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Skriven 2006-02-03 23:32:54 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0602035) for Fri, 2006 Feb 3
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Interview of the Vice President by Laura Ingraham
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
February 3, 2006

Interview of the Vice President by Laura Ingraham
Via Telephone, The Laura Ingraham Show


˙˙˙˙˙Audio

9:36 A.M. EST

Q Former President Jimmy Carter saying on Larry King that Hamas should be
recognized by the United States. Money could be funneled, if not directly
to the Hamas government, to other entities through UNICEF and the United
Nations and so forth. Back on the Laura Ingraham Show. We are absolutely
thrilled to be joined now by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Mr. Vice President, thank you for joining us.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, good morning, Laura.

Q Mr. Vice President, if you could respond to the comments of our former
President Jimmy Carter talking about the new government in the Palestinian
Territories, Hamas. Under any circumstances at this point would Hamas be
recognized by the United States?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Not until they change their policies, Laura. The
important thing here -- it's true, they did get elected. But it's important
to remember Hamas' track record. Their objective, part of their platform is
the destruction of Israel. They are a terrorist organization. They've been
responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings. And
they need to give up their objective of the destruction of Israel. They
need to forswear violence and I think close down their military wing before
anybody is going to treat them seriously as a legitimate interlocutor, if
you will, and governer of the Palestinian people.

That's not just a U.S. position; that's -- we feel very strongly about it,
but it also, clearly, is the view of most of the responsible governments in
the world.

Q Yesterday, Porter Goss said on Capitol Hill that national security leaks
have damaged us. And he said it has -- the damage done to our national
security has been very severe. And he was talking, in part, about the
information out there now about the way we eavesdrop on communications
coming into the United States from al Qaeda affiliates.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, he's right about national security leaks. There
have been a number over the years, but there have been some recently that
have been most egregious; and one, obviously, does have to do with the NSA
program that's been the focus of a lot of attention in the last few weeks.
And of course, someone there went to The New York Times, and The New York
Times published extensive stories about it, which disclosed the fact of the
program.

There have been others. I thought Director Goss was rather restrained in
his comments, but he was absolutely correct. Those leaks do do enormous
damage to our national security. It happens in several ways. It, obviously,
reveals techniques and sources and methods that are important to try to
protect. It gives information to our enemies about how we go about
collecting intelligence against them. It also raises questions in the minds
of other intelligence services about whether or not they can work with the
United States intelligence service, with our CIA, for example, if we can't
keep a secret. If every secret that we're told, or that we had ends up on
the front page of the newspapers, some of our friends overseas are going to
be reluctant to do business with us. So it's -- it is a serious problem.

Q And, Vice President Cheney, I'm heading to Iraq late tonight. I'm going
to be there for about nine days. I'm anxious to get my own perspective on
the situation when I'm there. But I know you were just recently in Iraq,
and I'd like to know your view on what it's like today in Iraq versus,
let's say, a year ago -- the security situation.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm delighted you're going, Laura. I think it's
great when commentators and journalists and so forth get out there and
spend time with the troops and see what's actually going on, on the ground.
And I think you'll find it a remarkable experience. We've got some
fantastic people over there doing truly amazing things.

I think the overall situation in terms of the security situation I believe
is improving. The biggest difference you'll notice over the last year is
the extent to which Iraqis now are increasingly taking on responsibility
for various areas of the country, and taking the lead now. We've got some
40 Iraqi battalions now that actually have the lead in providing security
in their relative -- respective areas. That's a big change. A year ago, you
would have -- probably wouldn't have had more than one or two Iraqi
battalions capable of doing that.

The other thing that is especially noteworthy, obviously, is what's
happening in the political arena. And I'm sure you'll spend time focused on
that. They're clearly in the midst of negotiating arrangements for this new
government based on the election results of last month. And that's moving
rapidly forward at this point, and hopefully we'll have a government here
before too long that is based on that new Iraqi constitution and a free
vote of several million Iraqis.

Q And why do you think that in most the public opinion polls, the war
itself with the progress that you've cited and that we've certainly heard
from troops on the ground, commanders on the ground, it still seems to be
fairly unpopular here in the United States. We know what it's like abroad,
which is very unpopular. But why does that persist, that feeling?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think -- war is a very difficult proposition.
And obviously, casualties and the cost of war are something that nobody
likes -- that people try to avoid as much as possible; governments
certainly do. We do. It's the last, last resort. You only resort to
military action when you have no other choice. And so I think there's a
natural sort of response that we get out there when you ask people, do you
like the war, a lot of people are going to say, no, based on principle.
That doesn't mean they don't support completing the mission; doesn't mean
that they think we ought to cut and run; or suddenly withdraw and turn Iraq
over to the bad guys. I do think there's a basic fundamental level of
support out there in the country for the troops, and for what we're working
to achieve in Iraq.

