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Skriven 2006-03-20 23:33:18 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0603202) for Mon, 2006 Mar 20
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Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 20, 2006

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Cleveland, Ohio



11:35 A.M. EST

MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. Let me first just quickly kind of
go over the day. The President had his usual intelligence briefing this
morning. And then he met with his Secretary of State. Following that the
President was pleased to welcome NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer
back to the White House. They had a good discussion. You heard from --
well, you all didn't, but your colleagues heard from them right after that
meeting took place

We're going to be going to Cleveland, where the President will continue to
update the American people about our strategy for victory in Iraq.
Specifically, today, the President is going to tell the story of Tal Afar.
It is a concrete example of how our strategy is working. The President in
his remarks will talk about how we have adapted to circumstances on the
ground, we've seen problems and we've changed our approach to meet the
realities on the ground.

And he'll go into great detail about how we went about that in Tal Afar.
He'll talk about how we moved to a clear, hold and build approach. And in
large part it's been successful because of the training and equipping of
Iraqi security forces has gone well and because of the efforts we undertook
working with local leaders to address some of the problems. And he'll talk
about how that's really restored confidence among the people of Tal Afar
going forward.

Q Scott, how much of the speech --

MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on, hang on, I'm not to questions yet.

He'll talk about how they still have challenges to overcome, but, again,
this is a concrete example of how our strategy is working. And he'll talk
about the story of Tal Afar in great detail today.

And then following that he'll be taking questions from the audience, which
is the he City Club of Cleveland. Then after that we'll return back to
Washington.

Q When Allawi says that Iraq is in the middle of a civil war, what is he
talking about?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that General Casey and the Vice President
talked about that very issue yesterday. They talked about their views of
the situation on the ground. General Casey is someone who is on the ground
and has a firsthand account of what is taking place, as is our ambassador,
Ambassador Khalilzad and they've expressed their views of the situation on
the ground.

The situation remains tense, and the President will talk about that. There
continues to be sectarian strife, but what you are seeing is that the Iraqi
political leaders are coming together to form a government of national
unity. And the President will talk about the importance of the Iraqi
political leaders coming together, setting aside political differences,
setting aside religious differences and moving forward as quickly as they
can to put in place a government that represents all Iraqis.

So I think that that's -- it's important to keep the focus there. The Iraqi
leaders are determined to continue to move forward on building a government
of national unity. The Iraqi people have shown that they want to come
together; they want to chart their own future. Time and time again they
have shown that. This is talk we've heard a number of times over the last
few years, but every step of the way the Iraqi people have shown that they
want to live in freedom and they have defied the terrorists who want to
derail that transition to democracy.

Q The President had expressed so much confidence in the past in Allawi,
does this leader no longer have any credibility?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll let him speak for himself. I mean, all I can do is
speak to what our people on the ground are seeing and what the Iraqi people
are showing. And the Iraqi people are showing that they want to live in
freedom and democracy. They've shown that time and time again -- most
recently, when more than 11 million showed up at the polls to elect a
representative government, a government that is now moving forward on
coming into place.

Q What conditions would have to be met to have a civil war? In other words,
what conditions are not in effect now that lead you to say there is not a
civil war?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you can, again, look back at what General Casey said
yesterday. And I think -- I'll tell you, you know, the Iraqi people have
continued to come together because they want to chart their own future.
Iraqi political and religious leaders have continued to urge calm and
restraint in the aftermath of some of the attacks that took place,
particularly the attack on the Golden Mosque.

So Iraqi political leaders are continuing to move forward and they
recognize the importance of doing it as quickly as possible to form a
government of national unity. They understand the importance of moving as
quickly as they can. So I think you have to look at those aspects of what's
taking place on the ground.

There is certainly the dramatic images that people see on the TV screens
which are much easier to put into a news clip. But there is also real
progress being made toward a democratic future for the Iraqi people and I
think the President will touch on this a little bit in his remarks.

Q Scott, how much of the speech will be devoted to Tal Afar? I mean, is it
largely about Tal Afar?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, it is largely telling the story of Tal Afar and how --
you know, it's in the northern part of Iraq, near the Syrian border, and
how after the initial liberation al Qaeda tried to make Tal Afar a base of
operations. And he'll kind of start from there and then walk through what
we have done to get to where things are today in Tal Afar.

Anything else?

Q Is the President hopeful there can be dramatic American troop withdrawals
by this fall?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I think General Casey spoke to that yesterday
in some of the interviews he gave. What's important is that we continue to
focus on winning in Iraq. And we have a clear plan for victory. The Iraqi
forces continue to take more of the lead in the fight. They continue to
control more of the battle space. And in terms of our troop levels, those
will be determined by the commanders on the ground, who will look at the
circumstances on the ground. But we have already -- the troop level has
already come down several thousand and we are seeing good progress in terms
of the training of Iraqi security forces and Iraqi police forces. But there
is more work to do.

Q Is there any screening --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it's important for the Iraqi people to know that we
will complete the mission. We will stay there and complete the mission and
we will accept nothing less than victory, as the President talked about in
his remarks the other day.

Q Is there any screening process on this audience? Or is it just this club
and the membership?

MR. McCLELLAN: It's their members, or whoever they -- and whoever they
invited.

Q What's your reaction to the elections in Belarus and the reelection of
President Lukashenko?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the United States does not accept the results of the
election. The election campaign was conducted in a climate of fear. It
included arrests and beatings and fraud. We applaud democrats in Belarus
for their courage and peaceful stand to reclaim their freedom. We support
their call for a new election. You heard from the OSCE earlier today when
they declared that the elections did not meet international standards for
free and fair elections.

In cooperation and coordination with the European Union, we're prepared to
act against those officials responsible for election fraud and human rights
abuses. We also warn authorities in Belarus against threatening or
detaining those exercising their political rights in the coming days and
beyond. The United States will continue to stand with the people of Belarus
and support their aspirations to reclaim their rightful place among the
communities of democracy.

Q Is there a possibility of sanctions?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, when I talked about how we will continue to act in
cooperation with the European Union, certainly travel restrictions and
targeted financial sanctions of individuals are things that we will look
at.

Q Any members of Congress on board?

MR. McCLELLAN: No. Anybody coming back with us? I'll double check for the
speech.

Q Scott, do you think the President's speeches on the global war on
terrorism, do you think they're getting through to the American people?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we remain a nation engaged in war, and I think it's
important for the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to continue to update
the American people about the progress we're making. And I think what's
important here on the Iraq speeches is this is ongoing. This is part of a
series of speeches. So it's important to continue to put Iraq in the
broader context of the nature of the enemy we face and the kind of war that
we're engaged in. Iraq is critical to those efforts. Success in Iraq will
help inspire reformers in the broader Middle East, and help our efforts to
advance freedom in that troubled part of the world.

And so the President will continue to talk about it in the broader context,
as well as talking in specific detail about our strategy that we have in
place. And it's something that he will continue to do as we move forward.
It's an important role that the Commander-in-Chief has.

END 11:45 A.M. EST

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