Text 2839, 255 rader
Skriven 2006-06-15 23:34:08 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (060615d) for Thu, 2006 Jun 15
====================================================
===========================================================================
Interview of the Vice President by Sean Hannity
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
June 15, 2006

Interview of the Vice President by Sean Hannity
Via Telephone



3:15 P.M. EDT

Q Mr. Vice President, how are you?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, Sean.

Q Well, I got to admit, these are good times for the administration. You
got -- Zarqawi is dead, revenues are up significantly, the deficit has been
cut significantly, the President's trip. And I'm also told there's some
breaking news that a high-value insurgent has again been captured in Iraq
just now.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, you're ahead of me on that one. I knew about all
the other stuff, Sean, but I hadn't heard that one yet.

Q See, that's why I'm here, to bring you good news.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's right. (Laughter.) I got to tune in every day to
find out what's really going on in the world.

Q Three hours a day, Mr. Vice President, is all we ask. Let's talk first
about the Zarqawi memos and these documents that were captured by U.S.
forces just before he was killed last week. Among other things, he's
clearly worried the U.S. is winning the war in Iraq. Tell us about your
awareness of him and what you think of him.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think we need to make absolutely certain
they're authentic at this stage, but they are fascinating, because they do
reveal, obviously -- whoever wrote them, assuming they're authentic --
somebody who believes they're on the losing end of the engagement, I guess
is the way I'd put it. I think the psychological business here is
enormously important, as well, too. Somebody said the other day that the
way we win is when they finally become convinced, the terrorists finally
become convinced that we won't quit, that what they're betting on is
obviously not that they can defeat us, because they can't, but that they
can wear down our will. And I think the good news in these kinds of
documents that you see here is a situation in which they obviously are
increasingly concerned that they're not going to be able to sustain the
effort.

Q Can an argument be made, Mr. Vice President, that in fact they have worn
down the will of some people in this country? Some people -- I don't know
if you heard the comments, for example, of John Kerry. This was at the Take
Back America conference that they had just earlier this week. And let me
play it for you and get your reaction to it:

We were misled. We were given evidence that was not true. It was wrong, and
I was wrong.

What are your thoughts on that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it's -- I guess I'm not surprised at John
Kerry switching his position yet again. He's the man, of course -- he did,
in fact, support our efforts in Iraq initially. As I say, he voted for the
$87 billion before he voted against it. Now I suppose it's sort of a
complete 180-degree turn that he started during the last campaign.

The fact of the matter is, they're making the charge, Kerry is now, that
somehow he was misled. He wasn't misled. He saw the same intelligence all
the rest of us saw. He knew what an evil actor Saddam Hussein was. He did,
in fact, support the efforts at the outset.

This is hard stuff. It's very difficult to do what we're trying to do here.
But we are getting it done. The troops are performing magnificently. They
are doing this tremendous job. We're making significant progress. The
Iraqis have put together their government under their new constitution. The
President, of course, was just there this week for meetings -- I think
major progress on the political front, but also on the security front. And
the death of Zarqawi is proof positive that, in fact, our guys are getting
the job done.

Q But doesn't this really get to the debate -- and there is a distinct
difference between the two parties. And you can hear it clearly in what
John Kerry is saying. They have a debate going on in the House of
Representatives today. This has everything to do with Iraq, the war against
Islamic fascism. In many ways -- I guess the distinct difference is that
you and the President -- and frankly, I agree with you -- have decided that
the time is now and the place is Iraq. I ask most people on the other side
of the aisle when I interview them or debate with them, well, do you
believe at some point we are going to be at war with those people that have
attacked us, that want to destroy our society. They say yes. They just
disagree with the time and the place, no?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think that's right, Sean. The distinction I see here
is that there's a failure on their part to understand, or refusal to
understand, that this isn't just about Iraq, that it, in fact, is about the
broader global war on terror, that this is a global conflict that everybody
should be aware of by now. There have been attacks all over the world, in
London and Madrid and Bali and Istanbul, as well as New York and
Washington; that the key to our success to date has been to actively and
aggressively go on offense. Pre-9/11, the policies that were pursued by the
U.S. government were not aggressive at all. There was no price really
extracted for those who launched attacks against the United States, right
up until 9/11 -- 9/11, of course, and this President changed all that.

And Iraq is very much a part of that, in the sense the key is to change
circumstances in that part of the world that in fact generated those people
who have launched those attacks against the United States. Before 9/11, you
might be able to think about retiring behind our oceans and being safe.
After 9/11, we know that's not possible. We know 19 guys on 9/11 with
box-cutters and airline tickets killed 3,000 Americans.

Iraq is important, just as Pakistan is important and Saudi Arabia and
Afghanistan and all of those countries in that part of the world where
we've seen terrorism blossom as it did in Afghanistan, obviously. We've
gone in aggressively and dealt with it, and that's exactly what we're doing
in Iraq. Iraq was a safe haven for terrorists, it had a guy running it who
had started two wars, who had produced and used weapons of mass
destruction. Taking down Saddam Hussein was exactly the right thing to do.

