Montag, 31. August 2009

Washington

 

 

 

 

 

Journal de Reportage sur le net. Informations instantanées dans le monde entier.

Aut.N°342BDD/C19/BAPP/94  Tél. 237-77.97.63.80/97.03.02.83

E-mail:cameractualite.org@gmail.com / cameractualite2009@yahoo.fr    Site Web : www.cameractu.net

Washington: Obama Creates New Unit to Handle High-Level Interrogations

 

By Stephen Kaufman

Staff Writer

 

Washington — In an effort to gain more intelligence through “scientifically proven means,” the Obama administration has created a “high-value interrogation group” with responsibility for interrogating key detainees who are believed to have useful information on violent extremist groups, a White House spokesman says.

 

White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters August 24 that the new group, which President Obama created after receiving the consensus recommendation of an interagency task force, will be housed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

 

“It will bring together all the different elements of the intelligence community to get the best intelligence possible based on scientifically proven methods and consistent with the Army Field Manual,” Burton said in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where the president is vacationing.

 

“This is a way that the intelligence community can best operate, especially in these high-value instances,” he said.

 

In his January 20 inaugural address, President Obama said his administration “reject[s] as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” and soon afterward he announced plans to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba, abolish harsh interrogation methods by intelligence officers, halt military tribunals for suspected terrorists at Guantánamo for at least 120 days and end secret prisons maintained abroad by the intelligence community.

 

The president also signed an executive order that abolishes any secret prisons abroad that have been used by the U.S. intelligence community for dealing with terrorists, and ordered that any interrogations carried out be under the terms of the U.S. Army Field Manual on interrogations, which is consistent with U.S. treaties and the humane treatment of prisoners under international laws and obligations.

 

The 2006 Army manual the president cited in his executive order — Field Manual 2–22.3, “Human Intelligence Collector Operations” — complies with the Geneva Conventions and all its protocols, and explicitly prohibits torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. It also is in compliance with the U.S. Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.

 

The field manual outlines 19 legal interrogation techniques and forbids nine others.

 

Deputy press secretary Burton said President Obama signed an executive order to establish an interagency interrogation task force to “find new methods by which we can get more intelligence by scientifically proven means.”

 

The high-value interrogation group will house people from different elements of the intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). “It houses all these different elements under one group where they can best perform their duties,” Burton said.

 

The president “has full confidence in this plan, and he's going to continue to support it going forward,” he said.

 

According to an August 24 article in the Washington Post newspaper, the White House will have direct oversight over the new interrogation unit through the National Security Council. The Post also reported that the unit will be made up of experts from several intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

 

Asked about potential investigations and prosecutions of alleged abuses in the past by U.S. interrogators, Burton said President Obama believes those decisions should be made by Attorney General Eric Holder.

 

“When the president appointed Attorney General Holder to the job, he said specifically that he wanted him to be independent and he wanted the Department of Justice to be an independent entity. He has great faith in Attorney General Holder, but he ultimately is going to make the decisions,” he said.

 

The president has also said Americans “should be looking forward, not backward,” Burton said, and Obama agrees with the attorney general that “anyone who conducted actions that had been sanctioned should not be prosecuted.”

 

According to news reports, Holder decided August 24 to appoint a prosecutor to probe nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators and contractors are accused of violating anti-torture laws and other statutes in their interrogations of suspects linked to violent extremist groups.

 

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.  Web site: http://www.america.gov)

NNNN

 

 

*WPD102   08/24/2009

U.S. Military Official Says Afghanistan Still Vulnerable

() (671)

 

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.

Staff Writer

 

WashingtonAfghanistan is still vulnerable to the threat of insurgents regaining control of the country, and the threat is not going to go away, says Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

A major new strategy, including an assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, is due in about two weeks from the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Army General Stanley McChrystal, Mullen said. “His guidance was go out as a new commander, put a new team together and come back and tell us exactly how you assess conditions on the ground,” Mullen said in an interview broadcast August 23.

 

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry and Mullen were interviewed on CNN’s State of the Union and NBC’s Meet the Press August 23. The interviews followed presidential and provincial council elections held August 20 in Afghanistan. Complete election results are pending, but a presidential runoff is expected.

 

“The assessment that [McChrystal] will submit here in the next couple of weeks won’t specifically deal with requirements for additional resources. We’ll deal with whatever additional resources might be required subsequent to that in the normal process,” Mullen said.

 

President Obama set the foundation for the new Afghanistan strategy March 27. The strategy will focus on disrupting, dismantling and destroying terrorist networks, but also will employ a wide array of tactics, from strengthening regional security forces to a renewed focus on diplomacy, development and international cooperation.

 

“We have to ensure that neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan can serve as a safe haven for al-Qaida,” Obama said in a March 29 interview. He called the new plan “a comprehensive strategy that doesn't just rely on bullets or bombs, but also relies on agricultural specialists, on doctors, on engineers to help create an environment in which people recognize that they have much more at stake in partnering with us, and the international community, than giving in to some of these extremist ideologies.”

 

The new plan was the product of several months of policy review and close consultation with Afghan and Pakistani officials, as well as with U.S. allies taking part in the 41-nation, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

 

“A central part of our strategy is to train the Afghan National Army so that they are taking the lead,” Obama said.

 

Eikenberry said the elections were historic, but were also made difficult by an insurgency determined to stop them.

 

“It was a very difficult election, but it’s an opportunity, then, for renewal of the trust and the bonds between the people of Afghanistan and their government,” Eikenberry said. In the previous 30 or more years, Afghanistan has experienced civil war, an occupation and a complete collapse of governance and the rule of law, all of which set the stage for a state controlled by international terrorism, he said.

