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U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, 01-02-22U.S. State Department: Daily Press Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>DAILY BRIEFING Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC February 22, 2001 INDEX: ICTY: Members of Armed Services Found Guilty at The Hague TRANSCRIPT: MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let me mention a few statements and then we can get on with your questions about these or other topics. First of all, we want to say that we welcome the judgment in The Hague by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the matter of the Prosecutor against Kunarac, Kovac, and Vukovic. This is a historic verdict in which three members of the Bosnian Serb armed forces were found guilty of violations of laws and customs of war and crimes against humanity for acts of rape torture and enslavement. This is the first case before the International Tribunal that has focused entirely on crimes of sexual violence, and the first to enter a conviction for enslavement as a crime against humanity. We strongly condemn the acts that led to this case and commend the International Tribunal for its pursuit of accountability in these matters. Let me just mention the other statements, then. Every year, we put out a statement for students on the risks of overseas travel, so we're putting that statement out today. There is the spring break travel safety information for students. And, Matt, you'll be especially interested to know that we have a special statement on spring break in Cancun. So those are coming out today. Those are all the statements I have. I'd be glad to take your questions. Q: The Secretary is leaving tomorrow, but Mr. Blair -- will he simply sit in on or participate in the President's meeting, or will there be any other interaction. MR. BOUCHER: He is not having a separate meeting with Prime Minister Blair, but he'll be participating in the President's meeting. Q: That's tomorrow, of course. MR. BOUCHER: Yes. Q: On a related matter, related to the ICTY, are you happy with the arrangements for the trial of General Nirko Norac* in Croatia? MR. BOUCHER: Well, the arrangements -- whatever arrangements there are for the trial will be made in Croatia by the Croatians. Q: Are you happy with -- MR. BOUCHER: Our understanding is the Tribunal, the International Tribunal, decided not to prosecute this case, not to pursue this case, and we support the Tribunal in that decision and we support Croatian authorities in whatever decision they make about trial within Croatia. Q: North Korea? Have you seen the official commentary, you know, suggesting unhappiness with the supposed hard-line team now in Washington and raising the possibility of suspending the moratorium on tests? MR. BOUCHER: Let me say a few things about this. Clearly we do remain concerned about North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs, and we hope that these issues can be dealt with constructively. The Secretary, as you know, has indicated in his confirmation hearings that he is very mindful of the work that has been done with North Korea, and says that we will continue to use that as we form an overall policy. He said that we will abide and agree to the commitments made under the Agreed Framework as long as North Korea does the same. So that's the foundation on which we will base future policy. On October 12th, North Korea and the United States did issue a joint communiqué noting that North Korea "informed the United States that it will not launch long-range missiles of any kind while talks on the missile issue continue." We expect North Korea to abide by that commitment. And the Secretary, as I said, has said that we will abide by our commitments under the Agreed Framework, and we would expect North Korea to do the same. Work on the light-water reactor is moving forward, and we do remain in touch with North Korea through the New York channel. Q: They argue that the talks are not continuing. Do you consider talks to be continuing now, and what plans do you actually have to -- MR. BOUCHER: Well, as I say, we remain in touch with the North Koreans through the New York channels, but I don’t think they asserted that there was any change in this overall situation at this point. Q: Do you have any plans for any talks at levels above the New York channel, which is basically a logistical channel, as I understand it? MR. BOUCHER: Not at this point, but I think we've made clear that we're looking at the policy with regard to North Korea, that it's a policy that will be built on the work that was done before and the commitments that have been made before. Q: With regard to the statement, might you accelerate your plans to have meetings? MR. BOUCHER: We haven't scheduled anything since they made the statement, no. Q: Are you aware of Under -- Assistant Secretary-Designate Bolton has expressed an interest in the -- in having some kind of a meeting with the North Koreans? MR. BOUCHER: I haven't heard of anything from him on that, but obviously he wouldn't have a meeting until he were confirmed by the Senate. Q: Right, but -- okay, you don't know. What about now on the kind of question of envoys and things like that? Does Charles Kartman -- what's -- and Wendy Sherman, those posts -- what is the deal with them? MR. BOUCHER: What's the