State Department Spokesman on Lebanon

Department of State

Daily Press Briefing
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
November 1, 2006

QUESTION: On Lebanon.

MR. MCCORMACK: On Lebanon, yeah.

QUESTION: There's a couple of things going on. The White House put out a very strong statement --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Saw that.

QUESTION: -- talking about -- warning Iran and Syria not to make efforts to topple the government and talked about indications and evidence that this is happening. Could you talk a little bit about what this evidence is that they're -- that they are trying to topple the government and if this is a result of the meetings that the Secretary had this week with some of the --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, actually, and I'll try to talk about it as much as I possibly can. But I think you'll understand that there are certain strictures on that just because we gather and collect information in a lot of different ways. But first I would point out Secretary Rice actually herself talked about this during a Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation interview she had with May Chidiak, the victim of terror and the victim of an assassination attempt in Lebanon, so you go back and check the transcript on that. And John Bolton has also talked about this.

There's a limited amount that I can say about this. Suffice it to say we do have real concerns. You saw from the White House statement it's a pretty direct statement and it's a pretty stark statement. But we believe it's merited based on what have seen going on in the region. You have had a couple of data -- public data points for you, though.

You had a recent speech by Nasrallah, I think within the past day or so, demanding the Siniora government take certain steps or Nasrallah and his compatriots would see that it falls.

You had President Lahoud talk about taking steps to block the formation of a criminal tribunal that would bring to justice those who might be accused of participating or being responsible for former Prime Minister Hariri's death. It certainly gives the appearance of trying to obstruct justice.

So -- and you look at the various connections that are here. Quite clearly, Hezbollah has its patrons in Damascus and certainly in Tehran. This is an organization that has shown that it has very few boundaries concerning what it will do and what it won't do. The most recent example is the fact that it started a war in the region, started -- you know, this group started a war with a sovereign state.

So it would seem that the benefactors of this group will stop at nothing to achieve their ends. And what they don't want to see -- what they don't want to see -- is a stable, peaceful, democratic Lebanon because that is antithetical to their point of view and antithetical to how they want to see the region develop.

It is -- the conflict that Hezbollah started was tragic in that so many innocent lives were lost. But it did provide a clarifying moment in the Middle East. And very clearly you can see on one side -- one side of the line you have Hezbollah, groups like Hamas and their sponsors in Damascus and Tehran, who want to take the region in a completely different direction than the great majority of people in that region would seem to want to take it. And that is towards greater freedom, greater prosperity and more peace. These are groups that don't want to see, for example, peace between Israelis and Palestinians. These are groups that don't want to see issues between Lebanon and Israel resolved over the long term.

So that's -- that is one of the reasons why we put out the statement today and why Secretary Rice has talked about it because we want to make it absolutely clear that the United States stands firmly with the government of Prime Minister Siniora, a government who has -- which has worked very hard to, under difficult circumstances, coming out, emerging from the shadow of 20 years of Syrian occupation, to try to do its best to lay the foundations for a democratic, peaceful, secure Lebanon, which is in the interest of the Lebanese people and everybody in the region.

QUESTION: Sean.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, Michel.

QUESTION: What can you do to prevent the collapse of a Siniora government?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, you know, ultimately, what we can do is try to as best we can support Prime Minister Siniora politically, diplomatically, you know, economically. This is the elected Government -- Government of Lebanon. All that said, we don't, you know, we're not going to -- we're not going to interfere in Lebanon's domestic politics. What we don't want to see is others interfering in Lebanon's domestic politics. And I'm afraid that's -- that is our fear. You know, our fear is that you have a group like Hezbollah, which very clearly derives much support not only from Damascus but from Tehran, and you also have other forces within Lebanon allied with these external -- external patrons.

