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Skriven 2006-12-12 23:31:16 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0612125) for Tue, 2006 Dec 12
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Press Briefing by Tony Snow
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 12, 2006

Press Briefing by Tony Snow
White House Conference Center Briefing Room

Press Briefing view


12:40 P.M. EST

MR. SNOW: All right, just a couple of opening comments, and I'll be happy
to take your questions. As you know, earlier today, the President began the
day by having breakfast with Bob Gates, who will be sworn in next Monday as
the Secretary of Defense. He also -- well, now you know it. And there was a
secure video teleconference with the combatant commanders, and I think Dana
read out the participants earlier.

The President has, as you know, been engaged in a series of conversations
and consultations with people on Iraq policy. He is moving toward a
decision on how to move forward and, in the process, has been pushing a lot
of people on the diplomatic side, and also military, security, and economic
side, to come back with answers to some very specific and practical
questions. I know a lot of you have been curious about when he would be
announcing or talking about the way forward. That is not going to happen
until the new year. We do not know when, so I can't give you a date, I
can't give you a time, I can't give you a place, I can't give you a way in
which it will happen. So all those questions are yet to be answered.

But the most important thing is that the President continues to be engaged
in the business of talking about the way forward. He's got some very --
he's assigned some tasks to people to work on and he's got some very clear,
practical, tactical and other questions, so certainly the process and
consultations will continue. And people are going to be working very hard
between now and the time that the President has formulated the policy and
is prepared to share his thoughts with the public and the world.

Q Did the military leaders encourage him to just take a little bit more
time?

MR. SNOW: No, no, no. The President is the Commander-in-Chief; he issues
orders. He decided, frankly, that it's not ready yet.

Q When did he decide that?

MR. SNOW: Well, he let us know today. So I don't know exactly when he
decided, but he made that clear today. I don't know --

Q Do you suspect it will be before the State of the Union?

MR. SNOW: I'm loathe to suspect. Obviously, this is something that he
places a premium on getting done quickly, but also getting done well. And
as I've said before, the job has got to be done right. This is not one
where you have an expiration date, and if your homework is complete or not,
you turn it in. He wants everybody to complete it.

Q But is there an urgency here? We've talked about this urgency before.

MR. SNOW: Well, the urgency -- as I said, there's urgency, but not panic.
And I don't want to tell you it's not going to happen before State of the
Union. I just don't want to lock in -- I don't want people to have
expectations on a specific date because we don't have it for you yet.

Q Is it definitely going to be in January?

MR. SNOW: Well, as far as we know. Again, when we have a date for you,
we'll let you know.

Q Could we talk about his video teleconference with the commanders today
and with Secretary Gates?

MR. SNOW: And Secretary Rumsfeld, yes.

Q Was this specifically on a way forward, or was this just updating here?
Were these ideas of these commanders who have been there for so long --

MR. SNOW: They're a combination of things --

Q Hang on -- these commanders who have been here for so long updating him,
or saying, we believe this should happen and that should happen?

MR. SNOW: Neither. It was -- well, there was a combination of things.
Number one, there's a readout on people's assessment of the situation. And
number two, there were discussions of possible options and ways forward,
and there was vigorous discussion about that and the President did ask
people to look into some things. But beyond that, I won't get into any
finer level of detail.

Q You were there, Tony, right?

MR. SNOW: I was there.

Q Was there anything new?

MR. SNOW: Again, I'm not going to characterize. I'll let the President make
announcements when he sees fit.

Q Can I also say, did you bring up in any way, or did the President bring
up in any way one of the points that the Baker-Hamilton report made, which
was that there was under-reporting of attacks in Iraq?

MR. SNOW: Again, I'm not going to -- because once I get into the business
of answering things that were brought up, then I open up the floodgates for
answering others. I'm not going to answer it.

Q Is a shakeup of the national security team under review?

MR. SNOW: As I said, I'm not going to talk about anything that may or may
not have been discussed, and, furthermore, all deliberations -- and I don't
want you to interpret by that, ah-ha, there's a shakeup. I don't want you
to interpret it either way, other than as a principled stonewalling.
(Laughter.)

Q You can't comment on the report in the Post at all?

MR. SNOW: I'm not going to comment on the report.

Q Did any new names come up? Was there any talk of rotating people?

MR. SNOW: As I said, I'm not going to talk about the deliberations, other
than the general characterization I've given you. I will say that General
Casey and General Abizaid were part of the briefing.

Q As the President is sort of making his calculations, is he factoring in
sort of what the American people have a stomach for?

MR. SNOW: You know, it's interesting, if you take a look at poll data --
and there's a lot of discussion about that -- what's interesting is that a
majority of the American public not only thinks that we're capable of
winning, but we should. I think that there is understandable apprehension
about the situation in Iraq. And what people want to hear is, how do you
assess the situation and how do you wish to address it? And those are
questions the President is going to answer.

Q Does the President believe there is -- within the American public, that
they would accept sending more troops to Iraq?

