Text 2150, 730 rader
Skriven 2006-02-16 23:33:26 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0602161) for Thu, 2006 Feb 16
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Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
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Watch Thursday's Press Briefing with White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan.">

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 16, 2006

Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
James S. Brady Briefing Room

Press Briefing
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  þ Economic news
      þ Reference B
  þ Senate Patriot Act action
  þ Vice President hunting accident
      þ Reference B
      þ Reference C
      þ Reference D
      þ Reference E
      þ Reference F
      þ Reference G
  þ Photos of Abu Ghraib
  þ U.N. report on Guantanamo
      þ Reference B
  þ NSA surveillance program
      þ Reference B
  þ FEMA
  þ Iranian nuclear program
  þ UAE oil ports
  þ Supplemental

12:33 P.M. EST

MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everyone. I want to begin with a couple of
important issues. First of all, on the economy, there is more good news
that came out on the economy today, a couple of indicators. The housing
starts were up significantly in January. Home ownership is at an all-time
high. The latest unemployment insurance claims also came out today, and
they point to continued strong job creation as we move forward. Our economy
is strong -- it grew at 3.5 percent over the last year. That's faster than
any other major industrialized country in the world. There have been nearly
4.8 million new jobs created since the summer of '03, and the unemployment
rate is at 4.7 percent, below the averages of the '70s, '80s and '90s.

And the President is focused on continuing to keep our economy growing
strong by moving forward on three key areas -- well, I should say, four --
moving forward on our initiatives to reduce our dependence on oil, foreign
oil, and moving forward on his competitiveness and innovation initiatives,
and making the tax relief permanent and also continuing to build upon our
record of restraining spending.

Secondly, there was some action today on the Patriot Act. We're pleased
that the Senate took a step forward on renewing the Patriot Act. This law
provides important tools to our law enforcement and intelligence officials
who are on the front lines in the war on terrorism, saving lives and
protecting the American people.

There was a good agreement that was reached by members of the Senate. It
was reached in a good faith effort. Yet there are still some Senate
Democrats that want to continue to engage in obstructionist tactics and
prevent this vital legislation from being reauthorized. We hope the Senate
will move ahead quickly and reject the continued obstructionist efforts,
and get this act renewed before it is set to expire next month.

And with that, I'll be glad to go to your questions.

Q Scott, to revisit a subject from this morning --

MR. McCLELLAN: And from the last week. (Laughter.)

Q Does President -- not last week, this week.

MR. McCLELLAN: I said, from the last week.

Q Does the President think the Vice President's shooting accident was
disclosed in a timely enough fashion?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that, one, the Vice President participated in an
interview yesterday and answered all the big questions relating to this
issue, and explained his rational behind the decision that he made. The
President is very satisfied with the way this matter has been addressed. I
think that at this point, what we are doing is looking forward to the
future, not looking back to the past. The American people saw yesterday
that the Vice President is very concerned about his friend Harry
Whittington. They saw his concern and compassion for a friend of his who he
shot in a hunting accident. As he said, it was one of the worst days of his
life.

The top concern for the Vice President has been and continues to be the
well being of Mr. Whittington. He remains in our thoughts and prayers. And
I think that the views have been expressed pretty thoroughly on this
matter.

Q We haven't heard from the President on whether he thought it should have
been disclosed sooner. And that's what I was asking.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, if the President wants to say more on this, you're
going to have the opportunity to see him later today, and we'll go from
there.

Kelly, go ahead.

Q Also on this subject, does the President feel that it was appropriate to
give the discretion to the Vice President to make those decisions -- as he
described to us yesterday -- about disclosure, at a time when he was
understandably under enormous personal duress, concerned about his friend,
having just been through a traumatic event. Is that the right time for him
to be making those decisions, when you have a formal apparatus here to deal
with disclosures to the public?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, Kelly, like I said, I think we've been through these
issues thoroughly over the last few days. I think the American people are
looking at this and saying, enough already; let's focus on the priorities
that are most important to this nation. We're all focused on the well being
of Mr. Whittington. We're all concerned about his health and well being.
And the last reports from his doctors were that he was doing well. I think
they're providing an additional update here shortly. But we keep him in our
thoughts and prayer -- want to see him recover fully and return home.