 

Mullen said the United States and NATO forces must begin to turn the security situation around in the next 12 months to 18 months. “I think it is serious and it is deteriorating, and … the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics,” he said.

 

Eikenberry added that the Afghan National Army and National Police are taking much more of the lead on security, are much more capable and are demonstrating that they are increasingly able to provide for the security of their own people.

 

On March 27, Obama announced his plan to provide additional support to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The United States has about 58,000 troops in the country and the level is expected to rise to 68,000 later this year. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force has about 39,000 troops serving in Afghanistan.

 

The Taliban regime that supported the al-Qaida terrorist group was routed from the country in late 2001 after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

 

What foreign affairs decisions should President Obama consider? Comment on America.gov’s blog Obama Today ( http://blogs.america.gov/obama/2009/01/21/day-2-what-should-obama%e2%80%99s-top-priorities-be/ ).

 

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.  Web site: http://www.america.gov)

NNNN

 

 

*WPD103   08/24/2009

Muslim Community Center Offers Spiritual Solace

(Center in Portland, Oregon, provides services to prison inmates) (717)

 

By Steve Holgate

Special Correspondent

 

Portland, Oregon — Most religious communities judge themselves not on whether the wealthy and powerful wish to join, but on whether they themselves have reached out to the poor and unwanted. By this measure, the Muslim Community Center of Portland, Oregon, like other faiths, is honoring an important tenet.

 

As imam of the center and its associated mosque, Shaheed Hamid has committed himself to one of the most important aspects of his community’s efforts. In fact, he has taken his commitment to the gates of prison, and then entered through them, establishing prison outreach to serve the small population of Muslims in the county jail.

 

A stocky man of 60-odd years with a warm, gravelly voice, Hamid points to the hadith (written traditions of the Prophet Muhammad) as encouraging this type of prison outreach. “Allah orders us to be just and to work toward bettering humanity,” he said, adding he believes his prison work does exactly that.

 

According to Hamid, the center and its mosque have a long history of offering spiritual solace to those in prison, going back to its days as part of the Nation of Islam, whose most famous preacher, Malcolm X, converted to Islam while in prison.

 

Hamid adds that his own experience intensified his willingness to undertake his outreach efforts. While a young man living in New York during the 1960s, Hamid had a minor brush with the law that landed him in the country jail for a few days. Those few days, he says now, made a great difference in his life. “Looking around the prison,” Hamid says, “I saw all these people in really bad shape in their lives. It woke me up.” Though he had already converted to Islam, he says, those few days in jail led him to take up his faith in a more active way.

 

A few years later he moved to Portland, where he became active at the Muslim Community Center and in its mosque. At that time, the mosque no longer was associated with the Nation of Islam, and had also let its prison outreach lapse. Eventually, the mosque took on new leadership, and Hamid expressed his interest in resurrecting its outreach program. He applied to jail authorities and was accepted by them as one of their authorized ministers. Since that time, four years ago, he has been volunteering his time ministering to the jail’s Muslim population.

 

Kyle Lewis, who works with the county jail’s Chaplain’s Unit, says that his office is committed to meeting the spiritual needs of all its inmates. In a nation as religiously diverse as the United States, this results in a highly heterogeneous program. In addition to offering the services of various Christian denominations, the Chaplain’s Unit has ministers for the jail’s Buddhists and Hindus, rabbis for its Jewish prisoners, and Hamid’s Muslim outreach.

 

At any given moment, the jail’s Muslim population is small, Hamid says, ranging from about 15 to as few as half a dozen. Hamid talks to inmates individually as well as offering monthly Islamic study services at one of the county’s jails and Friday prayers at another. He also advises the jails on how to prepare halal meals for Muslim inmates.

 

Though he feels that he helps many of the inmates, Hamid says that the work can be discouraging at times. Many prisoners gain their freedom only to return to crime and jail. A majority of them, Hamid says, including some Muslims, have drug problems. A drug counselor by profession, Hamid tries to help. “There’s an ocean of troubles,” he says, “an ocean of problems. Sometimes it feels like my contribution is just a drop in that ocean.” Whatever the challenges he faces, though, Hamid says, “It makes me feel good to contribute.”

 

“Getting out of prison is more than being free out here,” Hamid often says to the inmates, while making a gesture to the world outside the prison walls, “The important thing is being free in your thinking.” He sums up by saying, “My hope is that they will start to see Islam as a complement to what’s good in humanity. If that can be accomplished, well, ‘Al Hamdu Lillah.’[Thanks be to God.]”

 

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.  Web site: http://www.america.gov)

NNNN

 

 

*WPD104   08/24/2009

Hip-Hop Music an Outlet for Self-Expression

() (841)

 

By Carolee Walker

Staff Writer

 

Washington — African-American and Latino teens with turntables and time on their hands in the 1970s invented hip-hop — a musical style born in the United States and now the center of a huge music and fashion industry around the world.

 

Hip-hop began 30 years ago in the Bronx, a borough of New York City and a neighborhood that seemed to exemplify the bleakness of poor urban places.

 

Using turntables to spin old, worn records, kids in the South Bronx began to talk over music, creating an entirely new music genre and dance form. This “talking over,” or MCing (rapping) and DJing (audio mixing and scratching), became the essence of rap music, break dance and graffiti art, according to Marvette Perez, curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, which launched its collecting initiative “Hip-Hop Won’t Stop: The Beat, The Rhymes, The Life” in 2006.

 

“Out of this forgotten, bleak place, an incredible tradition was born,” Perez said.

 

From the beginning, style has been a big element of hip-hop, Perez said. “Hip-hop tells the story of music, but also of urban America and its style.”

