Ambassador Khalilzad: Good morning.  I would like to do two things before I take your questions.

One, to say that we've had a good discussion about the Middle East – inside that's ongoing – and dealing with the issue of both the peace process, between Israel and the Palestinians, and Lebanon.

Also, I want to take advantage of this opportunity to offer my condolences to the families of the victims of the terrorist attack in Yemen.  Appreciate the efforts of the Yemeni government and the security forces.

Second broad point that I wanted to mention is with regard to our priorities for this session.  Of course, we have geopolitical issues, regional issues during this period that will continue.

We will continue to encourage pressure on Iran, to come into compliance with its obligations.  We'll continue efforts to increase   pressure on Burma, to make progress on the political track.  There has been no progress on that.

We will continue to work with others, to make sure that the forces that are needed are brought into Darfur.  There has been delays.  Now we're told that the 80 percent that was expected to arrive, by the end of this year, will not do so until March.

We're disappointed by that and we'll keep our pressure and our efforts ongoing, to have as much forces as we can while working on other aspects of the crisis in Darfur, helping the people of Darfur, on the humanitarian track, and also working with regard to the political resolution of the crisis.

Besides geopolitical issues, I'd include other concerns, concerns about Georgia.  We want to strengthen, of course, the role of the U.N. in Iraq, based on the new resolution that was passed.  And the Afghan, in the Afghan context, again based on the new resolution that was passed, to strengthen the U.N. role, in terms of coordinating the civilian efforts, between the international community and the Afghans and between and among the international community and between the civilian and the military efforts that are needed, for success in Afghanistan.

Clearly we have other priorities, priorities with regard to the president's freedom agenda on democracy, on human rights.  We will have a ministerial meeting of democratic states here.

We will have specific human rights resolutions again that we will support with regard to countries that massively violate the human rights of their own people.  And we will in addition, of course, support the efforts in terms of economic development meeting the basic needs of the people, through our support for the MDGs and other steps that are in the process of being agreed upon.

We certainly will have a discussion with regard to food security, as a priority to increase the production of food, encourage partnership between government to private sector, in terms of responding to needs through humanitarian assistance, appropriate humanitarian assistance.  That will be also a priority of ours.  We'll participate, clearly, in discussions on climate change, which is another important issue here.

Overall, I think the U.N. has been an important instrument in terms of advancing our goals on many geopolitical issues, in dealing with some of the humanitarian issues that we have faced here, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.  The U.N. itself needs to be reformed, and that will remain a priority in terms of transparency, accountability, efficiency.  And we have had some successes.  A lot needs to be done on that score, a long way to go. But I wanted to give you an overview of our goals and objectives for the coming period.

Thank you.

Reporter: Ambassador, given what you and other diplomats have said recently, it seems like central to getting progress on the number of priorities you've stated would be improving U.S.-Russian relations, which have clouded and moved into other areas beyond Georgia.  What can we expect next week in terms of the Bush administration's effort to do that, in terms of meetings, perhaps what the president might say in his address?  And more broadly, what do you think the prospects are for really healing this rift and making progress in those issues in the final months of the Bush administration?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Well, we obviously fundamentally disagree with Russia on Georgia.  And you've heard me speak clearly about that.  But at the same time, we believe that there are other issues on which we can and should cooperate because of mutual interest and because of progress that's needed to serve broader global interests.  And there will be meetings between our senior officials and Russians, bilateral and multilateral contacts.  So there will be opportunities to have    discussions at quite senior levels.  But there's no sugar-coating the fact that we fundamentally disagree with what they did, the Russians did in Georgia, but we also recognize that we have some areas of common interest on other issues that we should – we should continue to work on.

Reporter:  Mr. Ambassador.  Mr. Ambassador.  Can you [inaudible] response to the GA president's speech that he gave a few days ago, the speech of the GA president?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Well, it's very important to know what the role of the president of the GA is.  He is the president of the entire 192 tribes that are here.  And his role is to facilitate the discussion, to follow the rules, to do things that makes this organization work and brings people together.  So I hope that the president appreciates that, that is his role, and that's the expectation of the members of this organization.

For him to succeed in the role that – he has to play his role, and that role is to be a unifier, to look forward representing the interests of all members rather than picking on some members, siding with others.  That, I think, would undermine his effectiveness, and I don't think that's in his interests or the interests of the organization.

Reporter:  To follow up on that, Mr. Ambassador:  He has criticized the Security Council for what was essentially, in his view, usurping powers that rightfully belong to the General Assembly, and he'd like to see those taken back.  Do you see the Security Council as having taken unjustly powers away from the General Assembly?

Ambassador Khalilzad:   The Security Council has clear responsibilities under the charter, and it is exercising those responsibilities.  Under the charter, the GA has roles and responsibilities.  And I believe it's very important that the charter – the rights and privileges of the different parts of the U.N. is observed by all, including by the president.

