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Skriven 2006-08-16 23:33:04 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0608161) for Wed, 2006 Aug 16
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Press Briefing by Tony Snow
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 16, 2006

Press Briefing by Tony Snow
White House Conference Center Briefing Room

Press Briefing view


11:11 A.M. EDT

MR. SNOW: A number of things to do here at the top. First, the President's
day. Let's see, he's just concluded a policy time. He is going to be going
to York, Pennsylvania, for a tour of a Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations
facility. There will be a roundtable with employees on the economy, an
interview with USA Today, a statement to the press pool. He will attend a
Lynn Swann for Governor reception -- that will be expanded pool -- and
arrive back at the White House at about 7:20 p.m. this evening.

In addition, you probably know that United Airlines Flight 923 was diverted
on its way back to Washington-Dulles from London's Heathrow. It landed in
Boston. Apparently, there was a determination made by senior cabin crew and
pilots about an unruly passenger, but the flight landed without incident.
The Department of Homeland Security will have further developments as
people continue to assess the situation.

The President today granted pardons to 17 individuals, none of whom are
still serving time, but these are largely for people who have served their
time and this helps expunge their records.

Also, the President is going to welcome Roh Moo-hyun of the Republic of
Korea to the White House on September 14th. The alliance between the United
States and the Republic of Korea is deeply rooted in common values and
common interests. Together the two countries have stood against common
threats and worked for the promotion of democracy, free markets, and
universal human rights. President Bush looks forward to reviewing with
President Roh progress and relations since their last bilateral meeting, on
issues including our free trade agreement, negotiations in the six-party
talks. The two leaders also will discuss critical regional and global
issues, including winning the war on terror, stopping the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, and promoting an open international economic
order.

There have been a number of allegations in the last few days by Democrats
-- and I'll just read you one from Senator Harry Reid yesterday. "Five
years after 9/11, al Qaeda has morphed into a global franchise operation.
Terror attacks have increased sharply across the world, and the President
has shut down the program designed to catch Osama bin Laden." This has
become a fairly common refrain, so I thought I would take a couple of
minutes to knock it down.

It's flatly untrue. Now, what has happened is that the CIA, in response to
exactly what Senator Reid was talking about, a more diffuse al Qaeda, has,
in fact, reshaped its unit dealing with al Qaeda to reflect that diffuse
threat. But the notion that the President has shut down a program designed
to catch Osama bin Laden is utterly without foundation. It was a
reorganization, not a reduction, in effort and commitment.

The CIA's efforts to locate bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda figures has
not been downgraded. To the contrary, it remains fully committed to
locating bin Laden and his collaborators, and is devoting more resources,
not less, toward the effort. The decision to reorganize, as I said,
reflected changes in al Qaeda. And it's important to note that the effort
to capture bin Laden is continuing unabated, and that the CIA's most
experienced personnel working this issue remain fully engaged in the fight.

Some of the people making the allegations about the bin Laden unit know
perfectly well what the facts are, and you do, too.

One other note: A number of newspapers today had -- or a couple, The New
York Times and L.A. Times -- had pieces about the President's meeting the
other day with Iraq scholars. Just a couple of nits to pick with the Times
piece -- and I have spoken with the notetaker in the meeting, I was in the
meeting, I've talked to others in the meeting and I've talked to all four
scholars today, and all, to a person, take exception to a verb or
variations of that verb that appear a number of times at the top of the
piece, which is that the President is "frustrated." He's "frustrated" that
the new Iraqi government and the Iraqi people have not shown greater
support for the American mission. All the participants said that that did
not reflect the meeting they attended.

"A sense of frustration on the lack of progress on the bigger picture of
Iraq, generally" -- again, all of those in attendance said that that did
not reflect their characterization. And a paragraph that said, "The
President expressed frustration that Iraqis have not come to appreciate the
sacrifices the United States has made in Iraq and was puzzled as to how a
recent anti-American rally in support of Hezbollah in Baghdad could draw
such a large crowd." That was unanimously rejected, as well.

