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Skriven 2006-01-19 23:33:44 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0601197) for Thu, 2006 Jan 19
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Interview of the Vice President by Neil Cavuto, FOX News
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
January 19, 2006

Interview of the Vice President by Neil Cavuto, FOX News
FOX Studios
New York, New York



2:18 P.M. EST

Q Mr. Vice President, first off, there's a tape -- it seems to be official
-- from Osama bin Laden. The CIA is saying as such. What do you make of it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's -- I'm sure it will be an interesting
development, partly because we haven't heard anything from him in over a
year. And if this is authentic, it will be the first indication that we've
had from him.

The other key question in addition to authenticity is when was it made. And
that will be important, too. Is it a recent production in the last few
days, a month ago, or something pieced together from the past. All of that
will be relevant in terms of the -- of trying to assess what its
significance is, and what it means.

Q What do you make of the fact that it's an audiotape?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Probably low production values. They didn't have the
ability to do anything on video. They have some difficulty given the extent
to which they've had to go underground in terms of producing this kind of
message, and then getting it to an outlet. Usually he'd go through al
Jazeera. And it's not easy for them given the fact that we're all over that
part of the world, obviously, and aggressively going after them wherever we
find them.

So if you're living deep in a cave someplace, which may be where he is,
it's a little hard to get a message like that out.

Q Do you suspect -- the tape notwithstanding -- there's a wide camp out
there that believes he's dead.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, this tape may give us an answer to that. If it's
authentic, and if it's recent, that obviously would indicate that the
rumors that he was dead were invalid.

Q Or that it's a old tape, that it could be such an old tape that he made a
batch of them before he did?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's a possibility, too. But at this stage, I'd say
we just don't know. We'll find out here in the next few days. I think we'll
be able to make that assessment.

Q What do you make, sir, of this talk of a truce?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's interesting. I'm not sure what he's offering
by way of a truce. I don't think anybody would believe him. I don't think
they're -- it sounds to me like it's some kind of a ploy. But again, not
having seen the entire text or validated the tape and the timing of it, I'm
reluctant to draw any conclusions.

Q Would you -- would the administration ever entertain a truce with al
Qaeda?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: We don't negotiate with terrorists.

Q What about this idea that he promises on the same tape he talks about a
truce that there will be follow-up attacks on our soil?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Based on what we've seen him do, based on what we've
seen the organization do, I don't think -- I don't think it's possible to
negotiate any kind of a settlement with terrorists like this. Not only have
they struck here in the United States, but we've had attacks all over the
world in places like Madrid, and Casablanca, and Istanbul, and Bali, and
Jakarta. This is not an organization that's ever going to sit down and sign
a truce. I think you have to destroy them. It's the only way to deal with
them.

Q If he were dead, if he were captured, would there be any difference in
the ferocity of al Qaeda?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Difficult to say. It's not a strong hierarchical
organization. And we have done a lot of damage to their senior leadership.
We've captured and killed a good portion of them. But it's also the kind of
situation where you'll see a cell off in some other country, maybe with a
very tenuous connection to the center, maybe people who've been through the
training camps and then returned back to their home country, who then on
their own can go off and launch an attack of some kind. So it's a
decentralized organization, more like a franchise, if you will, than a
hierarchical structure, or a traditional military organization with a
commander-in-chief kind of thing.

So I think the threat is still there. We see ample evidence of continued
plotting against the United States. We continue to work aggressively
against the organization -- I think with considerable success. But I think
we have to assume that the threat is going to continue for a considerable
period of time. Even if bin Laden were no longer to be a factor, I still
think we'd have problems with al Qaeda.

Q Mr. Vice President, what do you think of the timing of the release of
this, just after news of maybe three, four, maybe five top al Qaeda bigwigs
who were taken out in Pakistan a few days ago?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we don't know whether or not there's any
relationship between what happened in Pakistan and what happened here. We
may be able to tell more once we can check out how did the tape arrive, how
was it delivered, who was it delivered to -- to the extent we can learn
more about that, you might be able to make a judgment that this was in
response to that.

On the other hand, it may be that it was already in the works and there's
just coincidence. We don't know.

Q You're just back from the Middle East. How do they feel about Osama bin
Laden out there?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think there's a sense in places like Egypt and Saudi
Arabia that they have come to recognize the serious nature of the threat,
certainly the Saudis have.