MR. SNOW: Again, what you're trying to do under the guise of an opinion
question is to ask me a policy option. Let me put it this way: The
President believes that in putting together a way forward he will be able
to address a lot of the concerns that the American public has, the most
important of which is, what is your plan for winning? The other thing is
that there is an opportunity here, also, for Democrats and Republicans to
work together; whatever the discontent may be with the President, the level
of confidence in Congress is even lower. And what you have is a sense of
crisis of confidence in government. And this is an opportunity for not only
the legislative branch and executive branch to work together, but also --

Q But haven't these --

MR. SNOW: No, but this is an important question, too, because I'm trying to
get at what may be some of the causes for public discontent of late, which
is there is a sense that you have a government that itself has been at war
with itself, rather than working together on important tasks. This is an
opportunity to step forward and work together. And as I've said, when it
comes to the business of, do you want to win, the answer is yes; and, do
you think we can win, the answer is yes. So now what you have -- so you've
got sort of a ground -- it seems to me that you've got a pretty promising
opportunity for support there, and now you need to go ahead and explain how
you're going to achieve those objectives.

Q But he's consulting military folks --

MR. SNOW: That's right.

Q -- and he's consulting diplomats. Is he consulting anyone who is
furnishing an opinion about what the American people have a stomach for?

MR. SNOW: No. No, this is not something where you poll -- when you're in a
time of war, what you do is you take a look at the realities on the ground.
The President understands --

Q -- curious to hear --

MR. SNOW: What, haul in a committee of pollsters?

Q No, not necessarily pollsters, but say, wait a minute, there seems to be
some discontent in the country, talking to lots of folks who aren't
necessarily wearing a uniform --

MR. SNOW: You don't think the President understands that there's
discontent? Of course, he does, and he's referred to it constantly.

Q I didn't say discontent, I asked about a stomach for sending more troops.

MR. SNOW: Well, that's -- number one, the way it's phrased is kind of
loaded, and number two, the fact is --

Q What's loaded about that?

MR. SNOW: Say "the stomach."

Q Yes, that there is an acceptance within the American public to send more
troops.

MR. SNOW: Well, again, I will refer you to the data that may be -- in fact,
I think it's from your own poll.

Q CBS poll?

MR. SNOW: Yes, the CBS News poll. What happens is, there is a fairly -- I
apologize, because I'm going through -- just 32 percent thinks the U.S.
should pull out significant numbers of troops in the next six months, 64
percent believes the U.S. should keep troops there longer. You put that
together with 58 percent say that it's extremely or very important that the
U.S. succeed in Iraq, and 60 percent believe that the U.S. can still win
the war -- that's actually the Gallup Poll, but in any event, the point
here is, when you're dealing with a situation like this, if you want to
build public confidence you explain what's going on and explain how you
intend to go forward. And that's what the President is going to do.

Q Tony, it has been the President's own desire to do a speech prior to
Christmas, right?

MR. SNOW: Right.

Q So this wasn't a staff decision?

MR. SNOW: Right.

Q So some might infer that the delay means he doesn't know what to do.

MR. SNOW: No, well, that would be the wrong inference to draw. You probably
-- as we've said all along, it's a complex business and there are a lot of
things to take into account, and we said we would like, but we didn't make
any promises. So I know that one news network announced last night with
some fanfare that the President was going to ask for TV time next week.
Well, that not only wasn't the truth, it had never been discussed within
the White House. So there has been a creation of expectations that there
would be a date certain.

But the fact is you would expect and desire a Commander-in-Chief, in
looking at a situation, to examine military concerns, security concerns,
diplomatic concerns, internal political concerns within Iraq, regional
ramifications, how you get people to work in concert with one another. It
is enormously complex. And I've also described the way the President thinks
in the past, where, suppose you get a policy together; then his strategy
is, okay -- or his approach is, you have these policies in place; what
happens if, and what happens if. He plays the chess game and he thinks
about how others may move and maneuver. And the key is to figure out how
you put together not only a policy, but also one that has the resources and
the ability to adjust to changing circumstances so that you can pursue
success.

And when you do that, that requires tasking of people to go in and come
back with better answers. And so what the President is doing now is pushing
people to try to provide more input and more information and more insight
about factual questions, strategic and tactical questions. This is not not
knowing what he wants to do; this is out of an absolute determination to do
this right, making sure that he is absolutely convinced that the pieces
have been put together, he's gotten the best advice, he's gotten the best
facts, and that he now has the policy that he thinks will be the best to
move forward.

Q Tony, even you have said, though, that this thing is not just driven by
Baker-Hamilton, that this has been going on -- this reconsideration has
been going on through -- back at Samara.

MR. SNOW: It's been going on for some time, that's right.

Q Right. So something happened here in the last week that he realized that
there was more time needed?

MR. SNOW: No, no -- no, I don't think so. I think what happens is over
time, people begin to sort of whittle away at options and to narrow things
down, and to come up with different points for discussion. And what happens
is, as you narrow in on certain options, then you say, okay, what are
practical considerations we have to take into account? There has been no
inflection point in the last week that has dramatically changed things.

