Team of Rivals

The State Department announced Dennis Ross’s appointment Monday as “Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for The Gulf and
Southwest Asia” by means of a web posting at 9 o’clock at night.  As I noted at contentions, there was no reference to
Iran in the announcement (although there was a reference to the importance of the area as one involving “two wars,” which suggested that
Afghanistan was part of it).

At the press briefing on Tuesday, the Department spokesman had a certain amount of difficulty specifying which countries were part of “The Gulf and
Southwest Asia.”  

QUESTION: Can you give us – well, what is the State Department’s definition geographically of
Southwest Asia? What countries does that include?

MR. WOOD: Matt, I didn’t —

QUESTION: No, you guys named an envoy for
Southwest Asia. I presume that you know what countries that includes.

MR. WOOD: Yes. Of course, we know. I just – I don’t have the list to run off – you know, right off the top of my head here. But obviously, that’s going to encompass – that region encompasses
Iran. It will – you know, it’ll deal with —

QUESTION: Does it include
Iraq?

MR. WOOD: Indeed, it does. [. . .]

QUESTION: And so, does it include parts of the
Middle East?

MR. WOOD: Yes.

QUESTION: It does? Does it include
Syria, and it includes
Israel and it includes
Jordan?

MR. WOOD: Well, he’ll be looking at the entire region that will include, you know –

QUESTION: Where does that stop?

After some more questioning along this line, there was the following colloquy:

QUESTION: The military sometimes refer to parts of the -stans, Central Asia, as
Southwest Asia. Are those included in your —

MR. WOOD: Well, look —

QUESTION: Can you find out? Because, I mean, this is —

MR. WOOD: We can get you that. Yeah, we can get you a breakdown of —

QUESTION: I mean, does this – is there a geographic limit to his portfolio, or is it really an issues-based thing so that he could be dealing with
Morocco and
Algeria —

MR. WOOD: Yeah.

QUESTION: — and
Tunisia —

MR. WOOD: I would look at it, Matt, as more of a regional —

QUESTION: — and
Kyrgyzstan, and the -stans that are not covered by Ambassador Holbrooke? And does it include
Turkey? Does it – you know, there are a lot of unanswered questions from – from the statement last night as to exactly what he’s going to be doing.

At the Wednesday press briefing, the Department spokesman tried again:

QUESTION: Have your ace geographers been able to determine what Southwest Asia is and thereby figure out what exactly Dennis Ross’s mandate is?

MR. WOOD: I’m so shocked that you asked that question. Let me give you my best – our best read of this. From our standpoint, the countries that make up areas of the Gulf and Southwest Asia include
Bahrain,
Iran,
Iraq,
Kuwait,
Oman,
Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, UAE,
Yemen, and those are the countries.

QUESTION: Not – not
Afghanistan and
Pakistan?

MR. WOOD: Look, Ambassador Ross will look at the entire region, should he be asked to, including
Afghanistan. But this is something that would be worked out. You were – you asked the question yesterday about Ambassador Holbrooke and whether there was going to be some kind of, I don’t know, conflict over who is working in – on that particular issues in that country.

Look, Ambassador Ross and Ambassador Holbrooke will work together where necessary if they need to, if there’s some kind of overlap. But that’s, in essence, the State Department’s geographical breakdown of
Southwest Asia.

[* * *]

QUESTION: So it doesn’t include
Jordan? It doesn’t include —

MR. WOOD: I just gave you the breakdown as I – as the State Department breaks it down.

QUESTION: So if Ambassador Ross is special envoy – special advisor for Gulf and Southwest Asia, what is the difference between Gulf and
Southwest Asia?

MR. WOOD: Look —

QUESTION: For me, this is Gulf.

MR. WOOD: Well, it may be for you. For others, it may be different. I’d have to – I’ve given you what the Department’s position is with regard to the geographic makeup of the region.

QUESTION: Okay. But on Iran, like for instance, if someone – if the United States wanted to engage Iran on, for instance, Afghanistan, and you’ve said before from this podium that Afghanistan could play – Iran, sorry, could play a helpful role in Afghanistan – who would be kind of handling that? Would that be the special advisor for Southwest Asia in
Iran, or would it be the special advisor for
Afghanistan and
Pakistan? Because Ambassador Holbrooke has said that he thought
Iran could play a helpful role, and that suggests that he might be handling that kind of dialogue.

MR. WOOD: Well, this is—again, this is speculation. [. . .]

QUESTION: Was
Saudi Arabia on that list?

QUESTION: Yes. You know, I’m a little confused because in your statement to announce Dennis Ross’s appointment as the
Southwest Asia person, you referred to two wars in the region. So which is the other war?
Iraq – was
Afghanistan part of that and then you took it away because of Holbrooke’s complaints or —

MR. WOOD: No.

QUESTION: Just a wee bit confused here.

MR. WOOD: No, there are two wars that are raging in that region, and I’m talking about the larger region.

QUESTION: But that was included within the
Southwest Asia that you demarcated in the statement.

MR. WOOD: Right. Like I said,
Afghanistan is one of those issues where you have a lot of individuals who have some interests and equities in dealing with it. [. . .]

[* * *]

QUESTION: Well, it sounds like you – it sounds like you have a turf battle brewing, if not already begun. Maybe you should lock Holbrooke and Ross up in a room and fight it out?

MR. WOOD: That’s your characterization. There’s no turf war going on here.

QUESTION: Well, no, Robert, because I believe that originally, Afghanistan was included in this – in Dennis’s (inaudible) here, and it’s interesting that it’s been taken out, so —

QUESTION: So was it removed, though, because – with the wars referring to the war in
Afghanistan? I mean, was it removed because –

MR. WOOD: I just spelled this out for you. I don’t have anything more to say on it.

Hillary Clinton’s State Department may be starting to exhibit some of the characteristics of the Hillary Clinton primary campaign.