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Skriven 2007-04-18 23:32:04 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0704183) for Wed, 2007 Apr 18
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Press Briefing by Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release April 18, 2007

Press Briefing by Dana Perino White House Conference Center Briefing Room

˙ Video (Windows) ˙˙Press Briefings
˙˙Audio


12:38 P.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: I have a few announcements, and then we'll get ready to answer
your questions.

The President and Mrs. Bush were greatly moved at the ceremony yesterday in
honor of the Virginia Tech students. They offered the prayers and support
of a grieving nation. They spent a lot of time with many family members,
family of the victims who had lost their lives. He also met with at least
one person who had been shot, but had survived. And one of the things that
the President and Mrs. Bush said to them is that they should know that the
power of prayer is strong, that there are people all across the world that
they will never meet who are praying for them and that they should take
comfort in that.

One note that I wanted to highlight is something that Mrs. Bush said
yesterday, and I think it's important -- possibly some of your children
have said -- but we have heard reports that children are concerned about
their own safety at their own schools after seeing some of this coverage.
And Mrs. Bush asked everyone -- parents, teachers, friends of these
children -- to make sure that they know that they're very loved and that
there are many people working to ensure their safety at their school.

Q What happened behind the President yesterday?

MS. PERINO: I will answer some questions after a moment; I have a few
announcements.

I do have a statement by the President on the Supreme Court decision
upholding the partial birth abortion ban -- we will release this in a
moment, but I will read it for you. This is from the President:

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court upheld a law that prohibits the
abhorrent procedure of partial birth abortion. Today's decision affirms
that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's
representatives, enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of
America. The partial birth abortion ban, which an overwhelming bipartisan
majority in Congress passed and I signed into law, represents a commitment
to building a culture of life in America.

"The Supreme Court's decision is an affirmation of the progress we have
made over the past six years in protecting human dignity and upholding the
sanctity of life. We will continue to work for the day when every child is
welcomed in life and protected in law."

Later today, at 2:30 p.m. -- I hope you all got the note that we are going
to open the President's meeting with the bicameral-bipartisan leadership on
the Iraq war supplemental -- it will be pool at the top. The President
looks forward to the congressional leadership coming to this meeting today.
The troops desperately need the money.

We also look forward to Speaker Pelosi appointing conferees so that the
committees -- I'm sorry -- so that the two Houses can get their differences
worked out and send a bill to the President's desk. The President will veto
a bill that handcuffs our generals, that includes arbitrary dates for
withdrawal, or needless and wasteless [sic] spending. It's been 72 days
since the President first sent up his request for this money, and the
longer that Speaker Pelosi delays in appointing conferees, the worse it
gets for our troops.

And finally, the United States Senate today voted to end consideration of
legislation that would have had the government negotiate and set prices for
prescription drugs available to America's seniors. The Senate made the
right decision to do so. When the Congressional Budget Office weighed in
this year and last year, they said that, at best, it would do no good. Our
view is that it has the potential to do considerable harm, likely resulting
in limiting access to necessary drugs for our seniors.

The Medicare prescription drug program is successfully delivering more
drugs at cheaper prices than anyone predicted. And if a bill, such as the
one that they were contemplating today were to make its way to the
President's desk, he would veto it.

I also would encourage anyone who is interested in this story to look at
Secretary Leavitt's open letter to America and America's seniors on this.
It's got a lot of good points in it.

Terry.

Q What's the President's strategy for his meeting with congressional
leaders today? Is he open to any talk of compromise, or is he just going to
hear what they say and insist on a clean bill?

MS. PERINO: The President looks forward to having the members come down --
that's why he invited them. I think one of the things that he is looking
forward to hearing is how the Democrats have decided to compromise amongst
themselves first so that he knows what their position is. They have several
different positions, and as you can imagine, that's really difficult to
negotiate with anybody if you don't know where someone stands.

The President has laid out clear principles, and he will be able to give
some remarks at the top of the meeting. And then, of course, as you know,
I'm sure the members will make their way out to the stakeout afterwards.

Q I mean, there are differences. Both the Senate and the House have passed
bills, though, and both of them have some form of a withdrawal deadline,
timetable. And that's unacceptable --

MS. PERINO: And here's the point on that, which is that the President has
said he will not accept a bill that has an artificial timetable -- time
line, deadline for withdrawal, a forced retreat, a legislative failure for
our troops. He's not going to do that for our troops, and he's not going to
do it to the Iraqis, or for the region, and for the safety of the American
public.

The Democrats have said that they will not vote to cut off funding for the
troops. And yet, they can't come to an agreement amongst themselves as to
how to get a clean bill to the President. So the President is saying,
negotiate amongst yourselves first; if you need to send me a bill that I
have to veto, I will do it, reluctantly. But that's going to be his
position. And so it's the Democrats that need to negotiate amongst
themselves first before coming and asking the President to change his
positions.

Q But to pick up on that, once they have negotiated among themselves and
have a unified position --

MS. PERINO: Well, let's see what that is.

Q -- then they can negotiate with the President?

MS. PERINO: You're asking me a hypothetical situation.

Q No, no, no, they will -- let's say that they have a coherent --

MS. PERINO: Well, that's hypothetical. It's speculative. I don't -- I would
like to see if they would come forward and have a position before we talk
about anything that would tie the generals' hands or have a deadline for
withdrawal.

Q But the way you're stating this leads to --

MS. PERINO: Well, what I've said for many days is that I'm not going to
negotiate anything from this podium. I'm going to let them have a meeting.

