'Syria Should Review Their Actions...'

Remarks Kuwaiti Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Al-Sabah after their meeting

Colin Powell: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I just had an excellent conversation with my colleague Dr. Mohammed, andin our conversation I had the opportunity to express the sincere thanks of President Bush and all of mycolleagues in the administration and the American people, and, of course, General Tommy Franks for theabsolutely superb support that Kuwait has provided to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Without that support, I'm notsure the operation could have been conducted. Kuwait understood the threat, was willing to step forward, andwe are deeply appreciative of all they have done.

And I am especially appreciative of the fact that the Minister and I spent most of our time not on themilitary campaign, but on the future, the humanitarian aid that will be required, the reconstruction activitythat will be needed, and our commitment to make sure that the new Iraqi government is based on democraticprinciples, that it is prepared to live in peace with its neighbors.

And we also discussed how these developments in recent weeks open up new opportunities with respect topeace in the Middle East and greater cooperation among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the ArabLeague.

We also discussed the meetings that will be taking place in Nasiriya tomorrow that begins the formation ofthe new political system for the new Iraqi government, and how it must respect, as we go forward, theterritorial integrity of Iraq -- this process -- and how we are hopeful that these conversations beginningtomorrow and going on into the future in many different places throughout Iraq will be able to take intoaccount the interests and equities of all the people of Iraq and give an opportunity to participate in thepolitical process, both for those who have been outside of Iraq struggling for these many long years to bringabout this change, as well as those inside Iraq who are now free of this dictatorial regime.

In our discussions, we also talked about Syria, and hopeful that Syria will understand its obligations inthis new environment.

And I also made a point of mentioning to the Minister that we were concerned about some of the looting thattook place in the museum in Baghdad, one of the great museums in the world, and the United States will beworking with a number of individuals and organizations to not only secure the facility but to recover thatwhich has been taken, and also to participate in restoring that which has been broken.

I have been in touch with the European Union Presidency this morning, Foreign Minister Papandreou, who hasexperience in such matters. We are also in conversations with UNESCO. But the United States understands itsobligations and will be taking a leading role with respect to antiquities in general, but this museum inparticular.

Mr. Minister, it's a great pleasure to have you here, and again, thank you for all you have done.

Minister Al-Sabah: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I expressed today Kuwait's appreciation for the work that the United States is doingin liberating the Iraqi people from their ordeal. I also discussed with the Secretary, in addition to thepoints that he just mentioned, also discussed with him ways of more intense cooperation between our forces andagencies to find the Kuwaiti POWs who are still unaccounted for in Iraq. One out of every 1,000 Kuwaitis isstill unaccounted for in Iraq, and this is something that the Secretary has indicated the United States'utmost concern about, and we agreed to expedite and strengthen our cooperation on this issue.

We also discussed the elements of stability in the region-wide area, and this is the Arab-Israeli conflictand the need to get back and to put this track on its proper registration.

We expressed our need to intensify our consultation because the challenges ahead of us is now very, veryreal, but we are all optimistic about the future. Thank you.

Question: Mr. Secretary, how serious is the border problem with Syria? Are there many potential war criminals gettingacross that border?

Colin Powell: I can't quantify how many might be slipping across the border. The basic point is that the card deck of 55,53, plus others who have knowledge about weapons of mass destruction development activity over the years, plusthose who are in other senior political leadership positions in the former regime or in the Baath Party, theseare the kinds of individuals who should not be allowed to find safe haven in Syria. And this is a point thatwe have made to the Syrians directly and will continue to make the Syrians.

And as the President noted over the weekend, we are concerned that Syria has been participating in thedevelopment of weapons of mass destruction and, as the President noted, specifically on chemical weapons. Andwe believe, in light of this new environment, they should review their actions and their behavior, not onlywith respect to who gets haven in Syria and weapons of mass destruction, but especially the support ofterrorist activity.

And so we have a new situation in the region and we hope that all the nations in the region will now reviewtheir past practices and behavior.

Question:(In Arabic.)

Minister Al-Sabah(In Arabic.)

Question: Mr. Secretary, can you say, and can the Foreign Minister also comment on this, whether you have been in touchwith the Syrian Government on the question of chemical weapons and biological recently, and whether you haveasked them to return people within their borders? And do you know if the border is, indeed, closed, as theysaid it was last week?

Colin Powell: Well, we are told the border is closed, but, as you know, it's a rather porous border; and so when you sayit's closed, it might mean the main roads are closed, but whether or not others are able to get across theborder is something that I can't speak to. But once they get into Syria and start heading to Damascus, I wouldexpect that Syrian authorities would do everything they could not to provide these people safe haven.

Syria is well aware of our concerns with respect to weapons of mass destruction and with respect toterrorist activity. It is a subject of discussion with the Syrian leadership whenever we meet with them. Ourambassadors have been making demarches. I've been there twice. Ambassador Burns, Assistant Secretary Burns,has also talked to the Syrians on a regular basis about this. It is no secret to the Syrians about our concernover these kinds of developments.

