NSC’s Johndroe: Government of Burma Does Not Want the World to Know What’s Going on There

Washington, D.C., Oct. 7, 2007 – National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe has told the Voice of America that the “United States wants a peaceful transition to democracy in Burma.”

Moreover, added Johndroe during an exclusive interview at the White House, the U.S. “wants the [Burmese] junta to come together with the dissidents and the opposition and to move towards a time where Burma is free, not only when their Internet is restored but when their people can march in the streets and say what they want and not be detained or taken from their homes overnight.”

Johndroe told Setareh Derakhshesh of VOA’s Persian News Network that “the government of Burma does not want the world to know what’s going on there,” but that “President Bush and Mrs. Bush and the rest of world stand with the people of Burma and that all Americans want to see freedom in Burma.”

Turning to the five Iranians being held in Iraq, Johndroe said, “The United States has evidence that these people were engaged in activities that were not constructive, nor positive for the people of Iraq –- not only engaged in activities that were dangerous for American soldiers, the bringing in of explosive devices, the training of militias, that sort of thing…, but innocent Iraqis have been dying at the hands of Iranian intelligence operatives that have come into Iraq.”

Concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Johndroe said that President Bush is committed to diplomacy as the best way to solve the impasse over Iran’s position.

Broadcasting 7.5 hours of Persian-language television programming (along with 5 hours of radio and another 8 hours via Radio Farda) to Iran every day, VOA has the largest combined radio and television audience of all international broadcasters in Iran. One in four adult Iranians tune into a VOA show at least once a week. Programs are also streamed on our website, www.VOANews.com/Persian/.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.

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