deal with them? Q: Well, it's hard to have talks if you don't have anyone who is going to be -- MR. BOUCHER: Well, Ambassador Kartman is still working these issues. He's still working within the East Asia Bureau on issues regarding Korea and North Korea. He has, in fact, just been traveling to Seoul and Tokyo to discuss the issues related to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization with our partners in that organization in Japan and South Korea. He also took the opportunity there to meet with officials and others for updates on recent developments related to North Korea. Q: When? MR. BOUCHER: When? The 19th through the 21st when Kartman has been out there. Q: Did he have a trilateral meeting during that -- MR. BOUCHER: I don't think they had a trilateral meeting, but he was in Seoul and Tokyo. Q: This KEDO meetings that he had, is that what you refer to when you say the work on the light-water reactor is continuing? MR. BOUCHER: Well, there is work on the light-water reactor, too, but it's all part of this KEDO organization. Q: And what about the Counselor, Wendy Sherman? MR. BOUCHER: There's nothing new on that. Q: Could I ask you, while pieces are falling into place, two things? Will Mr. Bolton be the ranking person on arms control, sort of John Holum's replacement, if not with the same title? And is there definitive word yet on whether there will be a special mediator for the Middle East? Because there isn't one -- MR. BOUCHER: Did I somehow not -- I mean, I didn't read the exact text of the White House announcement. I assumed that the job that he was nominated for was the job that John Holum had. Q: Well, it's an Under Secretary's job. Q: Correct. I wasn't sure if it was Under Secretary. Q: I thought he said Assistant. MR. BOUCHER: It was described to me as "T", which is what we've always described as the Under Secretary -- Q: It's hard to confirm a negative, though. The Mideast special mediator - - can we finally be told that you're dispensing -- that the State Department is dispensing with that semiautonomous team? MR. BOUCHER: No. Q: Richard, the Chinese again have denied that they have people in Iraq. You said yesterday you wanted a further explanation. Have they given it to you and/or do you accept what they're saying today as the final answer? MR. BOUCHER: No, we still expect to get a more detailed response from the Chinese. Q: So you haven't heard back yet? MR. BOUCHER: We haven't heard anything new, no. Q: Richard, there's been some reports out of Oman quoting diplomats as saying that the number of Chinese in Baghdad has quadrupled in the last month. I'm just wondering -- I'm not asking you to talk about that, but yesterday we were asking about numbers. Is there -- do you -- MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any numbers for you that I can share. Q: But is it hundreds of workers? Are we talking about thousands? Or you just don't know? MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I can even give you an order of magnitude. Q: Are you saying, then, that what China said today in Beijing is wrong? MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen what China said today in Beijing. Q: Well, they denied that there are any Chinese there and they said the US is just trying to change the subject about Iraq. MR. BOUCHER: I think, you know, we've made clear in January to the Chinese that we were concerned about the presence of Chinese firms in Iraq doing work in telecommunications and in area particularly optical fiber projects. We made quite clear our concerns in January. We have continued to pursue this. The Secretary raised it yesterday, and we do still expect to get a response from the Chinese. Q: You just used the plural word. You said "projects." What beyond the one that we know about is the US concerned about? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know what the one that you know about is. I have not spoken here of any particular -- Q: The one that we ostensibly tried to bomb last week. MR. BOUCHER: I have not asserted that that was a particular project. I have not asserted any particular project. Q: Okay. Well, what beyond the one that we think we know is the one that the Chinese -- (laughter) -- MR. BOUCHER: I don't accept the premise. I just can't accept the premise. I'm sorry. Q: You're not going -- so you don't want to go into where these projects are or what -- MR. BOUCHER: I don't want to confirm any particular project by advertence or inadvertence or implication. Q: Well, if we lay that project aside, are you able to give us any examples of projects that the Chinese are currently working on? MR. BOUCHER: I am not in a position to do that. Q: Richard, the Italian Foreign Minister today -- can you give us a readout on the meeting, and especially the Iraqi aspects of it? MR. BOUCHER: I can't give you any readout on the Iraqi aspect of it because they were going to continue their discussions over lunch, and lunch is taking place now, so we will have to do that subsequently. I had to absent myself from lunch to come down and spend this lovely time with you all instead. During the meeting portion of this -- I should have brought my notes with me. During the meeting they discussed, first of all, the firm foundation of US-Italian relations, Secretary Powell referring to both our countries and Foreign Minister Dini as old friends. On that