Briefing Skipper; Zelaya, New York, Yemen, Lee Myung-Bak

Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - 11:13 PM Share

In which we scour the transcript of the State Department's daily presser so you don't have to. Here are the highlights of today's briefing by spokesman Ian Kelly:

Kelly calls for calm in Tegucigalpa, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy. America is "discussing" how to give assistance to that embassy, where power and water services have been cut off. Meanwhile, the State Department is still pushing the San Jose Accord, "which remains the best approach to resolve this crisis," Kelly said. "There is no plan B at this point."
No comment on the arrests of three terror suspects in New York who have links back to Pakistan and no new specific threat information that would cause an increased level of alert in New York as the U.N. General Assembly gets rolling.
The U.S. Embassy in South Africa is closed after pretty credible information was received that threatened the security of U.S. government installations there. "We've notified the American community in South Africa to remain vigilant when they're in the vicinity of U.S. government facilities," said Kelly, but no comment on whether there was an al Qaeda link.
The U.S. is speeding assistance to some 150,000 internally displaced refugees in Yemen, and the State Department is "deeply concerned" about the violence between the Yemeni government and the al-Houthi opposition groups, Kelly said. He couldn't confirm reports that the Iranians are stoking the flames.
Following the mayhem caused by the leak of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's assessment calling for more troops to Afghanistan, Kelly said about the State Department's contribution, "We weigh in constantly, but once all of the assessments are in, there will be a deliberation in the National Security Council that the secretary will participate in."
Kelly wouldn't sign on to the "grand bargain" proposed by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak proposed yesterday for solving the North Korean nuclear crisis, but did say that if Pyongyang lived up to its commitments, "we'd prepare to discuss some kind of package of steps that we could take." Has Lee been reading the Cato Institute's Web site?