But we are continuing to focus on the priorities that the American people
are most concerned about, like the ones I talked about at the beginning of
this briefing. The views have been expressed thoroughly from me at this
podium. I think the Vice President went through this pretty thoroughly in a
30-minute or so interview yesterday with Brit Hume, who is a respected
journalist. And he covered, I think, all the major questions that people
are interested in. And the Vice President answered those questions in a
very thorough way.

Go ahead, follow --

Q Has the Vice President been seen by a physician or had any medical follow
up himself, again, given the stress of the circumstances?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, Kelly, I think that we have heard from the Vice
President. I think that there is a tendency in this town to over-analyze
things. And I think that falls into that category. If there's additional
information the Vice President's Office thinks is appropriate to share, I'm
sure they will.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, one of the top priorities for the American people, no doubt, is
their confidence in their leaders. And this has been an administration that
has made it very clear that credibility and just telling the facts was
important, that it's clear that that's what you guys do. And I asked you
about this in the morning gaggle, you said that you thought I'd taken it
out of context, or misunderstood, so I've gone back and re-read the
transcript. After the Vice President went through the entire course of
events why he asked Mrs. Armstrong to do the talking, he was asked, "Does
it raise the question whether you could have headed off the firestorm if
you had put out the word to the national media," and the Vice President's
response was, "Well, who was going to do that? Are they going to take my
word for what happened?" Does the Vice President believe that his word is
not credible with the American people?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think that the Vice President feels like I do, that
sometimes in situations like this there is a tendency to over-interpret
what was said. I think what the Vice President was referring to was the
fact that he was involved in this hunting accident. He was the one who
accidentally shot his friend, and he feels horrible about it. He wants to
see his friend fully recover. He felt that Mrs. Armstrong, who was an
eyewitness, could provide the most credible account of what occurred. She
was not someone that was involved in this accident. And that's all he was
saying.

Q There have been accounts that Republicans on the Hill feel that this has
damaged the party, in general. Is that a message that was conveyed to the
President when they had breakfast here with him?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again -- no. And nothing that I've heard from that
breakfast yesterday -- are you talking about yesterday? Well, that was a
bipartisan leadership meeting --

Q But some of the Republicans later --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not aware that that topic came up. I know that what they
did talk about were our foreign and domestic policy priorities. They talked
about important priorities like the ones I mentioned at the beginning that
we're working to move forward on to keep America the most competitive and
most innovative economy in the world. So I don't think that that issue came
up at all, and I haven't heard anyone express that. In fact, I heard -- a
short time ago the President met with some House Republican leaders on
another important bipartisan priority, which is making sure that we succeed
in Iraq. They had a very good discussion, and I think some members in there
expressed their appreciation for the Vice President.

Q Another topic. I know you addressed some of this in the gaggle this
morning. Are you upset with the new publication of some of the old pictures
from Abu Ghraib? Are you upset with the publication at this time? And on
Guantanamo, is there any credibility to U.N. calls to close down
Guantanamo?

MR. McCLELLAN: What we were upset with was the appalling acts that took
place at Abu Ghraib. That's why this administration acted quickly, and our
military acted quickly, to hold people to account and bring them to
justice, and to also take steps to prevent something like that from
happening again. That's the difference between the United States and some
countries in the world that systematically engage in torture. When we find
abuses or atrocities like that, we show the world that people are held to
account; we show the world that we take these matters seriously, and we
take steps to prevent that from happening ever again. These are relating to
the same instance that took place back at the original time.

And we've taken a lot of steps since that time to hold people to account
and take steps to prevent something like that from happening again. Our
military goes out of their way to represent the best of America and our
values. And one of those values is treating all people with respect and
dignity, and treating people humanely. And the vast majority, the 99.9
percent of the men and women in our uniform, do an outstanding job
representing the United States.