 

“With the significant contributions from the hip-hop community, we will be able to place hip-hop in the continuum of American history and present a comprehensive exhibition,” Brent D. Glass, director of the museum, said.

 

The museum’s multiyear project traces hip-hop from its origins in the late 1970s, as an expression of urban black and Latino youth culture, to its status today as a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. Perez said they have received collections from hip-hop artists including Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Ice T, Fab 5 Freddy, Crazy Legs and MC Lyte.

 

“Hip-hop is the most important contribution to the American cultural landscape since blues and jazz,” said hip-hop artist and promoter, filmmaker and producer Fab 5 Freddy, born Fred Brathwaite. “It is dominant in every youth culture in every country.” According to statistics gathered in 2009 by Russell Simmons and Accel Partners, today’s global hip-hop community comprises 24 million people between the ages of 19 and 34, including a range of nationalities, ethnic groups and religions.

 

HIP-HOP CUTS ACROSS RACIAL LINES

 

“One thing that is applicable to every generation of teenagers is urgency,” music producer and film director Mark Shimmel said. Everything about hip-hop — the sound, the lyrics, the style, the language — conveys that sense of urgency.

 

The sociological and cultural impact of rock ’n’ roll pales in comparison to what hip-hop has been able to accomplish, Shimmel said. “Hip-hop is the singular most important melding of black and white cultures that has ever existed in the United States.”

 

Urban music, like Motown, “worked for white audiences,” he said, but you did not see blacks and whites together at live concerts.

 

Hip-hop changed that because it was about fashion and language from the beginning, and — most importantly — captured a sense of urgency that teenagers in the suburbs and in the cities could relate to, he said. “When hip-hop artists wrote about the world they saw in the inner city, black and white teens recognized that the isolation of suburbia was not much different.”

 

Fab 5 Freddy, host of the television show Yo! MTV Raps in the 1980s, said hip-hop is successful because the music is “infectious” and because it allows people to express themselves in a positive, dynamic and consciousness-raising way. “Hip-hop is for everybody with an open ear,” he said.

 

In 1985, when Run-D.M.C.’s King of Rock became the first hip-hop record to “go platinum,” an award given by the Recording Industry Association of America for the sale of 1 million records, it was apparent that hip-hop had crossed over from African-American and Latino urban music into white culture, Shimmel said. In 2005, OutKast’s Grammy Award for Album of the Year was a first for a hip-hop album.

 

Shimmel said hip-hop today has not strayed far from its South Bronx roots. “Every musical form evolves,” Shimmel said. “Hip-hop started in New York, and it was interpreted differently in Los Angeles, and then the South added another element. It has evolved, but it hasn’t changed.”

 

LOOKING PAST ANTISOCIAL ELEMENTS TO GLOBAL IMPACT

 

Perez said some hip-hop music is notable for its disrespect of women, and the museum does not plan to dismiss this aspect of hip-hop. The so-called “gangsta” rap in the 1990s, with lyrics promoting drug use, violence and tagging, a form of graffiti used to mark gang territories, is a component of the hip-hop culture that cannot be ignored, Perez said, but “on the whole, the majority of hip-hop is creative and positive.”

 

Hip-hop’s influence both musically and culturally is global, Perez said. “The technique resonates throughout the United States and the world.” (See “American Toni Blackman Takes Hip-Hop to Asia ( http://www.america.gov/st/arts-english/2006/May/20060508165427bcreklaw0.2009546.html ).”)

 

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.  Web site: http://www.america.gov)

NNNN

 

 

*WPD105   08/24/2009

Chinese Student Associations Help Newcomers Adjust

(From airport pickups to Chinese cultural activities, students help students) (882)

 

By Jeffrey Thomas

Staff Writer

 

Washington — One of the nicest things that can happen when you are coming for the first time to a foreign country to study is to find someone waiting for you on arrival who speaks your language and whisks you off from the airport to the brave new academic world you have chosen.

 

Students from China are fortunate that on many American campuses there is a Chinese students association (CSA) that greets and helps newcomers. In fact, Jin Yan, the vice president of the CSA at the University of Maryland and a graduate student in mathematical statistics, sees picking up newcomers at the airport and providing them with a temporary place to live as the biggest help she can provide.

 

But CSAs do a lot more than meet and greet.

 

The Harvard Chinese Students and Scholars Association, like many similar organizations, takes new Chinese students to registration offices and banks, advises which mobile phone plan to choose and shows them supermarkets and shopping centers.

 

“To get them adapted to life as a graduate student, we try to instill courage and knowledge through either organized meetings or casual talking,” says Wen Zhou, a Harvard doctoral degree student in biological and biomedical sciences.  “We give them general advice on how to find good labs, what can be planned for different career tracks and what is not realistic. We are probably trying to accommodate them not to Boston, but specifically to Harvard, a highly competitive place with vast resources available.”

 

Offers of admission to prospective graduate students from China grew 13 percent in 2009, the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth. The latest figures were part of a report issued August 20 by the Council of Graduate Schools.

 

As of 2007-2008, China was the second leading country of origin for international students in the United States with 81,127 students (up almost 20 percent from the previous year). India is first.

 

Two-thirds of Chinese students are enrolled in graduate programs, while one-fifth are enrolled as undergraduates and the rest are in various training courses.

 

Jin Yan doesn’t see American culture as a big leap for new Chinese students at the University of Maryland, where the numbers of new Chinese students are growing. “We really still hold a Chinese life here,” she said. It’s up to the students themselves whether they want to get involved with the larger community.

 

“Make your own decisions,” is her advice to newcomers.

