Exerpts: August 12 Press Briefing

Question: I wondered if you had anything to say in response to what the Iraq Information Minister has been saying about the zero need for arms inspectors, since they've already been inspected.

Mr. Reeker: I don't see any particular news in that. I think we have been quite clear that Iraq continues to refuse to give a straightforward answer to the UN Security Council, and the UN Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission. They know what they need to do. They need to comply with UN resolutions. And as we've said many times before, the issue is not inspections per se, but verified disarmament. Iraq needs to disarm. It's what Saddam Hussein and his regime agreed to do at the end of the Gulf War. Those agreements were codified in UN Security Council resolutions. We need to make sure that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction or long-range ballistic missiles. That's what's required by the UN Security Council resolutions, and that's what we expect to see done.

Question: Do you have any comment on the fact that he has made these remarks at a time when there is so much debate in this country about their activities there?

Mr. Reeker: I think my comment was, again, that they refuse to face up to their obligations and continue to obfuscate and look for ways to move the goalposts when it's a simple situation. He understands exactly what needs to be done; that is, comply fully with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and disarm.

Sir.

Question: Phil, how do you see the Secretary of State had, well, officials, and then the Secretary joined them for a few minutes -- the meeting with the opposition leaders, the Iraqi opposition leaders. How do you see the unity amongst this group of people? And do you see a promise in them being able to lead in Iraq after the Saddam regime is gone?

Mr. Reeker: Well, I think we put out a statement on Friday following the meetings with the group of Iraqi opposition leaders and their representatives. There was a productive discussion, focusing on coordination of the United States Government's work with Iraqi opposition and enhancing cooperation among Iraqi opposition groups. The meeting addressed the prospects of holding a larger, broad-based political conference of the Iraqi opposition in the next few months.

I believe that the group is still in town. They've been having additional meetings in Washington. It was a significant meeting, I think, in fostering increased coordination and cooperation among Iraqi opposition groups. And what we did was offered a venue for these groups to present their goals, their concerns and their issues to the US Government, and to one another. And we also reached broad agreement among the leaders to go forward with planning a larger, broad-based political conference in the next few months, as I mentioned.

Question: So would you say you're positive about the results of these meetings on -- because in the past there was kind of fear that they're not united, that they do not agree with each other on some of the issues. Do you see that that has --

Mr. Reeker: I think the group and their representatives spoke for themselves following the meetings and other meetings they've had around town. There were leaders or senior representatives of the six groups that we invited; that were invited by Under Secretary Grossman from our building and Under Secretary of Defense Feith. They attended this meeting and participated actively in a spirit of cooperation, and we think that was a significant and important opportunity. And as I said, we look forward to an even broader based political conference of the Iraqi opposition in the near future.

Terri.

Question: Is that the conference that you're talking about? They announced when they went outside that they would be holding their own conference without support from the United States. As far as you know, you guys aren't talking about the same conference; is that right?

Mr. Reeker: I think this would be an Iraqi conference --

Question: A different --

Mr. Reeker: -- and anything we can do to help and support that would be what we would look forward to. I think that was what was discussed.

Question: Okay. So the State Department is going to convene one of these conferences, like we talked about --

Mr. Reeker: No, that isn't what I said. I said what we would do is look for having a big conference. Exactly who convenes what, when, where, you know, I couldn't tell you exactly at this point. But clearly it's an opportunity for -- as the Iraqi representatives themselves, the various opposition groups said, and we very much said, we look forward to working with them to help plan such a conference because we think that would be a good next step.

Question: Okay. Do you plan to invite any other Iraqi opposition parties to Washington in a continuing effort to bring other opposition groups into this discussion?

Mr. Reeker: I couldn't predict beyond what we're talking about in terms of this broader political conference, where we'll have an opportunity to do just that, have a broader group within the next few months, although I don't have any details, as I indicated. We've also had a series of meetings, as you know, in terms of the future of Iraq, a series of working group meetings, and those will continue as well that have brought in a variety of opposition leaders and experts to talk on a set of topics. And so those working groups are continuing to go on, but I don't have a particular schedule for you.

Question: And Secretary Powell has never attended those; is that correct?