Instead, what there has been is a constant consideration not only of the
facts on the ground, but also trying to think strategically what do you
need to do in very practical terms to move forward. We still have a
strategy in place that deals with the situation. But the President thinks
we need to do better. And so, as he considers the options, he's not going
to get rushed on it, he wants to make sure it's done right -- but on the
other hand, he continues also to push because this is a matter, as I said,
not of panic, but of urgency, because he understands how important it is.
But the most important thing to do is to do it right in a way that is
commensurate with his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief.

Q So just to get this clear, the reason for the delay is, number one, the
complexity of the Iraq issue, and not because the President learned
something in the last week that changed his mind?

MR. SNOW: That is correct. There are also even other considerations that
I've not yet mentioned. For instance, we'll be swearing in a new Secretary
of Defense next Monday. The Secretary of Defense is in the process not only
of getting his arms around what's going on within the Department of Defense
proper -- and now, as you know, Bob Gates did attend today's SVTS, and he
will be shadowing meetings from now until the time he does assume office --
but also he has made it clear that he plans to visit the region and to, as
one of my colleagues put it, kick the tires, to get a sense of what's going
on. All those things are necessary, too, because his input is not only
going to be valuable, but necessary as a man who is going to be responsible
for implementing a large part of this.

That is not the single factor that is influencing this. But again, there
has not been a single development, it's not Baker-Hamilton-driven. It is
simply driven by the fact that as the President moves toward a decision on
this, he still has facts that he wants people to examine. He wants policies
that he wants people to take a look at, and he has assigned tasks to try to
make sure that things are feasible, that everything is lined up in the
proper way, that it meets the conditions of being able to work with the
Iraqis, that we've addressed all of the regional concerns, that he's tried
to take care of every possible consideration and concern before announcing
the way forward.

Q Is it possible that the President does not want to announce the
deployment of thousands of more U.S. troops to Iraq before the holidays?

MR. SNOW: No, it has nothing to do with that. Cynical, but false.

Q Last one, the Mahdi Army and dealing with that. Earlier in the week, you
said -- well, yesterday you said that the story about ousting Maliki --

MR. SNOW: Right.

Q --- and the coalition was wrong.

MR. SNOW: That is correct.

Q However, is it true that there is a coalition that the U.S. is
encouraging to try to get the influence of Maliki -- I'm sorry -- of
Muqtada al Sadr out of the government?

MR. SNOW: What I will tell you is that the Maliki government -- and we
support it -- has talked about the importance of taking on sectarian
violence, whether it be in militias or whether it be insurgent groups. It
has been the long-stated policy of that government that armed forces that
are not part of the Iraqi government were simply inappropriate, and that it
was important either to give them -- to have them make a choice: They can
integrate peacefully into society, or they're going to have to be taken on
in some way, shape or form. But I'm not going to talk about internal stuff.

Q Obviously, there are all these parts coming together on this, and the
President wants to present it as one document. But there are urgent things
happening in Iraq every day. Are there parts of this that could be brought
forward now, should be brought forward now, because of the urgency in Iraq?

MR. SNOW: We continue -- as you know, the combatant commanders have plenty
of flexibility to deal with situations on the ground. And you also have
seen -- I think as I pointed out, there has been a lot of action on the
part of the Iraqi government in recent days. You've had the Prime Minister
doing shakeups at the Ministry of Interior; he's been making announcements
about not only reconciliation, but dealing with sectarian violence; they
have proposed both a hydrocarbon law and laws that have to deal with
investment. So a lot of those things that have been discussed --

Q -- which doesn't really change the security right now, which is the most
urgent situation.

MR. SNOW: What I'm saying is, is that people continue to respond to
urgencies on the ground, and they will do so.

Q But it's "stay the course" until we move forward with his speech?

MR. SNOW: No, it's not stay -- again, we've been through this semantic
dispute many times, but it's worth going through one more time. The
commanders will continue to try to figure out the best ways to respond to
changing situations on the ground, and they will do that not only in
concert with Iraqis, but with each other as -- there are missions that are
still going on and will continue to go on, to address specific issues.

Q But when he releases this, this is what is going to happen, this is what
the country is going to do, this is how the country goes forward. It's
going to eliminate what he doesn't want from the Baker commission; it's
going to be one big thing and say, security-wise, diplomatically,
everything will be --

MR. SNOW: Well, I'm going to let the President announce what he's going to
announce, rather than trying to get into characterizations. I think what
you will have is a pretty comprehensive look at the way forward. And you've
got to keep in mind, the touchstone is not the Baker-Hamilton commission,
it's the situation in Iraq and it's the situation in the region. That is
the touchstone. The Baker-Hamilton commission certainly looked at it, and
the President appreciates their efforts. But it's important for the
President to go ahead and to continue to task people who work for him to
continue asking tough questions and seeking answers that are satisfactory
to him.

Q Just one more, and a follow-up to Jim's.

MR. SNOW: Are you counting, Les? (Laughter.)

Q In talking about this --

Q It's ABC, Les.

