Daily Press Briefing Sean McCormack, Spokesman

Daily Press Briefing Sean McCormack, Spokesman Washington, DC July 12, 2007

INDEX:

DEPARTMENT Change in Secretary Rice's Travel Plans to Middle East, Africa / Jerusalem, Ramallah, Democratic Republic of the Congo Postponed Future Middle East Visit Will Be With Secretary of Defense Gates Quartet Ministerial Meeting in Portugal Possible

IRAQ Secretary's Middle East Trip to Build on Sharm el-Sheikh / Significant Regional Engagement on Iraq and the Fight Against the Ideology of Violent Extremism Secretary Rice's Contact with Members of Congress on Iraq

ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS David Welch in Region to Consult with Israelis and Palestinians Secretary Rice Still Focused on Israeli-Palestinian Issues

TRANSCRIPT:

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12:01 p.m. EDT

MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody. Before we get started, I want to update you on the Secretary's travel schedule. At this point, we are going to postpone the stop -- the planned stops in Jerusalem and Ramallah until the end of the month. The Secretary and -- Secretary Rice is going to be traveling to the region, as the President announced, in part with Secretary Gates. So she decided that it was appropriate to postpone these two stops and combine it with that trip. So we'll have more information on that trip, the dates, and the stops as we get closer to it, but I would expect that we would leave towards the end of the month and then there would be some joint travel with Secretary Gates at the very beginning of August.

Also, we have decided to postpone the stop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Secretary, given the logistical constraints and time constraints, really wanted to be able to spend more time on an extended trip to Africa, of which the Democratic -- stop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo would make sense. So we're going to look at rescheduling that trip to some future date I don't have a timeframe for you right now. And currently, we're still -- she is still planning to go to Accra, Ghana for the AGOA Forum and then stop in Portugal. Of course, if there are any updates to that travel schedule, we will keep you up to date and let you know as soon as we know of any changes.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Why was it appropriate to postpone those stops if she still plans to travel next week and she's going to be in Africa not that far away? Why not just go ahead and do the important work with the Israeli and the Palestinians?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, if you look at where she is going, there is actually quite a distance from where she still plans to go to travel in the Middle East. And also, given the time in which we find ourselves, there's a lot of discussion going on concerning Iraq, there's certainly a lot of discussion, policy-wise, about the Middle East. And she thought it was appropriate to be back in Washington during this time and plus, from a logistical standpoint, it just made sense.

QUESTION: So --

QUESTION: So what does that mean for next week then?

MR. MCCORMACK: Next week -- again, we still at this point --

QUESTION: No, no, no, I know, but in terms of the days then?

MR. MCCORMACK: In terms of the --

QUESTION: The departure and --

QUESTION: When does she leave and when will she come back?

MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, we'll get to that to you. But I think we're looking at either a Tuesday night, Wednesday morning departure at this point.

QUESTION: Sorry. Since the Israeli-Palestinian stop has been cancelled, why --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, not cancelled -- postponed.

QUESTION: Postponed. Why the Congo trip had to be cancelled?

QUESTION: You can spend more time --

QUESTION: She would have (inaudible) time to get to Congo.

MR. MCCORMACK: Again -- she wants to be able to spend more time on an Africa trip, more quality time. As it was, she very much wanted to go to the DROC, but given the logistics of the trip as it was previously configured it was actually going to be a fairly short stop that actually posed some real logistical challenges as well. So given a newly reconfigured trip, she thought that it was best to take that portion -- the DROC portion of it --- place it in another trip at some point in the future where she can really a lot more time in Africa and presumably more time on a DROC stop than we would have been able to on this trip.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Will the focus of the trip at the end of the month largely be Iraq, just with sort of Ramallah and Jerusalem tacked on or --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, look -- clearly two issues that are important in their own right -- the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the Israeli-Palestinian track and Iraq. There is an overall linkage if you look at the idea of a Middle East which is roughly divided between -- on one side violent extremists and their supporters and all of those others who are looking for a different kind of a Middle East, a more stable, prosperous, peaceful secure Middle East. So in that overall sense they -- you can look at them as linked, but the two discrete issues, the Israeli-Palestinian track and then Iraq, are separate.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Is she staying in town week for anything -- any specific meetings You mentioned that it's an important time --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- talking about Iraq.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Is there something that she needs to be here for?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, specific meetings. But obviously we all know if we read our newspapers and watch our TVs there's a lot of discussion, a lot of national discussion about Iraq as well as other issues associated with the Middle East. The President talked quite a bit today at his press conference about the ideological struggle in which we find ourselves and there are many different components to that, so she thought given the opportunity to include stops in Jerusalem and Ramallah on a trip that she was going to be taking in the not-too-distant future and also given the fact that there is this discussion that is ongoing now, she thought it was the right thing to do.

QUESTION: Can I just follow up. You said the late July-early August trip --

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: -- some of that would be joint with the Secretary of Defense.

MR. MCCORMACK: Secretary of Defense.

QUESTION: They'd be like on the same plane or --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: I'm not trying to compromise their safety or anything --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- but they will actually be at the same place at the same time?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't think we've fully worked through all the logistics. But she's going to have some stops that she does -- that's in her capacity only as Secretary of State doing diplomacy in the region. And there are probably going to be a stop or more with Secretary Gates in which they -- they are there together. I can't tell you whether or not they'll arrive there together, but they will be there together.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: Can you say where they'll be together?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, we haven't quite sorted that out. We have some ideas in mind, but we still need to talk to host countries. So we'll -- all those details we'll try to get you as soon as we have them.

