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Skriven 2007-03-15 23:31:36 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0703154) for Thu, 2007 Mar 15
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Press Briefing by Tony Snow
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For Immediate Release March 15, 2007

Press Briefing by Tony Snow White House Conference Center Briefing Room

˙ Video (Windows) ˙˙Press Briefings


12:49 P.M. EDT

MR. SNOW: Hello. The President this morning had a good meeting with the
Iraqi Vice President, Adil Abd Al-Mahdi. Among other things, the Iraqi Vice
President noted that the ongoing security plan in Iraq is going, as he
said, better than expected. But he also noted that we've got a long way to
go. There are a lot of issues -- politically, economically, and in terms of
security -- to address within Iraq. As he said -- he talked about the
hydrocarbon bill and deBaathification. But it was an important and a good
meeting.

And it, incidently, comes at a time when the United States Senate is
debating a resolution that would pull the rug out from under the Iraqi
people by trying to set artificial deadlines when it comes to U.S. military
commitments. If that bill comes before the President, he will veto it.

The Vice President also -- that is the Iraqi Vice President -- also noted
that yesterday he visited soldiers in the hospital, and he was impressed by
the high spirit they had -- "better morale than I had," he said, talking
about their mission. And in trying to bind the hands of the administration
would pull the rug out from under them, as well. So we do have some
business going on on Capitol Hill today.

Questions.

Q The Judiciary Committee today approved subpoenas -- authorized subpoenas
for five Justice Department officials as they look into the prosecutors
case. What's the administration's reaction?

MR. SNOW: Well, I refer you to the Department of Justice on that. I know
that they've had some conversations, but I'll refer you to DOJ on that.

Q Why would that be? Why wouldn't the White House --

MR. SNOW: Because it's subpoenas for the DOJ, and the Department of Justice
will respond. The Department of Justice has also had ongoing conversations
with people on Capitol Hill. I don't want to be their fact witness on this
one, but, again, I suggest you give their office a call.

Q But you said Fred Fielding is talking with the Hill to see about --

MR. SNOW: Yes. I said he's been talking with people on the Hill. He was up
on the Hill yesterday. I don't know if he'll be up --

Q Still no resolution of that?

MR. SNOW: No. But, again, what we're trying to do is to make sure they get
the information they need in a manner that's consistent with presidential
prerogatives.

Q Tony, it's getting hard to find a Republican around town who says that
Gonzales will survive this. Is there any feeling inside the White House
that Attorney General Gonzales will survive this?

MR. SNOW: The President has confidence in the Attorney General. He's made
that clear, both privately to the Attorney General, and he made it clear
yesterday in the press conference.

Q But if you have an ever-growing number of Republicans on the Hill calling
for resignation or expressing strong --

MR. SNOW: Well, you're asking me if; we have one publicly declared.

Q You do have more Republican opinion that Gonzales should not keep his
job.

MR. SNOW: Well, again --

Q That's got to factor into an administration who wants to do business with
Republicans on the Hill to get a domestic agenda done, if nothing else.

MR. SNOW: Well, we're working with people on both sides of the Hill, and,
Jim, one of the things the President said is that the Attorney General is
going to be going to Capitol Hill to talk about some of the mistakes that
were made in terms of providing notification on U.S. attorneys. And
furthermore, the information was provided to people within the Department
of Justice when they went to testify on the Hill. So the Attorney General
also is going to have an opportunity to speak with members of Congress and
address their concerns.

Q At this point, the Attorney General --

MR. SNOW: The President has confidence in the Attorney General.

Q He had confidence in Rumsfeld, too.

Q Will the President let current and former officials, like Karl Rove,
Harriet Miers, testify on Capitol Hill?

MR. SNOW: As I said, Fred Fielding is busy conducting talks with people in
the House and Senate, with Democrats. And I'm not going to tell you what's
going to be decided. I'm going to let them go ahead and have their
conversations. Again, we're going to give them the information they need in
a manner that's consistent with presidential prerogatives.

Q Without them having to subpoena?