Now, as I've said in the past, we tend not to go into detail about what
these conversations -- what the people discuss, and I will continue to do
that. Obviously, they're free to discuss what they had. But there were two
pieces, and one I think did more -- at least reflect in accordance with my
notes -- and I tried to be careful about this and tried not to ask leading
questions, but I did talk to the four scholars and four others who were
involved in the meeting, and all shared the same reflections, and their
notes reflected these same points of view.

And with that, let's go. Jennifer.

Q Thanks, Tony. Is the White House or the President frustrated that the
Lebanese government is not requiring Hezbollah to move their arms out of
the south?

MR. SNOW: Well, no. I would hesitate to leap to conclusions about what the
Lebanese government is and isn't doing. Prime Minister Siniora will be, in
fact, delivering a speech I think tonight on the topic. And you've got to
understand that right now you've got a new situation; the Lebanese armed
forces are still preparing to begin to move south and it is going to be
their job eventually to make sure that Hezbollah is disarmed and is no
longer functioning as an independent militia. And we expect that to happen,
but it's going to take some time.

You've seen all the stories about people simply -- right now trying to
assemble the UNIFIL force. And that will take time, not merely because
nations have to make contributions, but specific kinds -- task-specific
delegations of troops. For instance, some are going to be doing customs,
some are going to be doing mine removal, some are going to be doing
operations in support of the armed forces and so on.

It requires a bit of time to get all those pieces put together. But it's
important to realize that the Lebanese government will be in charge if
disarming Hezbollah, and we expect that to happen. The Lebanese, with U.N.
help, will be working on the border. As I said, that's a customs function.
And the business of reconstruction also has to take place. And that is
going to be the primary focus of what the Prime Minister has to say to the
country -- at least according to our understanding.

Q You said you expect that to happen, you expect the Lebanese government to
disarm Hezbollah. But do you feel confident, does the White House feel
confident that there's the will within the government to do that?

MR. SNOW: I don't want to get too much into conversations we've had, but
the general answer is, yes, that the Lebanese government understands the
importance of making sure that you don't have what amounts to a de facto
competitor in the form of Hezbollah operating independently.

I think one of the things to note is that for the last 30 years, there has
been little or no Lebanese armed forces presence in southern Lebanon. It's
been either Israelis or Hezbollah. And it's going to take time for the
forces, once again, to be able to move there and to get the lay of the land
and be able to operate effectively. And that's one of the reasons why also
we deem it necessary and appropriate to have UNIFIL forces assisting.

Bill.

Q Judging by reports today and yesterday, Hezbollah has already moved in on
the reconstruction front, and moved in, apparently, with the backing of a
great deal of Iranian money. And what their intention is, according to one
story -- and this is a quote from one of their leaders -- "to complete the
victory." Now, they were very good at delivering social services before the
fighting began. Presumably they intend to do it since. How do you manifest
the presence of the Lebanese government under those circumstances?

MR. SNOW: Well, it's pretty easy, actually. In terms of completing the
victory, again, if you take a look at things that have come out in terms of
the public reaction to Hezbollah, it has -- I think victory is going to be,
at the very best, a highly contentious term. You've got Hezbollah that
willingly placed at risk civilians, their homes and other things. And so
they come in, they invite billions of dollars of destruction into Lebanon
knowingly, and now they're saying, oh, we'll give you a little tiny,
itty-bitty, fractional, tiny sliver of that money back in terms of cash
payments. I'm sure the people will accept the cash, but they're probably
not all going to be all that deluded about the nature of the people who are
delivering it.

Meanwhile, it's also worth noting Hezbollah is apparently getting $150
million, $200 million from Iraq. Right now, the U.S. and the international
community --

Q Iran.