What was your question about the United Nations?

Q The U.N. committee call on Guantanamo.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I'd point out a couple of things. First of all, the
U.N. team that was looking into this issue did not even visit Guantanamo
Bay. They did not go down and see the facilities. They were offered the
same kind of access that congressional leaders, who are responsible for
oversight of these matters, have been provided. Yet, they declined to go
down there.

I think that what we are seeing is a rehash of allegations that have been
made by lawyers representing some of these detainees. We know that these
are dangerous terrorists that are being kept at Guantanamo Bay. They are
people that are determined to harm innocent civilians, or harm innocent
Americans. They were enemy combatants picked up on the battlefield in the
war on terrorism. They are trained to provide false information. And al
Qaeda training manuals talk about ways to disseminate false information and
hope to get attention.

But the International Committee for the Red Cross has been provided full
access to the detainees. The military treats detainees humanely, as
directed by the President of the United States. And the United Nations
should be making serious investigations across the world, and there are
many instances when they do, when it comes to human rights. This was not
one of them. And I think it's a discredit to the U.N. when a team like this
goes about rushing to report something when they haven't even looked into
the facts. All they have done is look at the allegations.

Carl.

Q Scott, back to the reaction to Mr. Cheney's statements yesterday. The
House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi, says that this is analogous or
comparable to the administration's inability to come clean, and suggested
that the delay of it and the administration's unwillingness to come clean
is analogous to a lack of cooperation with the Abramoff investigation and
even the response to Katrina. Can you react to that?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that just shows that the only ones who are making
such allegations like that are the most partisan of people or the
conspiracy theorists that live out there, and they try to take this matter
and paint with a broader brush. I think most Americans reject that
wholeheartedly.

Q I have another question. On the subject of the NSA surveillance program
and its regular review, et cetera --

MR. McCLELLAN: And I would say, too, that I think some want to use this to
distract from the real issues, because they don't want to talk about the
agenda, they don't want to talk about their ideas for America, they don't
want us to engage in a debate on the substantive issues that matter most to
the American people.

Q On the NSA surveillance program. There's talk on the Hill that there may
be some movement in a way to legislatively improve either FISA or create
some sort of a better supervision of the NSA surveillance program that
would satisfy one of the two of the branches, legislative or judicial. What
is the White House's current view of that dialogue, and where it seems to
be headed?

MR. McCLELLAN: There's good discussion going on with some members of
Congress. We have worked very closely with Congress on the terrorist
surveillance program. It is a critical tool that is both lawful and
necessary. And that's -- and the President felt it was such a vital tool
that he felt it was also important to keep Congress briefed about this
program. And that's what he has done. We have briefed members of Congress
more than a dozen times. It is a carefully tailored program that is aimed
at intercepting international communications of al Qaeda or al
Qaeda-affiliated terrorists. And that's what his focus is.

Hang on, I'm coming to the question I think that you're getting to.

So we have spelled out the legal rationale behind this vital tool. We don't
believe that congressional authorization is something that is necessary,
because, as the President has spelled out, and others have spelled out, he
already has the constitutional and the statutory authority to authorize the
terrorist surveillance program.

The President also has said that we will continue working with Congress. We
will -- we are open to ideas regarding legislation. The one thing the
President said was that he would resist legislation if it would compromise
this vital program that helps save lives and prevent attacks from
happening.

But we have seen some good ideas presented by Senator DeWine, and we are
committed to continuing to work with Congress on legislation that would not
undermine the President's ability to protect Americans. And so we'll keep
working with members of Congress as we move forward.

Q In short, though, the administration is open to the idea of some
legislative adjustments?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we previously expressed that we will work with
Congress on this, and we previously expressed that we're open to ideas.
We've talked about how there's kind of a high bar to overcome. But at this
point, we've only heard ideas from Senator DeWine. We think there's some
good ideas, but we have not seen actual legislation.

Go ahead, Elaine.

