Text 4317, 280 rader
Skriven 2007-04-04 23:33:00 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0704043) for Wed, 2007 Apr 4
===================================================

===========================================================================
Interview of the Vice President by Ann Compton, ABC News Radio
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release Office of the Vice President April 4, 2007

Interview of the Vice President by Ann Compton, ABC News Radio



Q Mr. Vice President, did Iran blink?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know all the details, obviously, but I'm
glad to know that the British sailors are apparently going to be released.
I think it was unfortunate that they were ever taken in the first place.
There's considerable evidence that they were, in fact, in Iraqi territorial
waters when this happened. And so it's one of those events that should not
have happened. I think the Iranians were wrong to capture the sailors, and
it's good now that they have been released.

Q Do you think there was any quid pro quo for their release?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't know.

Q Do you think there should have been?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I don't think there should have been. I think --

Q Why?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it's important that if you get into the
business where you reward that kind of behavior, there will be more of that
kind of behavior. Once people start taking hostages, or kidnaping folks on
the high seas, and then are rewarded for it by getting some kind of
political concession or some other thing of value, that would be
unfortunate.

Q Let me switch to the war supplemental, which President Bush will be
addressing again today. In our system of government -- you've certainly
been in the civilian side of defense policymaking in this and other
administrations -- in our system, civilians call the shots. They run the
military. So why isn't it appropriate that Congress speak out on something
-- not only on the amount of money being given to the Iraq effort, but any
conditions attached to it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, there's an important distinction to be made here.
Clearly, Congress has a role to play. They are responsible for
appropriating funds. But there's an area, once they cross over a line,
that's pretty well drawn in the Constitution that says, under I think it's
Article Two of the Constitution, the President is the Commander-in-Chief.
He's the one who makes the decisions about the use of military force, how
they're deployed, when they're deployed, what purposes they're deployed
for.

And when we have the kind of effort that's being made now in the war
supplemental, to impose restrictions on -- and set timetables, and so
forth, it's not just a question of Congress appropriating funds and either
supporting or not supporting the effort, you begin to get in the area
where, in fact, they are trying to usurp the ability of the President to
make those basic decisions, as well as, I think, to interfere with the
activities of our troops on the ground in Iraq.

We charge Dave Petraeus, General Petraeus, with the responsibility of
commanding the force in Iraq, with accomplishing the mission of achieving
our objectives in Iraq, and then Congress comes along and adds all kinds of
bells and whistles to it that makes it doubly difficult for him to do his
task -- I think that's inappropriate.

Q The kind of language that might be attached to that language -- of that
supplemental approach, what if it were just listing as a goal eventually
getting -- certainly that is something the administration shares, of
eventually having the Iraqis take over. Will the President insist that
there be no additional language, no middle ground on this?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we made it very clear what we want is a clean
bill. We've stated very forthrightly what our objectives are. We don't want
to stay in Iraq any longer than necessary, but we want to get the job done.
And that means we've got to have a government that's stood up, that is able
to govern the country effectively. And they've had three national elections
now, new constitution, they've got a government in place that has been
there less than a year, and they're making progress in that area.

The other thing that needs to happen is the Iraqis need to have adequate
security forces so they can handle the threats, if you will, of the
instability that exists inside Iraq. That's a fairly straightforward
proposition. The problem we're having, I think, is we see some in the
Congress trying to make some kind of a political statement by trying to
come up with amendments to the supplemental appropriation, I think to
achieve a political purpose, rather than to achieve a victory. And we think
that's unfortunate.

The President has made it clear that if he gets a bill that's got a lot of
restrictions on it, or that has a lot of pork added to it, unnecessary
federal spending, he'll veto it.

Q When does the money run out? July?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, no, you begin to have problems in the latter part
of April. You've got money appropriated for various accounts in the
Pentagon that do various and sundry things. But the supplemental is to
cover the extra added cost over and above what the normal defense budget
would be because of the war. And if you're not going to have the funds to
pay specifically for the war, then you have to begin to draw down other
accounts to do that.

You can go through reprogrammings, you can move money around to some
extent, but you quickly begin to shortchange other functions -- for
example, repair of equipment, or training for the troops before they
deploy, or adequate housing for the families. All of these kinds of things
get funded in the defense budget, and you don't want to shortchange them
over the long-term in order to deal with the fact that the Democrat
Congress has not passed the war supplemental. They need to pass it, and
they need to do it soon.

Q Speaker Pelosi is in Damascus. Will there be -- will there be
repercussions, negative repercussions from her visit today?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think it's unfortunate. The fact of the matter is,
Bashir Assad has been a -- I don't want to say -- a bad actor, in many
respects. He was, for example, the conduit for Iranian support to Hezbollah
when Hezbollah launched its military efforts against the Israelis last
summer. There have been inside Syria, obviously, a flow of jihadists,
terrorists, going into Iraq to participate in the conflict inside Iraq.

We have communicated with him in the past. He knows what he needs to do to
be accepted internationally. He's been isolated and cut off because of his
bad behavior. And the unfortunate thing about the Speaker's visit is it
sort of breaks down that barrier. It means without him having done any of
those things he should do in order to be acceptable, if you will, from an
international standpoint, he gets a visit from a high-ranking American
anyway. In other words, his bad behavior is being rewarded, in a sense.

