Briefing Skipper: Madrid, Dalai Lama, Iran, Iraq, torture in Pakistan

Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - 2:50 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 Monday's briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Deputy Secretary James Steinberg each met Monday with Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas. "There is no particular, you know, timeline, but we are committed to, you know, getting Greece into the Visa Waiver Program," Crowley said. Clinton later on met with Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi.
No plans for President Obama to attend the EU-U.S. summit in Madrid, which could now be cancelled. The changing deck chairs in the EU structure are changing the way the U.S. government interacts with Europe. "In light of the Lisbon treaty... Europe is going through some adjustments in terms of, you know, the processes through which U.S.-EU summits occur," Crowley said, "Obviously there's been some disappointment expressed by the government of Spain, and we understand that, and we're -- and we'll be working with them on that."
There are now 79 confirmed American deaths in the wake of the Haiti earthquake, 75 civilians and 4 U.S. government personnel.
The White House has said that Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama, despite Chinese objections. "The Chinese have made clear their views regarding meetings with the Dalai Lama, regarding arms sales to Taiwan. And I think what we're clearly indicating is that we will continue to follow our national interest, just as we would expect China to follow its national interest," said Crowley.
The State Department is still looking at sanctions for Iran, despite new statements from the Iranians that they are now willing to participate in a nuclear fuel transfer program. "We're at that stage, as the secretary said last week in London, where, regrettably, we have to look at -- more significantly at the -- at the pressure track because the engagement track has not yielded the results that we had hoped for," Crowley said.
Some Iraqis are upset at what they see as U.S. interference in their political dispute over 450 disqualified mostly Sunni candidates, but the State Department's official position is to stay out of it. "This is an Iraqi process," Crowley said, "We are not in any way, shape or form interfering in the Iraqi political process."
No real comment on the allegation that the 5 suburban Washington men arrested in Pakistan are being tortured, saying "We are being tortured." "We have had regular consular access to these five individuals. But beyond that, I -- I'm not aware of that allegation," Crowley said.