MR. SNOW: I'm sorry, Iran, thank you. The U.S. and the international
community already have pledges of $425 million and more to come. The United
States is going to have -- is going to participate in a humanitarian donors
conference on August 31st. There's also considerable talk about
reconstruction. The fact is, it's important to get Lebanon reconstructed.
And if I were Hezbollah, I'd do the same thing. If I had just caused the
wholesale destruction of portions of a country, I think I'd try to improve
my public standing, too, and spread around a little money, and that's
exactly what they're doing.

Q But you're talking about timing here. This is like getting the streets
plowed in Chicago after the snow falls. This is delivery of services. And
they're going to be in there -- apparently, they are already -- while we're
talking about donor conferences.

MR. SNOW: Well, actually, no, the United States has contributed $30 million
so far, and $24 million of it is already in place. It's there. We got 24
million bucks that are on the ground immediately. And I think what you're
-- the donor conferences are in addition to the $425 million that's already
being pledged and distributed. Again --

Q Can you get the stuff on the ground?

MR. SNOW: Yes. I mean I've just told you, the United States out of its
opening contribution -- by the way, Secretary Rice, I think it was in --
well, it was in an op-ed piece today, announced that there are going to be
an additional $20 million, and that's just the beginning of humanitarian
assistance. But, yes. But again, the longer-term question, Bill, is not the
race to -- Hezbollah can spread around money, but it is not going to be
able to delude people into the fact that they were firing rockets out of
homes and they were placing people at risk. This is one of these questions
that you sit back and see how things shake out, and see whether Hezbollah
is embraced as an organization that reflected Lebanese needs, or Iranian
orders.

Q Can you tell us how the President was notified about the airline
incident? And was there an air marshal on board? And when he talks about
vigilance, apparently some of the other passengers tried to get involved to
try to quiet the situation -- is that the sort of thing the President would
want people to do?

MR. SNOW: Well, I honestly don't know when the President was notified
because I was getting ready for this briefing, and this news has just gone
down in the last hour. The best thing to do is what I did before --
Homeland Security is going to have details on this, and I'd refer to them.

The important thing -- we've always talked about the importance of
vigilance. When you had the shoe bomber incident, as a matter of fact, it
was passengers who played an important role. Apparently, you had an
agitated passenger. We'll find out who this person was, what he or she may
have been trying to do. But I don't want to get too far ahead of the facts.
The facts, at least as I have them, are still pretty sketchy. There have
been reports, but I think our people are really trying to confirm
everything. Later in the day, they'll probably have a lot more detail
available for you.

Brett.

Q On homeland security, after the thwarted terror plot last week, there's a
growing chorus of top Democrats specifically criticizing the administration
for skimping on technology designed to detect explosives at airports five
years after 9/11. What's the administration's response?

MR. SNOW: It's simply not true. The administration has devoted considerable
resources. It's interesting that every time we have a success, Democrats
come out and complain. Now, I don't quite understand that, unless they're
seeking desperately some political advantage out of a success story. What
they ought to be doing is saying, good, let's continue to work together to
make it better. And I think that's an important tone to strike. But I'm
kind of at odds and ends to try to figure out why we have a lot of
second-guessing going on. It seems to me -- just as I was pointing out
earlier, with these allegations about the bin Laden unit, a lot of people
who are making these comments know exactly what the facts are. And I
understand that it's a political year, and we get accused of politicizing
when stuff like this is thrown our way. What I would suggest is that those
who are interested, please come up with a credible, specific proposal upon
which people can act. We are all for doing everything we can to make the
homeland more secure. And I think all Americans would appreciate that.

Helen.

Q Is there a civil war going on in Iraq? And is the President frustrated
with the lack of American public support for Iraq?

MR. SNOW: No, number one, there is not a civil war going on. I was on the
phone earlier today with Major General Caldwell in Baghdad --

Q One hundred people a day?

MR. SNOW: He understands. And the other thing that's happening is that
there has been -- there has been some improvement at least in the situation
on the ground, slightly. Yes, you have a number of sectarian violence
operations going on, but you've also seen now in targeted neighborhoods in
Baghdad, there has been a notable decrease in violence in three of the
neighborhoods that have been targeted in the last week, and that's
obviously a promising sign; that's not a victory lap.