Q Scott, going back to the Vice President, you said yesterday on Air Force
One that you speak for the White House, on behalf of the White House and
the President, and you also reiterated --

MR. McCLELLAN: I am the White House Spokesman. I believe that statement is
fact.

Q And you also reiterated that in talking about the way the Vice
President's information came out, you said you can always look back at
these issues and learn to do better in the future. Did the President -- if
so, did the President communicate that view to Vice President Cheney?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think as I indicated earlier, I'm not interested in going
back and rehashing what has already been said on this matter. I don't know
that there's anything else I can say that I haven't already said about
these issues. You all heard from the Vice President on this issue, as well,
yesterday, and heard his views. And he talked about his rationale behind
that. And I think there are a lot of people that understand that his focus
was first and foremost where it should be, on making sure that his friend
was getting the medical care he needed. And also, after that, secondary to
that, making sure that all the facts were together and that the American
people were provided an accurate account of what occurred. And the public
was informed about this very matter.

Q And on the NSA surveillance discussions, why couldn't those discussions
have taken place sooner?

MR. McCLELLAN: What do you mean, why couldn't they have taken place sooner?

Q Before the program was made public and the disclosure was made -- why
couldn't there have been --

MR. McCLELLAN: Maybe you have forgotten about what has already been said.
First of all, we talked to members of Congress and briefed key leaders on
this more than a dozen times. It is a highly classified program. It is
critical in a time of war that you are able to surveill the enemy, and
that's what this is about. So let's keep that in mind. And this is about
international communications involving al Qaeda or suspected al Qaeda
members.

And during those discussions I think the Attorney General pointed out --
with congressional leaders -- pointed out that the subject of legislation
came up and there was concern expressed that if you moved ahead on
legislation that it could compromise this program. And I don't think anyone
who recognizes how vital this program is wants to do anything to undermine
it, because it is a successful program; it has helped us to better protect
the American people and prevent attacks. I think you've heard from key
intelligence officials, whether it was General Hayden or Director
Negroponte, the two top intelligence leaders, or the head of the FBI, they
have talked about how vital this program has been.

Q Thank you, Scott. When the Department of Homeland Security was created
and organized shortly after 9/11, FEMA was made part of it, a lower level
agency within the department, which many say was the genesis of the clash
between FEMA Director Michael Brown and Secretary Chertoff. Now, yesterday,
Congressman Shuster of Pennsylvania, criticized the structure, and called
for FEMA being made an independent agency once again outside the Department
of Homeland Security. Your reaction?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, my reaction is to point out a couple of things. First
of all, when the Department of Homeland Security was created, there was a
bipartisan effort that was undertaken. And there was strong bipartisan
support for putting all these departments and agencies under one umbrella,
where they all focused on one priority, and that is protecting the American
people.

And now in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we have undertaken a
comprehensive lessons-learned review to look at things that we can do
better to prepare for future response efforts. And Secretary Chertoff has
already taken a number of steps to make sure that we are in position to be
better prepared in the future.

And one of those initiatives he undertook was to look at FEMA and take some
steps to strengthen FEMA and make it work better, and put it in a better
position to respond in the future. Now, we have to keep in mind that the
first responders are always going to be the state and local folks. They're
the ones who are on the front lines. And the role of the federal government
is to support those efforts. But we have seen that this was a catastrophic
hurricane, and in those instances where something like that happens, what
do you do?

And that's why we have taken a comprehensive look at how we move forward.
And our Director of Homeland Security is going to be talking about more
than a hundred recommendations that we are making to move forward on. And
much -- many of those we need to act on now, and move ahead on. There are
some that will take a longer-term effort. But I think everybody recognized
the importance of the way the Department of Homeland Security was
structured when FEMA was put under it. And that remains where our support
is, as well. But we also must continue to work to make sure that everything
is fully integrated at the Department of Homeland Security.

