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- 10/01/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the Ceremony Marking the Full Operational Capacity of Africa Command (AFRICOM)
- 09/17/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the "Doing Business: Five Years of Reform" Event- "Building Business, Restoring Relationships"
- 08/21/08: Press Briefing with Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance via telephone from Tbilisi, Georgia - "Humanitarian Assistance to Georgia"
- 07/24/08: Remarks by President George W. Bush on The Freedom Agenda
RSS Feed for Recent USAID Speeches and Testimony |
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Briefing on Humanitarian Assistance to Iraqis in the Event of War
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
25 February 2003
Participants:
Andrew S. Natsios, USAID Administrator Bernd
McConnell, Director, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance Michael
Marx; Disaster Assistance Response Team Leader Lauren Landis,
Director, Office of Food for Peace and Dr. Skip Burkle, Deputy
Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global Health
(2:30 p.m. EST)
MR. REEKER: Why don't we start and welcome everybody here. We wanted
to put together this briefing today with our USAID team to follow up
yesterday's White House briefing that was interagency, but this gives
you a chance to follow up on some of those issues and get some more
detail on, I think, some very important things in terms of the
planning, contingency planning for humanitarian assistance and relief
efforts in Iraq.
So, as advertised, we have the Administrator of USAID, our friend,
Andrew Natsios. He is joined by Bernd McConnell of the Office of
Foreign Disaster Assistance, the Director of that Office; Michael
Marx, Disaster Assistance Response Team Leader; Lauren Landis, the
Director of the Office of Food for Peace; and Dr. Skip Burkle, who is
the Deputy Assistant Administrator of AID's Bureau for Global Health.
And they are on the record. We can remind you of each of their names.
And we will just turn it over. I think we will let Andrew start with
some opening remarks and then we can go to questions across the
spectrum on this whole topic. So thanks for being here and thanks to
all of you.
MR. NATSIOS: Thank you very much. I am Andrew Natsios, the
Administrator of AID. What we are going to do today is have the
technical people who'll actually be running operations in the field
talk to you about how things will be run in a very tangible
operational sense, but let me just put this in larger context.
The DART team is the projection of American humanitarian power into
the field in a major emergency. We don't do this in every case. There
are about 60 emergencies a year. We do not send DART teams to each one
of them, only to the big ones where there is a major event that is
extremely complicated and very complex which needs our people on the
ground in an organized structure in order to extend American influence
over the relief operations.
It has basically four or five functions. The first is to assemble and
train the staff who will be on the team, and Bear McConnell from OFDA
will talk about that.
The team has already, and the office, have prepositioned supplies and
the supplies will be controlled by the team in the field. They don't
have to come to Washington to use those commodities. They will do it
themselves.
Third, they coordinate with other international humanitarian
organizations, NGOs, international organizations, UN agencies, the
ICRC, and also communicate with them in a regular sense. And there is
established doctrine on how these things, this communication goes on
and how this coordination goes on, an established doctrine that's in a
book that you'll see in a couple of minutes.
They also have the authority to spend money in the field, which is
very important, without coming back to Washington. That means the DART
team can move very rapidly to get its work done.
These offices are in what we call the humanitarian bureau. It's called
DCHA, Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, and they are
the bureau that is headed by Roger Winter. He would be here himself,
who is the Assistant Administrator, runs the bureau, but Roger is in
Sudan or Ethiopia or the Horn of Africa. Just returned. Well, he's
just returning.
So I would like to turn it over to the people who are sitting here who
can tell you in more detail what we plan on doing and how it will be
done.
MR. McCONNELL: I am Bear McConnell from the Office of U.S. Foreign
Disaster Assistance. It's always a pleasure to follow my boss there. I
never know what he's going to say before he says it, but it sort of
guides me in what I'm supposed to say afterwards.
This DART, this Disaster Assistance Response Team business, just as a
sort of a context for how unusual what we are up to is, a normal DART
is five people, eight people, ten people, and would travel for four
weeks, six weeks, something like that. This DART is, at the moment, 62
people. Every time I talk to Michael, it grows. It is going to be a
functional or a core DART in the event that we deploy the DART. And we
always need to remind ourselves that there have been no decisions on
whether there is going to be a war, but there has certainly been a
decision within AID that if there is going to be one, we're going to
be ready.
So these 62 people will be grouped, essentially, with a core in Kuwait
City and three field offices; one DART for this thing if we do it, and
three mobile field offices that will report to the DART leader, which,
again, is Michael Marx here. We'll come back to that.