MR. SNOW: Again, you're trying to get me to jump ahead and do negotiations.
Not going to do it.

Q Was the Mohammed on the front pages subjected to any torture in the
secret prisons?

MR. SNOW: We don't -- again, the policy of this government is we do not
engage in torture.

Q And so you can guarantee that he was not tortured in all the years of
secret --

MR. SNOW: I'm telling you the policy is that we don't do torture, and
furthermore, that there are -- very specific guidelines have been laid down
in terms of the questioning of people who, in fact, have been in U.S.
custody.

Q But after it was all revealed. How do we know -- I mean, this is -- why
would you send them to secret prisons in the first place?

MR. SNOW: Well, I'm not going to -- Helen, we have been through long
conversations about that. There was a big debate on Capitol Hill about
this. We're not going to relitigate it.

Q So you're saying he was not --

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q Tony, let me talk about the Judiciary Committee decision to authorize the
subpoenas before these talks with Fielding are completed -- do you feel
that's premature?

MR. SNOW: Well, you're talking about Department of Justice subpoenas, those
are not White House subpoenas. That's a separate issue.

Q Tony, Leahy said that he would subpoena Rove, Miers, if there was not
voluntary cooperation.

MR. SNOW: Well, as I said, I'm not going to get up here and act as if --
Fred Fielding is having conversations. I think it's advisable to let those
proceed.

Q But if he does subpoena, is there anything the White House can do to stop
--

MR. SNOW: I'm not going to play the "if" game. Let's just wait and see.
Rather than trying to answer hypotheticals, we will deal with facts as they
arise.

Q Do you think the White House made any mistakes in this whole matter of
the discussions over the firings? And particular, I'm wondering if Attorney
General Gonzales was making statements to members of Congress, beginning in
January, that later proved to be not exactly in line with the facts,
weren't people in the White House aware of that?

MR. SNOW: I'm not going to get into extensive sort of fact witnessing. Let
me make a simple point. U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the
President, and these were proper decisions to remove seven U.S. attorneys.
And the Department of Justice went through its own process, and I'll let
the Department of Justice speak for the metrics, and so on, that it used.
But it's certainly within the right of the President to replace people.

Furthermore, as you know, with U.S. attorneys, they've got a four-year
term. Each of these folks had fulfilled the four-year term. There are
holdover provisions, but it is well within the President's executive
authority to replace people.

Q Tony, two quick questions. One, there has been so much written so far now
as far as terrorism, threat of terrorism is concerned in Afghanistan and
also here in the U.S. And The Washington Post former prime minister of
Pakistan is writing that now that a clear story has come that General
Musharraf is not doing enough as far as what he was accepted by the
President -- and even not only President -- satisfied with what's happening
with what's going on. And where do we stand now as far as Osama bin Laden
and all those --

MR. SNOW: Goyal, you're asking me to answer a question that involves highly
classified matters, and I can't do that. I'm not going to do --

Q Not classified --

MR. SNOW: There's not a lot of unclassified information about what we're
doing with regard to Osama bin Laden. The fact is that this administration
remains determined to prosecute the war on terror on all fronts.

Q Second, on immigration. As far as presidential trip is concerned, he had
-- immigration as far as Mexico is concerned -- so he said that he will
double his efforts as far as the immigration bill is concerned in the U.S.
Senate. So what is he going to do now? Is it what Democrats want, or what
--

MR. SNOW: No, the President laid it out yesterday -- working with
Republicans to come up with a largely accepted Republican view, and then
work with Democrats to get a bill passed. I mean, he's been pretty
straightforward about the approach. But the President -- make no mistake,
the President is committed to this cause. He delivered a nationwide address
from the Oval Office. It certainly was something we discussed at every stop
along the way. He thinks it is vital for making this nation more secure,
this nation more prosperous, and incidentally, also for making our friends
and allies in the neighborhood more secure and prosperous. It's good for
both sides.

And as a result, he wanted to make sure that everybody understood that this
was a real firm, profound and personal commitment on his part.

