国务院午间简报，2000年10月18日

   

    问:博丹大使昨晚对记者说，科尔案调查取得重大进展。你知道它们是什么吗?你能解释一下吗?REEKER先生:我想我补充不了多少。我是说，我看过成绩单。我在一些电视节目中看到我们驻也门大使博丹大使对此进行了讨论。正如我的同事、五角大楼的奎格利上将昨天所说，在刑事调查正在进行的时候，我们不会就具体方面发表评论，我也不会对谁可能对爆炸负责这个大问题进行猜测。这显然是调查想要查明的。我可以说——我认为这反映了，或者在很大程度上反映了博丹大使所说的——对科尔号驱逐舰爆炸事件的调查正在进行中，也门政府继续进行良好的全面合作。上周四事件发生时被派往也门的跨部门小组仍在亚丁的地面上——事实上，在某些情况下，还在船上。 It includes investigators and medical technicians, communications experts, and certainly a robust force protection element. I think we may have talked a little bit at the end of the week about the Foreign Emergency Support Team, or FEST, which is the State-led interagency group of experts that can be deployed rapidly -- in this case was deployed rapidly to Yemen -- to assist US and host nation authorities in a wide range of specialized skills not normally available on the scene, and particularly in the aftermath of a possible terrorist incident. So we have been working very closely with the Yemenis, have appreciated that coordination and the support that they have been providing us. Obviously, as other departments have noted, senior officials are being kept apprised of this, and so I'm just not in a position to go into any more details of the investigation. Q: Well, can you at least say whether you got some solid leads yet, or are you still at square one? MR. REEKER: Again, I think I have to say that the investigation has moved forward very quickly. This is less than a week since this tragic incident occurred. But I'm just not going to be able to get into day-by-day readouts of this. It wouldn't be appropriate or prudent. It is an ongoing criminal investigation. The FBI obviously will have the lead of that criminal investigation, and we will certainly be paying close attention and watching for what information does emerge when it is determined that that information is appropriate to provide publicly. Q: Did the Secretary discuss the investigation? Apparently there has been some -- I know you don't want to go into the investigation, but there has been some claims that some of the people that could be responsible are of Saudi descent. And has the Secretary talked about the investigation during her meetings in Saudi Arabia? MR. REEKER: I'm just -- I am not aware. She did, as we discussed, have meetings in Saudi Arabia. I just don't have anything beyond some of the press reports I have seen suggesting these things. I have no details on that. In terms of the Secretary's meetings in Saudi Arabia, she arrived there yesterday and met with King Fahd, coming directly from Sharm el-Sheikh. Later then in the evening, she had meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince and the Foreign Minister. And then this morning, she met with Syrian President Bashar Asad for about two hours and 15 minutes, I am told, before she and her party departed to return to Washington. (The briefing was concluded at 2:35 p.m.)