Mr. Reeker: Working group meetings? Not that I'm aware of. That would be working group meetings.

Question: I understand. But my question was: Do you expect to have any other meetings of this level with other opposition parties where Secretary Powell may drop in?

Mr. Reeker: I don't have any other meetings to announce at this point, Terri, but if we do I'll let you know.

Christophe.

Question: Yes. On Iran, (inaudible) Foreign Minister said -- I believe it was yesterday -- that the Iranians expelled 16 al-Qaida members from Iraq to Saudi Arabia, and he added that the Saudis would pass you on the information that they would get from these 16 al-Qaida people. Can you confirm this?

Mr. Reeker: Well, as you know, we have long encouraged cooperation in the international campaign against terrorism. It is our understanding that Iran has rendered 16 al-Qaida suspects to Saudi authorities. I would just refer you to Saudi officials and/or Iranian authorities for comments or specifics on this handover.

I think as we have said many times in the past, we have been very pleased with the level of Saudi cooperation in the international campaign against terrorism. When it has been in our interest to do so, we have not hesitated to also engage the Iranian Government on such issues as the international efforts to bring al-Qaida terrorists to justice and to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, as well as areas like counter-narcotics and refugee relief. So we're continuing to cooperate with Iran in these mutual interests, but for details on that I'd just refer you to either of those governments.

Question: Do you expect the Saudis to give you the information that they could get from these people?

Mr. Reeker: Again, as we have said many times, US-Saudi counterterrorism cooperation has been very solid, and we have every expectation to believe that that will continue. In terms of specific questions on access to suspects, I would have to refer you to law enforcement officials at the --

Question: Do you believe there still are al-Qaida people hiding in Iran, protected by the Iranian authorities?

Mr. Reeker: I think I'm not in a position to provide you any more specific information. What I've said is we have sought, when we have interest in doing that, in engaging the Iranian Government on this issue. And clearly we have been quite clear in the need for everybody to contribute to the efforts to fight al-Qaida and international terrorism. One of the key tools in the war on terror is indeed law enforcement cooperation, as well as information and intelligence sharing, and that has been an important aspect in this effort.

Yes, Elaine.

Question: Can I just follow up briefly on that? Do you have anything to say, though, specifically about the fact that the Iranians have done this? I mean, do you see this as an indication that they are trying to be more cooperative?

Mr. Reeker: Again, I can just repeat what I said. We have, when it has been in our interest to do so, not hesitated to engage the Iranian Government on these issues. We think any cooperation in that regard is a positive thing. So I think the President has been quite clear in his statement from July the 12th in terms of our views about Iran and has said that if Iran moves toward freedom and tolerance they'll have no better friend than the United States. And so we continue to stand by that but look for everybody to cooperate in the war against terrorism in terms of this law enforcement and information sharing that goes on.

Yes, sir.

Question: New subject?

Mr. Reeker: Okay. No?

Question: No, I'm sorry.

Mr. Reeker: Betsy.

Question: When the INC was here, did you all have a chance to talk to them about the money that has been offered to them? Was there any movement on that?

Mr. Reeker: I don't believe that was a specific subject. All I can tell you is that the $8 million cooperative agreement that we notified to Congress on May 23rd, that is our intent to offer the Iraqi National Congress a new cooperative agreement for another $8 million for June to December of this year. That is out there. We are still awaiting formal response from the Iraqi National Congress to that offer. So I don't have any further news on that now.

Yes, back here.

Question: I wanted to ask about the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister who was refused access to a flight in Cincinnati because the pilot reportedly thought he was a security risk. He was escorted by State Department officials and --

Mr. Reeker: That's where you're wrong. Let me just start right there. I know a number of press reports have suggested that, to the best of my knowledge, checking throughout this building, no one from the State Department was accompanying this individual. But we do understand, as you said, that an incident occurred on Friday in which the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister was denied boarding on a commercial flight from Cincinnati to Toronto. We understand that the Minister was later allowed to board a subsequent flight. We certainly regret any inconvenience to him, but I would have to refer you to the Israeli Embassy for more details on the incident. We have not heard formally on this action from the Israelis.