This is also a bit unusual in terms of the amount of different
agencies and offices within AID that are represented. Lauren Landis is
the Director of Food for Peace for, you know, the whole world. She has
five people on this DART. The State Department Bureau of Population,
Refugees and Migration has five people on this DART. Dr. Skip Burkle
is representing our Global Health Bureau. He will have a health
component that includes CDC on this DART. We have a serving military
officer on this DART.
What I am trying to say is this is unique in our history. An
organization of this size trained as extensively as this DART has been
is unique. In terms of gross numbers, there has never been one this
size other than when we deploy Fairfax County in an urban
search-and-rescue or Miami-Dade or something like that.
The priorities are pretty simple. Remember, we're talking about the
relief effort, the emergency response effort. That's what a DART is.
It responds to the emergency. It has nothing to do with the long term.
Obviously, there are functions in what we are going to be up to that
will carry over, and maybe Skip can talk about that in a little while
here.
But we are interested in water and sanitation, we are interested in
basic health care, we are interested in shelter and we are interested
in the distribution of food. Those are our priorities as a DART. But,
again, it's very basic. We're the band-aid guys. When we talk about
shelter, we're talking about plastic sheeting; we're not talking about
rebuilding buildings, that sort of thing.
Training. We, I hate to say take advantage of this situation, but I
guess that's what we did. We took advantage of what may happen in
order to very well prepare ourselves, and extensive training, training
in a CBRN environment, training in a defensive driving environment,
training in a personal security environment, extensive training in the
assessment mission. So we think we're pretty ready in the event we are
called upon to respond to a humanitarian emergency of enormous scope.
I want to get to what questions are on your mind, but I do want to
emphasize interagency, interdisciplinary. We will have some capability
to do things directly, but our secret weapons are access to commodity,
access to funds, and working with our implementing partners, NGOs or
UN agencies.
Another difference, if you will, here is the close cooperation we
intend with the coalition forces. If you recall in Afghanistan, or
well, I recall in Afghanistan, we were quite limited in where we could
go and how we could get there, just access, security, the secure
environment. This time, we're going to work on that particular problem
a bit differently. In the event there is a military action, we are
going to be considered -- here's a neat term for you -- embedded in
the military force, embedded in the sense of we will rely on the
military for protection and for access. They will rely on us,
conversely, for the actual humanitarian work that we can do, which I
think they will admit they cannot.
Those are sort of the points I wanted to make here. Being in the
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is neat in a bunch of ways and
it's easy to remember the mission: save lives, reduce suffering,
mitigate the effects of a disaster. It's something we believe in
pretty thoroughly and can remember.
What I think I should do is just ask what questions you might have.
Again, Michael Marx is going to lead this motley crew but he will be
leading a lot of people from a lot of different agencies. Lauren's
folks will play a huge role. Skip's will as well.
Please.
QUESTION: You say that if, in the event you're needed, you're going to
go in and prepare it with a band-aid, the first response. But how much
of a band-aid? I mean, what are you preparing for -- 10,000 refugees,
100,000, a million? I mean, you must be -- you have some numbers,
you're taking so many band-aids. How many?
MR. McCONNELL: Numbers are horrifying, you know, because everybody's
got one. I would tell you that in the warehouses that we have around
the world, we are putting in commodities for up to a million newly in
need. And when I talk about commodities, I'm talking about blankets,
plastic sheets, water purification, water bottles, that sort of
things, and the WHO medical kits. And we're prepared to deal with a
million.
MR. NATSIOS: Let me just add, though, when these statistics come up,
people say, well, that's not enough. And that's what's happened with
some of the NGOs. We are not the only responders. The International
Committee of the Red Cross always responds in all conflicts. That is
their mandate under the Geneva Convention. They have huge warehouses.
They have a $900 million budget. The UN specialized agencies have
their own warehouses with their own commodities, and so do the NGOs.
So this is part of a larger response with other resources that are
already positioned in many cases in place in the region with
structures and people. This is not the whole response.
MR. McCONNELL: And that's something that we're very much committed to.
QUESTION: And where are these supplies positioned, roughly speaking?
Italy?
MR. McCONNELL: Well, they're around the world, but the ones that are
close, we have rented warehouses in Kuwait, in Amman.
Michael, where are you? Do you want to answer that?
MR. MARX: Right. We've got existing warehouses that OFDA already had
prior to the contingency planning in Maryland, Miami, Guam, Honduras,
in order to move commodities quickly into disasters into the region.