Prime Minister Maliki today went outside the Green Zone to talk about Iraqi
forces -- to talk to Iraqi forces, not only to thank them for their
efforts, but to encourage them. And it's significant to note that the one
thing he said was that Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Sunni, Shia and Turkmen
should be united with each other to form a country united to defeat
terrorism. And I think what you saw there, at least according to General
Caldwell, was a very passionate speech delivered by the elected head of
Iraq.

Everybody knows that sectarian violence is a problem, and that extremists,
especially in the Sunni and Shia camps, are doing everything they can to
disrupt it. And we're keenly aware of that. For those who argue that the
administration does not react, as a matter of fact, there is constant
adjustment in terms of strategy and tactics to meet that challenge, because
it's a very real challenge. And it's one that Prime Minister Maliki is
working with our forces in the field to try to deal with, because he has
to. And we know that, we understand it. We also understand that those who
want Iraq to fail as a democracy will do everything they can, they're going
to do everything in their power. And what we have to do is to demonstrate
the determination and commitment to see it through.

As the President has said -- the President knows the capability of our
forces, and he knows the decency of the American people, and he knows that
people do not want us to walk away from something this important. As far as
public opinion polls, I've addressed it many times. He's aware of polls,
but he's also more keenly aware of his constitutional obligations, and he
takes that first, and if it means taking a PR hit --

Q He doesn't think he needs the support of the American people on the Iraqi
endeavor?

MR. SNOW: I think what's going to happen, as people learn more and more --
as you saw just last week, there was an 11-point pivot just on the basis of
the fact that things that people had not seen in terms of behind-the-scenes
operations to thwart terror, suddenly said, oh, boy, we do have something
-- boom, 11-point jump. I think as people begin to see more --

Q I'm talking about Iraq.

MR. SNOW: Well, as people begin to see more of what's going on -- and Major
General Caldwell is doing detailed briefings -- and one of these days maybe
will bring some of the slides and things that he has -- giving you a better
sense from ground level what's going on. I don't think -- I think the
American people see headlines, they hear about these appalling acts of
violence, and they are rightly concerned. What they don't see are the
operations ongoing, the apprehensions of terrorists, the seizure of weapons
caches, all of which are going on on a daily basis.

Q Is everybody a terrorist who opposes our presence in Iraq?

MR. SNOW: No, but somebody is a terrorist who kills innocent civilians to
try to make a political point.

Jennifer.

Q The First Lady is making three campaign stops today. Why is the --

MR. SNOW: Is Holland interrupting you?

Q It's okay when he interrupts. He's allowed.

MR. SNOW: Okay, go ahead.

Q Why is Mrs. Bush campaigning more this year than ever before?

MR. SNOW: I think, number one, she understands how important these midterms
are. And she likes doing it. I think she's become very comfortable going
out, delivering speeches. And she believes firmly in what her husband is
trying to do as President, and she's offering whatever support she can.

Q Is she more effective at delivering certain messages than the President,
in his view?

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I don't think I'm the one to say, sir, is your wife
better at delivering a message than you? Maybe you could do that, but I'm
not going to do it. (Laughter.)

Q But certainly the President's advisors have a view on where she's
effective -- she's going to different states than the President goes to.
What's the strategy behind her --

MR. SNOW: It's interesting, because when we do scheduling meetings, we just
do presidential scheduling meetings. And so there may be, at some level,
people talking about parsing these. I honestly don't know and I'll try to
find out. But I am not aware that it really is that kind of
mission-specific. And a lot of times you've got differing requests. As you
know, the Vice President is also giving more speeches than he tends to
give. I'm not getting a lot of Vice President questions. But the fact is,
this is a very important midterm and you're going to have key members of
this administration out, speaking, trying to talk about the President's
message and his record, and trying also to support Republican candidates in
the House and Senate.