Q Yes, and there is an ABC poll, as well, that's not so good for you,
either. But what Jim was talking about, and what people have the stomach
for -- the President has to realize that you have to keep the will of the
people --

MR. SNOW: Correct.

Q -- in time of war, that that matters in war.

MR. SNOW: Of course, he understands that.

Q How do you address that? How does he think about that? This isn't just
what they have the stomach for, this is a reality of war.

MR. SNOW: Yes, it is a reality of war. What's interesting, for instance --
I hate to do this, but let me say a competing network had interviews with
soldiers in the field that they did yesterday, and it's interesting --
you've had the experience -- soldiers are not only highly motivated, but
they feel proud of what they're doing. That voice never seems to pop
through, and I think it's important that people get a sense of that. The
President not only hears --

Q I think people do that all the time, so we're back to the media. I mean,
people interview soldiers all the time, and that's important. I'm talking
about the will of the American people.

MR. SNOW: Well, but the will of the American people, I think, is something
that -- the American people want to know, first, what do the soldiers
actually think? And the other thing they want -- and I've been through this
-- they want to hear what the President has to say about the realities on
the ground and what he wants to see our forces do about it. Those are the
important things. And I think we can judge what happens. Of course, he
understands it.

The other thing I think the President understands is that when you had a
political atmosphere that was as highly charged and, quite often, critical
rather than constructive, that was something that wore on the American
public. And I think the conversations that we have had on a bipartisan
basis have been pretty reassuring, because both Houses of Congress know
that there is -- and both parties understand -- that this is time for the
political class to deliver. And that means to deliver in a way in which you
produce victory in Iraq -- an Iraq that can sustain, govern and defend
itself.

There is, I think, widespread on Capitol Hill, acceptance of that as the
goal. And now there is widespread recognition that is a bipartisan
responsibility. I think if people begin to see Congress and the President
working together on this, I think you're going to see a change of public
opinion.

Q But that doesn't make the war go away, Tony. That's the reality. You just
said what the reality is. The reality is Iraq. The reality isn't bipartisan
getting along.

MR. SNOW: You asked a polling question about public faith. Ultimately,
victory is what will fully restore public faith. As you also know, in any
time of war, there are going to be times when a war is popular and times
when it's deeply unpopular. And every war we've won has also been, at some
point, deeply unpopular. It is now time for the President to go ahead and
share with the American public his thoughts. And I think that they're going
to be powerful, and I think people do want to hear them.

Q Tony, when the President let it be known that before Christmas was his
hope to make some sort of announcement, he knew the situation in Iraq was
complex. He knew all the detailed questions. Is it fair to say, is it fair
to conclude now because the announcement will not be made before Christmas,
that it's more complicated, perhaps, than he initially --

MR. SNOW: No, I don't think so. I think it's sort of facile to try to say,
wow, if it's later there must be some defect on the part of the President.
I think what happens is people have come back with answers and he said, I
want more. And he's not going to move before it's ready. We have also
cautioned a number of times -- I think a lot of this, there's a -- I tried
yesterday to push back on the expectations game because there was a notion,
is it ready? Is it off the shelf? And I said, no, no, no, there's a lot of
hard work to be done. And there still is. So what one, I think, would
expect from a President is a determination to do it right, and that's what
he's insisting upon.

Q And where does this visit this afternoon by the Iraqi Vice President fit
into the picture?

MR. SNOW: Well, again, there's been -- the President has been meeting with
-- he met with Mr. al Hakim last week, he's meeting with Mr. Hashemi today,
he has regular conversations with Prime Minister Maliki. And it is
important to have conversations, especially with those who are showing a
willingness to support the Maliki government by developing a vigorous
center within Iraqi politics that can draw together people across sectarian
and geographic lines, because, ultimately, that's going to be vitally
important.

As we've said all along, the United States has a role to play, but,
ultimately, the Iraqis are the ones who are going to have to create this
government that will sustain itself, and they are the ones who are going to
have to do a lot of heavy lifting, not only militarily, but politically and
economically. And it's very important to get a measure of the people who
are involved and to get their honest insights and their assessment of
what's going on.

Q Tony, briefly, on Gates and his desire to kick the tires -- does the
President want that to happen before he announces something, or is --

MR. SNOW: Yes, I think -- yes. I mean, I think he certainly wants -- he
wants to be comfortable that the Defense Secretary is comfortable with
what's going on.

Q Tony, yesterday you did say that the President was approaching a
conclusion. So is the process now the President looking through competing
options, or is the process now the President has a plan he wants to
execute, and he's trying to get the details of how to execute that plan?

MR. SNOW: At this point, he is -- how do I put this? He's moving in a
direction and he's assigning tasks for people to work out. I know I'm being
too vague for you and I'll drive you crazy with the answer, but I don't
want to get too much into the deliberative process. What I can say is the
people -- let me put it this way: Even when you have a goal, people may
express different possible ways of getting to that goal.

Q But there seems to be some talk here of tactics and operational, sort of
executions, so --

MR. SNOW: There are a lot of things to take into account, as well as
dealing with the Maliki government and coordinating with the Iraqis, and
also dealing with the neighborhood. A lot of these things -- again, this is
not simply -- although we concentrate mostly on the military dimension,
there are many dimensions to a proper way forward.

