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State Department spokesman Ambassador Boucher 3/10/01
AMBASSADOR RICHARD BOUCHER:
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
I think we've seen quite a strong
commitment from them as well
as from others in the region. The
most important thing about this
coalition is that we're obviously
together in this with our allies,
but there are a great number of
Muslim countries, countries in
central Asia and the Persian Gulf,
in the Middle East that are with us
as well and they understand that
terrorism is a threat to us all. So
it's a very strong coalition. There
are obviously a lot of things we
have to do and Secretary Rumsfeld
is helping in that work.
Is he showing them the evidence
on which you base your suspicions
that Bin Laden was behind this attack?
We've done a lot of briefing through
our ambassadors this week. We've
sent out information for our
ambassadors to share with foreign
governments. Most of that ground
work has been done by our embassies.
To the extent that it comes up, he
will be able to share what he knows.
How can a country like Saudi
Arabia have any doubts?
I think that's a good question,
because many countries have been
conducting their own investigations.
Many countries have been rolling up
networks, finding operatives and
looking into the circumstances of
this attack. You've seen many
people, including your own Prime
Minister, Mr Blair, who said that
they themselves have reached this
conclusion that al-Qaida was
The Saudis say they don't want you
to use their air bases for attacks.
Would you like to be able to use
You are asking theoretical questions.
What has happened with the Saudis
is we've worked through a number
of issues with them. We have been
able to get resolution and a positive
response on all the issues that we
asked them about. To this point,
whatever we have asked, they
have been able to agree to, so
things are going quite well.
So you haven't asked them if you
can use the air bases for attacks?
We have tried to avoid specifying who
we have asked to do what at which
point, but the co-operation with
the Saudis has been excellent.
There will be more things to do in
the future and I'm sure it will
continue to be excellent.
In an ideal world, would you like
to be able to use those air bases?
You are asking me to speculate
or to say what individual countries
might be asked to do. It will be
up to individual governments and
countries to say what they're able
to do. We will work with everybody
and where we need to ask for
something, we'll ask, and in this
case we've gotten everything we've
How long ago was this trip of
Mr Rumsfeld's organised?
Frankly, I don't know because I'm
over here at the State Department,
and he's travelling from the Defence
Department so I'm not really
responsible for the trip.
It is clear that in many of these
countries in the region, the
question of some sort of peace
settlement between Israel and the
Palestinians is important, yes?
Yes, it is. It's something that they
care about and we know that.
Since this administration began,
we have said we want to look
at the whole region. We understood
these issues were matters of
importance to many of our partners
in other areas. That's true in this
case as well. We were working
very hard on the Middle East peace
process before September 11th and
we are continuing to work very hard
on the Middle East peace process.
Why isn't Mr Rumsfeld going to
He's not the diplomat who handles
the Middle East peace process. He's
working on his issues in the place
where he needs to handle them.
From where you sit as a diplomat,
when Israel says it is fighting a war
against terrorism, do you agree?
We know there has been terrorism
against Israel, and we work closely
with Israel, who's a good friend and
partner, to try to help them.
Does it seem to you a war against
They've suffered from violence or
terrorism. What we've done in
the region is try to make it
possible for Israelis and
Palestinians to be able to lead
peaceful safe lives. That's what
they all want in the region. We've
done everything we can to try to
help them get it.
So when the Israelis say to you,
please extend this war against terror
to include Hamas and Islamic Jihad,
you are disposed to go along with
them, are you?
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and
Hezbollah for that matter,
are all on our list of terrorist
organisations. They are all subject
to various restrictions and
sanctions of various kinds from the
USA. These are groups that we
recognise as terrorist groups and
we do what we can against them.
Was the response of the Israelis
to the latest outrage in Israel,
involving the use of tanks, was
that proportionate and appropriate?
I think we are troubled by the
violence. It's very important
both sides exercise restraint. It's
very important that the Palestinian
side prevent attacks, that they
arrest people who might be planning
and conducting attacks, so that we
don't see these kind of incidents
How concerned are you about the
possible impact upon the coalition
of continuing violence in Israel and
the occupied territories?
The continuation of violence in the
occupied territories is of concern.
We don't want violence there. People
should not have to live this way.
Palestinians should be able to see
the restrictions on their movement
removed. Israelis should be able to
live safely. We've made it quite
clear that these are important in
their own right and they are
important for us to continue
They are important in their own
right and they are particularly
important in the diplomatic context
in which we find ourselves, aren't
There is a relationship between all
these issues and many of the people
we're working with in the coalition
want to know that we continue to
care about resolving the issues between
Israelis and Palestinians. We are
continuing to do that work, because
Why isn't Israel an appropriate
member of the coalition?
Around the world there are many
countries fighting terrorism. This
particular situation, where we're
going first and foremost after the
al-Qaida organisation, we need a
great many countries to act in
different ways and to each do their
part. Some countries will give rhetorical
support, some countries will act on
finance, some will act on network,
and some may be acting militarily.
So a great many governments and
countries are involved in this.
It's a coalition with a small "c", not
a big "c". It's not an organisation. It's
countries acting together to fight a
threat to us all.