Q Do you think the First Lady is essential to a Republican victory?

MR. SNOW: I don't know, but I think she's certainly helpful.

Steve.

Q If the President is not frustrated by the situation in Iraq, what is he?

MR. SNOW: Determined.

Q Is he -- does he feel like the Maliki government is doing an effective
job?

MR. SNOW: He feels like the Maliki government -- look, you've got a
government that is brand new. As I told you, today you had the Prime
Minister going outside the Green Zone, addressing forces, Iraqi forces in
Baghdad neighborhoods. This is a guy who has a series of challenges before
him with his government, and the President is impressed not only by his
determination to get the job done, but the fact is that he is working
aggressively to do these things. We don't expect him to be an overnight
success in dealing with all these problems; nobody can be. But the
President certainly supports Prime Minister Maliki.

And the frustration angle is just one that just doesn't -- when you're
facing a situation, you don't sit around and get frustrated. You figure out
how to get the job done. And I've said it many times, and I'll say it
because it's true: The President is somebody who's intensely practical
about these things, and not somebody who sits around and goes, "Nnnnyoo!"
-- I can't wait to see you how you transcribe that. (Laughter.)

Q Do that again.

Q Who is one of those people?

Q Rove. Rove does that.

Q Yes, he does do that. (Laughter.)

Q Are there such people? (Laughter.)

Q Tony, on the United Airlines flight, you said it's an unruly passenger.
Anything at all to suggest terrorism?

MR. SNOW: I don't want to -- like I said, I don't want to run ahead of
facts. DHS I know is accumulating that stuff. I'd much rather hand it off
to them because, obviously, as we were all heading over here, they were
still off-loading passengers from the plane, so I have a feeling they're
going to do some interviews and take a look at stuff. A couple, three hours
we ought to have just a much better picture.

Q Was he an unruly, posed a threat -- I mean, was he a threat, or just
unruly?

MR. SNOW: I think it was a she.

Q And can I ask another one, about what Bill was asking about earlier, with
Hezbollah? You said we have to kind of see where things shake out, but
wouldn't you concede that time is really of the essence, that as people are
going back and looking for help, that's an opportunity for Hezbollah to
reassert itself?

MR. SNOW: I think Hezbollah is going to do everything it can to try to
mount a PR offensive, because people in Lebanon know what the deal is and
what Hezbollah is going to try to say is, okay, well, we've stopped being
terrorists now, we're going to be humanitarians. It's important for
everybody to be humanitarians; it's also important for Hezbollah to stop
acting as a terrorist organization, taking orders not from the Lebanese
people, but from people in Tehran, and to step up and take a political
path.

Look, if Hezbollah decides to be peaceful, political, tries -- disarms,
goes in and abides by U.N. Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701,
that's great. That's good news, that's not bad news. That is something
devoutly to be wished. But it is going to be up to Hezbollah to take those
steps. And if it doesn't, then the business of disarming is going to have
to proceed.

Jim.

Q On the same question, what we've been hearing from the administration
from the start was that whatever solution came to pass had to address the
root cause of the problem. Pushing Hezbollah back -- a lot of us took it to
mean disarming. I'd have to parse the language, but --

MR. SNOW: No, disarming is part of the deal.

Q So in terms of that, is it possible that the solution that we now have
will not bring that to pass? And then, the second part of that question is
that the logic of what you're saying is one thing, but is the U.S. doing
much to tell the Lebanese people its view of the conflict and Hezbollah's
role in the conflict?

MR. SNOW: I think we've been awfully clear about it, and I dare say a lot
of people in Lebanon share that point of view. In terms of is this
particular formulation or group of forces going to be successful in
disarming, we hope so. I don't have the crystal ball, but that is what this
is designed to do, is to place on the ground forces that will be credible.

