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United States Department of State (Washington, DC)

Libya:Special Briefing on U.S. Relations with Country

5 September 2008

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(Page 4 of 4)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH:  I’m sure that we will be treated in a very hospitable way every place we go.

QUESTION: David, on a related issue. Can you talk about the discussions the Department might have had with families who were concerned that this wasn’t a great mechanism and the side* of policy versus personal stake in settling these claims?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH: Well, look, we’ve – Charlie, we’ve stayed in touch with the representatives of the families, and of all claimants for that matter, for a long time now. We’ve tried to keep them informed on a regular basis. Before Sean’s announcement today, we communicated that we would be making the announcement to the families and their representatives. I spoke to some people on the Hill earlier today as well.

I believe that the agreement that we have offers a fair and rapid way for many of those people to see their claims satisfied. That said, it doesn’t take away any of their rights if it’s not implemented. The current status quo is the status quo until the agreement is implemented. And the agreement can only be implemented on the basis of it receiving full funding as agreed between us.

QUESTION: That’s why – I have a sort of higher problem with this. If the status quo is the status quo until the thing is funded, why is she going?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH: Because we think that this helps advance our interest.

QUESTION: You think that your – well –

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH: Including to get the agreement implemented.

QUESTION: You think – okay, so she will – when she goes, she’ll be saying, hey, cough up the cash?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH: You know, Matt, we normally express ourselves in a different way. (Laughter.) But you’re welcome to try doing this job if you think that way works better. We will press forward on all these things. It may be that it will be implemented by the time we get there. Personally, I don’t know because that is a very large sum of money and it’s – even for countries with some wherewithal, it’s not all that easy to aggregate these funds in one place so quickly. That said, none of our obligations are triggered until it is satisfied.

But we believe that approaching this in the way we have, by consistent engagement with Libya over a long and sustained period of time, more often than not results in success. That is – that is one of the things we will be doing during this trip is trying to advance that.

MR. WOOD: We have time for two brief questions.

QUESTION: Can I just clarify something? Sean -- I thought Sean said today that there are guarantees that the funds are going to be met in – very quickly.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH: I’m optimistic. But “guarantee” is a big word.

QUESTION: Well, I don’t know if he used the word “guaranteed”. But he said he’s been assured.

QUESTION: He said it would be very soon.

QUESTION: Yeah. He said he’d been assured by a certain official who’s sitting in this room right now. (Laughter.)

QUESTION:  Well, I --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH: I’m optimistic on this, Libby. And you know, I wouldn’t say that if there weren’t some evidence for it. That said, as of today, those funds are not yet in the account. And until they’re in that account, we’re not doing anything pursuant to that agreement.

MR. WOOD: One last question.

QUESTION: Michele Kelemen, National Public Radio. I just have – you know, this – you talk about changing the behavior. But this is still the same leader that’s been there forever. Mad dog of the Middle East, as Reagan once called him. And I wonder, you know, how the Secretary is preparing to see him, what kind of behavior you’re expecting from him personally. (Laughter.)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WELCH: Well, I have met with Colonel Qadhafi several times. And it’s – he is a person of personality and experience. I am very confident that America’s senior diplomat is quite capable of having a meeting with him and looking after our interest. Secretary Rice typically prepares exhaustively for her meetings, Michele, as you know. She’s a very serious person who studies hard. She is anticipating this one with great interest. She knows the issues of concern, whether those are WMD or Darfur, very, very well. As I said earlier, Libya does have an influence and interest in those things, so there’s a lot to talk about with them.

We don’t refer to Colonel Qadhafi in those terms today. You know that this is a relationship that has had a troubled past, but now it is on a much firmer foundation. He, as leader, has undertaken certain decisions which have really changed things.  It’s important to recognize that. Those are very much in America’s national interest, I would argue also in Libya’s national interest. There are people in Libya who would want to change the course of that country and have very interesting ideas about the future. It’s an important signal when countries from the West, in particular, reach out and try and encourage that trend. And that’s part of what we’ll be doing as well.

MR. WOOD: Thank you, David.  Thank you all.

QUESTION: Thank you.

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