So the concern is from us as well as others is that you will see once again an attempt to turn back the clock and have the -- yank away from the Lebanese people what they have fought so hard for, and that is the right to determine their own political future. And we don't want to -- we don't want to see the clock turn back to the days when Syria occupied Lebanon or even to a state of being where you have outside governments essentially pulling the strings in Lebanon and dictating what happens.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) I think address is whether you have seen evidence of either Syria or Iran either helping to rearm or facilitating the rearmament of Hezbollah.

MR. MCCORMACK: Again, that falls into the category of we -- you know, we collect a lot of information that I can't talk about. Just suffice it to say it's something that would be of grave concern to us as well as others in that it would be a clear violation and transgression of Security Council Resolution 1701.

QUESTION: Well, Terje Roed-Larsen told the Security Council and then told reporters afterwards that there is evidence that they were smuggling arms.

MR. MCCORMACK: I'll let Mr. Larsen speak to it.

QUESTION: Is that your --

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm not going to talk about information that we may have.

QUESTION: Sean.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Same subject?

QUESTION: A follow-up on this.

MR. MCCORMACK: Go ahead.

QUESTION: You can't do anything to stop Syria and Iran from interfering in the Lebanese internal affairs?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, one of the things you can do is to ensure that they know the world is watching and that the world will not stand for that kind of -- a renewal of that kind of behavior. And one thing I'm sure that they would like is to operate below the radar screen so that people aren't aware of these things. And one of the reasons why the Secretary made the statements that she did, why the White House put out this statement, is we want to make it clear that we are concerned about these things and also we, as well as others, are watching very closely.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Tony Blair sent an envoy, I think Monday, to Syria.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Was there any collaboration with the United States on that visit perhaps to apply pressure? I know, you know, reports suggest that they were talking about Iraq, but was there any pressure applied by the British on this issue?

MR. MCCORMACK: We -- I'll let the British Government speak to Mr. Shinewald's trip, but we certainly know about the trip. We know the message he was sending to the Syrian Government.

Yeah.

QUESTION: When you say that the world will be watching, but what else can you do? What -- I mean, to be watching is maybe not enough to prevent it.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, you know, again Sylvie, we will do everything that we can. Part of the effort is to shine a spotlight on these efforts and to support those who want to preserve a free, stable, democratic Lebanon.

QUESTION: Sean, just to follow up on what you just said, you said we know the message sent to the Syrian Government. Does that mean specifically to what the White House statement suggested today or just any --

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm going to let the Brits speak for themselves on this. Okay?

QUESTION: What did Jumblatt provide -- sort of information about this mounting evidence of Syria and Iranian interference? Is that one of the reasons why the White House decided to release a statement because of the Secretary's discussions with Jumblatt? Did he provide more information or --

MR. MCCORMACK: You know, I haven't talked to the Secretary about her meeting with Mr. Jumblatt. I do know that they did talk about the situation in Lebanon, but I can't give you a specific answer, Sue, and I can't draw a cause-and-effect relation between the meeting and that. But again, go back and look at what the Secretary said in her interview with May Chidiac.

QUESTION: On Sri Lanka. There is renewed violence. The Sri Lankan Air Force has bombed Tamil Tiger targets, and I wonder if this is for the State Department an unwelcome escalation in the conflict after the peace talks fell apart in Geneva?

MR. MCCORMACK: Let me see if I can get more information for you on that matter. We'll try to post an answer for you.

QUESTION: Sean.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: Is there any consideration to provide the Lebanese army with weapons or any assistance?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, part of the whole implementation of 1701 is to help train up and help equip the Lebanese army. Now we, ourselves, committed to -- I can't remember the figure right now. I think it's on the order of $10 million for training. That doesn't mean U.S. soldiers going there to train them but just training outside of Lebanon. And others have stepped up in that regard. I can't provide the details for you, but there -- that is a component of implementation of 1701 because you want to get to a state eventually where you have the Lebanese army fully functioning and fully able to control all of its territory and meet the requirements of 1701. They can't do that right now, so UNIFIL is there. But that's part of the goal, part of the long-term plan.

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