Again, there are also going to be pressures on Hezbollah. There are
pressures being brought to bear on Syria and Iran, and I think it's safe to
say that Hezbollah also is being offered a choice here, which is to take a
peaceful path, or to try to rearm. One of the other challenges, as you
know, is trying to secure the border with Syria to make sure that armed
shipments can't get through, and also to take a look at the ports. So all
these are pieces of the equation. One of the big wild cards here is how
Hezbollah and how its present and I hope soon to be previous masters
respond to this. And as the situation changes, you may have to adjust.

Q But the picture out of Lebanon right now, and it's a picture that's three
days out, okay, but it's certainly, Hezbollah declared victory, they're
rebuilding, they seem to have popular support. It's not a picture that one
may have expected to see at the start of the conflict. Is the
administration confident that it will still get the end result it wanted?

MR. SNOW: The end result we want is a peaceful, democratic Lebanon. I mean,
again, if you have Hezbollah turning peaceful and everybody loves it,
that's fine. As long as Hezbollah decides to be democratic. But the point
is it's been a terror organization. Hezbollah suckered a lot of people,
including journalistic organizations in this room, because it ended up
being able to stage photographs. Remember Anderson Cooper getting up there
saying, every single thing we go to is getting staged here. You've had news
organizations having to pull photographs because they were bogus. They have
done a masterful PR campaign, no doubt about it. The question is --

Q Will the U.S. do a masterful --

MR. SNOW: What we're going to try to do is simply demonstrate our goodwill
by pushing for humanitarian and reconstruction aid, and also continuing the
diplomatic work of making sure that there is a prospect -- every possible
prospect, and one that we are determined to see succeed, of the democracy
in Lebanon standing up and being able to assert a full sovereignty
throughout the Lebanese countryside.

And again, the Lebanese armed forces have not been a presence in that part
of Lebanon for a long time. It's going to take some time to make that
transition. Hezbollah, good, bad, or indifferent, is a much more familiar
presence in that area right now. But the familiarity, in some cases, I
think, I dare say, will also bring contempt, and has.

Q Tony, Secretary Rice gave an interview this morning where she said that
the U.N. troops going in would not have the job of disarming Hezbollah,
that would be left to largely a political process with the Lebanese
government. I want to be clear: Do you folks envision that anyone has the
job of physically taking arms away from Hezbollah fighters, whether that's
the Lebanese army --

MR. SNOW: We're going to have to see if it comes to that. I mean, again,
we're hoping that the political process works. If it has to come to that,
one presumes it will. But I don't want to prejudge.

Q What is the political process. The Lebanese government sitting down with
Hezbollah and saying --

MR. SNOW: No, part of it is the Lebanese government

-- again, you're going to have 15,000 UNIFIL troops, as well -- going to be
moving 30,000 or so troops into that part of the country. That's a pretty
significant presence. And it is going to be the job of those forces to
either reason with, or deal with Hezbollah on the arms front.

The other thing is, at this point, even though Hezbollah is running around
saying, we won, we won, you and I don't know what those bunkers look like;
you and I don't know what the arms caches look like; you and I don't know
what the Katyusha rocket sites look like; you and I don't know how many
Zelzals are still there. We simply don't know. So Hezbollah dealing with a
total vacuum of information is doing what it has done before, which is
playing a good PR game. The important thing is to have effective forces on
the ground to persuade it to play not a game of peace, but actually pursue
peace.

Q You actually raise a good point: Does the United States have an
assessment of how well-armed Hezbollah remains? I don't think they've fired
--

MR. SNOW: I think we are -- well, they fired at least one. You know what,
that's an intelligence question I don't feel comfortable trying to address
from here.

Q Is there much discussion of trying to strengthen the Lebanese government
in various ways, militarily or --

MR. SNOW: There is already -- we're already supplementing the Lebanese
armed forces, and we'll continue to do so. And, yes, absolutely. I talked
to Secretary Rice earlier today, and she stressed that the $50 million is
the beginning of a long-term and serious commitment to the government of
Lebanon. I don't know what will be announced when, but the fact is,
absolutely, we're committed to the success of the government.

Q How much --

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I honestly don't know.