I would say three years ago that wasn't necessarily the case. But after the
attacks in Riyadh in the spring of '03, and subsequent to that, they
clearly have gotten the message that they're a target. They've been very
effective and very aggressive at going after al Qaeda remnants inside Saudi
Arabia itself, and after those who finance and have supported al Qaeda. So
they've become very effective in terms of their counterterrorism operations
since then.

But I think they also feel that they've gotten on top of it to some extent,
and that may be true. But the threat is still very much there, still very
much exists, and this is going to be a long-term struggle. It may wax and
wane. There will be peaks and valleys, but I think everybody out there
understands that this is a, sort of, a long-term struggle if you will. With
the efforts perpetrated by this extremist ideology represented by bin Laden
as something that's a threat to those governments, as well as to the United
States.

Q I'm sure Iraq came up in your discussions with foreign leaders and the
feeling that the United States could be there for many years. Is there a
way to quantify how long we'll be there?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You can talk in terms of conditions. And I think it's
better to talk about conditions rather than a timetable. And the conditions
that we need to see, obviously, are an effective government in Iraq. And
we're making major progress there. We've had significant success in three
elections now going back a year.

They're negotiating now to put together a new government based on the
December elections, and that's crucial to have an effective government of
Iraq stood up that represents all the Iraqi people that's capable of
governing a country. The other key piece of it, obviously, is their
security capabilities, their capacity to defend themselves, to take care of
securing their own territory to defeat the terrorists and the remnants of
the old regime.

Q Well, that's where the doubts are, right? There are a lot of folks in
this country who don't think they are ready.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: They aren't ready today.

Q Not by a long shot.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: They aren't ready today, but they're much better off
today than they were a year ago. And by virtually any measure you want to
look at -- I spent time when I was out there just a few weeks ago with
Iraqi forces, and with our people who were training Iraqi forces, and the
track record is very good. We do have, in fact, a significant expansion in
their numbers and capabilities. And I met a lot of Iraqis who are now in
the military, who've been recruited back into those forces -- there's no
shortage of recruits -- who are committed to defending Iraq, and, in fact,
completing the mission.

Q So the size of our force as it is now, sir, will it be roughly that size
in 2008?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I doubt it.

Q You doubt it what, that it will be smaller?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I doubt that it will be the same size. I think it
probably will be smaller. But again, we've' not put any kind of a timetable
on it. The decision is to be made based on the recommendations of our
commanders on the scene. And that again will tie into how effective the
Iraqis are at dealing with their own problems, fielding their own security
forces.

But look at how far we've come, Neil. We've been at it less than three
years since we went into Iraq and took Baghdad. It was about a year and
seven or eight months ago that we transferred sovereignty back to the Iraqi
people. We've been told repeatedly, it won't work, it won't work, it won't
work, and yet, they've made every single political deadline that's been
set. Every single time, the level of violence connected with the election
goes down. Every single time the number of the Iraqis who come out and vote
goes up. This is, in fact, a nation that I think will increasingly be
capable of governing itself, providing for its own security. And those are
our major objectives. And it will be an enormous improvement over what was
there with Saddam Hussein, and the terrible violence and bloodshed that he
imposed not only on his own people, but on his neighbors over the years.

So I think when we look back on this ten years hence, we will have
fundamentally changed the course of history in that part of the world, and
that will be an enormous advantage for the United States and for all of
those nations that live in the region.

Q In the meantime in the region, Iran is sticking to its guns. The nuclear
program -- whether for peace or other purposes -- continues. Would the
United States ever act unilaterally if the rest of the world doesn't help
out on this?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, this is an international problem, and we've
emphasized the importance -- that it's not just a U.S. problem. In fact, if
the Iranians develop nuclear weapons and especially in light of the new
government, Mr. Ahmadinejad, who is the duly elected President, and by all
accounts deemed even by his fellows in the region to be a pretty strange
duck, has -- that would be of concern for everybody.

And I think the important thing here -- one of the important things is that
this has been approached on an international basis. Our friends in Europe,
the Brits, the French, and the Germans, the EU, have been very actively
involved in attempting to deal with this problem. And we've supported them.