foundation, they started off discussing cooperation in the Balkans, particularly Kosovo. They talked about European Security and Defense issues. They talked about the Middle East quite a bit. They talked about -- compared notes on Russia, since the Secretary is going off to meet with Foreign Minister Ivanov. I think those are the subjects they discussed at the meeting. Q: That was the part you were in? MR. BOUCHER: Yes. Now they're at lunch and they may be talking about Iraq and other -- Q: And Iraq didn't come up at all -- MR. BOUCHER: Hasn't come up yet in the meeting. Q: Can you expand a little bit, other than just to say that they -- you gave us a laundry list of what they talked about. What exactly did they talk about in terms of Balkans and Kosovo? MR. BOUCHER: They talked about the cooperation between the United States and Italy throughout the events there and the continued need for cooperation, our continued cooperation, in that regard. They didn't get into any particular aspects or decisions. They also talked about the NATO meeting in Brussels and the issue of NATO enlargement. Q: Did the Secretary expand on the Administration's attitude towards the US presence in the Balkans? MR. BOUCHER: No, certainly not beyond anything he said to you already. That we would be reviewing this ourselves in terms of our deployments, and we intended to discuss this with our NATO friends and allies. I think what I would say from the meetings that the Secretary has had and from our knowledge of what's going on in NATO that all of us in NATO want to make sure that we have the right kind of deployments out there, and all of us in NATO want to make sure that we don't waste money on troops that aren't needed. So that's a process that goes on within NATO that we're participating in within NATO. NATO sets agreed levels and helps us decide how our deployment should be. But in addition, the Administration has made clear we are taking our own look at deployments throughout the world, including in the Balkans. Q: Richard, did the Secretary ask the Foreign Minister or raise any concerns with the Foreign Minister about an upcoming trip to Tehran? MR. BOUCHER: Not during the portion that I was in. Q: Did Foreign Minister Dini express any particular concern about the US troops there, or was it pretty much the same -- MR. BOUCHER: No, he didn't. Actually, I don't remember any specific discussion of US troops. Just more a discussion of the continued cooperation. Q: Because other foreign ministers, European foreign ministers, when they have -- they have raised -- MR. BOUCHER: In some cases, they've asked what exactly do you think about this, and he has given them the same explanation that you have. I don't think that happened in this meeting. Q: There were no (inaudible) -- didn't come up ? MR. BOUCHER: I don't remember him saying that today. He said it yesterday and the day before. No precipitous, I think, withdrawals was the way it's phrased. Q: Does the State Department have any comment in general about the upcoming trip of -- is it the Italian Prime Minister to Tehran? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I wasn't aware of the trip by an Italian person to Tehran. I'll have to figure out what it is and see if there's anything we want to say about it. Q: He's the second European to be going there recently. MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that we'll have anything in particular to say, frankly. Q: On Cuba. Mr. Boucher, there are some reports saying that the United States is going to change or already changed their immigration policy toward Cuba. I just wondered if you have anything on that. MR. BOUCHER: There has not been any change in US policy towards Cuban migrants that are interdicted at sea. We have the 1995 US-Cuba Migration Accord. Under the terms of that accord, the Cuban migrants interdicted at sea who don’t have a credible fear of persecution are returned to Cuba. We continue to fulfill our commitments under both the 1994 and 1995 US-Cuba Migration Accords. We would expect the Cuban Government to do the same. Q: I have another question on the hemisphere. In Peru, they are asking about cooperation by the United States Government to get information about the activities of Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos and help this country to find him and arrest him. Do you have anything on that? Is the United States ready to cooperate with the Peruvian authorities in this case? MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything on that at this point. Q: Two questions on the upcoming meeting with Ivanov. Will Secretary Powell bring up the -- I guess at this point it's unclear what the status of this agreement not to have any future contracts in arming Iran. Will this come up? It was at one point called the Gore-Chernomyrdin Agreement. I guess that's no longer applicable. MR. BOUCHER: I hesitate, the closer we get to the meeting, to predict specific subjects as coming up or not coming up. Meetings sometimes have their own dynamic. But certainly the issue of nonproliferation efforts is very likely to come up, and I think as we have explained to you when you have asked about National Missile Defense and how it's discussed, and the Secretary has explained to you that he sees the need to discuss with partners and friends like the Russians issues of the overall strategic