Q Okay. And today in his meeting with the commanders, was he talking about,
again, sort of -- someone asked this, but I wanted to re-ask it, if you
will -- was it kind of getting at details --

MR. SNOW: Does that mean I have to re-not-answer-it? (Laughter.)

Q Hopefully, not. (Laughter.)

MR. SNOW: Go ahead.

Q Was he getting, again, a report about the situation on the ground, or was
he getting detailed answers about, what if we did X, how would we do Y? Was
it that sort of discussion?

MR. SNOW: There was some discussion of the realities on the ground, and it
was more of the President posing the what if X, please tell me, get back to
me.

Q Will the President be having consultative meetings over the next two
weeks that you know of?

MR. SNOW: I expect. I mean, we don't have a full schedule, but as you can
tell -- again, he's not going to be kicking up and -- it's just this is
going to be a busy time.

Q -- meets with Hashemi this week. Are we liable to see next week --

MR. SNOW: I don't know that you're liable to see a lot of people coming in.
But that doesn't mean he won't be working the phones, or at some point
getting on the SVTS or so on. There's still going to be a lot of meetings
involving a number of players.

Q Tony, back to Karen's question about the NSC. Dana was asked that
question this morning and she told us that we shouldn't place much stock in
it --

MR. SNOW: As I said, I'm just --

Q -- and you are not saying that. So is that your intent?

MR. SNOW: No. As I said, I don't want you to read yea or nay into it. I
just am not going to comment on it.

Q Just a couple things here, following up on David's question just now,
Tony. We were told this morning that the meeting at the Pentagon was the
last of the high profile meetings before the process begins its next phase.

MR. SNOW: Yes, I think that's probably right.

Q Okay. Secondly, there have been a number of references here about the
Baker-Hamilton commission. To what extent is this delay in the expected
announcement an effort to put some distance between the release of, and the
reaction to that?

MR. SNOW: It has nothing to do with it, period. Nothing. I think the
expectation in Washington on Baker-Hamilton is that this becomes the pivot
on which everything turns. And again, as I pointed out, the pivot on which
everything turns are the unfolding realities in Iraq and how you deal with
them. And the President certainly appreciates the contributions of the
Baker-Hamilton commission. But these deliberations, in many ways, have been
going on for quite a while, and we're taking a look at a lot of stuff.

Q It seems almost like Baker-Hamilton doesn't factor in at all. Every time
you're asked --

MR. SNOW: Well, these --

Q -- let me finish the question, please. If every time you're asked, were
the contents of Baker-Hamilton discussed, I believe each time you've said,
no.

MR. SNOW: Right.

Q You seem to be distancing from that.

MR. SNOW: I'm not distancing from it. We are aware of the recommendations.
And I have -- a number of these things have, at various junctures, been
considered and may or may not be reflected in the final product. What I'm
saying is, nobody said, okay, Baker-Hamilton, let's open up to page 40;
ah-hah, they accepted our goals, high five, everybody. None of that stuff
has happened.

Q Has everyone involved in these meetings read the full report?

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I have. I'm assuming -- but I don't know.

Q Has the President?

MR. SNOW: Yes, absolutely.

Q Tony, two quick questions. One, this is Human Rights Week around the
globe.

MR. SNOW: Is this on Iraq? Goyal, let's save that, and we'll continue doing
Iraq questions, and then we'll finish.

Victoria.

Q It's been reported that President Bush, in an Oval Office meeting last
week, when he was talking about his Iraq policy, said, "I'll be dead when
they get it right." In other words, that basically --

MR. SNOW: I don't remember that.

Q Well, he basically seems to be saying that he never changed his policy
one jot. Can you confirm that he said that?

MR. SNOW: No, I can't, because I didn't -- I would have written down a line
like that, because I keep pretty copious notes.

Q Can you confirm that he did not say that?

MR. SNOW: I don't want to confirm or deny, I just don't know. Let me put it
this way -- it doesn't sound like something he would have said. But I did
not hear it, and I cannot tell you, because I don't know -- even know what
meaning they're referring to.

Let me put it this way: The President is determined

-- he understands that, number one, the war on terror is going to be a long
war; number two, it is important to create an Iraq that can sustain, govern
and defend itself. And we are working with all our ingenuity and our might
to try to support that government and to come up with the right set of
policies. If you're talking about he's going to be dead before they get it
right in Iraq, again, that does not --

Q He's going to be dead before people get it right, in terms of
understanding that he was right with his policies.

MR. SNOW: Oh, I don't know. I mean, I think what the President is talking
about there -- that's completely different than what I thought you were
asking. Who knows? I mean, I think the President feels -- it doesn't mean
that he's not changing. It means that the President has been steadfast in
defending and discussing the goal of an Iraq that can defend, sustain and
govern itself, to be an ally in the war on terror, and also his analysis of
the war on terror -- that you have a totalitarian movement that is designed
not merely to crush human freedom, but also to extend its control over a
large area, ranging from Micronesia to Northern Africa; and that it's
important to resist that, and to do so in what one might consider the early
stages, even though al Qaeda has been gathering strength for more than two
decades, because it is important to advance the cause of freedom.

