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Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability En Route To Bangkok,

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  • Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability En Route To Bangkok,

    Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability En Route To Bangkok, Thailand

    .c The Associated Press


    Thailand

    Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability En Route To Bangkok,
    Thailand

    xfdtr STATE-POWELL-BANGKOK 1stadd

    XXX check the number.QUESTION: What's his name?

    POWELL: His name is Blackman. I'll get the spelling for you.

    QUESTION: And on the criticism?

    POWELL: There is always, you know, commentary about how one of these
    things unfolds. And why didn't everybody know instantly what the
    requirement was going to be. And, I accept that. It's what
    happens. But, I'm the one who is sitting there on a Sunday after
    church, trying to make sense of what has happened, with reports coming
    in from all over the region. When you think you are dealing with
    something that has hit Phuket, and then suddenly you get reports about
    the Maldives, which as a nation of islands and atolls, sits about an
    average of three feet above sea level.

    And you start to try to figure out what are the implications of that?
    And when you think you're starting to get a handle on it, and you see
    your task forces being set up with AID hard at work, AID setting up
    task forces, State Department, Defense Department, all getting alerted
    within the first dozen hours or so.

    And, immediately our ambassadors in the region declared disasters. And
    once they do that, they are free to give money out of their
    contingency funds to the countries concerned, up to roughly
    $100,000. It's just something to get started, to show our commitment,
    but also to give these countries an immediate infusion of cash.

    And then by Monday morning, we had responded to the appeal of the
    International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent. Our military
    had started to Task Force organize themselves and start to dispatch
    troops. And, we started to get a better assessment of what was going
    on. And then, in late Sunday I discovered that the wave had gone all
    the way across the ocean and hit Kenya and Somalia.

    And so, from my perspective, having been through many of these, in a
    period of four days, five days, I think a great deal was
    accomplished. And the reason I emphasize this is I don't think the
    American people should be given the impression that their president
    and their government was not hard at work on this from day one.

    BUSH: One purpose of this trip that is important to recognize is that
    the people that are on the ground right now are working 24 hours a
    day, whether they're AID workers or other folks from the State
    Department, or the hundreds, maybe thousands of international relief
    workers that are in these communities. And they need encouragement.

    My experience is that if you don't go say, thank you to the people
    that are true heroes, that are acting on their sense of compassion and
    doing it under extraordinary circumstances -- this won't be pretty --
    that you're not in the way when you come a long distance and say,
    thanks.

    So, I know that the Secretary is very sensitive about making sure we
    don't get in the way, but I also think we need to be mindful of the
    fact that there's a lot of work being done and someone needs to put an
    arm around somebody and say, thank you for a job well done.

    POWELL: And one other element, of course, is that it will draw a lot
    of public attention, international attention to the need and hopefully
    as a result of that, generate additional support, especially from the
    private sector.

    QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, apart from the humanitarian, which obviously
    takes priority, what do you see as the political stakes for the U.S.
    involvement in this effort in countries like Indonesia, Muslim
    countries, Sri Lanka and for the region as a whole?

    POWELL: We have good relations with all of these countries, even
    though there have been disagreements on specific policy issues such
    as, of course, Iraq. So, I think the political implications of us
    responding promptly and responding, frankly, to the satisfaction of
    the governments concerned, despite all the commentary about our
    response the governments that we are responding to and are helping
    were pleased from the very first night, Sunday night, when they were
    called. And then when the president called their heads of government
    and heads of state about 24 hours after I talked to the foreign
    ministers. They were very pleased that the United States was
    responding in this manner. And I think that can translate into a
    political effect.

    Hopefully, this might give us a little bit of traction in resolving
    the conflict in Aceh, if the two sides would realize that this is a
    time to not be arguing and fighting with each other, but to help their
    citizens. And the same thing in Sri Lanka. Both sides are suffering
    as a result of this tragedy: LTTE, as well as the government. And to
    the extent it sort of quiets things in these conflicts, then maybe
    there is an opportunity for political momentum. The point I have been
    making all week long is that we are not doing this because we are
    seeking political advantage or just because we are trying to make
    ourselves look better with the Muslims. We are doing this because
    these are human beings in need, in desperate need and the United
    States has always been a generous, compassionate country and a
    generous, compassionate people and this is what we do.