Q But the Chinese and the Russians, as you know, sir, have not -- at least
in taking it to the Security Council. They've maybe shown cold feet lately.
I guess, what I'm asking is would the United States, if there's division in
the ranks of the major powers, or those even members of the Security
Council, ever do what it did it in Iraq and act --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think it would be a mistake to go back and predict
what might or might not happen based on what happened in some other country
in the past. The fact of the matter is it is a problem for the world if the
Iranians have nuclear weapons, especially with a government headed up by
the kind of individual that's there today.

Q But what if they ignore it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You can ask lots of what ifs, and I try to avoid
answering hypothetical questions. We are working aggressively to avoid that
-- having that situation arise. We're doing it in conjunction with friends
and allies, with those in the region, as well as our friends in Europe. And
there's a procedure to go through here. The International Atomic Energy
Agency has been involved, and I think doing a pretty good job. There will
be a meeting of the board of governors of the IAEA here in a couple of
weeks, and then the likelihood is that eventually it gets referred to the
U.N. Security Council.

Q Let me ask you about Al Gore's comments the other day, sir, in which he
said, "This administration is breaking the law. These abusive wiretaps are
the extreme." And some other pretty strong stuff. Do you think that that
issue resonates with people that you are -- this administration is going to
extremes?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't -- I don't have a lot of confidence in Al
Gore's judgments or commentary about these kinds of issues. I didn't see
his particular statement. I've heard about it. Set that aside for a moment.

The President of the United States is charged with the responsibility of
defending the nation. The President said in his speech to Congress right
after 9/11 that we had to do everything in our power to make certain that
we used all of the tools available to us, intelligence, military, law
enforcement, in order to protect ourselves against the kind of thing that
happened here on 9/11.

The controversy that's arisen with respect to the National Security Agency
program is, I think, a reaction to -- well, unfortunately, to leaks that
have gotten out about the program. The fact of the matter is we have not
been attacked in more than four years. That is not an accident. It's not
just dumb luck. You cannot, obviously, make any promises that it won't
happen again in the future. I want to put that proviso out there. But the
fact of the matter is, we've done some very good work at interrupting
activities of the enemy, of disrupting proposed plots, of capturing and
killing al Qaeda.

The NSA program that's the subject of some controversy is conducted in a
manner that's fully consistent with the Constitution and the President's
authorities and responsibilities.

Q But do you think --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me -- let me emphasize --

Q -- have some been eavesdropped who shouldn't have been eavesdropped?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me emphasize precisely what we're talking about
here. There have been a lot of commentaries -- this is often called
"domestic surveillance." No, it's not domestic surveillance. The
implication of that is somehow we're listening in on Americans talking to
Americans and so forth. What this specifically is about, as the President
has been very clear, is a situation in which we have communications, but
one end of which is in the United States, the other end of which is
overseas, and one end of which we have reason to believe is al
Qaeda-affiliated. Those are the conditions under which we're talking about
this activity. And the President has authorized that. It is fully
consistent with the Constitution.

The other thing to keep in mind here is this has been reviewed every 45
days or less within the administration. Completely reviewed -- that
includes the Attorney General of the United States, and an assessment made
of whether or not it's important to continue it. And the President then
personally has to re-authorize its extension every time. And that's
happened over 30 times since September 11th.

The other thing that's important to remember here is this has been briefed
to the Congress, to the chairmen and ranking member of the intelligence
committees and the elected leadership of the House and Senate.

Q What do you think of those who brought it up?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Those briefings have occurred at least a dozen times. I
presided over most of them. And of course, the fact of the matter is that
this is a good, sound program. Al Gore can say whatever he wants to say
about it. The fact is, knowing what I know and having been involved from
the very beginning, I would want to be absolutely certain that the man who
was making the key decisions to safeguard the nation would do exactly what
George Bush did. And frankly, I hear Al Gore make those kinds of comments
I'm just reminded of how fortunate we are that he didn't get elected in
2000.

Q You know, Hillary Clinton made some comments, as I'm sure you're aware,
too, on Iran, first of all, faulting your administration for downgrading
the threat, then a couple of days earlier, saying that the Republican
Congress is "run like a plantation." What do you make of her?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know her all that well --met her a few
times.

Q What do you think of the comments about the plantation?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I thought they were out of line. I thought Laura
Bush captured them rather effectively when she said they were ridiculous.