It's also, I think, in part responsible for the fact that we haven't been
hit again in nearly five years. That's no accident. The fact is, we've
taken the battle to the enemy. That's been the key to the safety and
security of the American people these last few years, and we need to
continue to do it. And we need to make certain that Iraq doesn't become a
failed state, but instead the Iraqi people have an opportunity for
self-government. And that's exactly what we're doing.

Q Mr. Vice President, there seems to be a rush to judgment any time there's
an allegation made against our troops. We have the Haditha incident that is
ongoing right now. We have another incident. We had a father calling -- his
son is a Marine, his son hasn't been charged, his son is in shackles in
Camp Pendleton. We have the comments of John Murtha. Let me play him for
you and get your reaction:

There was no -- there was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these
innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them.
And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.

What are your thoughts when you hear that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm sorry to hear John -- Jack Murtha doing that.
Jack is somebody I know well. We served together in the Congress many years
ago. I think he's prejudging the outcome here. We have not yet seen the
final results of that investigation. The people involved are entitled, I
believe, to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. It's very
important that we not draw conclusions before we've seen the full results
here. These individuals are entitled to be fairly treated, and there's a
uniform code of military justice. And that's the way the matter ought to be
handled.

I guess the other thing that bothers me, Sean, is that I hope people don't
lose sight of the enormous talent and dedication and patriotism and skill
of all our men and women out there in uniform. The danger here is sometimes
that the mainstream media will take something like this and it becomes sort
of the be-all and end-all of their coverage for a while, and creates the
impression that somehow we've got a lot folks out there doing evil things,
and that's just not the case. We've got thousands, hundreds of thousands of
brave young Americans who are out there defending the country with their
lives, and they deserve the support of all of us. And it's certainly not
fair in any respect to suggest that somehow we've got a significant number
of issues there where people are violating the law. There will be justice
administered in this case, as it should be, and that's the way it needs to
be.

Q They deserve the presumption of innocence.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: They deserve the presumption of innocence, and I think
it's also important for people to recognize this is the United States
Marine Corps. This is one of the finest organizations in the history of the
United States of America. They do have good, solid procedures for dealing
with these kinds of issues, and I'm sure that's exactly what they'll do.

Q Mr. Vice President, I guess the most dangerous and volatile situation
that is emerging on the world front is the issue of Iran and nuclear
weapons. Ahmadinejad has pledged to annihilate Israel, wipe it off the face
of the earth. They've not been cooperative with the IAEA. We see the
possibility of talks emerging. How do you prevent Iran from getting nuclear
weapons? And is there a possibility it may take military action?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, the effort that's underway right now is to
persuade the Iranians that they don't need the capability to enrich
uranium, that they should not pursue nuclear weapons. That's being done
diplomatically, and hopefully it will produce the desired result.

The President has made it very clear, though, that no option is off the
table, that, in fact, the important thing here is that we reach the desired
outcome, and that a nation with the kind of background that the current
government of Iran has, obviously, would be, I think, a source of
instability were they to possess nuclear weapons. Everybody in that part of
the world, and really almost on a global basis, I think, has arrived at the
same consensus, that Iran does not need and should not possess nuclear
weapons.

Q Mr. Vice President, poll numbers have been tough of late, yet the economy
is growing and surging. The revenues of the government have increased
significantly. We've got elections coming up. We've had a huge victory with
Zarqawi. Do you feel the momentum has shifted?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think it has, Sean, but the President and I have the
basic attitude we've got jobs to do, and we're going to do them just as
long as we're here. There are elections this year. That's an important part
of the process. I'm spending a fair amount of time out helping our
candidates, and the President has done some of it.

Q Are you comfortable that the Republicans will win?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think we will. We've got some great candidates. It's
going to be an interesting year, in terms of the issues that are before the
country. I think you're right, that the economy is ticking along in very
good shape. I think we are -- if you look at the track record of the
President and the global war on terror, it is a very significant success.
We've liberated 50 million people. We've shut down the black market nuclear
weapons provider, A.Q. Khan, that provided technology to Libya. We've got
significant progress in that part of the world in many, many respects. We
protected the United States against further attacks from the terrorists. We
can't guarantee there won't be another attack, but the track record, I
think, is remarkable.

Q The last question I have is, the biggest criticism I hear from
conservatives about the President and the Vice President -- the
administration, that's you -- is they're not happy with the proposal on
immigration, and anything that would be any kind of forgiveness or amnesty
for illegal immigrants. In the 40 seconds we have, your response.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we've said we're not for amnesty, either. We
believe we need to do border enforcement -- that's got to be the top
priority -- and beef up our capacity at the border. We've already turned
back about six million people since we got here. We also think we need a
temporary guest worker program that would allow people to come in for jobs
that Americans won't take, and then return again, so we know who's here and
we know what they're doing here. We have not supported amnesty and do not
support amnesty.

Q Mr. Vice President, we always appreciate having you on. Congratulations.
It's been a good run. And last quick question: Do you think you'll be able
to pull some troops out quick?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I wouldn't want to speculate on that, Sean. I
think the key question here is accomplishing the mission, and that's got to
be the test.

Q Vice President Cheney, thanks for being with us.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good to talk to you.

END 3:27 P.M. EDT
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060615-13.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)