We've also opened up some warehousing options in Amman/Oman and in
Dubai and in Kuwait in order to move as quickly as possible within the
region.
QUESTION: This is Michael Jinksly from Nightline. So do you folks see
moving the gear from Miami, Guam, and Honduras to locations in the
Middle East prior to it going to people in Iraq? I'm just trying to
understand the system. Do you sort of see it moving to the region, and
then moving into Iraq?
MR. MARX: What we're trying to do is preposition as much of the
commodity stock as we can, and as the stocks start running down in the
forward warehouses, we'll move our stockage from Maryland, Miami,
Honduras, and Guam forward.
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: You said you weren't doing long-term relief, you were just
doing emergency response. How long are you planning on being there,
and what's your budget?
MR. McCONNELL: Budget. That's a hard one. Nobody budgeted for an event
in Iraq. We don't have a budget for it. What we are doing is spending
money in order to be ready. We're using, we're advancing ourselves
some of our own money, and we're trying -- the money we actually
spend, we're trying to ensure that as much of it as possible is not
consumables. Things that, if you don't use a water bottle in the
Middle East, you can use a water bottle somewhere else.
So we have spent somewhere around $26 million in getting ready for
this. I really don't -- I'm not smart enough to project what the
relief effort is going to cost, because one of the first things we'll
need to do is get in and assess what the needs are. We do have funds
available. We are also well aware that there's a rest of the world out
there. So we're certainly interested in whether supplemental funds are
made available later on, and we're certainly anxious that that do
occur in order to reimburse us for monies that we're expending.
MR. NATSIOS: I would just add that the funding decisions have not been
made by the President yet, beyond the contingency planning funds that
we already had available to us. But he will be briefed later this week
and he will make the decisions that will supplement what we're already
spending.
There's another $52 million in addition to the 26 -- I'm sorry, $56
million. Bear has already spent $26.5 million on purchase of
commodity, forward funding, equipment, that sort of thing. There's
another $56 million which is now being purchased that's in process
from existing funding sources within AID. And then beyond that, the
President will make the decisions later this week, and you will see
when he makes the decisions because they will be announced publicly.
QUESTION: And the length of time that you're projecting that you're
going to have to be there in this first stage?
MR. NATSIOS: Generally, emergency responses are months, not years.
MR. McCONNELL: Certainly. And remember, a DART is sort of the in and
out and the long term, the long-term response will be handled not by
the DART. And all of the people on the DART have day jobs. They have
other jobs. These are volunteers. It's not like we're going to say, in
my former employment, you can tell people to go somewhere and tell
them when they could come back. That's not the case in this.
Definitely months. And definitely not --
MR. NATSIOS: There is a reconstruction plan that's separate from this
that we haven't talked about.
QUESTION: Just to clarify on the amount of money that's being spent,
the $56 million that he spoke of, is that currently being spent to
supply the warehouses?
MR. NATSIOS: Not just the warehouses, other things.
QUESTION: Okay.
QUESTION: And this is another money-related question, but how does
this play with Congress? I mean, do you have pots of money for things
like this --
MR. NATSIOS: That's correct.
QUESTION: --that you don't have to go back to them to say, this is
what we're doing with it?
MR. NATSIOS: The only office in AID that does not have to send
detailed Congressional approvals before they can spend it is the
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance because of the nature of the
work it does. It has to do things immediately.
MR. McCONNELL: At least half of our annual budged in OFDA is what is
laughingly referred to as the Director's fund. People seem to think I
have some say over how that is spent, but in fact that is used for
unforeseen emergencies.
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: Are there actually people on the ground in the area already?
Besides building up your supplies, is there anyone -- do you send
anyone into Iraq, for example, or is that just out of the question at
this point?
MR. McCONNELL: That is absolutely out of the question at this point.
We are -- by the middle of next week, we'll have sort of advanced
parties in Kuwait, Amman, Ankara, and then Doha. But those are people
that are working on the coordination, because coordination is so
important in here. UNOCHA, which I think everybody knows is the
coordinator for all that we're -- we're basically talking about what
we're up to. But we're anxious for the day that UNOCHA is fully
engaged in coordinating the humanitarian efforts of everybody, and
we're anxious enough to help fund them to do that.
QUESTION: Is there any coordination now? You spoke of different NGOs
and other groups that are preparing the same way you are. Is there any
coordination between these groups besides what the UN offers?