Q And what do you think of the administration dragging its feet on Iran?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't think that's true at all. I think we're there
dealing with these issues and have been now for five years. And I just --
obviously, I disagree with Senator Clinton.

Q Let me ask you, wrapping up, sir, we're coming into a month, we're going
to get a new Federal Reserve chairman. I know you're very close friends
with Alan Greenspan. I guess, he retires to the speaking circuit. But every
time we get a new Fed chairman in, at least the last time we did this in
'87, there were some problems later in the year. Do you think we have some
problems?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, Greenspan -- Alan Greenspan is a great friend of
mine, has been for probably 35 years. And I'm sorry to see him go. He's
been a fixture in the world economy all that time. Ben Bernanke is a
first-rate individual, too. He has been a member of the Fed. He served with
Greenspan at the Fed. He's been the chairman of the Council of Economic
Advisers. I was part of the committee the President appointed to do the
search to find a Fed chairman, and I've got great confidence in Ben. There
are bound to be challenging times ahead. That's why you need a Federal
Reserve and why you need a strong Fed chairman. But I think that Chairman
Bernanke will be up to the task. I think he obviously has got big shoes to
fill, but he knows that. And as I say, just as Alan Greenspan rose to the
occasion in 1987 and did what needed to be done to safeguard U.S. currency
and protect our financial markets, I think all the tools are there. And I
think Chairman Bernanke will have the kind of judgment and wisdom that's
needed. Besides, Chairman Greenspan is only a phone call away.

Q Yes, a lot of people say this is the year we're going to get a market
crash. Do you buy that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't, but I'm not in the business of predicting
markets. I think the thing that I'm struck by, as I look back, for example,
at '05 is I think the economy is doing very well. I think we oftentimes end
up focused on, what about this problem, what about that problem, and
hypothetical scenarios. But the bottom line is our economy is doing
extraordinarily well. It's the envy of the world. We got high growth, low
inflation, low unemployment, very high productivity.

If you were to lay out a scenario for a good, strong healthy economy, in
all the years I've been in government, this is sort of the set of
circumstances you'd specify, and we've got it.

Q Any horses in the presidential race look good for you in 2008?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I got enough trouble without getting involved in 2008.

Q Your health, doing all right?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Health is good. I've loved the last five years working
for this President. We got three more years to go, and I look to be there
with him right up to the end.

Q Would you ever return to corporate life? Or when you leave, you retire,
you're done, that's it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, I haven't given -- I don't know that I'd ever
completely retire. I'll always want to be doing something, but what it will
be when I leave here I don't know. I haven't given it any thought.

Q And finally, on energy prices, sir, we had a huge spike this summer, then
things came down. There was a lot of talk that energy companies were
gouging us. We have a prominent host on this network who said that. What do
you think?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, markets work. And they work in the energy
business just as they do in other parts of the economy. And one of our
great strengths as a nation is that we do let markets work most to the
time. Occasionally we tamper at the edges, but the fact of the matter is,
we're twice as efficient today as we were 25 years ago in terms of the use
of energy. We use only half as much energy per unit of output as we did in
1980. That's the dynamism and strength of our economy, and we need to
recognize that.

And oftentimes there are flaps, or people try to -- especially politicians,
try to take advantage of short-term circumstances for their own ends and
their own purposes, but --

Q But you don't think oil companies are gouging us, or taking advantage --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Every time oil prices go up, people start yelling
gouging. And then there are investigations, and it's very rare that anybody
ever finds a major -- have that happening.

What I do wish is right now I wish we had, for example, ANWR in production.
That would be another million barrels a day that the United States would
have domestically produced. We've tried repeatedly for years now to get
that. We have been unsuccessful. It has been blocked primarily by Democrats
in the United States Senate. Most recently it has passed the House. We need
to continue to work at that.

But people worry, for example, about the Iranian situation and the
possibility of oil price spikes if there's a confrontation and sanctions,
for example, were to be imposed on Iran. We'd be a lot better off if we had
that extra million barrels a day in production now. The country would be
safer. Our energy supplies would be more secure, our prices probably more
stable. It's important that we do such things as bring that production on
line.

Q Mr. Vice President, thank you very much.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Neil. Enjoy the show.

END 2:41 P.M. EST
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