 

Wen Zhou sees new students for whom life in America is an easy fit because many have already visited the United States or other Western countries via on-site interviews, open houses or tours.

 

But for some students, the international experience is something new and challenging. “American culture is apparently a big leap for most students and scholars who spend their undergrad years in China. Few of them can completely overcome the language and cultural barrier, though they generally have no difficulty in scientific communication. In our point of view, it is not absolutely necessary to become a true American. Rather, we should keep our Chinese characters as long as we find a way to make friends with people from all over the world,” Zhou said.

 

Grace You, a doctoral degree student in Harvard’s Department of Neurobiology, agrees. “Many students in China nowadays watch American movies and dramas, have easy access to the Internet and are capable of reading things in English, and might have friends who are already in the States.  But even so, American culture is still a big leap for most of them. Observing something as an outsider is definitely different than experiencing it on your own.”

 

Most Chinese student associations consider it part of their mission to organize Chinese cultural events and help create a greater awareness of Chinese culture among Americans.

 

Zhou also enjoys meeting people and helping them. “Not until you talk with all kinds of people would you realize the diversity of life, nor would you find out how communication can inspire and elevate them,” Zhou said, adding: “My purpose is to make most people happy with life.”

 

Her advice to prospective students is to make sure they really love the major they are planning to pursue. “Think carefully before making a decision, rather than follow what everyone else is doing. Gather as much information as possible. You will never ask too many people.”

 

You advises prospective students to think clearly about why they want to study in the United States. “Be open to the outside world and interact with people. Though from time to time you will feel lonely, struggle with the language barrier and culture difference, and miss home, but if you keep trying you will be good.”

 

“The learning environment here is really stimulating, and resources are ample,” she added. “You need to make the most of it. All your efforts eventually will be paid off.”

 

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing provides extensive information on the visa application process ( http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/niv_info.html ), including forms for applying electronically and information on how to make an appointment and visa wait times.

 

For more information on studying in the United States ( http://www.educationusa.state.gov/ ), see the State Department’s EducationUSA Web site.

 

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.  Web site: http://www.america.gov)

NNNN

 

 

*WPD106   08/24/2009

Transcript: White House Press Briefing by Bill Burton

(Deputy press secretary briefs reporters August 24) (4735)

 

(begin transcript)

 

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

August 24, 2009

 

PRESS BRIEFING BY

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY BILL BURTON

 

Oak Bluffs School Filing Center 

Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts

 

10:34 A.M. EDT

 

MR. BURTON: Good morning. I think we're going to call this Martha's File Center. I like it. A little warm. But the President has enjoyed the hospitality of the folks here in Martha's Vineyard and has, so far, hung out last night at the house, had dinner with Valerie Jarrett and her daughter, and the Whitakers came over. This morning the President worked out. He played some tennis with the First Lady, is going to hit the links today with Congressman Clyburn, Mr. Wolf of UBS, and Marvin Nicholson of the White House.

 

And here's what's on the reading list, because I know that some folks have been asking -- it's long: "The Way Home," by George Pelecanos; Tom Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded"; Richard Price's "Lush Life"; Kent Haruf's "Plainsong"; and "John Adams" by David McCullough.

 

Q What was the fourth one?

 

MR. BURTON: The fourth one? Kent Haruf -- "Plainsong." That one?

 

With that, I'll take some questions.

 

Q The CIA Inspector General report is expected to be released today, and it's expected to discuss detainee abuse. What reaction is the administration going to have to this report?

 

MR. BURTON: Well, as the President has said repeatedly, he thinks that we should be looking forward, not backward. He does agree with the Attorney General that anyone who conducted actions that had been sanctioned should not be prosecuted. But ultimately, the decisions on who is investigated and who is prosecuted are up to the Attorney General. So I would refer you to the Department of Justice for any follow-ups.

 

Q So now we have this report, we have looked backwards. Does the White House support going after people who may have committed crimes?

 

MR. BURTON: The White House supports the Attorney General making the decisions on who gets prosecuted and investigated.

 

Q Does the President have a preference?

 

MR. BURTON: The President thinks that Eric Holder, who he appointed as a very independent Attorney General, should make those decisions.

 

Q Bill, I know that there's no -- nothing official as far as a visit to Senator Kennedy, just across the Sound there, but is that a possibility that he might go by and visit Senator Kennedy during this week?

 

MR. BURTON: There's no plans for that. And I heard some reports today that the Secret Service had visited Hyannis Port. I don't think that there's any reason to believe that there's any plan to go to Hyannis Port at this point. I think that if Secret Service agents were there they probably heard, like all of you already know, that they have great lobster rolls out there and they're probably just checking on it. (Laughter.)

 

Hold on, I've got to get to Reuters.

 

Q General Motors' choice of a buyer for Opel -- there's been a lot of talk back and forth about the Secretary of State getting involved. Is there any thought that the President plans to speak with Merkel about it?

 

MR. BURTON: The President's view is that decisions made about the day-to-day operations at General Motors should be made by the folks at General Motors. He never wanted to get into the auto business, and he's happy for them to make their decisions and get back on their feet.

 

Q So no plans for him to get involved at all?

 

MR. BURTON: None that I know of.

 

Q And what about the talk that the Secretary of State may have gotten involved? Do you know anything about that?

 

MR. BURTON: I don't know anything about that. I would direct you over there.

 

Dan.

 

Q Yes, on the new unit, the elite unit to question these terror suspects, what does the White House hope to get from this unit that it -- you know, information that couldn't have been garnered in other ways?