Q Can I follow up on that?

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q There seems to be a Catch-22, though, that while the Lebanese government
we're trying to elevate is busy fixing roads and bridges in the country,
they don't have the kind of walk-around money for social services that
Hezbollah has down in the south.

MR. SNOW: Well, I just told you, we're talking already of commitments that
are double what Hezbollah has. And one --

Q I'm talking about services --

MR. SNOW: No, no, no, I'm talking about international commitments. The
Saudis have made commitments, the Iraqis have made commitments, we've made
commitments, strictly on the humanitarian side. There is a separate pot of
money that is also being discussed for reconstruction. That is going to be
the topic of the August 31st meeting. So, yes, there are humanitarian
commitments. But, again, Hezbollah can spread out all the walking-around
money it wants, but people also remember who is putting rockets in their
living rooms.

Richard.

Q What's the White House's reaction to the offer by Jesse Jackson to go
over there and try to get involved and negotiate a prisoner exchange?

MR. SNOW: Sometimes a picture says a thousands words.

Q Tony, talking on terrorism, celebrating India's 60th independence
anniversary, the President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, he said that as far
as terrorism is concerned, to eradicate it from society, a global unity
needed, and terrorists don't go without any planning and --

MR. SNOW: Okay, but what's the question?

Q My question, also in London, Muslim experts are saying that the reason
for all these terrorists are they are being misled by the older mullahs in
the mosques, and educated -- same thing goes here in the U.S. as far as
those mosques are concerned.

MR. SNOW: Okay, just -- Goyal, thank you. Look, the war on terror takes
many forms. There is propaganda, there is education, or the attempt to
steer people. And you're right, a number of mosques around the world have
served as places of incitement. But in the end, it is our confidence that
not only the battle of ideas -- and it's very important to wage that battle
of ideas, and we will do it, and we intend to do it -- but also the battle
of results. To have a democracy that allows people to have sovereignty over
their lives is something that we think is so powerful, and that the
yearning for freedom is so natural, that that is going to send a powerful
signal throughout the region. People are going to want more of it. And
that's why the President is determined to stay the course.

April.

Q Back on Hezbollah and Lebanon and Israel. Is there concern by this
administration that France and some other international countries are slow
in responding to putting an international force together for the U.N.?

MR. SNOW: No, as a matter of fact, the French, Italian, and Turkish
governments are meeting today in Lebanon -- the foreign ministers --
talking about these issues with the government of Lebanon today.

Q But France is supposed to lead and they're not really happy about it, and
they've got to go -- they're supposed to announce it tomorrow, but still
they're not coming out and saying, we're going to do this --

MR. SNOW: No, friendship -- you're probably less high on your call list
than the Prime Minister of Lebanon. And so what's -- (laughter.) So what's
going on here is that, again, there are active and ongoing discussions, but
as I've mentioned at the outset, this is not simply, give me 5,000 guys
with boots on. I mean, you got to have people who have distinct chores and
distinct tasks. And that does take a little time to sort out. It's going to
take time to get the force fully deployed. But the French have --

Q The French are out, but they're dragging their feet --

MR. SNOW: I'm not sure that's the case. I wouldn't share your
characterization. You've got me up here defending the French. It's global
news. (Laughter.)

Q Back on Richard's issue with Jesse Jackson, does the administration not
want Jackson to get involved because it could cause problems?

MR. SNOW: No, the United States has duly appointed and delegated and
congressionally confirmed diplomats. They're the proper people to handle
this work.