And going back to our answer yesterday on the Holocaust, we should have
learned that if you allow those threats to continue to gather strength,
ultimately the human cost is catastrophic. So those are the kinds of
considerations that he has confidence in.

On the other hand, the President is also somebody who wants, A, honest
opinions about the best way to move forward; he wants somebody who squares
with him on the facts and is straight with him, so that he can make the
best possible decisions about how to achieve that end goal of Iraq.

He may have said that it may take some time for people to understand that
he was right in viewing it in that way. That would not be unusual. As you
know, the President often talks about the fact that last year he had -- he
read three new biographies of George Washington, who had been dead at the
time for more than 200 years. So the fact is that -- he certainly stands by
his analysis of the situation, but also understands that the tactics that
have been employed right now are not doing the job, and there needs to be a
better way forward.

Q Is he going to talk with people who differ considerably from his view,
like people who absolutely want to get out of Iraq?

MR. SNOW: No, because that does not, in fact, achieve your goal.

Q You used the phrase "whittling away the options and narrowing things
down" and thinking about practical steps. Those suggest he has some very
broad goals in mind and now is pressing commanders and the State Department
to say, okay, I want to get from here to there, tell me how to do it, what
are the risks --

MR. SNOW: I think that's an accurate characterization of some of the
questions he's asking, yes.

Q -- specific policy options of whether it's add troops or take away
troops, or talk to Iran or not talk to Iran, are we in that specific a --

MR. SNOW: Yes, and I think -- yes, in a lot of areas, yes, absolutely.

Q Tony.

MR. SNOW: Same topic? Are we on topic?

Q Iran.

MR. SNOW: Save Iran.

Q -- when you talked about bipartisan responsibility, I mean, the President
is the decider; Congress has given him everything he wants without much
oversight. What are you looking for from the new Democratic --

MR. SNOW: I think what's going to be interesting -- and we've heard this
from Democrats -- there is buy-in on saying, we support this goal and let's
see what people have to say when it comes to legislative actions that may
or may not be necessary, in terms of supporting the goal; but also,
publicly, what sort of front do you present to the American people in terms
of, do you support the idea of an Iraq that can defend, govern and sustain
itself? And there has been a debate and there are differing opinions.

But, on the other hand, I think there is a recognition on the part of
members of Congress -- this is what they expressed to the President -- that
it is important to demonstrate that we can get work done together on the
domestic and foreign policy fronts. And that is the hope that they
expressed, and it's certainly something that the President shared. And one
of the things he did was reach out immediately to bipartisan leadership and
say, I want to do these consultations regularly, not just on Iraq, but also
on all other areas of policy. And I think that's part of the overall thing.

Again, if you take a look at these poll numbers I was describing just a
couple of minutes ago, the President's numbers certainly are low and
congressional numbers are even lower. And I think both sides understand
that at this point that a competition to sort of -- let me put it this way:
They're going to do better by themselves and by the country working
together.

Q So in a sense, they're obligated to fall in line behind what the
President comes up with?

MR. SNOW: No. No, I don't think they're obligated to fall in line. I think
they're obligated to play a constructive role, and we'll see what happens.
Again, let's find out -- when the President announces the way forward,
let's just see how the political system responds. It could be a real moment
of opportunity. And that is not to say that everybody has to come out
marching behind, saying, yes, we'll do whatever you want to do. But, on the
other hand, it doesn't rule out the fact that some people on the other side
of the aisle, rather than saying he's for it, I'm against it, might say,
sounds good, I agree. That also has happened from time to time.

Jim.

Q Just to follow up on this topic. When you were talking about the poll
numbers, you suggested that perhaps they've been depressed out of the
campaign. So is that the view that --

MR. SNOW: Well, if you take a look, the congressional numbers have gone
down, what, 16, 18 points since Election Day.

Q I meant the numbers on the war.

MR. SNOW: Oh, the numbers on the war.

Q You said, well, we just came out of the campaign and the public was
hearing -- so is that the administration view, that the numbers -- the Iraq
war numbers were depressed by -- belatedly, by the campaign somehow?

MR. SNOW: No. I think also -- look, if you take a look at October, 103
Americans were killed in October, and that was a very tough month and it is
one where a lot of people were grieving. And I think it's understandable
that in such circumstances, people are going to say, well, what are we
doing? And I think it is important to give a fuller context.

I know, Martha, a lot of people talk to soldiers, but not as often as
possible, perhaps, do we hear people explain why they think the mission is
going well, General Chiarelli last week saying we have not lost a single
engagement.

But I think it goes even deeper than that, because there is a sense of
mission, as you know, when you get over there, that people believe they're
part of something important. And there is a level of American idealism in
people who have signed up for something in which they're very lives are at
stake that is worth having the American people consider. And I'd just leave
it at that.