Reporter:  On Sudan, on Sudan.  Could I ask you a question on Sudan? On Sudan –

Ambassador Khalilzad:  I'll come to you.

Reporter:  Yeah.  On Sudan, we were told yesterday that there's some moves afoot by either France or France and the U.K. to put -- to lay out conditions to Sudan that if they met them, perhaps al-Bashir's indictment and prosecution wouldn't go forward.  What's the U.S.'s position on Article 16 or if conditions are met, changing it, and also on Sima Samar, this human rights investigator for Sudan that Sudan is now saying is an EU agent, essentially, in the Geneva Human Rights Council?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Uh-huh.  First of all, I have to say that I know Sima Samar.  She was the head of the Afghan Human Rights Commission, and she was a deputy prime minister and was -- had other senior posts in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Taliban.  She was a great human rights advocate against the Taliban abuses in Afghanistan.

So I have full confidence in her and her abilities and her commitment to human rights.  Frankly, she used to give me a hard time when I was in Afghanistan, when she was the head of the human rights commissions, on many issues.  So she's no one's – shall we say, puppet or agent here.  She's a very strong lady that speaks her mind and is not intimidated.  So that's on that point.

On the first point, you know, I can say two things.  One, we have not taken a position specifically on this issue, because we – nothing has come to us formally.  But it's very important to state the following.  The United States believes in accountability – and this is a very important point – that people who have committed crimes must be brought to justice.  And so those are the two points that I want to make.

Yes?

On Iran, and then I come to that –

Reporter:  [Inaudible] also mentioned, you know, that you're going to have some meetings with the Russian officials, and I'm sure Iran will be one of the subjects. 

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Sure.  Yeah.

Reporter:  So I mean, are you going to remove another resolution or sanctions resolution during the GA [inaudible], sir?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Well, as I have said to you before, the way it works with regard to Iran here is that there is first contacts and discussions in the capital on the issue.  And I think today there will be a political directors' meeting on this issue.  Today is the 18th, isn't it?

Reporter:  Yes.

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Yes, right.

So this is one and two.  It – once there is a broad agreement that this gets transferred here, I don't see anything being transferred in the coming days here.  It's not ready yet for its transference to the Security Council, where the details have to be worked out in New York.

Reporter: [Inaudible] the P-5 plus [inaudible]?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Well, we have a P-5 meeting.  I'll get back to you whether we have a P-5 plus one.  But I know we have a P-5 meeting.

Yes?

Reporter:  What expectations do you have on the Quartet's meeting next week, since the Israeli leadership has been changed recently?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Well, that's an important issue, but there is a government in place now, and there will be, as you heard from [inaudible], a series of events here dealing with the Middle East issues.

Reporter:  Do you – I wonder if you sense – it's a big moment.  You have eight years of the Bush administration presidency ending –

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Sure.

Reporter: His last speech here.

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Yeah.  Yeah.

Reporter:  You've been in several important places in the Bush administration.

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Yeah.

Reporter:  I mean, do you feel that the world is a more stable place, or a sense of ending, of closure to this chapter in the U.S. and the U.N.?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  Well, I think that we have had to do some difficult things in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks against the United States.

That changed us, that changed the world, in terms of the – what is this new era in the post-Cold War about.  And what has been clear and is crystallizing and people are finding their bearing, if you like, in the aftermath of that big change, the end of the Cold War, is that terrorism and extremism and global terrorism has emerged as a very important, defining challenge, and that the future of the broader Middle East, which is generating – the problems of the broader Middle East is generating many of these challenges, and that the world needs to come together to assist in the transformation of that region.

Now, because of some of the difficult things that we have had to do in Afghanistan and in Iraq, there have been at times challenges in our relations with other members in the U.N.  But I think if you look over – if you, rather than looking at the photograph, if you look at the whole eight-years period, you see that the page has been turned. That there is a broader agreement that it's in everyone's interest for Iraq to succeed, and therefore the U.N. has had an expanded mandate to assist the Iraqis; that it's in everyone interest for Afghanistan to succeed; it's everyone's interest to have an Arab-Israeli peace settlement, a two-state solution, because you can't normalize this region unless you also deal with problem.

And you over time in an evolutionary way help with the transformation and normalization of this region the way that the problems of Europe at one time was the source of the world's worries. That now it is – if you had to look, pick at one geopolitical region, geographically it's this region; it doesn't mean that there are no other problems.  There are other problems as well to be attended to, but this has, I think – it is an [inaudible] important issue that will remain the agenda for the international community beyond this administration's time frame.

Reporter:  [Inaudible] Governor Palin is here Monday?  I mean, is there any plan –

Ambassador Khalilzad:  I have – I don't have – I don't know anything about that.  There has been no formal contact by anybody with me or with my mission here.  So I think that I have nothing on that for you.

Thank you. 

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