____________________ 

Question: Can I just go back a second to the visit of the Palestinian officials? There seems to be some confusion about how those meetings square with the President's injunction against dealing with Yasser Arafat, since some members of that delegation are very close representatives of or officials who work very close with him. And I was just wondering -- Arafat himself has said he was pleased with the results of the meetings. I was wondering where the ban on working with Arafat starts and stops.

Mr. Reeker: The focus is really on working with people who can make a difference, who can be effective leaders, spokespeople, for the Palestinian community. As you know, Israel is also meeting with a wide range of Palestinian officials, including Interior Minister Yehiyeh, who was here with the Palestinian delegation. And so we feel we had positive meetings last week with this group on what we're focused on, as exactly what the President talked about in his June 24 speech; that is, real reform in the Palestinian Authority, making crucial reforms necessary in terms of economic and other civic institutions. These are the reforms that are going to be necessary to achieve the vision that the President has talked about, that the international community has supported; that is, of an independent Palestinian state living next to Israel in secure borders.

So security is very important in this process. We have got to continue moving forward on that, as the Secretary said and your colleagues cited a few moments ago. We hope to see some positive developments in security cooperation in coming days, and we will continue to have a broad range of contacts within the Palestinian community at a variety of levels to move forward the President's strategy as outlined in the June 24 speech, in cooperation with others in the international community who are doing the same.

Question: So that means anyone, any officials interested in that topic, no matter how close they may be to Yasser Arafat --

Mr. Reeker: What we're looking for is people who can make a difference, and I think we talked about that at some length last week when this delegation came to Washington. You know, the President was very clear in his speech that the Palestinian people should choose new leadership through democratic, open, free and fair elections, and at the same time we'll continue meeting with, talking to, a wide range of Palestinians in their community, people who we think can make a real difference, because there has to be a dedication towards moving this process forward in order for there to be progress.

And so we'll continue to do our part. The President's speech, and also his April 4th speech, talked about responsibility and the responsibilities on all sides to not be tainted by terror and corruption, to focus on what needs to happen in terms of concrete steps that can be taken for reform, concrete steps on security, as well as efforts we all want to undertake to alleviate the humanitarian situation that the Palestinian people find themselves in.

Gene.

Question: Emergency assistance from the UN. Can you give us any insight as to what the United States is going to do if they come back with a report calling for very substantial amounts of money to --

Mr. Reeker: I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to.

Question: Well, Kofi Annan was reported to have been --

Mr. Reeker: Are we talking a particular geographic region? I mean, give me a little more clue here.

Question: Palestine.

Mr. Reeker: Oh, okay. You sort of said, "Emergency assistance from the UN," and I wasn't sure.

Question: Is there any other subject? Look, I'm referring to two things. One, the appointment by Kofi Annan of a three-person team --

Mr. Reeker: Including Katherine Bertini, who is traveling, and the Secretary noted that. He had spoken, I think last week, last Thursday, with Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Question: Is the United States prepared to offer substantial support to any special programs that the UN comes back with?

Mr. Reeker: We look forward certainly to hearing her report and the report of that team. We have been doing our own significant humanitarian assistance through the United Nations, through the appropriate international organizations and nongovernmental organizations. And we will continue to look at that and look at the needs there.

I couldn't comment on a report that hasn't been completed yet, but we'll look forward to seeing them.

Question: Fair enough. How much money has the United States invested in Palestinian areas in the past year? Do you have any --

Mr. Reeker: I'd have to get you figures, Gene. We have talked about them a number of times from here; I just didn't bring figures with me today.

Question: Okay. And finally, since this is a slow day, it was said by Saeb Erekat that 6,900 policemen were still in Israeli jails and that there were no police stations left that were intact. Is the United States going to rebuild, not just the police stations, but also rebuild the police force?

Mr. Reeker: I don't think I can give you much more, Gene, on what we've said about having some positive discussions, looking for some developments on the security side soon. I'll refer you again to what the Secretary said. But I just can't give you any further details at this point. That is something we will continue to discuss and continue to look for.

We want to see an end to all the violence and terror, and a resumption of political dialogue to resolve the differences between Israelis and Palestinians. That's what the President's strategy has focused on, and we're trying to pursue that on all the different tracks. And the meetings that we had last week I think reflected that, and we'll continue working in that direction.