Q So while you support measures for reform, none of those hundred measures
you refer to include making FEMA independent again?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think we've expressed our view previously, and we continue
to support FEMA being where it is.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, the Vice President spoke yesterday to Brit Hume, but everything is
still not in a nice, neat package that the White House wants to make it
look like it is. Some are still concerned with the fact that the Vice
President was not interviewed by local police until the day after. And now
we're hearing that there was alcohol at lunch, a couple of hours prior to,
and the investigators did not get a chance to talk to the Vice President or
find out the level -- the blood level -- or what alcohol level at that
time. That is not a nice, neat package. And there's still a concern about
--

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think you characterized the full picture there,
April. I think you ought to look at what law enforcement officials have
said on that very matter. And I think most Americans believe that this
issue has been covered thoroughly, and most Americans recognize that the
Vice President is first and foremost concerned about his friend. So I
reject this characterization. I think this room and this town sometimes
gets overly caught up in this. But the American people appreciate the
answers to the questions that have already been asked.

Q But the Vice President himself addressed the issue that he had alcohol
prior to -- hours prior to. And no one tested --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll refer to --

Q -- no one tested in the hours prior to. And no one tested --

MR. McCLELLAN: April, if you want to continue to pursue this, you can do
that. I think most Americans recognize this is what it is, which is a
hunting accident, a terrible hunting accident, where someone was injured --

Q If an average person --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Whittington. We
want to see him recover fully.

Q That is very true.

MR. McCLELLAN: If you want to over interpret things, that's your business.
The American people have heard the answers.

Q But Scott, what the average American -- if that situation were to be the
case, they would be investigated, and a blood alcohol level tested and
taken that day.

MR. McCLELLAN: Maybe you ought to look at what the sheriff's department put
out about that very matter. And they interviewed people, April. Because you
are not giving people a full picture when you characterize it that way.
It's already been provided by law enforcement officials, by eyewitnesses.
And the Vice President has provided those answers, too. He was very
thorough in his responses to the questions that were asked yesterday.

Again, if you want to continue to pursue this, that's your business. We're
going to continue to focus on the priorities of the American people.

Go ahead.

Q Thank you. Scott, Secretary Rice is calling on the international
community to pressure Iran into giving up its nuclear program. But Iran
seems to be thumbing its nose at the world by enriching uranium. It doesn't
seem to be concerned about U.N. action, so what's left? Is the military
option still on the table?

MR. McCLELLAN: A couple of things. First of all, we are continuing to
pursue a diplomatic approach to resolve this matter. The international
community is very concerned about the regime's continued pursuit of a
nuclear weapons capability. And the international community is determined
to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability. They have
shown that they cannot be trusted. The regime continues to openly defy the
international community. That's why the International Atomic Energy Agency
voted in a very strong way to refer the matter to the United Nations
Security Council.

Now the board -- the Atomic Energy Agency board is waiting for Director
ElBaradei to report back on his review of the nuclear program in Iran. And
he provided a preliminary assessment a few weeks ago, and he'll be
providing additional information. But I think the international community
is determined to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapons capability.
This isn't about the question of whether or not Iran has the right to a
civilian nuclear program. They do. We've said we support the proposal that
was offered by Russia. But the regime has shown through two decades of
hiding their activities, and continued defiance of their international
obligations that they cannot be trusted.

And so it's a matter of confidence. In order to gain that -- regain some
confidence with the international community, what they need to do is take
the steps that were spelled out by the board of the International Atomic
Energy Agency. And that means abiding by the Paris agreement, suspending
all enrichment in uranium -- in enrichment and enrichment-related
activities. And it means cooperating fully with the International Atomic
Energy Agency, and acting in good faith in negotiation with the Europeans
to resolve this matter in a diplomatic way.

There is a menu of options, as Secretary Rice pointed out yesterday, that
are available to us. And we will consider those very carefully along with
our partners in the international community.

Les.