Q Tony, you say this -- I mean, the morale seems terrific among a lot of
soldiers. But that's not what is going to ultimately decide the war. You've
said a million times --

MR. SNOW: I didn't say --

Q -- and the President has, as well. It's not just a military engagement.

MR. SNOW: I'm talking about public opinion. Because, yes, public opinion
will be shaped by battlefield success, as well. And that, ultimately, is
going to be the determinate. But quite often -- you've seen a lot of people
-- I think there is -- a lot of people who are worried, are these men and
women dying for nothing? And quite often what has happened is it's not
placed in the context of their describing what they do and why they believe
in it. And the notion that there is less context to the military operations
leads quite naturally to fears about what are we doing over there, what's
going on? And I think those are important questions to answer, and that's
what we're going to endeavor to do.

Paula, yes, I promised. Proceed.

Q You mentioned how you thought it would be possible to address both
security issues and the domestic agenda. Are you confident that the
security problems won't overshadow any ability to reach agreement on the
domestic front?

MR. SNOW: No, I think they're separate issues. Just because an issue is
difficult, doesn't meant that it outweighs consideration of other issues.
As you look forward, there are clear challenges that this country is going
to face -- entitlements, education. There are a lot of things where -- that
offer substantial hope for bipartisan cooperation on dealing with important
issues. And the issues aren't going to go away. You still have security
concerns, and you still have the war on terror. But the domestic issues
still remain on the forefront for a lot of people.

Your follow?

Q Well, you mentioned -- there is an article in The Washington Post today
about a small Pentagon task force that's looking into basically addressing
what possibly might be the root of the problem with respect to 70 percent
of the Iraqi men being unemployed. And when you talk about realities on the
ground, it quotes a top U.S. field commander saying that tackling
unemployment could do far more good than adding U.S. combat troops because
these people needs jobs. There are angry young men and --

MR. SNOW: Well, I've referred to that a number of times. And actually, the
two are not mutually exclusive. In some areas, you not only have the
challenge of clearing out terror, but you also need to replace it with
hope. And how many times have I been up here talking about the economic and
security and political components, because they are all, in fact,
interdependent and you do need them all. So I certainly -- I'm not going to
get into the debate about more or less troops. But I certainly will not
disagree with the idea that reconstruction remains a very important goal.

Q As far as we know, though, there's 100,000 contractors in there.
Reconstruction efforts are very difficult because of the conditions on the
ground.

MR. SNOW: As I've said, they're interlocking, and there are also different
areas of reconstruction. It's a big country, not all parts are affected by
violence. It's important to do reconstruction throughout.

Q Since you mentioned entitlements in education --

MR. SNOW: First, let me make sure -- if it's a non-Iraq question -- is this
a non-Iraq question?

Q Yes.

MR. SNOW: Hold off. We'll finish up the Iraq questions, and then we'll get
to the others.

Q In the deliberations for the new way forward, are there going to be
deliberations on a new way forward in Afghanistan as well as Iraq?

MR. SNOW: Well, we continue to take a look at the realities on the ground
in Afghanistan. That was, obviously, a large part of what was going on in
NATO.

Let me once again reiterate, when it comes to thinking about any wartime
situation, you constantly have to take a look at developments, what's going
on, what's going on behind the scenes, how do you address it, how do you
respond to it. So that's a normal course of how you fight a war. But as you
know, extensive consultations -- the U.S., the Canadians, the Italians, and
others, working on the situation in Afghanistan. There is a NATO force that
has been taking on Taliban remnants in the south and really fighting them
hard. Although that was certainly not a focal point of what was going on
today, it is certainly a continuing concern on the part of military
commanders in the region.

Q But in the same sense that the President feels that the strategy is not
working fast enough or well enough in Iraq, does he feel that the strategy
is working fast enough or well enough in Afghanistan?

MR. SNOW: Well, as I said, today's discussion was primarily about Iraq. But
it is important to note, especially where you really do have multilateral
cooperation, we've been handing off responsibility to NATO in some of the
areas. And the President has also said that in coming months we're going to
be beefing up our commitments in Afghanistan. It is very important that we
respond effectively -- everybody involved -- to the challenge being posed
by the Taliban.

Q Two quick questions. This is Human Rights Week around the globe, and
human rights organizations like -- are accusing many countries, like China,
Burma and also Iran, violators of human rights. But as far as the U.N. is
concerned, the U.N. human rights council is made up mostly the countries
who are violators of human rights. So will the President also make a
statement on this day, where do we stand now? Violations of human rights
are really going more down and down, and more countries are facing -- the
people in more countries human rights violations.

MR. SNOW: Well, I think, Goyal, the President has made it very obvious that
he believes in a freedom agenda, the bulwark of which is the acknowledgment
of the dignity of every human life and also the right to, among other
things, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. One of the other cases
for U.N. reform has been a United Nations that will support human rights as
vigorously as possible. After all, the founding document of the U.N. is the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So that obviously is an area of
concern.

Q Another question. As far as this election was concerned, immigrants
around the U.S. -- what they're saying is that they have voted for
Democrats because one of the factors was not only Iraq, but also the
immigrants, how they worked the immigration issue. So where do we stand now
as far as this immigration issue is concerned?