 

MR. BURTON: Well, for starters, I can confirm the Washington Post report is largely accurate, and that the President, at the consensus recommendation of his interagency task force on interrogations and detainees, did put in place a new group, the high-value interrogation group, which will be housed at the FBI. The director will report to the director of the FBI. And it'll bring together all the different elements of the intelligence community to get the best intelligence possible based on scientifically proven methods and consistent with the Army Field Manual.

 

The President's view is that intelligence gathering is best left to the intelligence community, and this is a way that the intelligence community can best operate, especially in these high-value instances.

 

Q So there's a sense, then, that what was in place before, other kinds of experts who were used to interrogate these suspects, this will be more efficient, you'll get better information?

 

MR. BURTON: Well, the President's view is that we can always work harder to protect the American people, and when he signed an executive order that put this task force in place to find new methods by which we can get more intelligence by scientifically proven means, he thought that they would be able to come up with a good plan in order to do just that. He has full confidence in this plan. And he's going to continue to support it going forward.

 

Q And one other thing on Afghanistan. Is the President at all concerned that perhaps there are not enough troops on the ground to get the job done, as he really has ramped things up there? I mean, there's the sense that we don't have enough people on the ground there to get the job done.

 

MR. BURTON: Well, as the -- let me start by saying that the men and women who serve the United States in Afghanistan are performing courageously and bravely under the most dangerous conditions in the world, and the President appreciates their service and is humbled by it. And the reason that we're there is because the people who plotted and executed the attacks of 9/11 operate there still and are still plotting against us. And the reason that we're there is to stop them. The President put in place a strategy by which we would disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies. And his view is that the -- when he laid out his policy earlier this year to put more troops on the ground, put a new strategy in place is a winning strategy.

 

As you know, General McChrystal has only been there for a short time. But he's undergoing a thorough review and assessment of the progress that we've made and what else we need to do in order to continue to make progress. So I think that we're going to hold off until we get that assessment back, not prejudge or predetermine based on reports that are coming out of the region, and make a decision accordingly.

 

Chip.

 

Q On the investigation of abusive interrogations, you referred us to the Justice Department. Are you suggesting that the President will accept whatever recommendation the Attorney General comes up with?

 

MR. BURTON: I'm not just suggesting that. I'm saying that the President thinks that the decision of who to investigate and to prosecute is in his hands.

 

Q And does the -- are you saying the White House has no role? Is the White House now communicating with the Justice Department on that? Has the President himself had any communications?

 

MR. BURTON: When the President appointed Attorney General Holder to the job, he said specifically that he wanted him to be independent and he wanted the Department of Justice to be an independent entity. He has great faith in Attorney General Holder, but he ultimately is going to make the decisions.

 

Q So it's completely hands off, absolutely up to the Attorney General, no matter what the decision --

 

MR. BURTON: The decision is in the Attorney General's hands.

 

Q Does the establishment of this group within the FBI mean that the CIA is effectively out of the interrogation business?

 

MR. BURTON: I'm sorry, say that again.

 

Q Does the establishment of this group within the FBI, under the FBI's purview, mean that the CIA is out of the terror interrogation business?

 

MR. BURTON: Oh, no, absolutely not. The CIA is obviously -- obviously has a very important role to play as it relates to interrogations. They've done a brilliant job in doing it so far, gathering intelligence. A lot of people don't know that half of the FBI's mission is actually to gather intelligence. So what this does is it houses all these different elements under one group where they can best perform their duties. The intelligence community is going to have a deputy who will be in that group, and obviously the CIA will be very involved in this.

 

Q So the CIA will have a seat at that table?

 

MR. BURTON: Yes.

 

Yunji.

 

Q Bill, what is the President doing to stay in front of the health care debate? He's out of the spotlight, obviously, out of Washington, behind the scenes, playing golf. Is he doing anything to maintain the message?

 

MR. BURTON: Well, as you know, there's no calls or meetings on his schedule right now. But I will say that he's obviously staying up to date with it. He's getting daily briefings, and he's talking to advisers as appropriate. But back at the White House, you can bet that Nancy-Ann DeParle and her team of folks is still working very hard to find some bipartisan consensus to move forward.

 

Q But is there a concern that they might lose steam? I mean, the President obviously is the strongest advocate on that?

 

MR. BURTON: I think that the President has a lot of faith in his team, and he also is due a little time to recharge his batteries with his family. So he's happy to be here in Martha's Vineyard. The health care debate I think is moving forward at a good clip. If you listen to what John McCain had to say yesterday on This Week, he said there is broad agreement on some of the key things as it relates to health care from bringing down costs to getting more folks covered to not spending too much money to do it.

 

So the President thinks that there is still a real possibility of getting a bipartisan plan through. He's going to continue to work towards that end. And right now -- he's probably at the golf course by now.

 

Q You just said he's not -- there are no calls on the schedule, but we were told by another press guy -- blond guy, glasses -- that he would be making calls to individual members of Congress on health care.

 

MR. BURTON: Sure. But there's nothing on the schedule. He's going to do that as appropriate. And stay tuned. If there's any readouts on anything that he's doing, I'll be sure to keep you --

 

Q Will you wait until the next day, or will you tell us right after that happens?

 

MR. BURTON: We'll go case-by-case basis.

 

Q Senator Kennedy, as you know, has asked the governor and the legislature to change the law to appoint someone to his seat if something should happen, if the seat is vacated for whatever reason. The big concern is about the health care vote, if it's close. Is the President concerned at all about losing Senator Kennedy's vote, and what might happen if the Senator's seat is vacated?

 

MR. BURTON: I don't think that there are many people in the history of our country who've worked harder towards health care reform than Senator Kennedy. So obviously any support from Senator Kennedy is critically important. The issue that you brought up isn't one that he's discussed with Senator Kennedy. I don't know that we've had any discussions, even on a staff level, with the governor of Massachusetts. But that's something for folks in Massachusetts to decide, not for the President to decide.