Q Scott, I have a two-part. The government's Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States has approved a deal that will put six major
ports in the United States under the control of a state-sponsored company
based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. And my question: Knowing, as we
do, that the Arab Emirate was tied in many ways to the 9/11 hijackers and
their deeds, and knowing the critical nature of port security and
protecting the nation, will the President step in and stop this deal from
going into effect March 2nd?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, my understanding, Les, is that this went through the
national security review process under CFIUS, at the Department of
Treasury. That is the agency that is responsible for overseeing such
matters. And this includes a number of national security agencies -- the
Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Justice,
among others, and there is a rigorous review that goes on for proposed
foreign investments for national security concerns. And in terms of
specifics relating to this, Treasury is the chair of this and you should
direct those questions to Treasury.

Q Among a considerable number of very strong media criticisms, syndicated
columnist Michelle Malken, this morning described as -- in her words --
"circus antics of clown journalism 101, one print reporter is going on
television wearing an orange hat and vest, and a TV reporter yelling at you
that you're a jerk." And my question: Do you honestly believe Michelle is
wrong, or will you evade?

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I haven't heard her specific comments and I haven't had
a chance to take a look at them --

Q Well, it's in the paper, Scott.

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me point out a couple things. One, we talked about this
earlier in the week -- there have been some legitimate questions and
legitimate issues that have been raised. At the same time, I think that
those questions and those issues have been addressed. They've been
addressed in a very thorough way. I went out of my way to be as responsive
as I could be earlier in this week. The Vice President thoroughly addressed
all the questions that came up yesterday in his nearly 30-minute interview
with Brit Hume. Brit Hume is a very respected journalist, and I think that
I'll leave it to others to make judgments, or get into that kind of --

Q But is Michelle wrong? Are you saying she's wrong, or do you want to
evade?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- or get into that kind of analysis. I'll leave that to
others.

Q Scott, I think you said, in regard to this whole matter, you want to look
forward. Obviously one thing, looking back on how it all played out, that
would have mitigated some of these issues and problems, is if we'd had
greater access to the Vice President, not only that day, but in general. Is
there any internal discussion about making him more available --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there are times when you all travel with him. This was
not one of those times. This was a weekend hunting trip with friends of his
down in Texas.

Q Scott, can you describe the supplemental that's about to go up to the
Hill?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, Mark. We're going to be having a briefing on that later.
I expect it will probably be a conference call and they'll be talking about
it more. But this includes emergency funding for our efforts in Iraq and
Afghanistan. We want to make sure that our troops have all the resources
they need to succeed and to complete the missions in those theaters and the
global war on terrorism.

There's also important funding for ongoing Katrina recovery and response.
Don Powell, our federal coordinator, yesterday announced an additional $4.2
billion that will be going to Louisiana. Governor Blanco expressed her deep
appreciation for that on behalf of the people of Louisiana and said it
shows the President is strongly committed to doing what we can from the
federal level to help the people recover and rebuild their lives and their
communities.

But we have not sent the supplemental to the Hill yet. There are ongoing
notifications with members of Congress, I believe. And so I don't think
it's appropriate for me to jump out ahead of that process until we send
that supplemental up. And then we will probably be providing you with
additional information, including fact sheets and a briefing.

Q Just a quick one in general terms, though. In the past, critics have
suggested that this is -- that it's -- that the war spending ought to be
part of a regular budget that gets sent --

MR. McCLELLAN: There's nothing changed in terms of we've said previously on
that, and I would leave it to the briefers to talk more about it once this
goes up.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, you said the U.N. team that didn't go to Guantanamo was offered
the same kind of access as congressional leaders. U.N. team says that the
reason it didn't go was because it was not going to be given access to the
prisoners themselves, and that it saw no point in going, although it
mentioned that it had good cooperation with the U.S. military. Why was it
not possible to give the U.N. team direct access to the prisoners --

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that that's accurate characterization. I think
they were going to be provided good access to the facilities there, and I
don't know that's an accurate description. I think you ought to direct that
to the Department of Defense, as well as maybe our U.S. office at the
United Nations. I don't think -- I don't know that that's an -- I don't
know that's accurate, Victoria.

