a draft resolution that, instead of calling for an immediate Israeli withdrawal, with the cessation of hostilities, would call for -- simply for the start of an Israeli withdrawal. Are you -- apparently, that's been sent to capitals. Have you seen that? Has that been discussed by Secretary Rice? What's the U.S. view on that?
MR. MCCORMACK: We're -- a few things. One, obviously, we are working very, very hard on the diplomacy. Secretary Rice -- I was counting up her phone calls just yesterday and I don't think I have them all, but at least 11 separate phone calls with her counterparts and foreign leaders just yesterday alone. She has also had a number of phone calls today. She's been in contact with John Bolton up in New York, who is working with his French counterpart, as well as other Security Council perm reps. David Welch is in the region. He is in Jerusalem today, I believe. So we're working this issue.
And we believe that we are having good discussions with the French, as well as others, in coming up with a resolution that we think can be implemented effectively, that would bring an end to large-scale violence, as well as lead to a lasting, durable cessation of violence in the region and bring greater stability to that area of the world. We want to make sure that anything that is tabled, that is voted upon is something that meets the criteria that we have talked about for some time. We've talked about the issues of Israeli withdrawal and the timing of the Lebanese armed forces as well as the international forces taking over that territory. That continues to be one of the key issues that we're working on and it's important to get this right, because it's one thing to have words on a piece of paper and it's another thing to have those words be able to be implemented in a way that is effective and gets you to the solution that you want to get to. So we'll continue to work the issue. I don't have any comment for you on specific language.
QUESTION: (Inaudible).
MR. MCCORMACK: I know. There's a big wind-up, it's a big wind-up, so that's what I got for you right now.
QUESTION: Just one follow-up on that?
MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.
QUESTION: Was one of the phone calls yesterday between Rice and Mr. Olmert?
MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, she did speak with Prime Minister Olmert.
QUESTION: And was he speaking to her in a security cabinet?
MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know. You'll have to ask the Israeli Government where he was when he took the phone call, but they did talk yesterday, yes.
QUESTION: What is the U.S. understanding of what expansion means of Israeli -- expansion of the Israeli efforts in Lebanon?
MR. MCCORMACK: You'll have to talk to the Israeli Government about their military operations, Barry.
QUESTION: Well, I don't mean which town or village.
MR. MCCORMACK: No, no, I understand.
QUESTION: Because the Administration now has taken a turn toward criticizing -- it sounds like criticizing -- speaking out against expansion; the very word, of course, that's used to describe the Israelis' military plans. And I wondered if that is based --
MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know. Where did you get the criticism from?
QUESTION: I think Tony Snow said -- well, criticisms may not be the right word. But, you know, we’d like not to see expansion.
MR. MCCORMACK: Right.
QUESTION: And expansion happens to be the word. So it’s sort of --
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, any time -- I’ll just share with you, Barry, every time I’ve been asked about expansion. My understanding of it is expanding beyond the current theater of operations, which is Lebanon. The question has always come to me in terms of expanding military operations into Syria. And we have heard in public from the Israeli Government that they have no intention of expanding the conflict. In terms of what their intentions are with a more robust ground force operation, you’ll have to talk to the Israelis about that. I’m not going to talk about their military operations.
Libby.
QUESTION: Are there any plans in place for the P-5 Ministers to get together and meet even if a resolution is not quite done yet?
MR. MCCORMACK: I think they have been having -- they have had almost continuous meeting as far as I can tell up there in different configurations. I think that the P-5 did meet yesterday.
QUESTION: At the minister’s level?
MR. MCCORMACK: At the minister’s level? Well, presumably if we had a minister’s level meeting, we would either have agreed upon a resolution or would be very close to agreeing upon a resolution. At this point, we don’t have anything scheduled up in New York, but Secretary Rice is certainly prepared to travel up to New York either to vote on a resolution, or if need be to work out any last-minute details. But I will say that we are fast approaching a time when countries need to take stock of the situation before them, what is -- what the possibilities of a resolution are, a resolution that could be implemented effectively. And the time is coming when countries are going to have to decide one way or the other which course we’re going to take.
We are working that diplomacy very hard and we are hopeful that we can get a resolution that will lead to a durable, lasting cessation of violence.
We've talked quite a bit over the past several weeks about the elements, what the elements of such a resolution would be.
Teri.
QUESTION: Is it your understanding that it will remain as originally envisioned, two resolutions with the -- with more specific details about the makeup of the force and the deployment details in the second resolution?
MR. MCCORMACK: At this point, Teri, it could be one resolution, it could be two resolutions. I think from our point of view, what matters is the outcome and the practical effect on the ground, so I think that people are looking at both of those options at this point.
QUESTION: But there is a significant difference if it's two because then you have a period of waiting in between the resolution that may be passed in the next couple of days and the details on setting up the force, right?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, again, the long pole on the tent would be how long it takes to generate and deploy an international force. It's not necessarily how long it takes to pass a resolution. You can pass a resolution in 24 hours if you want to. So it's really a matter of -- it's really a matter of the practicalities on the ground, how quickly can you generate and put in place and deploy an international force so it would start to flow in with the Lebanese armed forces so you would have that deploying/withdrawing dynamic underway.
QUESTION: So the U.S. would want at least that much detail, that much certainty about the international force, in the first resolution if there were to be two?