MR. McCONNELL: A happy day, not too long ago, a number of the major
U.S. NGOs came to us with a proposal to do just that, a proposal to
develop what was originally called a consortium, but I think that had
interesting overtones. And they have, in fact, formed a consortium.
It's housed in Amman. These are the major U.S. NGOs, but they
emphasize the fact that they are available to any and all other NGOs
in order to do exactly what you're talking about: exchange information
amongst themselves. NGOs are not good at that. But these guys are
working on it, and we think it's important enough to fund it.
QUESTION: I see, so you are, so the U.S. is funding that?
MR. McCONNELL: Yes.
QUESTION: Great.
MR. NATSIOS: And we meet with them every week for the last, what,
three months?
MR. McCONNELL: Four months.
QUESTION: What's it called?
MR. McCONNELL: It's JNEPI. What --?
MR. MARX: In Jordan, it's JNEPI. The meetings here in Washington are
with InterAction.
MR. McCONNELL: Two separate things. Two separate things.
MR. NATSIOS: InterAction is a trade association of all the NGOs in the
United States, 150 --
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. McCONNELL: But two different things here. We're talking about --
you asked about coordination in the field, and that's going on in this
group I described in Jordan. Interaction is always here, and it's 160
or -70 NGOs. We meet with the Iraq working group of that organization
every Wednesday.
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: Who makes the decision about when your first phase is over,
and on what basis do you make it? What are the benchmarks you look
for? When -- how do you decide that your emergency band-aid aid has
been accomplished and you can turn it over to whoever's going to do it
more long-term?
MR. McCONNELL: Those other folks are going to be out there, too. I
mean, there will be -- there's a representative of the development
agency on the DART as well, to make sure that we're tied very much
together. I don't think we're ever going to get to a day and we're
going to say, okay, relief is now over, it's time for reconstruction.
I think there's going to be a lot of overlap, a lot of consultation, a
lot of coordination. Again, though, OFDA operates or DARTs operate
under the concept of first response, set the stage for the longer
term. We're not constructed to build buildings. We'd like to repair a
water line rather than replace it.
QUESTION: But how do you decide, and is it you who does make the
decision that you're pulling this largest group that you've ever had
into a place out, or you're trickling it out?
MR. McCONNELL: My liege lord would, of course, be a leader of that
process, but we will do it in consultation.
MR. NATSIOS: In terms of the ground, and moving it out from one area
to another, that is done on the ground and we don't -- I'm not -- we
don't direct that. Launching is based on their assessment of
conditions in the field. We don't direct their physical movement each
day. That's something we decentralize to the field, which is the only
way it really works well.
But the decision that we will now begin the health care system
reconstruction will be made after consultation with the State
Department. I report to Secretary Powell. But I have to tell you in
this particular instance, the reconstruction is going to begin almost
simultaneously with the DART team, and the only difference is, if you
look at precisely what each unit does in the health care area, or in
the water and sanitation area, you can see very clearly the nature of
one being more temporary and focused on people who are internally
displaced or who are refugee populations, versus people who are in
their villages who are -- the school might have sustained some damage,
or a road or something that needs to be repaired in the longer term.
MR. McCONNELL: I think you're talking about the bridge. How do you get
from the immediate to the next, and maybe Dr. Burkle can help us with
that.
DR. BURKLE: Yes, glad to. The examples were brought up about health
and water and sanitation and we already know in Iraq that the health
issues are inextricably tied to the water and sanitation issues.
It varies from the north to central, Baghdad and south, and they vary
tremendously. But we know through the DART that we will be providing
emergency relief in terms of some medicines or clean water or
whatever. At the same time -- and actually, my position is to bridge
both relief and reconstruction -- but at the same time, while we're
providing the clean water or the medicines, be sure that the health
facilities are functioning.
We're already working to rehabilitate and then maybe the best term is
then is to restore or reconstruct at the same time, and they'll vary
depending on what we find in terms of the assessments.
Frankly speaking, we have a fair amount of knowledge right now about
the health and the water and sanitation. Barring any further damage,
we'll probably stick with those assessments. And as Bear was saying,
the term we would like to use is, the DART is really a bridge. We're
not an international organization. We're not an NGO. But we will
bridge, make the bridging in health and water sanitation and other
sectors, to be sure that we mitigate any of the consequences or
possible adverse consequences until the UN agencies, the NGOs, the IOs
can come back.
