Daily
Press Briefing
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 26, 2005
* * *
QUESTION:
Change of subject?
MR.
MCCORMACK: Yes.
QUESTION:
The Russian remarks concerning imposing sanction on Syria.
There was talk about the resolution and the Russians said
they will do everything possible to -- not to pass the
resolution in imposing economic sanction on Syria. Your
reaction to that?
MR.
MCCORMACK: Well, just to back up so everybody's
operating off the same basis of information. We have a
draft resolution co-sponsored by the French, the British
and the United States which is now circulating within
the Security Council for comment.
There's going to be -- Ambassador Bolton will be sitting
in the Security Council, I think, at five o'clock meeting
this afternoon in which there's going to be an initial
more formal discussion about the draft resolution. He
has already had meetings this afternoon, I think, among
the P-3. He has had some consultations with the Algerian
Representative. Secretary Rice has made a series of phone
calls over the past several days in which she's spoken
with the French Foreign Minister several times, she's
spoken with the Russian Foreign Minister, the Algerian
President, President Bouteflika, and Ambassador Bolton
will continue his consultations as well.
So that's where we are in terms of the process of a draft
resolution. We have circulated the draft. It's now at
the point of, I guess you could say, some intensive diplomacy
within the Security Council as well as between capitals.
In that draft resolution, what is called for are specific
sanctions applied to individuals who might be identified
through the investigation of Mr. Mehlis as being complicit
in either the planning or the execution of the assassination
of former Prime Minister Hariri. So what it refers to
is sanctions on individuals.
I think you're referring to some remarks, I think, that
came out of Moscow, in which they talked about sanctions
against the state.
QUESTION:
Right.
MR.
MCCORMACK: In terms of -- they would oppose sanctions
on the state of Syria. What we're talking about in the
draft resolution, the sanctions on individuals, so two
different things. And Secretary Rice talked about a little
bit yesterday up in Canada when the question of state
sanctions came up. Certainly, we are prepared to talk
to other members of the Security Council about any potential
phasing of sanctions. If, in fact, we do get to the point
of sanctions, the objectives of -- the immediate objectives
of this resolution are -- they're twofold -- and Secretary
Rice spoke to this yesterday afternoon up in Ottawa.
One, to compel Syrian cooperation with the Mehlis investigation.
To date, in his interim report, he has catalogued not
only Syrian non-cooperation with the investigation but
he has also catalogued incidences where they have actively
sought to thwart the investigation, even to the point
of providing false information. So very clearly the international
community is concerned by this. We must see the Syrian
Government cooperate with this investigation so that Mr.
Mehlis can establish the facts of what happened.
That's important for the Lebanese people. It's important
for the international community, because let's remember
what happened here. If you look at his interim report,
what happened here was a prime minister of a country was
encouraged to accept the reappointment of a president
of his country by another country, which that prime minister
thought was not in the best interest of his country. In
protest he resigned and as a result of that, he was assassinated.
And Mr. Mehlis is -- you can read in the report yourself
-- come to the point where he believes that this could
not have been done without the active planning and active
participation of the Lebanese and the Syrian Government
-- parts of the Lebanese and Syrian Governments.
So that's why this is important and that's why we are
now at the point of considering this resolution to compel
Syrian cooperation. So this is a quite serious matter
and I would suspect that we're going to have continuing
consultations over the coming days on this.
QUESTION:
I mean, can you put sanctions on individuals? I thought
sanctions go on states. Why would you use the word "sanctions"
if you talk about individuals, what does that mean? I
mean, I presume that you mean freezing of assets or travel
ban. What else --
MR.
MCCORMACK: It does involve certain restrictions
on -- potential restrictions on travel, as well as targeting
of assets. Yes.
QUESTION:
So why would you use "sanctions"? I don't understand
that.
MR.
MCCORMACK: I think you can apply the word "sanctions"
to individuals as well. I'm not aware of any restrictions
on that terminology.
QUESTION:
And just to clarify one point. So at the moment you're
not considering sanctions on the state itself. You're
just talking about individuals who have been implicated.
MR.
MCCORMACK: Again, what is before the members
of the Security Council right now is a draft resolution
that talks about individual sanctions. And as Secretary
Rice talked about yesterday, when she was asked this question
about individual versus state sanctions, she said that
we would were certainly open to discussion, if we do get
to the point of the sanctions, talking about a phased
approach.
QUESTION:
If you talk about a phased approach, would the beginning
of that phase be with just targeted sanctions in terms
of travel sanctions and then what would be the other end
of the spectrum if you're talking about phasing in? Would
that be a much broader sanction and what would the other
end of the spectrum if you're talking about phasing in?
