Middle East Digest: May 12, 2008

Bureau of Public Affairs
May 12, 2008

The Middle East Digest provides text and audio from the Daily Press Briefing. For the full briefings, please visit http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/.

From the Daily Press Briefing of May 12, 2008:

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MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: Sean, do you have any details on the conference call that the Secretary's going to have with the Friends of Lebanon group? What are they -- what's the reasoning behind this call?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, there was -- there was a statement from the Arab League over the weekend, which essentially condemned the actions of Hezbollah in sparking the violence which has led to the deaths of innocent Lebanese citizens. And the Secretary, as we detailed last week, was also working -- working the phones on this issue. And I would expect during this conference call with Friends of Lebanon, the so-called Friends of Lebanon group, that they're going to talk about what the current situation is and how they -- each individual state, as well as collectively, we might support the Siniora government in their efforts to work on behalf of the Lebanese people, bring -- help bring some order to the streets of Beirut and to Lebanon in the face of what is a direct challenge from Hezbollah, an armed group with -- operating outside the rule of law in Lebanon and, again, that was responsible for the deaths of innocent Lebanese civilians.

In terms of who is on the call, this is probably just a partial list. We'll try to get you the full -- the final list of participants after the phone call. But ministerial level of participation from Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK. I would expect also representation from the Arab League, the EU, and the UN on the phone call.

QUESTION: Who has organized the call? Who's leading it? Is it your call?

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not sure if we did this or not. I wouldn't be surprised. It could be the French Government. But there have been some periodic meetings of this group on the sidelines of other international meetings. There was recently one when we were in Kuwait, and I know that there was one previously in Istanbul as well. So it's a group that periodically comes together either in person or by phone. You have in the past seen statements issued by this particular grouping. We’ll, of course, keep you up to date, if there’s anything here (a) to readout from the call or (b) any statement that flows from the call.

QUESTION: Right. What time do you expect the call to be?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don’t know exactly. I think it’s around two or so.

QUESTION: Sean, sorry. Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi – you were going way too fast for my --

MR. MCCORMACK: Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the UK.

QUESTION: Thank you for putting those in alphabetical order for us.

MR. MCCORMACK: Okay.

QUESTION: Sean, do you have any reaction to the --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Always happy to help. Part of what we do here is try to make life easier for the press.

QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to the – Siniora government’s decision to roll back moves that your government supported last week, mainly taking action against Hezbollah’s telecom network, et cetera?

MR. MCCORMACK: Look, the decisions that the government takes is, I’m sure going – are done in the best interest of the Lebanese people. The Siniora government has shown itself incredibly resilient in the face of these kinds of challenges, not only from within -- from armed groups like Hezbollah, but also from without, as he referenced the continued Syrian meddling in Lebanon’s political affairs. And this is a government that is dedicated to trying to expand the reach of democracy, deepen democracy in Lebanon, continue to engage in economic reforms that benefit all of the Lebanese people. That stands in stark contrast to the actions of groups like Hezbollah that we’ve seen recently that have resulted only in damage to personal property, certainly resulted in economic loss with the shutdown of the airport and the airport road. And most tragically, the loss of innocent Lebanese life. They’ve shown themselves willing to use force of arms and violence to kill innocent Lebanese civilians.

QUESTION: How worried are you that -- in the eyes of some observers that the Siniora government has come out weaker after taking a step back from its initial steps and that Hezbollah has come out stronger?

MR. MCCORMACK: We – we think that Prime Minister Siniora and his government are strong. And once the dust settles -- you know, again, I’m not a political analyst, but I would – I would suspect the Lebanese people will take a look at what happened. And clearly, what happened is an armed group, operating outside the rule of law, killing innocent Lebanese civilians. That I couldn’t imagine would be too popular among the vast majority of the Lebanese people.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Do they plan to issue a statement after this conference call?

MR. MCCORMACK: We’ll let you know. We’ll let you know. We have a good –

QUESTION: Will you give a readout?

MR. MCCORMACK: -- we’ll either get you some more information about the call, what they discussed, or perhaps a statement to follow.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. MCCORMACK: We’ll let you know.

QUESTION: Can you get in on it?

QUESTION: Okay. And is – do you still plan to do something at the UN afterwards, because on Friday a U.S. official told us that maybe after this conference call the Security Council could be – speaking out.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, look, -- we’ll let you know. Let’s let them have the conference call first and then we’ll brief you as best we can on what they talked about and perhaps any decisions that were taken as a result of the call.

QUESTION: You mentioned the idea of some kind of U.S. assistance and what kind of assistance would that take?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we have a aid program of continuing assistance with the Lebanese military that we’ve talked -- and the Lebanese have talked about quite publicly. I don’t have any new announcements in that regard in terms of the most recent violent acts by Hezbollah and the reaction by the Lebanese army. But it falls, at this point, primarily in the arena of political and diplomatic support for the government.

And I know that people say, well, what does this statement mean? Well, it means quite a bit, very oftentimes, when you have a government that is trying to address these kinds of serious challenges, both from within and from without.

QUESTION: Can you confirm that the U.S. has called – came back to the region, came back to militarily --

MR. MCCORMACK: You can talk to the DOD about the movements and their assets.

QUESTION: On Pakistan, if you had any comment on the breakdown of the coalition effort there? And if this – these are the concerns you had about the ability to --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, I– again, I – I’ll leave it to others to describe the details of one of the political parties and what they said they would and would not do. My understanding is that the government will continue – continue to function at this point. Look, how the Pakistanis arrange themselves politically, what – who’s in the coalition, who’s not, what the platform is, questions about judges, these are all things for the Pakistanis to answer.

We neither want to, nor can, answer these questions for the Pakistani political leaders and their political system. They are going to have to address it. We’re going to continue to work with the government on issues that are of mutual concern.

QUESTION: But this has no bearing or causes you no concern that they’ll be in a weaker position, not be able to fight terror under the (inaudible) in the region.

MR. MCCORMACK: Again, let’s – you know, they’re – I’ll leave it to the parties to describe exactly what the government can do and can’t do with the support of Nawaz -- Mr. Sharif’s party. We are convinced that we are able to work with this government on fighting terror, working with them to help build a different kind of and a better kind of Pakistan with greater freedoms and greater prosperity. So we’re going to continue working with them. How they arrange themselves politically, the platform of the government, those are going to be decisions for the Pakistani Government to make.

QUESTION: Any idea when P4+1 will deliver the offer on --

MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, I have to check on that. I – let me – we’ll check for you, get an answer.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Are you still haggling over the text of it, of the letter?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think it’s – I think things are pretty close. Again, I didn’t – I apologize; I did not check on that before I came out here.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Okay.