 

Q But is he concerned if it's a very close vote? I mean, if it's a real close vote and the Senator's vote isn't there, does that concern him?

 

MR. BURTON: Well, obviously, we'd like to get all the votes that we could for health care reform. The President would love to get 100 votes in the Senate for health care reform. We're going to work towards getting as big a majority as possible in order to achieve exactly what the President is trying to achieve. But decisions like that, that you're talking about, are up to folks in Massachusetts.

 

Q There are some making an issue of the President, that his arrival was not open to the public, and that the public wasn't allowed in. I mean, how is the -- the President was obviously aware of the greeting that he got on the roads and everything, but how is he going to balance that out, the security, with the fact that people want to see him?

 

MR. BURTON: Well, as you know, when we were originally coming in and the reason we had to delay was there were real weather concerns over whether or not we could have a big public arrival when we got here. So I don't think we were able to organize something like that knowing that the weather was going to be in such tough shape. So the President -- as I said, he really appreciates being here in Martha's Vineyard. Folks have been very warm in welcoming him. He's been coming here for some 10 years now and he plans to come back. So hopefully, going forward, there will be some opportunities for him to be out in the public, but for right now he's just spending a little time with his family.

 

Q Is the foursome with Congressman Clyburn, I guess, is he the only member of Congress who will be playing golf with him this week, or will there be other people visiting him throughout the week? And what's the President's relationship with Mr. Wolf?

 

MR. BURTON: He's friends with Mr. Wolf. And right now that's the only member of Congress he's scheduled to play golf with. You know, he's on vacation, so everything is a little bit loose. You know, you wake up, you have some breakfast, you workout, and then you decide, what do I feel like doing today?  He's doing that just like anybody else.

 

Q Is he here specifically to play golf today?

 

MR. BURTON: I'm pretty sure he was already here.

 

Q Bill, Governor David Paterson in New York has given a couple interviews recently in which he said the criticism he's received as governor is racially based because we haven't reached a post-racial society. He suggests that Governor Deval Patrick's problems are similarly based, and he said that President Obama would be the next victim of this kind of bias in the media. Does the White House agree with that assessment that the criticism of African American politicians is often racially based?

 

MR. BURTON: The President's view is that -- and I'll be honest, we haven't been following that race with the sort of granularity where we might know the ins and outs of what's going on with David Paterson. But I will say that we're obviously in close touch with governors from time to time.

 

In terms of media coverage and the President, he thinks that there are a lot of people who agree with him in the media, there are a lot of people who disagree with him in the media, and there's a lot of folks who just report it straight. Whether or not race plays into that I don't think is the case. The President doesn't think it's the case. What he thinks is that there's a lot of people who have different opinions, and one of the great parts about the American tradition is that people are able to do that freely. And that's the sort of thing that makes our democracy so strong.

 

It's Major's birthday, so I'm going to go to him. (Laughter.) And I understand that on your birthday you don't have to ask too many questions --

 

Q No, I don't. Senator Schumer has asked for a U.N. resolution condemning the release of Megrahi. Does the administration have any position on that, number one? And number two, there are reports that if Ghadafi wants to see the President at the United Nations General Assembly in September, the White House has already decided that meeting will not happen? Can you comment on either of those two?

 

MR. BURTON: I don't know about Schumer's resolution. I would suggest that you contact my good friend Mark up in Ambassador Rice's office on that. As for seeing Ghadafi at the General Assembly, as you know, this year Ghadafi is the head of the General Assembly, and so I assume that at some point they'll run into each other, but there is no scheduled meeting and no plans to schedule one.

 

Q Is anything with Libya different now after the Megrahi welcome than it was before?

 

MR. BURTON: The President's view is that, as you've seen members of his administration say, from Robert Gibbs to Robert Mueller, it was disgusting to see a convicted terrorist welcomed the way that he was in Libya. So obviously the President feels like that was a particularly bad idea, that they shouldn't have done -- that we said beforehand -- that they should not have done. But in terms of our relationship, we'll just work on a case-by-case basis on whatever is appropriate going forward.

 

Q Senator Lieberman said over the weekend it might be worthwhile -- the White House's while to start over on health care. What's your reaction to that?

 

MR. BURTON: I think a lot of folks have a lot of different opinions. We're dealing with 535 members of Congress, some of which this weekend, like John McCain, said that there is great agreement. Kent Conrad said there also is great agreement. We think that the reason we've been able to make more progress on health care than any other President in the last 60 years is because the American people are foursquare behind getting something done. Costs have gotten to a point where they're completely out of control.

 

And the President's view is that until we get costs under control, until we get health care reform passed in this country, we're not going to be able to get everybody covered, we're not going to be able to get in place the kind of insurance reforms that the American people need, like not losing your health insurance just because you get sick, not being able to be stopped by getting health insurance because you have a preexisting condition.

 

And so the President feels like the process we've got moving forward is a good one. We've already gotten the support of doctors and nurses, hospitals. AARP has said that they are for health care reform. The President feels good about the progress that we've been able to make, and we're going to continue to move towards getting a bill done and getting health care reform passed this year.

 

Q What's your surrogate activity this week?

 

MR. BURTON: I don't exactly know. I will get back to you on that.

 

Q Bill, what kind of challenge does the administration face with half of its senior positions not being confirmed by the Senate yet?