Q -- you can clear very quickly. Fred Fielding is negotiating with members
on the Hill on possible subpoenas of White House staff. Does that mean he's
not talking to them about the possible Justice Department subpoenas?

MR. SNOW: What I'm not going to do -- what he's talking about is -- and I'm
not even going to engage -- what you've done is jump to negotiating about
subpoenas. What we're talking about is getting information to them that
they need in a manner that's consistent with our prerogatives. And that can
cover a lot of ground. I am not privy to the precise conversations, but
Fred is having conversations with them, and I don't want to characterize
them.

Q You seem to be pushing off -- you seem to be pushing our questions on
subpoenas --

MR. SNOW: Because the Department of Justice has been, in fact, having its
own conversations with those committees.

Q Does the White House have no opinion about whether Justice Department
officials should -- honor subpoenas?

MR. SNOW: That's sort of the backdoor way of getting into the conversations
that Fred may be having with folks on the Hill. Let's just let these talks
play out, and then once we get to a point where there's resolution, then
you can ask me and I can give you a much more direct answer. We're dealing
at a highly hypothetical level right now and that kind of musing doesn't
give us much to go on.

April.

Q Tony, going to another subject, the Pentagon. Is the President now going
to start embracing the words "civil war," to a certain extent as it relates
to Iraq?

MR. SNOW: What you're talking about is the 90/10 report that came out.
That, April, reflects the language that was used in the National
Intelligence Estimate. As you'll recall, the National Intelligence Estimate
said there are some things that are characteristic of a civil war, some
that are not. So this is -- there's not new language, or for that matter,
new analysis.

Q It's not new language for the NIE, but it's new language for the
President --

MR. SNOW: No, no, the President -- what the President is focusing on is
succeeding in Iraq. And again, you've got evidence that there has been
progress. I don't want to oversell it because it is tough and there's along
way to go. We're still busy moving forces into Iraq. We're still working
with the Iraqis to develop capability. They've been stepping up and taking
on tough decisions. The oil law has been passed by the council ministers;
it is going before the legislature. What I'm telling you, April, is there's
a lot of stuff going on. And what you're asking about is a phrase used in a
National Intelligence Estimate.

Q Don't diminish it, because for months you, from that podium, have been
dancing around the words, "civil war," and sectarian --

MR. SNOW: Right, but what you are trying to say is that that is a label
that is attached as an absolute -- that is being used to describe
accurately what's going on. And if you take a look at the NIE, it said it
has some characteristics and some that are inconsistent. So we're not going
to use the term.

Q So you're not going to use the term, the President is not?

MR. SNOW: No, but the President -- the National Intelligence Estimate says
that there are some characteristics that are consistent and some that
aren't.

Q Okay. And lastly, on the Sudan, why did it take so long for this
administration to come out with the issue of sanctions, financial
sanctions? From my understanding, this administration had been looking into
that issue for months.

MR. SNOW: This administration has been working for months -- I would flip
it around -- this administration -- and the President was the first person
to call this genocide -- he has been working and he has been very
aggressive on the diplomatic track, trying to get people in the
neighborhood, within the African Union and also the United Nations to step
up. This needs to be addressed.

Q Well, why has it taken the sanctions -- as you said, he's called it
genocide; he's even called it outrageous. But why has it taken so long? I
got word of it last year, towards the end of summer, that they were looking
at sanctions. Why are we now in March, and they're talking about sanctions
--

MR. SNOW: We have been trying to work, April, to make sure that we have the
ability of players in the region to have some influence on the government,
which, in the Sudanese government, has consistently rejected overtures, and
that becomes a forcing event to get others involved.

Q Back on the prosecutors. Has the White House been in touch with Harriet
Miers to see if she has further information in this case?

MR. SNOW: I don't know.

Q The President said, "I've heard those allegations about political
decision-making; it's just not true." How can he say that when he hasn't
seen all the emails, emails continue to come out, and of those that have
already come out, some of them clearly seem to show that at some level, at
least, there was political decision-making?