MR. SNOW: Well, it's an issue that will await the next Congress, and we'll
see what happens.

Q Tony, merely two questions. Republican Senator Jon Kyl and former CIA
Director James Woolsey have written the President: "The Iranian regime is
working to acquire nuclear arms and long-range missiles. When combined with
Ahmadinejad's repeated threats to wipe Israel off the map and bring about a
world without America, we face the prospect that Iran will have the means
to carry out their apocalyptic intentions." And my question: Has the
President responded to these two? And does he disagree with their
statement?

MR. SNOW: I believe, Les, if you've noted in recent months we've made it
very clear that we do not believe that Iran should have any nuclear
capability. It does, in fact, have long-range missile capability, as you
know. And it has tested long-range missiles recently. That is --

Q So he agrees -- he agrees with Senator Kyl?

MR. SNOW: He agrees. The President -- I'm not aware. I don't handle his
correspondence, so I will not respond to a particular letter. But I think
you understand the clear contours of the policy, which is why even now
we're working within the U.N. Security Council on a resolution noting that
Iran should suspend its nuclear enrichment and reprocessing activities,
period.

Q Good.

MR. SNOW: Thank you.

Q Has the President had any reaction to the top of page 1 of this morning's
Washington Times headline: "Annan Accuses U.S. of Losing Its Principle,
Takes Aim at Bush Foreign Policy"?

MR. SNOW: No.

Q No reaction. Okay, thank you.

MR. SNOW: You're welcome. Let's see, who is -- Kelly.

Q One more on Iraq. Are there still active debates going on about the way
forward, or is it more of a refinement? Are there different camps that have
developed?

MR. SNOW: Look, there is one camp. It is the camp that works for the
President. Now, people are going to have disagreements, and there may be
some areas on which there are still going to be debates, but most have kind
of been ironed out. I would not rule out the fact that there may be some
discussion on some points.

Q Tony, what does "urgency" mean, though?

MR. SNOW: Well, I don't know, you guys keep using the term "urgency." What
the urgency is, you want it done --

Q You used it.

MR. SNOW: In response to -- urgency means that you want it done as quickly
as possible, and you want it done right. That's what it means. It's an
important issue. It is atop our list of concerns, and it is something where
the President is determined to come up with a better way forward and to get
it to the American public in due course, but also, again, with the
assurance that he's asked the right questions, he's gotten the right
inputs, he's gotten the right advice, and he's ready to go.

Q -- it's grave and deteriorating --

MR. SNOW: April has not had -- I'm sorry, what?

Q But if it's a grave and deteriorating situation, as the ISG report has
concluded, and things are ironed out, as you said, then --

MR. SNOW: Again, you don't expect the President to go forward until it's
complete. That's the way it works. And you still have military forces in
place, you still have General Casey, you still have U.S. forces embedded
with Iraqis and working with Iraqis. It is not as if there's nothing going
on on the military front. It's not as if we're not collecting intelligence;
we are. It's not as if we're not trying to figure out what the enemy is
doing; we are. It's not as if we're not trying to work with the Iraqi army
to go after sources of insurgency and militia violence. We're doing all of
those things. All of that continues.

So when he looks at a better way forward, you still have in place the
policies and the individuals carrying it out, but he wants to make sure
that he has gotten answered to his satisfaction all the questions and
practical concerns. And I think that's the right way to proceed.

April.

Q -- anything to do with the holidays?

MR. SNOW: No, nothing.

Q Like if he announced it -- like if he had it done on Christmas Day, then
that wouldn't stop him? You want to get --

MR. SNOW: I honestly don't know, Martha. But our calculation is, it's going
to take into the new year. But we'll be happy to call you all back on the
26th if you're

--

Q Tony, could you tell us specifically what the Vice President's role, as
well as Karl Rove's role, are involved in this listening tour, as well as
gathering information --

MR. SNOW: Well, number one, it's not a listening tour. And number two, we
don't discuss internal deliberations.

Q -- tell us if the Vice President is involved?

MR. SNOW: As I've said, you've seen -- the Vice President has been in
meetings and we have announced people who have been in the meetings. And
I'm not going to get -- I'm just not going to get into --

Q So since he's in meetings, is it safe to say he is actively involved in
the process?

MR. SNOW: He is in the meetings, dear. I think it's -- yes. (Laughter.) Got
me. Wait a second. Connie. And then we'll get to you, John. I want to make
sure that everybody who hasn't asked a question --

Q Thank you for your statement on Iran. That was good. That last phrase,
"the U.S. will continue to support those in Iran and stand with them in
their efforts to overcome" --

MR. SNOW: Right.

Q -- can you tell us how much you will support them to the extent of any
overthrow? Is there military support? Is there financial support --

MR. SNOW: Oh, come on, Connie. You know we don't answer -- what you're
trying to do is to plunge into -- what we do is we support the democratic
aspirations of the people of Iraq.

Q Is Karen Hughes' group dealing with --

MR. SNOW: I'll refer that to the Sta