Would that be much broader sanctions and what would the
other end of the spectrum --
MR.
MCCORMACK: Well, I don't want to presuppose a
particular outcome at this point.
QUESTION:
Well, you're talking about phasing so --
MR.
MCCORMACK: Right. But she was --
QUESTION:
-- (inaudible) phasing, there's a beginning and an end.
MR.
MCCORMACK: Exactly and she was asked in general
about the question of state sanctions so I'm not going
to be any more specific than that at this point.
The question that's before us is a question of, in this
resolution, potential individual sanctions. So that's
where we are in the diplomacy. And in terms of the question
of phasing and other potential actions, I'm just going
to -- I don't have anything to add to what the Secretary
spoke to just yesterday.
Yes.
QUESTION:
Could you speak about reports about a letter sent by President
Asad to members of the Security Council and even a stronger
one sent to the British, French and the U.S. about what
he's willing to do to cooperate with the investigation?
MR.
MCCORMACK: I think just as a general comment,
what we need to see is Syria's action. What we need to
see is Syria and individuals in the Syrian Government
cooperating -- cooperating, as defined by Mr. Mehlis,
in this investigation. To date, that has not happened.
So words are, at this point, is not what's needed. What
is needed is actual cooperation and action. And that's
what I think the world is waiting to see from Syria.
QUESTION:
Well, could you confirm the existence of a letter?
MR.
MCCORMACK: Sure. Yeah. There were letters, I
believe, that were delivered to all the members of the
Security Council.
QUESTION:
And so how are you responding to this kind of overture
by the President -- is it, by this podium --
MR.
MCCORMACK: I think I just did.
QUESTION:
No, no, I'm asking -- is it by this podium in public statements
or are there contacts through the Syrian mission at the
UN, at the Embassy here, I mean.
MR.
MCCORMACK: I'm not sure that we have had a formal
response conveyed to the Syrians, but I think the message
is very clear. Just through the -- if you just look at
the discussions that are ongoing now up in New York, where
you're considering passage of a Security Council resolution
that would compel Syria's cooperation with this investigation.
I think that speaks very clearly to what is required of
Syria and what is expected of Syria at this point. Words
-- we're beyond words. What we need now, we need Syria
to act and to cooperate.
Yes.
QUESTION:
Have you had a chance to look at the Larsen report yet
and, if so, do you have a reaction? And also how will
that -- you said last week, it would lead -- they may
lead together in terms of UN talks. Can you talk about
where that may fit in?
MR.
MCCORMACK: I think, at this point, we are --
have either just received or soon to receive a copy of
the report, so we haven't had a chance to, I think, read
it through thoroughly and to analyze it so I'm going to
withhold any public comment on it right now until we have
a public discussion of it. And I think the public discussion
right now is -- we're looking at within the Security Council
maybe something next week.
In terms of any potential overlap between the discussion
of the Mehlis report as well and the Larsen report, we'll
see. You know, I can't say at this point. So I don't think
they've had -- they've scheduled a time for the Security
Council to actually take up what's in the Larsen report
so we're going to be looking at it, we're going to analyze
it and we'll try to get you a reaction at the earliest
possible point.
Yes.
QUESTION:
Do you still think that there'll be a ministerial meeting
on October the 31st? You had indicated that that's what
you were shooting for.
MR.
MCCORMACK: That's what we're still working towards.
I don't think that there's a final announcement yet from
the Security Council, but we're still working towards
a ministerial level meeting on the 31st.
QUESTION:
Change of subject?
QUESTION:
No.
MR.
MCCORMACK: Joel.
QUESTION:
Sean, this morning the Lebanese Foreign Minister has notified
the UN that arms are still flowing from Syria into Lebanon.
Do you have any comment?
MR.
MCCORMACK: I hadn't seen those reports, Joel.
But certainly, any attempt
--
QUESTION: So nothing out of the Larsen
report?
MR.
MCCORMACK: We haven't had a chance to look through
this carefully, so I can't comment on any specifics.
In general, as we have said before, the world would be
very concerned about any continuing attempts on the part
of Syria to try to influence the situation in Lebanon
-- the political situation, the security situation or
otherwise. That's very clear in Resolution 1559. So just
as a general comment about Syrian attempts to influence
or to act in Lebanon, that's certainly a source of great
concern. But with respect to Larsen, we'll take a look
at his report.
Okay. Anything else on this? Okay, Peter.
|