MR. SNOW: I'm not -- how would you define "political decision-making"?

Q Well, decision-making that involves politics.

Q How would you define it, Tony?

MR. SNOW: Well, it's a loaded term. I mean, I think what the President --
what the President is saying is that there is no -- that in evaluating U.S.
attorneys, this is based on performance. And the important thing to do --
and furthermore, the Department of Justice made recommendations that the
President has accepted. Also keep in mind, the President has the authority
to remove people and put other folks in the job. That is at his discretion.
That's presidential power.

Q But is he saying that he was so in the loop, then, that he definitely
knew there was nothing political, or was he, in fact, removed, as you
indicated this morning?

MR. SNOW: No, I think -- again, what the President has -- the Department of
Justice has made recommendations, they've been approved. And it's pretty
clear that these things are based on performance and not on sort of
attempts to do political retaliation, if you will.

Q Tony, thank you. Thousands of veterans are coming from all over the
country to make sure on Saturday that a rally organized by a group called
Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism does not deface the Vietnamese War
Memorial like the Capitol was spray-painted by another mob. My question:
Does the President have any welcome for these veterans protecting our war
memorial?

MR. SNOW: The President welcomes all veterans and thanks them for their
service.

Q Since it has been my impression that Vice President Cheney has always
been loyal to the President, could you tell us the President's reaction to
the Time Magazine cover story that described Mr. Cheney as, "the
administration's enemy within," "an independent operation inside the White
House that has done more harm than good" and one of Bush's biggest
liabilities?

MR. SNOW: That would be inaccurate.

Q Wait a minute, one last one, because you've been away for a week.

Q Welcome back.

MR. SNOW: Yes, this is my welcome back. (Laughter.)

Q Both the Media Research Center, as well as The Wall Street Journal, in an
editorial headlined, "The Hubbell Standard: Hillary Clinton knows about
sacking U.S. attorneys," deplored the old big media uproar about the firing
of eight U.S. attorneys, when the Clinton administration fired 93 in one
day. And my question: Does the President agree or disagree with The Wall
Street Journal and the Media Research Center?

MR. SNOW: I'm not aware that he's expressed an opinion on it. Let me just
remind everybody again, U.S. attorneys are --

Q What do you think?

MR. SNOW: It's not my job to get up here and expound my views.

Q I'd love to hear your opinion on it.

MR. SNOW: Well, that's well and good, and I appreciate that. It makes me
feel all warm inside. But it's not appropriate for me to do that.

Sarah.

Q Welcome back.

MR. SNOW: Thank you.

Q Tony, has the building of the wall between Mexico and the United States
damaged relations between the two countries beyond repair?

MR. SNOW: No. As a matter of fact, the relations are close. And the
conversations between President Calder n and President Bush were, as the
President said, extremely productive. They were detailed and -- the two
leaders were honest with each other about things where they agreed and
where they disagreed, and maybe the most important thing is that they also
committed to taking issues of concern directly to Cabinet-level officers so
that they could go ahead and really seize responsibility.

There are a lot of good things that we can do with the Mexican government
-- border security, drug interdiction, arms interdiction, trying to make
sure that the borders are safe, building conditions for greater prosperity
in Mexico -- that takes pressure off the border and, frankly, greater
prosperity within the region. There were educational exchanges. I mean,
they talked about a lot of things.

So I would -- number one, I would argue that what's happened is that
U.S.-Mexican relations have been strengthened as a consequence of the
visit; and, also, that the personal relationship between the two Presidents
was strengthened by virtue of the fact that they were candid with each
other and I think they were both impressed with the seriousness, and also
the leadership quality. President Calder n is a leader. He's been in office
for a hundred days or so and he is tackling directly a lot of the most
important businesses. So, again, to use the term the President did, very
productive meetings.