 

MR. BURTON: I saw that report in The New York Times today, and I will say that what it missed was the fact that it's possible to slice presidential appointees in a whole bunch of different ways, and the way that that report did it specifically made it look like actually we're not doing very well. But if you compare where this President is to the most recent previous Presidents, we're actually far ahead of where they were when it comes to presidential appointees.

 

Now, are there individual frustrations along the way, like the fact that Congressman McHugh is being held up for partisan purposes and not able to serve in his job as Secretary of the Army, which people broadly think that he is able to do capably? Sure, absolutely. But if you look at the progress we've been able to make in this administration in just seven months, from what we've done on the auto industry, what we've done on the financial industry, to Iraq, to Afghanistan, to children's health care, to stem cell research, to equal pay -- we've been able to do a whole lot. And the President is confident in his team and the team that he's putting together in order to continue to make the progress that he promised on the campaign trail.

 

Q But just comparing it to other administrations, maybe they had problems, too. I mean, is it making the job harder when half of these positions are unfilled?

 

MR. BURTON: Like I said, I think that that report did not accurately reflect the fact that there actually are a lot more folks in our administration and the pace is a lot quicker than it had been in previous administrations. So the President's view is, do we have some more hiring to do? Sure. But are we able to make a lot of progress with the team that's in place right now? Absolutely.

 

So I think that, moving forward, the President feels good about his team and is going to continue to put together a strong team.

 

Q (Inaudible) in confirming these positions?

 

MR. BURTON: In some cases. But there's other cases like Congressman McHugh that I mentioned, for Secretary of Army, where the answer is no.

 

Sir.

 

Q Why does the administration seem to be so thin-skinned with regard to Fox News?

 

MR. BURTON: Thin-skinned -- that's interesting. I wouldn't say that we're thin-skinned. I would say that we appreciate that there are people not just at Fox, but in all aspects of the media who are -- who come to this with sometimes very sharp opinions, sometimes very tough questions, and the President has, in the past, obviously been happy to take tough questions, and the administration certainly has. We've appeared with conservatives with Michael Smerconish as recently as this week. The President has appeared with Chris Wallace, even Bill O'Reilly.

 

So the President welcomes a vigorous debate. He hopes that people keep an eye on the facts, as they're having it, but I don't know what you would base that assertion on, frankly.

 

Q It just seems to be singled out a lot of the times, especially with regard to cable chatter. Some people consider that maybe code for the Fox News Channel?

 

MR. BURTON: Oh, really? Where do you think they've been singled out?

 

Q I don't know. It seems like it's been mentioned by Gibbs, by the President himself, and by others.

 

MR. BURTON: When?

 

Q Over the course of the last six months.

 

MR. BURTON: Fox News?

 

Q Yes, the Fox News Channel. And it just seems like on a number of occasions --

 

MR. BURTON: I'm not sure I agree with the premise of your questions.

 

Q It seems like in a number of occasions we've been singled out for maybe being a little more critical than some of the other cable networks, some of the other media outlets. Is that a strategy or is that some -- is that more haphazard?

 

MR. BURTON: Yes, like I said, I don't agree with the premise of your question, and so I wouldn't really know how to answer it.

 

Sir.

 

Q Could you address the sort of complaints from Republicans (inaudible) NRCC -- is this really the best time for the man leading it all to be sipping wine (inaudible).

 

MR. BURTON: Who's that release from, I'm sorry?

 

Q NRCC.

 

MR. BURTON: NRCC. As I recall, the previous President actually had taken quite a bit a vacation himself, and I don't think that anybody bemoaned that or bemoans this President trying to take some time with his family to recharge his batteries and get ready for the fight ahead. He's obviously worked very hard this year, as have some members of the staff. I don't know about all of them; I know Tommy is in flip-flops today. But I think the President feels good about the progress that we've been able to make, but I think that it's important for the President, just like it is for any other individual, to take a little time, spend it with their family, recharge their batteries, so they're ready for the final push for the year.

 

Q You mentioned surrogate activities and phone calls, that there were none set today and you didn't know of surrogate activities going forward. Is it possible that we'll go several days without any of these sorts of activities? And also, following up on Chip, are you going to let us know in advance or after these things take place?

 

MR. BURTON: If the President decides to pick up the phone and call a member of Congress, I'm not going to let you know in advance. But I will encourage you to stay in touch, talk to Reid Cherlin about any surrogate activity that's happening this week. But we'll keep you posted on any information about --

 

Q So it is possible we'll go for several days without -- with him just relaxing and not doing any of these activities?

 

MR. BURTON: Sure.

 

Christi.

 

Q Bill, over the weekend, Senator Lieberman made the argument that there may be a good moral argument for expanding coverage, health care coverage, but not a good economic one right now. Could you respond to that, and also say whether you think that might be a concern (inaudible) starting to creep through Congress?

 

MR. BURTON: Well, I didn't see Senator Lieberman's remarks, so I can't respond directly to that. But on the economic argument for health care reform, I think it's pretty clear -- and the President has been talking about it for quite some time -- that if we don't get costs under control, the way that they're going up is causing the health insurance industry to shed tens of thousands of Americans each month as a result of rising costs.

 

And those higher costs are causing Medicare and Medicaid and state-run health care programs to create budgetary problems that are just fiscally unsustainable. So the President's view is that health care reform is important for health care's sake. But if you look at the long-term fiscal health in this country, it's critically important, as well.

 

Q Can I ask, now that he's here, can you give us more insight as to why the President chose to come to Martha's Vineyard as opposed to any place else? And can you give us an assessment of his level of desire to in some way engage the public here? Because, as you know, there is a lot of -- a lot of desire sort of for them to be seen in some public setting.