As you know, WHO, UNICEF, ICRC have all done wonderful work this past
decade. Even though they might be gone for a period of time, ICRC will
keep a hardcore group in during any potential event. But when it is
secure enough for them to come back, and as soon as they can, they
will come back, and it is our aim to facilitate and fund whatever it
takes for them to do their job and to continue to do it, and to
restore both the health and the water sanitation infrastructure.
QUESTION: I was wondering if you could elaborate on the relationship
with the military that DART would have, and also if everyone that
you've spoken to in terms of UN agencies and NGOs are comfortable with
DART as their central point of contact in this case.
MR. McCONNELL: Second one first. There are those in the world that
look at the DART as being tainted by the military anyway. And that's
probably because we have no compunction about working with the
military.
We understand the sensitivities of the NGOs and we respect that
sensitivity. But in actual fact, a secure environment is necessary for
the NGOs and for the DART to do what it needs to do.
To repeat myself, in Afghanistan we were quite frustrated by our
inability to get out and do the assessments that is key to what we're
up to and, oh, by the way, to be able to account for the money we
spent.
This time, we're going to make no bones about it. We're relying on the
military for that security that is necessary for us to do our jobs.
What we tell the NGOs is, if you uncomfortable with dealing directly
with the military, well, that's a role that we can fulfill. Because we
are that kindly civilian face that could be between the military and
-- why are you smiling?
MR. NATSIOS: Let me just, let me just add something so it's very
clear. The DART team reports to USAID. It does not report to the
military. The generals cannot tell the DART what to do or not to do.
They provide the security umbrella, we talk to them, particularly as
Civil Affairs Units, about how we do our work and where we do it.
So we cooperate in a way, but they do not have any managerial
authority over the DART team. That is done by us in AID. Our funding
is separate. Our staff is separate. And our line of authority is
separate. That's very clear to everybody in the interagency process.
It is not just AID's opinion. This has been cleared through the whole
process and generally agreed to.
That is one reason why many NGOs that may have some doctrinal or
philosophic problem in dealing with the military can deal with us. And
they are all used to doing that because these DART teams have been
deployed for 14 years, 12 years now, all over the world. If you say a
"DART team" to any NGO worker, they'll say, I know what the DART team
is, we deal with them all the time, we work with them in an intimate
way in doing planning jointly.
QUESTION: Can you clarify for me, at least, I'm confused about how
soon you're going in? I mean, are you going in with the military's
first wave when there's just smoke? Four days later? I mean, when some
military person says, okay, if they have to come it's okay to come
now? I mean, how do you know when to go?
MR. McCONNELL: The teensy exception to what my boss just said about
taking the direction of the military is we're going to pay attention
to what those boys have to say in a security sense. We are not going
to be on the lead camel. We're not going to be in the maneuver
elements. We're not going to be putting DART members in harm's way
here.
We are relying on the military to provide us a secure environment and
to help us figure out when that environment is secure. And when I say
"embedded with," that taken literally means we're going to have them
in sight when we're out and about much of the time.
So we're not going to go in with the first bullet and we're, frankly,
going to be perched around the area, and in close consultation with
the military, figure out when it is time for us to do our work, as
would be the case with the UN, as would be the case with the NGOs.
This is why this -- the term of "HOC" which maybe some of you have
heard, the Humanitarian Operations Center which has now been
established in Kuwait, is so important. And CMOCs is a term that
probably you're also familiar with.
What these things are places for the exchange of civil military
information. They are not where NGOs or UN agencies go to get their
orders. They are where they go to get critical information to allow
them to do their work. We're no different than an NGO or a UN agency
in that sense. We want to exchange information that will help us
ascertain where we can operate safely.
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: I'm wondering if you are going coordinate all work with
other teams like DART from other countries? If yes, who are they?
MR. McCONNELL: At the moment, we're not aware of another country
having such an organization.
QUESTION: The British will be sending units in.
MR. McCONNELL: We have, in fact, invited both the British -- the
closest other countries that have organizations similar to our own
would be, probably, Britain and Australia. And we have invited them to
join us in the DART. In our DART. Our interagency DART.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: I have a medical related question. What happens if and when
Iraq were to use a chemical or biological agent and how does that
impact your work? And what are you ready for? What are you not ready
for?
DR. BURKLE: Right. Well, the DART team is obviously not there to
engage in treatment, but everyone on the DART has been educated and
trained to successfully evacuate themselves from the scene. So, do we
have masks? Yes. Do we have suits? Yes. Do we have flak jackets and
helmets? Yes.
But our obligation is to successfully evacuate from the environment.