QUESTION: You said the Lisbon stop has been confirmed?

MR. MCCORMACK: At this point, we still plan on -- she still plans on going to Accra, Ghana for the AGOA Forum and to stop in Portugal.

QUESTION: Okay. Is it a Quartet meeting scheduled in Lisbon?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't think there's been any final agreement on the next ministerial-level Quartet meeting. Portugal is a potential venue. I don't think that there's been a complete meeting of the minds on that mainly for scheduling reasons.

QUESTION: Is it -- it is a possibility?

MR. MCCORMACK: It is a possibility, yes.

QUESTION: So there still could be a Middle East component to this trip?

MR. MCCORMACK: True, yeah.

QUESTION: Can you just talk about the calculation of having Rice and Gates traveling together? Why that decision was made? Why the President decided to send them together?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, as for the President's thinking, I'm going to let the White House speak to that. But it is --- it's a trip intended in part to build on some of what Secretary Rice herself did at Sharm el-Sheikh and that is working with friends and allies in the region and building a structure, if you will -- to use that term -- in which Iraq can find its place in the Middle East. It's an opportunity for both of them to talk to friends and allies about our -- where we stand with Iraq, how we see that they may -- our friends and allies -- help Iraq and support Iraq in a variety of different ways. And it's also an opportunity for both of them to underline the United States commitment to our friends and allies in the region that we will stand firm in our fight against the ideology of violent extremism.

QUESTION: Do you view this as a sort of a diplomatic offensive that the Iraqi Study Group called for when they reported last year?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I would just point out that Secretary Rice has already done a high-profile meeting in which there was some significant regional engagement. We signed the International Compact for Iraq, you had the Iraq neighbors' meeting. And you did see similar recommendations -- similar to that in the Iraq Study Group and we've noted that in the past. But this was -- these were initiatives that Secretary Rice conceived of. I can't tell you exactly the timing when she first started thinking about this, but it's something she had been talking about with the President for some time and we were quite pleased that we were able to convene that Iraq neighbors' group that she attended. So I would view this as while not necessarily reconvening at this point that Iraq neighbors' group at the ministerial level, building on that effort and certainly consistent with that theme of regional engagement not only concerning Iraq but also concerning the fight against the ideology of violent extremism.

Yes.

QUESTION: By deciding to postpone this -- the sort of Israeli-Palestinian section of this trip, does this mean that you're putting that issue kind of on the back burner for a little while --

MR. MCCORMACK: No.

QUESTION: -- because you're consumed by Iraq and going to sort that out?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, not at all. David Welch is in the region and I think he's either on his way back or will be back in town tomorrow. He was consulting with Israelis as well as Palestinians. He had just had a Quartet meeting this past Tuesday and Secretary Rice on a daily basis is engaged on this issue. So it is in no -- in no way signals a diminution in her focus or the amount of energy that she's going to apply to try to move forward the Israeli-Palestinian track and the Arab-Israeli track. She just thought it made sense, given the circumstances and the fact that she was going to be in the region in the not-too-distant future -- do the math, probably, you know, ten days or so -- anyway.

QUESTION: So it's a fuel efficiency issue?

MR. MCCORMACK: (Laughter.) Read into it what you will.

QUESTION: Can I follow that? There was a report about -- (laughter). There was a report about 282 million U.S. dollars being stolen from an Iraqi bank. Did you see that report?

MR. MCCORMACK: I have not seen that report.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, if you could get something on what --

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: Why so much U.S. money was in the bank and, you know, possibly details.

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure, absolutely. Okay, we will try to get you some info.

QUESTION: You hadn't heard about that?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, I hadn't.

QUESTION: Other things going on this morning?

MR. MCCORMACK: Have to -- have to -- no, I hadn't heard about that. It's not an insignificant amount of money.

QUESTION: Yeah.

QUESTION: Can we just go back to the Secretary? Earlier today, you said you might be able to give us some more details of how she's reaching out and making contact with members of Congress to try to make the Administration's case.

MR. MCCORMACK: Nothing new to report at this point. She did make several phone calls to the Hill today. The day before yesterday she met with Senator Hagel. I would expect that she's going to continue that pattern over the coming weeks and months. The discussion on Iraq is going to continue. It's going to be a national discussion. And she has very good relations with many members on the Hill, even with those who might differ us -- differ with the Administration concerning Iraq. She thinks it's important to have -- keep those lines of communication open. So inasmuch as I can keep you informed of those discussions and those meetings, I certainly will.

QUESTION: I wanted to go back to the trip.

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Is there still some question about the other two -- about the remaining -- the two last remaining -- the dwindling itinerary?

MR. MCCORMACK: I'd say at this point, Matt, her current plans are to travel to Accra and Portugal.

QUESTION: What's the purpose now of the Lisbon trip? If the Quartet meeting doesn't take place and that's not definite yet? I mean, you could meet -- Portugal is the EU presidency -- any time, why does she need to go?

MR. MCCORMACK: That's true. At this point, I think it makes sense. You know, if there's a different configuration of geometry to this trip or the upcoming trip, we'll let you know.

QUESTION: Thank you.

ENDS

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