Q Tony, in your answer this morning on the new Palestinian government, you
said you hoped that President Abbas could proceed with the ability to
follow the Quartet commitments. Can you explain what that --

MR. SNOW: Well, we're really -- at this point, let's wait until we have a
government fully formed up. But the most important issue, ultimately, in
dealing with peace in the region is to have the Palestinians abide by the
Quartet conditions. That has been our position and will continue to be our
position.

Q Tony, while the President was traveling, New Century fund, one of the
biggest mortgage lenders, almost went belly-up, causing a major fall in the
stock market. What's troubling investors now is the fact that this housing
market, which has been based on some very risky loans, is really holding up
the whole stock market situation. And if the bubble blows in the housing
market, a lot of people are going to be in trouble, the U.S. economy goes
down the tubes. I was just wondering if the President is focused on this
problem. And does he have a game plan, aside from the denial and the happy
talk that's been coming out of the Secretary of Treasury?

MR. SNOW: Well, number one, I would -- if you want to -- I would encourage
you to take your concerns to the Secretary of Treasury; I'm sure he'll be
happy to respond. Hank Paulson is not only an enormously capable, but very
realistic Secretary of the Treasury. So, please, try that.

Secondly, we do have -- the fundamentals in the economy are sound, but I am
not going to get into talking about markets. Any time somebody makes
comments from this podium it is something that could potentially influence
markets; I'm just not going to do it.

Q If such a collapse -- as a follow-up on that -- if such a market collapse
would occur, would the President be intent on maintaining the value of the
dollar?

MR. SNOW: I will refer you to my prior answer. What you're asking me to do
now is to accept a premise, the acceptance of which would be a
market-moving event.

Q Is the President worried about eroding support for No Child Left Behind?

MR. SNOW: No. The President is deeply committed to No Child Left Behind.
And it's important to make sure not only that we have standards for
schools, but that we extend to every child -- from kindergarten straight
through 12th grade -- the opportunity and the promise of good education, so
that they are equipped to intellectually -- they have the intellectual
tools and capabilities to deal with a workforce in which they're going to
change careers any number of times; that they're going to have the
intellectual abilities. And the President is committed to making sure
richer, poorer, wherever you live, you're going to have those
opportunities. And he is strongly committed to it and he's working with
Democrats and Republicans -- Republicans first, of course.

Q We know he's committed to it, but what about Republicans who signed on it
before, but have now expressed interest in other legislation?

MR. SNOW: Well, I think, again, there are plenty of conversations that are
ongoing. But the President feels confident that we're going to get
reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, and, furthermore, that it's vital
to American students.

Q How soon does the President want the Security Council to vote on the Iran
resolution --

MR. SNOW: Well, they're still working it out. I mean, I don't think that
the President has a timetable on it, but, obviously, we think it's going to
be soon. It's important to realize, though, that we have been working
within -- we're now going to present it to the full Security Council and I
think we're pretty close on it.

Q Well, is the President satisfied with the language then?

MR. SNOW: Well, let's wait until everything is signed. This is another one
of these things where we want to make sure it's all wrapped up, signed,
sealed and delivered, and then we'll be happy to characterize.

Q On the attorneys, you mentioned that these firings were not done as
political retaliation or retribution. If we're going to talk about, kind
of, the President's powers, though, if any of the firings were for
political retribution, is that within his purview, as well?

MR. SNOW: Let me put it this way: Again, the President has the authority to
remove people who serve at his pleasure. And these are folks who had
four-year terms, all of which had expired.

Helen.

Q Is there any plan to commemorate March 19th, four years into war?

MR. SNOW: To "commemorate"? The one thing we do is constantly --

Q Take notice of.

MR. SNOW: Well, I think there will be plenty people taking notice of it.
The one thing that we want to do is also make sure that people take notice
of how vital it is to continue to supply the reinforcement our forces need
and the support that the Iraqi government is going to need in order to put
all the pieces together that are going to allow that nation to be delivered
from an age of tyranny under Saddam Hussein to one of hope and democracy.

Q Well, but is anything going to be done by the President, personally? You
don't know.

Q Thank you.

MR. SNOW: Thank you.

END 1:11 P.M. EDT
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