concept, which includes questions of offensive weapons but also of diplomacy of nonproliferation and of defense. So that I think that that whole -- all those issues are likely to come up. Q: To follow up, have there been any discussions at all with Moscow regarding potentially new contracts, arms contracts, with Iran? I know this was a hot issue at the end of Madeleine Albright's term. MR. BOUCHER: I'm not aware that there are any specific new contracts. I would have to double-check on that point, but I don't think I've had any reported. But certainly we've had, as you know, in late November or early December we had discussions with the Russians over the need to avoid sales to Iran and that we -- I'm not sure we've had the same kind of sort of envoys, but this has been a subject of continuing discussion, I am sure, by our Embassy that the issue of proliferation is one of great concern to us. And I think all of us want to make sure that we aren't faced with sales now that might cause problems down the road. Q: The first thing is that Ivanov was asked today if he expected the Hanssen case to come up, and he said, no, we have enough better things to talk about. Is that the position from this podium as well? MR. BOUCHER: Again, they're going to talk about a lot of subjects. Whether one particular one comes up or not, I don't know, but I'm not anticipating any particular discussion about it. Q: Okay. And the other thing is is that not only have the Russians come out very loudly in protesting today's Allied bombings in Iraq, but Ivanov has also gone back and talked about how -- talked about the inviolability of the ABM Treaty. Does this make the meeting in Cairo any more tentacious - - contentious? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I guess that's one you can ask him whether he is trying to raise attention but -- Q: (Inaudible.) MR. BOUCHER: Well, you will. You can ask this afterwards. We're anticipating a positive meeting and a chance for them to talk to each other face to face for the first time. As you know, they've talked a couple times on the telephone. There are certainly issues to bring up and issues that we want to pursue. Secretary Powell will do that in a straightforward manner, I am sure. Q: Do you have any comment about the American people working in a rescue crew in Colombia that were involved in gunfire? And how much the United States Government worried about the people that are training the Colombia military since they are called military targets by the guerrillas? MR. BOUCHER: I think that's two separate issues, is my understanding. Let me explain to you what we know happened on Sunday, February 18th. It was about 10:15 a.m. that a Colombian National Police unit helicopter that was escorting a routine spray mission in Caqeta took ground fire and made an emergency landing. There were no fatalities among the Colombian National Police crew, but the pilot was wounded in the leg. Colombian National Police helicopters regularly accompany spray missions in an escort capacity. In addition, there was a Department of State airwing helicopter with a mixed US contractor and Colombian National Police crew that provides search-and-rescue capacity in that area. During the emergency landing, the search-and-rescue helicopter, as well as the Colombian National Police helicopter, landed immediately and rescued the injured pilot and evacuated the other crew members. Colombian military units provided aerial support and ground troops to assist in this rescue effort of the crew and the helicopter. The Colombian and US Governments have numerous security measures in place to minimize the danger to American contractors during spray missions; however, serious injuries and loss of equipment is inevitable due to the types of aggressive operations the Colombians are currently undertaking to eradicate coca in guerrilla- controlled areas in Putumayo and Caqeta. Last year -- that's in 2000 -- there were over 60 aircraft operating in support of the Colombian Government's spray operations. They were hit by ground fire with no casualties. So despite this incident, the ground and spray operations continue in Colombia. Q: What about the concerns from the United States about the military in Colombian land? You know they're called military targets from the guerrillas. Are you worried about that? MR. BOUCHER: Well, I mean clearly we are quite aware of the threat to our people, along with to the Colombian Government people who are carrying out these operations. People that are spraying narcotics anywhere in the world are often the targets of attacks from the people whose illegal gains they are threatening. So it's not a surprise and I'm sure that we take all appropriate security measures. But it's an important task and a job that needs to be done, and a job that we're proud to be part of. Q: Are you aware of a report by NATO inspectors stating that there were no nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad? MR. BOUCHER: No. Q: Okay. And could we go back to Korea for a moment? North Korea is saying that they're being put under pressure to disarm, to undertake a unilateral move to disarm, by the United States. Is that true? Does that reflect any reality as far as you are concerned? And can you tell us anything about what the nature of the contacts with the New York channel is at the moment? MR. BOUCHER: The nature of