 

MR. BURTON: Sure. The President has been coming to Martha's Vineyard for some 10 years. He's probably been five or six times over the course of that time period. He enjoys it. It's comfortable. The beaches are nice. The people are particularly nice. There's really good food to eat. (Laughter.) If you're lucky and you go down to the Sand Pit [sic] on a Sunday night, Charlotte is singing. There's a lot of great things about Martha's Vineyard. And the President enjoys coming here, and he probably will continue to.

 

In terms of engaging the public, if he decides to put anything like that on the schedule -- be it a public event or just going out for dinner or anything like that -- we'll be sure to let you know.

 

Q Are they interested in doing anything?

 

MR. BURTON: His desire in Martha's Vineyard is to get a little break. He certainly appreciates the hospitality of the folks who are here. But his desire here is to relax and spend time with the family. All right, just last one.

 

Mike.

 

Q Do you know if he's got any plans to host any sort of big dinner or anything at his place with other folks on the island?

 

MR. BURTON: No. At this point, there's no plan for that. I wouldn't foreclose that notion. But there's no plan for that right now.

 

END  11:00 A.M. EDT

 

(end transcript)

 

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)

NNNN

 

 

*WPD107   08/24/2009

Text: Hillary Clinton Works Toward Banishing Sexual Violence

(Commentary by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton) (1025)

 

This commentary originally appeared August 21 on People Magazine’s Web site at http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20299698,00.html.

 

(begin text)

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be taking some well-earned R&R in Bermuda this week, but last week, the former First Lady and U.S. Senator wrapped up a grueling seven-nation diplomatic mission to Africa.

 

While much was made back home about her snapping at a Congolese student who asked her about Bill Clinton's thoughts on a trade issue ("My husband is not the secretary of state, I am," she retorted), the emotional heart of her tour was also her most dangerous stop – in Goma, inside the war zone in eastern Congo, where she tearfully met rape victims on Aug. 11.

 

In this exclusive Op-Ed piece for PEOPLE.com, Secretary Clinton shares what she learned on her visit – and what she will do about it.

 

What I Saw in Goma

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

 

In 11 days of travel across Africa, I saw humanity at its worst – and at its best. In Goma last week, I saw both.

 

The Mugunga Internally Displaced Persons Camp sits in a land of volcanoes and great lakes on the edge of Goma, a provincial capital in the eastern Congo. The camp is now home to 18,000 people seeking refuge from a cycle of violent conflict that has left 5.4 million dead since 1998. Chased from their homes and villages by armed rebels and informal militias, these men, women and children walked for miles with little food or water until they reached this relatively safe haven.

 

Now they live in tents, one next to the other, row after row, some clinging to life, others hanging on to whatever glimmer of hope remains in a region plagued by years of brutality. Many of these people have been robbed of their homes, possessions, families and, worst of all, their dignity.

 

Women and girls in particular have been victimized on an unimaginable scale, as sexual and gender-based violence has become a tactic of war and has reached epidemic proportions. Some 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day.

 

I visited a hospital run by the organization Heal Africa and met a woman who told me that she was eight months' pregnant when she was attacked. She was at home when a group of men broke in. They took her husband and two of their children and shot them in the front yard, before returning into the house to shoot her other two children. Then they beat and gang-raped her and left her for dead. But she wasn't dead. She fought for life and her neighbors managed to get her to the hospital – 85 kilometers away.

 

I came to Goma to send a clear message: The United States condemns these attacks and all those who commit them and abet them. They are crimes against humanity.

 

These acts don't just harm a single individual, or a single family, or village, or group. They shred the fabric that weaves us together as human beings. Such atrocities have no place in any society. This truly is humanity at its worst.

 

But there is reason to hope. We have seen survivors summon the courage to rebuild their lives and their communities. We have seen civic leaders and organizations come together to combat this appalling scourge. And we have seen health care workers sacrifice comfortable careers so they can treat the wounded.

 

In Goma, I met doctors and advocates who work every day to repair the broken bodies and spirits of women who have been raped, often by gangs, and often in such brutal fashion that they can no longer bear children, or walk or work. Caregivers like Lyn Lusi, who founded Heal Africa in Goma, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, who founded the Panzi hospital in Bukavu, represent humanity at its best.

 

The United States will stand with these brave people. This week I announced more than $17 million in new funding to prevent and respond to gender and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We will provide medical care, counseling, economic assistance and legal support. We will dedicate nearly $3 million to recruit and train police officers to protect women and girls and to investigate sexual violence. We will send technology experts to help women and front-line workers report abuse using photographs and video and share information on treatment and legal options. And we will deploy a team of civilian experts, medical personnel and military engineers to assess how we can further assist survivors of sexual violence.

 

While I was in the DRC, I had very frank discussions about sexual violence with President Kabila. I stressed that the perpetrators of these crimes, no matter who they are, must be prosecuted and punished. This is particularly important when they are in positions of authority, including members of the Congolese military, who have been allowed to commit these crimes with impunity.

 

Our commitment to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence did not begin with my visit to Goma, and it will not end with my departure.

 

We are redoubling our efforts to address the fundamental cause of this violence: the fighting that goes on and on in the eastern Congo. We will be taking additional steps at the United Nations and in concert with other nations to bring an end to this conflict.

 

There is an old Congolese proverb that says, "No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come." The day must come when the women of the eastern Congo can walk freely again, to tend their fields, play with their children and collect firewood and water without fear. They live in a region of unrivaled natural beauty and rich resources. They are strong and resilient. They could, if given the opportunity, drive economic and social progress that would make their country both peaceful and prosperous.

 

Working together, we will banish sexual violence into the dark past, where it belongs, and help the Congolese people seize the opportunities of a new day.

 

(end text)

 

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)

NNNN