Excerpt from State Department daily briefing, February 22, 2002

Excerpt from State Department daily briefing, February 22, 2002

Daily Press Briefing
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
February 22, 2002

QUESTION: Mr. Boucher, I just wondered if you can give out comments or reaction to the story today in one of the papers in the city saying that in a matter of days the United States will be giving intelligence information to the Colombian military personnel to combat the guerrillas.

MR. BOUCHER: I will -- I can say something about it, but not much, because of the nature of the subject matter. I think you've seen the statement that we put out last night that made quite clear we understand, we fully support President Pastrana's decision to break off peace talks with the FARC and end the demilitarized zone.

We have pointed out that he has repeatedly tried to enter into discussions and resolve the issues in Colombia peacefully. Regrettably, the FARC has never reciprocated in good faith. In fact, they have carried out over a hundred terrorist attacks since January 20th, when the international community, President Pastrana, worked to find a way to continue the possibility of talks.

With that in mind, I think, we have been consulting with the Government of Colombia to determine how we can be helpful, where we can be helpful. And, in fact, the Secretary of State did speak to President Pastrana this morning -- I assume from the airplane, based on the timing of it. And we will look to do whatever we can within our law to support the Government of Colombia.

Two of the more immediate things we're looking at is to share more information, including intelligence information, with the Government of Colombia. The second one is that the Government of Colombia has ordered, purchased, various spare parts for their equipment that we'll look to see if we can't expedite the delivery of those things to make sure they have those things that they have purchased on hand. And we'll continue to talk to them about ways we can support them -- again, within the parameters of our law.

QUESTION: There is some response from Bogota saying that members of the armed forces of Colombia are trying to use some helicopters in the fight against the guerrillas. If they do that, they are going to violate the rules for the aid of the United States. Are this government ready to support any action like that from the --

MR. BOUCHER: We're not prepared to support a violation of U.S. law. I'm not going to speculate. I haven't seen any particular reports of that kind. The point that I have made is that there are ways that we can support the Government of Colombia in this matter very specifically within the current law. As you know, we continue our anti-narcotics cooperation with the Colombians. We continue to move forward on the proposals that we have made to Congress to get funding to support protection of the pipeline. And we'll continue to talk to the Government of Colombia about how we might support them.

QUESTION: Do you think it's going to be a good idea to have peace talks in a third country, as the government of Pastrana has suggested?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't want to speculate on something like that. The moment that we have come to is because all of President Pastrana's attempts to get peace talks have been met not only with a lack of good faith, but by, I think he said to the Secretary, 117 terrorist attacks since January 20th, when he announced the most recent iteration of the policy.

QUESTION: You're saying that you will look to do whatever you can to help the Colombians. I think whatever you come up with would go down a lot easier on the Hill if the administration takes a strong stand against the paramilitary fighters. Do you have any guidance on --

MR. BOUCHER: Absolutely. We have taken a strong stand against the paramilitary fighters, against the AUC, which is on our terrorism list. And we remain concerned about any extremism, any violence, and have -- in our discussions with the Government of Colombia have said, have heard back, that they too want to make sure that extremists are not allowed to somehow take advantage of this from whatever quarter they might come.

QUESTION: Richard, how long would it take for the administration to take a decision quick on Colombia, since the war is in full force, one? And the other one --

MR. BOUCHER: Well, one, we have taken some decisions quick on Colombia. President Pastrana made his announcement yesterday, and we yesterday and today have announced a certain number of steps that we are able to take to support him.

QUESTION: Now, just to clarify, because I've heard reports and also in Colombia there is a sense that the U.S. -- what the administration is going to ask is just lift all the restrictions so Colombia can use the funding from the Plan Colombia. And there is a confusion there. They don't really understand what is the administration trying to do. They're thinking that -- there are some reports that I heard that they just want to lift all the restrictions so they can use the funding from the Plan Colombia.

MR. BOUCHER: I can't deal with every possible speculation that's out there, every possible report. What I'm trying to stick to is the fact that we are doing some things within the parameters of our law. Our continued support for counter-narcotics and our proposal to help with this protection of the pipeline -- we remain committed to those.

We are also in discussion with the Government of Colombia about what we can do to help them. The kinds of things we're talking about -- intelligence-sharing, for example -- something that's important to the Government of Colombia to help them. So rather than speculating on everything under the sun, let's say let's concentrate on the fact that we need to work out with the Colombians what we can do to support them and what we, for our part, tend to stay within -- will stay within the parameters of our law. And I think the Colombians understand that as well.

QUESTION: How long would it take for the administration to officially say what steps are going to take?

MR. BOUCHER: We said it just five minutes ago.

QUESTION: In the conversation with the Secretary of State and President Pastrana has been a new request from the president of Colombia different than the aid that has been already?

MR. BOUCHER: I think as far as what the Colombian Government may want or need, you'll have to ask the Colombian Government. What the purpose of the phone call was to get an update on the situation; for the Secretary to express our support for President Pastrana and the difficult decision, but nonetheless necessary one, that he has made; and to talk about the kinds of support that he might need that we might be able to provide within the parameters of our law, if I haven't said that enough times already. And that was the discussion today.

QUESTION: Like you said repeatedly, the parameter of the law. Is there a conclusion that you need to change the parameters of the law or ask Congress to do that or issue another executive order?

MR. BOUCHER: No such conclusion at this point, no.

QUESTION: Just -- I don't know if this would be connected to the spare parts, but you're going to have to be making a specific decision in the next couple days regarding human rights certification for the Colombian military. Given these steps that have been taken, is it fair to say that you've made that decision already and that you are either going to provide a waiver or say that they have passed?

MR. BOUCHER: No, not fair.

QUESTION: That's not? Can you elaborate on that? I mean, that's --

MR. BOUCHER: I'll elaborate on that on Tuesday when we give you 20 pages on the human rights situation in Colombia, or whatever the report turns out to be this year.

QUESTION: I think you've made several references to taking decisions, and then earlier you said you were looking at sharing more information and expediting delivery. Could you be a bit more precise about the status of those two steps?

MR. BOUCHER: We have decided to share more information. We have decided to expedite the delivery. And we're looking at exactly how that process is going to work.

As of March 12, 2002, this document was also available online at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2002/8421.htm