the contacts of the New York channel are sort of diplomatic contacts, logistical contacts, discussions of issues that are already under way and implementation of things that are under way. I wouldn't describe them as opening up a new policy front in any way. As far as unilateral pressure to disarm, certainly we've been looking for a reduction of tensions on the Peninsula. We've been looking for a reduction in North Korean missile development and elimination of their missile exports. But I don't think we would equate that as pressure to unilaterally disarm. It's something of benefit to all people on the Peninsula, whether North or South. It's worth pursuing from both sides. Q: Following up on Elaine's question, is that something that you've previously announced or publicly discussed, the fact that US diplomats have been meeting with North Korean diplomats, if I understand you correctly? MR. BOUCHER: We talk about it all the time. The New York channel. Q: Okay. When was the last time they met? MR. BOUCHER: The last time they met? I don't know exactly. I think I remember talking about a meeting about two weeks ago when they came down here. I assume that we've had discussions since then. Q: Is that something that the US initiated or was initiated by the North Koreans? MR. BOUCHER: It's the ongoing way of communicating with North Korea, basically. It's been going on for a long, long time in terms of the way that that's the way we talk to the North Koreans. They don't have an embassy here; we don't have an embassy in Pyongyang; we talk to their people in New York. Q: Back on the Middle East. There have been anti-US demonstrations near US embassies. Have there been any security problems? Has there been any scaling back of employees or anything during this time? MR. BOUCHER: The events in Beirut -- there was a crowd of about 1,100 to 1,400 students yesterday. My information is protestors never came near the US Embassy; the Embassy was not in danger at any time during those protests. We did have excellent cooperation between the Embassy and Lebanese security forces. There were reports of slight injuries among the demonstrators and Lebanese security personnel. The Embassy obviously in that circumstance takes precautions, but they are open for business as usual today. They didn't close yesterday. So there has been no change in our travel warning for Lebanon, either. Q: No other embassy closings? MR. BOUCHER: Not that I'm aware of. Did we do a scan or did we just -- we did a check and couldn't find any. Q: (Inaudible) if this Russian missile plan would be a violation of the ABM Treaty? MR. BOUCHER: I don't think at this point we've had time to study it enough to say one thing or another about it. Q: Your comments tend to suggest that you don't really see anything new in their statement, but are you concerned about it? Do you have anything you can say about the timing of it or how you interpret the fact that it happened? MR. BOUCHER: No. Q: You have no conclusions? You're not concerned by it? I mean, they're talking about not -- MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we regularly do commentary here on fill-in statements and articles in that fashion. They're sort of why and the motivation and the -- you know, we'll tell you what our position is. I'm happy to do that. Q: Okay. I'm asking if you're concerned about the fact that North Korea is saying it's not going to observe indefinitely its moratorium on testing long-range missiles. MR. BOUCHER: A missile launch by North Korea would certainly be a very serious matter, but we also note North Korea's willingness, as stated in that commentary, to continue to discuss missile issues and the Agreed Framework. Those are obviously part of the subjects we're working on. And as I mentioned before, the Secretary said that we were mindful of the work that had been done; we would abide by the Agreed Framework; and we would be looking at our policy from that point. Q: The agreement in October was never -- I mean, although the United States might want it to be an indefinite suspension or moratorium, I mean it's only -- MR. BOUCHER: I read the language. "As long as the missile talks continue." Q: I mean, it never said indefinitely. MR. BOUCHER: No. Q: I was just wondering, listening to tonal changes, or lack thereof, I wondered if -- MR. BOUCHER: It's the same dull and boring tone, Barry. Q: No, is there -- you don't hear the other side any more. The other side of the coin isn't flipped, it strikes me, since Mr. Bush was elected. The hope that you can improve relations with North Korea, the hope that somehow you could establish your relationship with Iran. Are those hopes harbored by this new Administration as they were by the previous one, even while you're looking for North Korea to behave, for Iran to behave? Is there another side to this anymore, or is it a matter of policing the relationship, or lack of relationship, with bad ones? MR. BOUCHER: I'll take Option D, none of the above. I think we've been quite clear from here -- the Secretary has been quite clear in his testimony and elsewhere -- that we do look forward to a step-by-step process where we can see changes in North Korean behavior and where we can improve the relationship with North Korea. That's been a fundamental premise. But how exactly we go about that is something that we're looking at, so we don't have