    We did it in the Caribbean earlier this year in almost the same way:
    small increments of money, and then finally when we got the full scope
    of it, went to the Congress and got $120 million. And that's my
    experience as to how these things unfold.

    One more.

    QUESTION: This one is for Governor Bush. Could you tell us in some
    detail as to how it arose that you came on the trip, whose idea it was
    and when it was presented and what you thought of it?

    BUSH: Well, I got a call from Secretary Powell, and then I got a call
    from the President and I said, yes. And I was honored to be asked.

    POWELL: Follow up?

    BUSH: It really was that simple. This was kind of I had to clear my
    .today or tomorrow, I don't know what day we're in right now, Monday
    is the start of life again not just in the real world, but in state
    government world. And so, I had a bunch of things I had to change
    around, but it wasn't a problem at all. I was honored to be asked.

    In 1988, right after the Presidential election, my dad asked me to go
    to Yerevan with my son, in Armenia. An incredibly devastating
    earthquake, nothing in terms of the magnitude of the death here. But I
    think 75,000 people may have died, as I recall. And we went and it
    made a big difference: the fact that a family member would go -- this
    was on Christmas Eve -- go to a far of place. These hardened Soviet
    Communists were crying as they saw my son hand out medicine and toys
    to children that looked just like him in this hospital that was needed
    a whole lot of help. And so, I think family matters in a lot of places
    outside of the United States just as it does in the United States. And
    the fact that whoever came up with the idea, whether it was the
    President or I don't know, Secretary, isn't it always the President
    that has the best ideas?

    POWELL: Yeah.

    QUESTION: 1/8When did you make the decision? 3/8

    BUSH: I suggested he go.

    (laughter)

    POWELL: Thanks Jeb. Let's see, I've got to keep my days straight, but
    by Wednesday the scope of it was becoming so clear that we started to
    think about a trip. Andrew and I were sitting in my office, I think
    either Wednesday or Thursday morning, looking at each other saying
    we've got to go. And then the President, in order to show his concern
    and deep interest, asked if Jeb would go and I immediately called Jeb
    when I got the President's suggestion. And he, in typical fashion, he
    was ready, willing and able. I am very pleased that he was able to
    clear his calendar.

    Let me ask Andrew Natsios if he would like to say a word.

    NATSIOS: I would just add a couple of things we are beginning to see
    on the ground that are a little disturbing to us because of the scale
    of them. We are beginning to see real psychological problems among
    many of the survivors. People are going into shock basically. They
    are paralyzed, they can't act, essentially because they have lost,
    many of them, their entire families, their whole neighborhoods, their
    houses, their businesses, everything is destroyed. You see this in
    many emergencies but not on this scale. And so the two things that the
    Secretary and the Governor just mentioned actually do contribute to
    this. We've noticed when we see the people, large numbers of people in
    shock, the visits of very visible high-level people will restore a
    sense of hope that they are not being forgotten, they are not being
    lost. I mean, we will get that when you visit one of these sites. You
    see the change in people by the fact that you are there, it makes a
    big difference.

    The second thing, which the Secretary also mentioned, is getting
    people to work again. One therapy that we use is simply getting people
    to do something. It is a sort of form of occupational therapy. If
    they are in shock and then they start getting a job to start cleaning
    up the mess, it does have an effect psychologically that gets their
    body functioning again and they have some sense of hope. So, the jobs
    program that the Secretary mentioned that we just committed $10
    million dollars to in Sri Lanka is not a lot of money, I mean 50 bucks
    a month, something like that. Very small amounts of money in people's
    pockets will allow them to buy necessities on their own but also will
    get them moving and it will show that progress is being made in
    cleaning the mess up. Because just the physical evidence of the mess
    is a reminder every hour of every day that everything is gone. And if
    we can begin to get them moving, working as a community again, it has
    an effect psychologically, economically and just physically on the
    infrastructure.

    POWELL: The other thing I might add, is when you were asking about
    visits and the impact of visits, the Indonesians really wanted to have
    this ASEAN summit for the purpose of bringing people to the scene, not
    out to the actual scene of the disaster, but to Jakarta. And it
    started out with ASEAN, and then it became ASEAN and others, and now
    it has become a fairly large international conference. And these sorts
    of things do have an impact in terms of generating support, bringing
    public attention to the crisis but also giving a sense of optimism and
    hope to the people who will see this and realize they are not alone,
    folks are coming to help them.

    OK?

    END



    01/03/05 14:55 EST

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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