I'm confident we will succeed, that the only way we can lose this one is if
we quit. And we're not about to quit. We're going to complete the mission,
and I think you'll find when you're over there that that is, in fact, the
desire of the people most directly involved, and those are the men and
women wearing the American uniform, fighting on our behalf in Iraq.

Q I noticed that the President, Vice President Cheney, in the State of the
Union speech used the word isolationist several times, and then in his
speeches across the country after the State of the Union, he also used the
isolationist word: "We cannot be isolationist . . . there used to be
isolationism in the United States," and so forth. About whom is he speaking
when he refers to isolationists today?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think -- I don't know that I want to put my
finger on any one particular individual. Let me just describe a category. I
would argue that people who want to deal with the terrorist threat, if you
will, the way we dealt with it prior to 9/11 fall into that category. That
is folks who feel that we can sort of retreat behind our oceans and
everything will be okay, folks who believe that our involvement from a
military perspective in the Middle East is somehow an "optional war,
optional conflict." That's not true after 9/11. Once we got hit and lost
3,000 people here at home in Washington and New York and Pennsylvania, a
little over four years ago now, when we weren't -- had done absolutely
nothing from an international standpoint to justify that kind of an attack,
I think pretty well makes the point that simply pulling behind our oceans
and trying to sit safe and secure here at home doesn't work any more; that
this crowd, the al Qaeda organization and all of its affiliates are
committed to their objectives; and they're prepared to go anyplace and use
any means at their disposal to kill Americans, as well as others around the
globe; and that our only viable strategy in this case is to be actively and
aggressively involved overseas, not pursue the sort of isolationist notion
that somehow we can pull our heads in and hunker down and they'll leave us
alone -- because they clearly won't.

Q And renewable energy really got the headlines, and the "addiction to oil"
line in the State of the Union speech. And Tom Friedman wrote a piece in
The New York Times today saying, well, it was great to hear that, but
unless we really give people -- make it painful for people to drive as
much, to be as addicted to their SUVs as they are, then we're not going to
push this forward as fast as we could. We can't wait six years for this
alternative fuel vehicle to be in operation. How do you respond to that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't agree with that. I think -- the President
and I believe very deeply that, obviously, the government has got a role to
play here in terms of supporting research into new technologies and
encouraging the development of new methods of generating energy and
powering our economy. And we're doing that. And that was a lot of what he
announced in his speech on Tuesday night.

But we also are big believers in the market, and that we need to be careful
about having government come in, for example, and tell people how to live
their lives, that the market does work, that people make adjustments and
make decisions for themselves in terms of what kind of vehicle they want to
drive, and how often they want to fill up the tank, and from the
perspective of individual American citizens, this notion that we have to
"impose pain," some kind of government mandate, I think we would resist.
The marketplace does work out there. People do make decisions, for example,
to use less energy when it gets expensive, and to find ways to be more
efficient.

There's a strong economic incentive in the marketplace for us to become
much more efficient in how we use energy. We have, in the last 25 years,
gotten roughly twice as efficient as we used to be. That is, we use only
half as much energy per unit of output today as we did in 1980. That's the
marketplace at work. That's not because government mandated some pain on
the American economy.

Q I know you have to run, and we really appreciate you joining us, Vice
President Cheney. And how is your health? Before we let you go, how are you
feeling?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: It's good. I'm feeling fine. And I've got a lot of
people looking after me and everybody knows if I have a hiccup. I think it
gets over-covered at times, but that goes with the job.

Q What are you doing, the elliptical trainer? What's your exercise --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I've got a recumbent bicycle that I ride.

Q You do the -- you read, don't you? You read when you're on the bike. I
know you do.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Read and -- that's right -- read and watch the news.

Q And listen to the Laura Ingraham Show.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And listen to the Laura Ingraham Show.

Q Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: All right.

Q Vice President Cheney say hi to Mrs. Cheney for us, please.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'll do it. And enjoy your trip, Laura. I look forward
to hearing what you've got to say when you get back.

Q All right, you take good care, and thanks so much.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

END 9:47 A.M. EST

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