Q One other quick one. Vice President Cheney talked yesterday about the
trauma of seeing his friend fall to the ground when he shot him, and I was
wondering whether this has caused Mr. Cheney to reflect on the kind of
trauma that's experienced daily by the men and women in the military who
have to shoot people?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, here's another example of where I think this town
sometimes gets into taking an incident like this and trying to draw broader
conclusions or over interpret or overanalyze things and get into all sorts
of other issues. We are all deeply concerned about our men and women in
uniform who have been injured. We are deeply concerned for all those who
have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom. And their families
remain in our thoughts and prayers.

And I think you've seen that by what the President and Vice President have
done, Victoria. They have visited the wounded, they have visited the
families of the fallen, and they will continue to do so. But I think that
it's just absurd to try to get into looking at it in the way that you just
suggested.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, you mentioned when you first came in that the number of job
creations has gone up impressively. But this country continues to lose
quality jobs -- like the Ford Motor Company layoffs, GM, and manufacturing
jobs. What's being done to prevent those from being outsourced overseas
while you say that the number of jobs in this country that are created --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, what we've had to do is what the President outlined in
his State of the Union Initiative. The President outlined an agenda to keep
America the most competitive and innovative economy in the world, and he
outlined specific initiatives. I don't think this room wants me to go back
through all of them right now, but he outlined the Competitive Initiative,
and he recognizes that there is some anxiety among the American people,
despite the fact that our economy is very strong. There are millions of new
jobs that have been created.

People are also living in a changing world and a changing economy. And many
people -- the President has talked about this -- in the 18-39 range are
changing jobs more frequently than previous generations. And what we've got
to do is make sure that we continue to have the most skilled and educated
work force in the world. And that -- it starts with education. And that's
why the President, when he came into office, passed historic education
reforms to make sure that we have the best educated work force in the
world.

But it also means investing in our sciences, investing in research and
development, as the President outlined. And there's a lot of bipartisan
agreement on what the President outlined. He thinks this is one area where
we can really get something done this year to strengthen our economy even
more. And that's why I hit on those four areas after I made the remarks
about the economy, because there is some concern among families about the
future of our economy. That's why we must continue to build upon the
pro-growth policies that we've put in place, and continue to make sure that
workers have the skills they need to fill the high-paying jobs that are
being created.

Q The Vice President did one interview with one news organization. Will he
be available to the rest of us to talk about this accident?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think he pretty thoroughly addressed the questions
that were raised.

Q To one news organization. Would he be available --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I don't know what you're suggesting.

Q Well, no, no, just a general press briefing about --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it was a pretty lengthy interview that covered all
the major topics related to this subject, and I think the Vice President
went through it pretty thoroughly. Of course, he has public appearances on
a frequent basis, and if you all want to ask him questions down the road,
then that's your business. But I think the American people look at this and
appreciate the fact that the Vice President went out there and thoroughly
responded to all the questions relating to this issue.

Now, the reason he waited, as he said, was he had been talking about going
out and addressing these issues, but on Tuesday his friend had some
complications and he wanted to wait to make sure he was doing better before
he went out there and started talking about this.

Q Scott, we have seen from the press release -- Without Borders, and an
article -- the attack and robbery happened to --

MR. McCLELLAN: I can't hear you very well.

Q Sorry. There was an attack and robbery happen to Dr. -- Lee in his
Atlanta home last Wednesday -- independent newspaper -- and also --
developing -- to help Chinese people get information outside of China. --
featured in a front-page article on Wall Street Journal two days ago. I
wonder if you have any comment on this? Actually, this case is one of many
ongoing cases of attack and harassment of people who work for independent
news organizations --

MR. McCLELLAN: Are you talking about in China? I mean, I think that we make
our views very clear to the government of China on these matters, and our
concerns. We strongly support freedom of press. We strongly support freedom
of religion. And we've made those views very clear to China in discussions
we have with them. There are a lot of areas we work together, but when we
have concerns we express those directly to the government, as well, and say
so publicly.

Thank you.

END 1:09 P.M. EST

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