2001 US press briefings
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
1:17 P.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. I want to begin with a series of announcements before I take questions. We have several personnel announcements to make; scheduling update, as well.
President Bush today announced his intention to nominate Anthony Gioia to be Ambassador Extraordinaire and Potentiary of the United States to the Republic of Malta. President Bush today announced his intention to nominate Sue Cobb to be Ambassador Extraordinaire and Potentiary to Jamaica.
Other personnel, the President intends to nominate Robert McCallum, Jr. to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. The President intends to nominate Col. Paul Kelly to be Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs. The President intends to nominate Erik Patrick Christian to be Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. And the President intends to nominate Maurice Ross to be Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
I want to give you a readout on a couple phone calls the President made this morning. The President spoke with Tunisian President Ben Ali and Yemeni President Salih today. The call to the President of Tunisia was introductory. They discussed the regional situation and agreed on the need to find ways to restore common stability in the region, and both reaffirmed their commitment to a strong bilateral relationship.
And the call with the President of Yemen was also an introductory call in which the President reaffirmed his commitment to a strong bilateral relationship with Yemen, and they agreed to cooperate closely on the investigation of the USS Cole.
Final item on the schedule: The President will be meeting today at 3:00 p.m. in the Oval Office with Secretary of Agriculture Veneman to talk about foot and mouth disease. The President has been monitoring that very closely, has been on the phone with her on several occasions. He asked her to come into today to give him the latest update. And we will have still photographers at the top of that meeting.
Q Not a pool event?
MR. FLEISCHER: Still photographers at the top.
Q Moments ago, Ari, the Secretary of State expressed regret for the loss of life on the part of the Chinese airman; also said that there is a dialogue between the two governments now to set up a more formal dialogue where, in his words, explanations for this incident can be exchanged. Was that first comment designed to be an olive branch by the administration?
MR. FLEISCHER: David, our government has been in contact with the Chinese government over a period of days, as you know, pertaining to the matter of the servicemen and women. And those conversations will continue. For example, there will be a meeting at the State Department this afternoon between the Chinese Ambassador and the Deputy Secretary of State. So the conversations will continue. And, as the President said yesterday, the purpose of this is so our men and women can come home.
Q Does that statement by the Secretary of State represent a new step in this process?
MR. FLEISCHER: That is the position of the government of the United States that was expressed earlier this morning in the meeting in Beijing between the American Ambassador and the Chinese Foreign Minister. And the United States is concerned about the missing Chinese servicemen, and we have expressed our concern and our regrets about that incident.
Q Ari, is it your understanding that that's not good enough for the Chinese right now; that they have demanded an apology, that, obviously, that happened at the meeting in Beijing, and their Ambassador to the United States just repeated that a short time ago in an interview, saying he wants the United States to accept responsibility and apologize?
MR. FLEISCHER: John, I'm not in a position to say what is good enough for a foreign government. That is, of course, a question only a foreign government can answer. We have talked about this previously and you know the United States position on the apology.
Q Is this an effort, however, to meet the Chinese demand for an apology? Is this as close as we can get to apologizing?
MR. FLEISCHER: This has been made clear to the Chinese prior to today. It was reiterated today that any time there is an apparent loss of a serviceman, the United States government's position is clear about that. And we have said that previously in regard to this accident.
Q This morning was the first time, in Powell's remarks -- the first time in public -- that the administration has expressed regret, correct, that he used those words?