MR. MCCORMACK: Again, we are -- you know, again, we are working on various ways to approach this. The diplomatic situation is fluid. It has been very intense over the past few days. Lots of different drafts going around, lots of different versions of sentences and paragraphs, to get at these ideas, to encapsulate these ideas. So I'm going to defer from any specific comment on any particular approach, only to say that what we are interested in regardless of the mechanism of one versus two resolutions is what is the outcome, what is the practical effect of being able to implement the words on those pieces -- piece of paper or pieces of paper.
QUESTION: Sean, the Israelis said that they were going to wait to start a larger ground offensive to let negotiations play out a little bit more. As far as you understand it, is that a result of heavy U.S. pressure to get them to wait a little bit?
MR. MCCORMACK: The Israeli Government makes its own decisions about military operations and what it does to act in its own self-defense. Those are decisions for Israeli leaders to make.
Lambros.
QUESTION: On Iraq?
MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.
QUESTION: One more on Lebanon?
MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, okay. Sorry.
QUESTION: What's the schedule this afternoon at the UN, as far as you understand?
MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not sure that it has been set. I think that they're -- it can only be described as a number of different meetings ongoing. I can't tell you what has been scheduled for when.
QUESTION: You're not going to participate in the international force in the south of Lebanon, no?
MR. MCCORMACK: That's correct. You know, certainly we will do what we can to help out in terms of the planning of such a force. Assistant Secretary John Hillen -- he's our Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs -- has actually over the past several days been in touch with UN officials about what is required of such a force, what such a force would look like and how to go about generating that force. He's an expert in these kind of matters. He's written extensively on it, has a lot of experience as well, a former military man. So we are participating in that way.
The question of whether or not the United States would have actual boots on the ground, the answer to that is no. There would be -- but there have been a number of countries who have expressed an interest, a real interest in participating in such a force. I think it's understandable that they want to understand a few more of the details and understand exactly what their forces would be asked to do and under whose command. But there are real offers of interest on the table right now.
Lambros.
QUESTION: Turkey.
MR. MCCORMACK: Turkey.
QUESTION: But it's related with Lebanon and Iraq. According to the Turkish press all the U.S. military material, including bombs and ammunition items in your bases in Incirlik which has been closed forever, has been transferred in the recent days to Israel via the soil of Republic of Cyprus for the Israeli war in Lebanon. This claim has been provoked a statement by your Consulate in Adana, Turkey, Eric Green, who stated, "I believe that the allegations that a U.S. military ammunition was being taken to Greek Cyprus are not true." Do you have any idea what it's all about?
MR. MCCORMACK: No. You can talk to the Department of Defense. That sounds like something that they would handle.
QUESTION: And also, the Iraqi city of Kirkuk is disputed from three different group, as you know very well -- Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen -- and the referendum is set up for 2007. But Ankara today is seeking a postponement of the referendum, saying that the demographic structure of Kirkuk has been altered due to a massive Kurds inflow into the city since the U.S. war in Iraq and would distort the outcome in order to become a city controlled totally by the Turkmen. What is the U.S. position vis-à-vis the referendum since, as I understand, Mr. McCormack, you are in favor for a unified and not a partitioned Iraq?
MR. MCCORMACK: You know, we want the Iraqis to work this out. There's a mechanism by which they can do so. Certainly, we are there to offer our advice and counsel. But any lasting and durable solution to the very difficult problem of Kirkuk is going to have to be an Iraqi one. And certainly the Iraqi leadership is aware of that and they are prepared to begin to take a look at how to resolve it.
QUESTION: And one more. According to Kurdish report, Massoud Barzani said for the last two days the Turkish artillery fire PKK targets in northern Iraq and the local villages describe the artillery fire coming from the Turkish side from the border was very heavy. Do you have anything on that?
MR. MCCORMACK: I can't verify those reports. Of course we -- what we have been working very hard to do is to have the trilateral mechanism --
QUESTION: Yes.
MR. MCCORMACK: -- with Iraqi, American and Turkish participation to work out any problems. PKK is a terrorist organization, in our view, and we are dedicated and have dedicated ourselves to working with both governments -- Iraqi and Turkish -- to see that this terrorist organization is dealt with.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. MCCORMACK: Sure. Okay.
QUESTION: One more question --
MR. MCCORMACK: No, no.
QUESTION: Important, important, very important.
MR. MCCORMACK: All done.
QUESTION: It's human one, human one.
MR. MCCORMACK: Okay.
QUESTION: A human one.
QUESTION: You don't need him on camera, do you?
QUESTION: It's for Sunday. Twenty-five thousands of HIV/AIDS researchers and advocates are going to gather in Toronto, Canada, Mr. McCormack, for the 16th International AIDS Conference this coming Sunday. The theme of the conference "time to deliver" reflects both the frustration and the hope of the international AIDS community. Any comment for this very important upcoming event, since the U.S. Government is very involved after the (inaudible) in order to find a solution?
MR. MCCORMACK: Look, the only thing that I can say is that I don't think that there's any other American President who's done more to fight the scourge of AIDS. In terms of the resources dedicated to the global fight against AIDS, we have been an early participant in Secretary General Annan's global AIDS fund. We ourselves have dedicated a massive amount of resources to fighting the scourge of AIDS and other diseases around the world.
QUESTION: Thank you, very much.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:02 p.m.), DPB # 134 Released on August 10, 2006
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