Minister Al-Sabah: Well, we have our own list of the Iraqi war criminals and we are going to pursue them all over the worldwherever they are found.

Question: Mr. Secretary, are you going to release the roadmap --

Colin Powell: Excuse me. Let's do this gentleman.

Question: Mr. Secretary, can you please tell us if you have asked your Kuwaiti counterpart to intervene in this message?

(In Arabic.)

Colin Powell: I will yield to him for that answer.

Minister Al-Sabah (In Arabic.)

Question: And for the English speakers?

Colin Powell: Yeah, would you?

Minister Al-Sabah: Well, I have not been given a specific message to carry to Syria. The Secretary, he can reach the Syriansdirectly, and I think that Syria can play a constructive role in establishing security and stability in theregion.

Question:Mr. Secretary, it means that you are soon going to release the roadmap? How do you see Syria underthis regime as a partner for peace process?

Colin Powell: We'll be releasing the roadmap as soon as Mr. Abu Mazen has been confirmed by a vote of confidence as thePrime Minister of the Palestinian Authority with his new cabinet.

Obviously, as we go down the road to peace, we want it to be a comprehensive peace and, ultimately, ofcourse, that would have to include finding a way to settle the outstanding issues with Syria, as well.

Question: Secretary Powell, are you satisfied with the way the meeting is developing in Nasiriya? There are somecomplaints among some of the Iraqi exile community that Chalabi is not being invited. Do you think that thereis going to be a lot of turmoil amongst those Iraqi exiles, particularly outside the country who maybe do notfeel like they are sufficiently involved at the moment?

And to the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, can you confirm whether Kuwaiti prisoners of war were, indeed, locatedthis morning in Baghdad? Thank you.

Colin Powell: With respect to the meetings that begin in Nasiriya tomorrow, let's remember this is just the first of manymeetings that will be held, and in order to get the process started it was determined that we should haverepresentatives of the various groups at this meeting. And it will be a fairly large gathering of individuals.It will be chaired initially by Ambassador Khalilzad, the President's Personal Representative. Of course, theindividuals have been invited by General Franks, and then General Garner will address the group, and thenAmbassador Ryan Crocker will moderate the proceedings.

So I think it's a good start, and I think most of the groups outside the country in the resistanceunderstand the need for starting in this way, with a modest beginning, so that we begin a dialogue. And so Idon't think there is much concern about this not being a productive meeting, and also a meeting that reflectsthe views of those who have been struggling outside, as well as those who are now free inside.

Minister Al-Sabah: This is a breaking news story and I don't have really any confirmation on it.

Colin Powell: Nor do I.

Question: Secretary Powell, are you -- sir, are you considering any measures against Syria in light of the allegationsthat you've made, perhaps recalling the U.S. Ambassador, downgrading U.S. relations -- anything along that?

And also, in addition, on the humanitarian front, many nongovernmental organizations, the International RedCross and others, have complained that the security situation is so bad on the ground that they can't get theaid in there. Is there anything the U.S. is considering to do to beef up security?

And for Dr. Mohammed, sir --

Colin Powell: That's two already, thank you.

With respect to Syria, of course we will examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or othernature as we move forward. We are in touch with Syrian authorities. We have a very effective Ambassador there,Ambassador Kattouf, who will stay in touch with them and make them aware of our concerns. And we'll see howthings unfold as we move forward.

With respect to the humanitarian situation, it is improving on a daily basis. Secretary Rumsfeld gave us areport this morning of the various military civil affairs units working with our combat troops to slowlyreestablish security and stability throughout the various cities. We are starting to hire again police forcesin the south, and that will be expanded as we move north. And there is a huge amount of humanitarian equipmentand supplies that are now moving in. Hospital kits are moving in to reestablish healthcare. Water is beginningto flow in the southern cities. And there is a great deal that is going on, but the campaign is not yet overand so I think, as you see, day by day the situation will improve and the NGOs and other humanitarianorganizations and UN organizations will be able to accomplish their work.

There is not a shortage of food. Food is adequate in marketplaces, as well as food being brought in fromthe outside. We want to go to work on the healthcare system and the water system and getting the power onthroughout the country, which tends to affect the water supply system, since you need power to run it in thefirst place. So we're seized with the problem, hard at work on the problem, and the situation will improve dayby day.

Thank you.

(The Secretary escorts the Minister to his car.)

Question: Are you all going -- are you personally going to be in touch with your counterpart in Syria to discuss whatthe President said yesterday?

Colin Powell: I am sure we will be in touch in a variety of diplomatic channels. And I usually don't talk about my futurephone calls until they become my past phone calls -- or visits.

Question: Who else have you talked to this morning? What else have you been doing with respect to Iraq and Syria?

Colin Powell: I have spoken to the Foreign Minister of Greece on behalf -- and he's the Presidency of the European Union,but otherwise I've been in meetings and now I will go back to other matters.

Thank you.