Q Tony, there's a reassessment now by the Olmert government in regard to
their situation in the region after the cease-fire. The Defense Minister
yesterday said that there would be a rethinking in trying to create a
Syrian track to try and resolve some of the problems with Syria. Some
people are talking about the possibility of a regional solution -- and
things like that, in which all the relations of Israel, with their Arab
neighbors, can be at least put on the track to a resolution. Would the U.S.
also be in favor of this kind of solution? Would that affect the U.S.
relationship with Syria? Are we prepared to try and bring them into the
planning --

MR. SNOW: It's up to Syria to demonstrate goodwill. We've got a charg
there, for the bazillionth time. They've got an ambassador here. And we
have always talked -- I've tried to frame this over and over as something
that requires a comprehensive look, because to look at Lebanon in isolation
is to fail to see what happened with Hamas and the Palestinian areas, where
it appeared that Prime Minister Olmert, working with President Abbas, was
getting close to trying to work out a deal not only on a prisoner release,
but moving toward having a two-state solution in the area. All of that
important for -- if you have stable democracies in Lebanon and in the
Palestinian areas, it simply is going to make it a lot easier for Israel to
build closer ties throughout the region.

So I think it's perfectly natural to support a regional solution, but you
have to address, again, root causes. And Syria right now is a big part of
that problem, and Syria does have to go ahead -- if it wants to be part of
the discussions, it has to demonstrate that it's willing to be part of the
solution.

Q Tony, I wonder if you found any examples of other Republican Presidents
not endorsing Republican candidates?

MR. SNOW: We've got to pull that out. We pulled it yesterday. I'll get it
for you.*

Q Thank you.

Q Beginning in April, Tony, there was talk that the President would meet
with the Big Three automakers about some of their concerns -- legacy costs,
health care costs, currency manipulation. I'm wondering, with the
President's emphasis on the economy and what's ahead in the next year, is
that meeting back on the schedule?

MR. SNOW: It's not yet back on the schedule. This has been the event that
-- this has been the most benighted event I've ever seen in my life,
because it's ended up getting swamped by events on a number of occasions.
In one case, one of the participants prematurely announced something that
hadn't fully been put in place. But, yes, it's not on the schedule, but
it's something we intend to go forward with.

Q So we should expect it in the next couple of months?

MR. SNOW: I have no earthly idea. I really don't.

Q So it's a scheduling conflict issue, it's not that the President --

MR. SNOW: The President is not snubbing the Big Three, they're an important
part of the American economy.

Q Next month the South Korean President is here. Do you know what the
status of his visit? Is it a state visit or a business visit?

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I'll find out. I honestly don't know. All I did is
I gave you the readout today. We've had our official announcement. Fred, do
we know if it's a state visit, as opposed to an official visit?

MR. JONES: We'll have to find out.

MR. SNOW: We'll have to find out.

Q So if Hezbollah disarms and turns peaceful, the United States will lift
its designation of them as a terrorist organization and recognize it as a
legitimate political entity?

MR. SNOW: Let's wait and see what happens. I mean, good consequences tend
to flow from good actions. We've always said that. When we've talked about
the Iranians and the nuclear issue, we've said, there's a way forward. In
dealing with the North Koreans, we've said, you come to the table there are
going to be good consequences. So good behavior also ought to be rewarded.
But I'm not going to try to answer hypotheticals, beyond giving you a very
hypothetical formulation.

John.

Q Are you commenting on Iran's international holocaust cartoon contest?

MR. SNOW: No, and I -- no, I'm not.

Q Thank you.

MR. SNOW: All right, thank you.

END 11:45 A.M. EDT

* Some examples: In 1970, President Nixon took a neutral position in the US
Senate race between Sen. Charles E. Goodell (R-NY) and challengers Rep.
Richard Ottinger (D-NY) and James L. Buckley. In 1980, Republican officials
refused support for Rep. William Ford's (D-MI) Republican opponent Gerald
R. Carlson. In 1981, President Reagan promised not to campaign in the home
districts of Democrats who voted for his tax cuts. One year later, the
White House produced a list of 20 Democrats who the President and Vice
President would not campaign against that cycle. In 1990, Democratic
National Committee Chairman Ron Brown denounced Rep. Gus Savage (D-IL) and
pledged to not fund his reelection campaign. In 1991, President George H.W.
Bush refused to endorse Louisiana Gubernatorial candidate David Duke.
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