We are not prepared, and none of the IOs are also prepared, to operate
in that kind of environment. So when we evacuate, obviously there will
be military units and others, probably, to assess the environment and
to determine what needs to be done so that different agencies can
engage in the recovery and the mitigation of the consequences, God
forbid.
MR. NATSIOS: So just to clarify it so it's clear, the distinction
between the events right now -- In the immediate event of what's
happening, I mean, people are going to withdraw, no matter who they
are, whether they're Iraqi military, U.S. military, whatever. After
whatever the incident is take place, there will be need for a medical
response to people who may be injured or sick, and the medical
response system of the international community will help do that to
the extent that they can. But that's after the incidents themselves
have taken place.
QUESTION: Right, but if DART is there, or it comes upon it, is DART
prepared to help people who are afflicted?
MR. NATSIOS: See, the concept of the DART team is, we don't actually,
in most cases, do the response. We don't go out and treat people. Our
job is to assess what needs to be done, to coordinate with those NGOs,
with the ICRC that does direct response, and to fund the organizations
and provide them the commodities they need, the medical packs, the
medical disposables, and that sort of thing.
So the actual response by one individual to another is done by the
NGOs that specialize in medical response in this case, or whether it
might be food distribution, or shelter. They all have different
specialties. So our job is sort of to manage that, coordinate it, and
make sure all the areas are covered, do the assessments, provide the
commodities, the funding and the coordination.
MR. McCONNELL: No NGO has indicated to us that they would remain and
work in a CBRN environment. No NGO. We have made our training
available to NGOs, and a lot of them have taken us up on it. But
again, the DART as a whole is not comprised of medical personnel. If
you're lucky, you'll run into Skip Burkle and a couple others. But we
will not operate in that sort of WMD environment.
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: I have a question on food assistance. One of the things
that's been mentioned in connection with, perhaps problems on the
ground, problems with the well-being of the people in Iraq, is that
although they don't have much, they are, they do get regular rations
from the government and a war would provide a huge disruption of that.
How are -- are you going to be able to deal with that if you're only
-- is the food supply also only up to a million? It seems like it
would have to be a lot larger than that. I mean, obviously you're not
the only supplier, but can you talk a little bit about that?
MS. LANDIS: Just a couple of points. First, we would have five food
people on the DART team that can continually assess and monitor the
situation, so we'll be able to keep a good overview of the nutritional
situation of the population so that we're prepared to deal with the
situation, should the nutritional situation turn bad.
But we believe that the Oil-for-Food program that you were mentioning
can quickly be resumed, and we are doing everything possible to
minimize any disruption to that program. As you may well know, there
is a number of food supplies from various countries in the pipeline.
And so if we're able to minimize any disruption to that program, there
should be adequate commodities in the pipeline to make sure the Iraqi
population is well fed.
QUESTION: For the entire country you're talking about, not just the
major city areas?
MS. LANDIS: We're talking about the entire country, yes.
MR. McCONNELL: My partner also pointed out that I probably screwed up
what the definition of a HOC was and so forth. This Humanitarian
Operations Center, just to clarify, what is there in Kuwait City today
is a joint effort between, pardon me, the CFLC, which is the land
forces component, and the Kuwaiti Government.
What that marriage has brought us is a facility in which will be
conducted the exchange of civil-military organization -- or,
information. It's a clearinghouse for the things that both the
civilian side and the military side want to know from each other.
Better?
What else?
Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Are you confident that all the funding issues have been
resolved? I mean, a lot of NGOs and even the UN have complained of
lack of funding at the moment for the preparations, so I was
wondering.
MR. NATSIOS: Let me just say once again, the President will make
decisions very shortly on follow-on funding. A lot of NGOs and UN
agencies have already got funding. Maybe they haven't gotten what they
asked for, but they never do. I mean -- and you never can satisfy the
requirements when people want money because, you know, we give more
money to one NGO and then another NGO gets upset about it. So you have
to understand there's a little competition that goes on between these
international and American-based organizations.
But sufficient money has been spent to prepare the base of operations,
the commodities and the staff that are needed to go back into the
country. The decisions on the budget will be made by the President
very shortly.
MR. McCONNELL: Can I just add two sentences to that? And that is,
you've got to remember also that the way funding works is in response
to a proposal. We have not had appeals from -- we've had incremental
appeals from various organizations in the UN and are attempting to
meet them as they come, or at least meet our share of them. The same
with NGOs. They've got to make a proposal before we can talk about
funding them.
Thank you very much.
(The briefing was concluded at 3:10 p.m.)
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