Q The White House relations with Speaker Pelosi, are they promising so far,
or are you discouraged? You smile.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's -- it is what it is. I think, like a lot of
people, as somebody -- I served in the House for 10 years; I have great
respect for the institution of the House of Representatives. I'm also the
proud parent of two daughters, and to see the first woman speaker has been
a historic moment. I think -- I remember being there that day when she and
I first presided over a joint session of Congress, when the President came
up and addressed the State of the Union speech. It was a sincere, heartfelt
sort of welcome, if you will, for the new speaker, and that's appropriate
-- from an institutional standpoint and a political standpoint.

On the other hand, when you get into the policy debates, obviously, there
are fundamental differences. Nancy Pelosi is basically a -- what Jeane
Kirkpatrick used to call a "San Francisco Democrat." She's a liberal, those
are her views, nothing wrong with that. I think it's wrong, but that's her
world view. And we're bound to have major disagreements, and we do.

Q So I'm putting you down as not -- not finding it promising so far.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, she's the Speaker and I'm the Vice President, the
President is George W. Bush, and we've all got responsibilities. It doesn't
mean that we're necessarily going to agree on much of anything. But we do
have to govern. She has her role, we have ours, and I'm sure we'll all
fulfill those obligations.

Q The position of Pundit-in-Chief is available, I understand. Three quick
one-liner questions. Actually, I'm going to hold that one, because I don't
want to run out of time here. Alan Simpson is your good and dear friend,
many, many years.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: He is.

Q And former senator from Wyoming, wrote about two weeks ago in The
Washington Post that he has changed his mind on "don't ask, don't tell." He
wrote, "My God, we'd better start talking sense before it's too late." Has
your thought on "don't ask, don't tell" evolved and changed at all?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Not really. My view of it is, more than anything else,
determined by what our senior military leadership thinks is required, that
the task of the military specifically is to fight and win wars. And the
"don't ask, don't tell" policy is one that was devised with the leadership
of the Pentagon some years ago. It's worked reasonably well, and I have not
advocated changing it.

Q You are about to have a grandchild born next month, I think --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I am.

Q -- into a family that won't necessarily have the same legal standing in
every state, in every legal respect. Do you think there will be changes or
that, or should there be changes, legal changes in some of the laws around
the country to better provide for a family?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think traditionally these have been issues that
have been managed or regulated by the states, and that's the way I think it
ought to be. I think each state ought to have the capacity to decide how
they want to handle those issues. Obviously we love our daughters, both of
them, Liz and Mary, very much. I'm delighted I'm about to be a grandparent
for the sixth time. I'm looking forward to the arrival of a new grandson.
And I obviously think it's important for us as a society to be tolerant and
respectful of whatever arrangements people enter into.

Q How's your health? The deep vein thrombosis under control?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Appears to be. (Laughter.)

Q Appears to be. Does your leg hurt this morning?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No. No, it -- I was fortunate to catch it early, and
I've gotten great medical care, a lot of docs who want to make sure nothing
happens to me on their watch. And so it's been -- it's been dealt with.

Q So, after the White House, you have a chance to start a whole new career.
What will you do after your years in the White House? Will you live a
public life, and where will you live?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I -- first of all, I haven't decided, Ann, what
to do --

Q Oh, come on, you've got to have talked about it.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, Lynne and I have talked about it a bit. But I
imagine we'll have a continued presence here in Washington, partly because
this is where the family is located. And we enjoy it. We've spent most of
the last 40 years here. We also have a home in Wyoming, and still think of
Wyoming as home. And so we'll spend a fair amount of time out there.

Q But in the public spotlight?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm not aiming to do anything in the public spotlight.
I will have been, by the time we finish this tour, January of '09, it will
have been more than 40 years since I arrived in Washington in 1968 to stay
12 months. And it lasted a good deal longer than that. And I've loved it,
it's been a great career. But I do expect that the public aspect of it will
end with my term as Vice President.

Q Well, I thank you. I did have three very short ones on politics, if you
would indulge me.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.

Q Number one: Is John McCain too old to be President?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No.

Q Number two: Has Rudy Giuliani been married too often to be President?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No.

Q Number three: Is religion going to be an impediment for Mitt Romney?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No.

Q Who's going to win? Who's going to get the nomination?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm, at this point, scrupulously neutral in the
competition.

Q Will you stay that way until there's a nominee?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, for now, certainly.

Q For now, but not necessarily --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: For now, certainly.

Q Anybody asked you to campaign for him -- or against him, as Bob Dole,
used to say? "I'll campaign for you or against you, whichever helps."

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Whichever helps. I'm spending my time these days, in
terms of campaign activities, helping reelect members of Congress. I did a
fundraiser this week in Alabama for Jeff Sessions. I've got a number of
appearances coming up, focused on the congressional races in '08. I doubt
very much that I will get involved in the presidential race, probably until
at least after the convention.

Q Mr. Vice President, I'm grateful for the time with you.

END

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070404-3.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)