a grand vision or a new statement of that to give, but the fundament framework, the fundamental method of proceeding, have been reiterated in this Administration. On the issue of Iran, again, you know, sort of we've had things to say about it. I don't have a brand new policy for you at this stage. Q: What, if anything, do you make of the arrest in Sudan of Mr. Turabi and his associates? MR. BOUCHER: We have obviously seen the reports. We understand that as of this morning he remains -- Mr. Turabi remains in custody. His detention follows the signing in Switzerland this week of a Memorandum of Understanding with the separatist, southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army. As far as explaining the events, I don't think we can tell you much more than that. Certainly we would urge the Sudanese Government to respect his civil rights and to observe due process of law. Q: So you don't think that signing an MOU with the SPLA was a good idea on his part? I mean, isn't that -- MR. BOUCHER: I think we're just observing the coincidence of the two events, rather than saying one way or the other. Q: Yeah, but isn't peace in Sudan something that you want? MR. BOUCHER: Peace in Sudan is good. We support that, yes. Q: So then can you say anything about the signing of this -- forget about his arrest, but what about -- had you been asked when it was signed, would you have welcomed it? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. Since I wasn't asked when it was signed, I don't know what I would have said. If I'm being asked now what we think of the signing of this memorandum -- Q: -- yes -- MR. BOUCHER: -- I don't have anything for you right now on it. I'll see if we decide to say something. Q: Richard, did you see the reports about the new trial for Lori Berenson, and do you have a comment? MR. BOUCHER: We would be hopeful that oral arguments phase of Ms. Berenson's trials would begin soon. We have long pressed for a civilian trial, but it is, I think, inappropriate for us to comment on outcomes until we see the proceedings. Q: The funding agreement for the Iraqi resistance group, the INC, officially expires on February 28th. I understand that there have been some discussions to get an extension on that, to spend the remaining $2.5 million, but is there any progress you can give us on this? I mean, do you guys intend to grant an extension on this contract? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. That's the kind of operational stuff that's handled on a fairly straightforward and routine manner when it comes to any funding. I think there's time periods that can be extended. I'll check and see if this one needs to be extended or whether disbursements can be made. Q: Do you have anything more on the potential US envoy going to Japan? MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have anything more at this state. Let me double-check. No, we'll provide details on that as soon as we have them. We're working on it. Ambassador Foley did extend our apologies and deepest regrets to the Emperor and the Empress when he met with them -- I think it was today. He also met with the family members yesterday to assure them that details of the investigation will be announced as soon as they're available. Q: Richard, how would you characterize the effect that the sub accident has had on the US-Japanese relationship? I mean, clearly there's a lot of apologizing going on and there's a lot of anger in Japan. Do you think that -- has that carried over at all? MR. BOUCHER: I guess I get asked this every day. Fundamentally, the US and Japan have a very solid relationship. That relationship remains a very solid one, a very cooperative one, one that is very, very broad for both our countries. It's a reflection of that that we have this kind of close cooperation when a tragedy occurs, and we are doing our utmost to make that cooperation as close as possible to work with them at the investigators level or to have our Ambassador meet with the families. The fact that there's that sort of personal relationship when a tragedy occurs I think is reflective of the fact that we do have a very deep and very broad relationship with Japan. Q: But the word is regret, not apology? MR. BOUCHER: Again, I said Ambassador Foley extended our apologies and deepest regrets. I've used that word a number of times. Q: Can I go back briefly to China-Iraq? Do you have anything to say about the presence of military personnel in the construction site of this fiber optic telecommunication project? MR. BOUCHER: I didn't ten minutes ago, and I don't now. Thank you. Q: Richard, the former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday at the OAS, she said that there is the necessity of the US to change its policy toward Cuba. My question is what's happening with the former Secretaries of State? As soon as they get out of this building they change their view toward the policy of Cuba. Do you have any comments on that? MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid I'm the Spokesman for current and active Secretaries of State. And we, in our country, leave former Secretary of States to express themselves any way they want. So, no, I don't speak on -- much as we have admiration for her, we don't speak on her behalf here. Thank you. [End.] Released on February 22, 2001
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