Q I'm just asking you to finish your thought.

MS. PERINO: I finished my thought.

Q With an incomplete thought, an incomplete sentence?

MS. PERINO: No, I thought it was complete.

All right, Kelly.

Q Earlier this week, the President made his concerns known, with military
families surrounding him and members of the military and veterans. Earlier
today, the Democratic leadership had some military family members with them
as they gave an opposing view. Does the President think there's a point at
which military families or veterans should not become the faces of this
debate?

MS. PERINO: Well, he has said before that -- and I think it was on Monday,
in which he said that this is a debate, we have healthy debate in America,
we have a job to do in terms of getting the funds to the troops, but that
he does not believe that the troops should be caught in the middle of the
debate.

The families that the President met with and talked to on Monday are only a
sampling of some of the ones that he hears from, in which they ask him to
please not let their sons or daughters who have died over there in Iraq or
in Afghanistan -- for their mission to go unfulfilled. They are reassured
by the President that he is not going to let their death be in vain.

The Army and the rest of the Department of Defense have made it very clear
that there are consequences to not getting this money now. And therefore,
the President is going to hold the Democrats' feet to the fire and get them
to come to a position. It's been 72 days; they didn't even appoint
conferees. Time is wasting, and so he's going to ask them to get together
and get a bill to his desk.

Q Some Democrats will surely say that the soldiers and relatives of troops
with them today are only a sampling of those they hear from, and that they
are telling them that we need to begin the process of pulling out of Iraq.
I want to ask Kelly's question again -- is it unseemly that the troops
should be props, if you will, in this debate?

MS. PERINO: Well, I can assure you that this President doesn't think of any
soldier or sailor, or any man or woman that's in uniform as a prop. He is
worried about their welfare. He wants to ensure that their mission -- that
they have all that they need to complete their mission, and that they are
properly trained, and that they have the amount of support that they need
back here at home, plus there on the battlefield. And so I do think that it
was appropriate for the President to talk with those families -- just as
I'm sure that the Democrats feel that it's appropriate for them, as well.

No doubt that there is -- war is a highly charged, emotional debate, and
there are many people who would like the American troops to come home
immediately. The President wants them to come home when the mission is
finished and when the conditions are right on the ground to make sure that
the horrific violence, such as we see today happening in Baghdad, can
subside.

Q I'd like to ask you a question about the speech the President gave today.
What's the time frame to impose sanctions on Sudan?

MS. PERINO: Well, the President said, soon. And I don't have a number of
days to attach to that, but he said it must be soon that President Bashir
comply with the demands of the international community, or he will move
forward with the steps that he said.

Q This isn't a new threat. Sanctions have been threatened before.

MS. PERINO: These would be additional.

Q Right, but how long? What does "soon" mean?

MS. PERINO: He said -- well, I don't have a date for you. And I think what
he would like to see is -- we hope it doesn't have to come to us imposing
any more sanctions or any other measures against the government. We want
Bashir to follow through on what he has said he is going to do. He hasn't
in the past, and the President is skeptical, but we're going to give it a
chance to work out. But I can assure you that it won't be for very long
before the President takes the next steps.

Q What's his level of awareness about the pressure and the impatience of
human rights groups, like the ones that put full-page ads in major papers
today?

MS. PERINO: The President hears from a lot of people, but I can tell you
that he is deeply concerned, he is personally concerned; many of you have
heard him express that privately and publicly. And he thinks about it a
lot. I think that the pressure that the groups are putting on is known, but
I think that it only is an additional factor, given the President's
personal concern about it.

Q Dana, also on Sudan, when the President said that if President Bashir
does not follow the steps that President Bush has laid out that the United
States could take other measures, aside from the sanctions, was he
referring to a military option on Sudan?

MS. PERINO: No, I don't believe so. I think that the President believes
that this can be worked out diplomatically. However, what the President
said is that, hopefully, Bashir will comply with the agreement that he just
said he would comply with. There is skepticism amongst the administration
as to whether or not he will actually do that, based on previous
experience.

I'm not going to rule anything in or out; I have not heard that discussed
in terms of military options. But I can assure you that the President is
serious about possible new sanctions, both against companies and
individuals. And in addition to that, he has directed Secretary Rice to
work on a new U.N. Security Council resolution. And in the coming days
Secretary Rice will confer with the other members and see what the next
step is.

Q Can I get your reaction to something Admiral Fallon said today when he
was before the House Armed Services Committee?

MS. PERINO: I haven't seen it.

Q He was talking about Iraq, and he said, "I believe that the things I see
on a daily basis give me some cause for optimism. But I'll tell you that
there is hardly a week that goes by, certainly a day that doesn't go by,
without some major event that also causes us to lose ground." What's your
reaction to that? You have a military man talking about events going --

MS. PERINO: I think that is consistent with what we have said, which is
that there are extremely difficult and dangerous situation right now in
Iraq, and especially in Baghdad. You see the bombings today. I don't have
an official death count, but obviously it is entirely too high. Every life
is precious. That includes all the innocent Iraqis, the men, women and
children who are defenseless against a barbaric enemy. And as General
Petraeus and others have said is that there are small signs of hope that
the Baghdad security plan would be able to reduce the violence enough so
that the Maliki government can get reconciliation in order to bring a more
peaceful existence for the Iraqis.

But we have also said that it's going to be very challenging along the way.
We've had higher death tolls amongst our soldiers and Marines, and I think
that you can expect that that will continue, because the enemy knows how
determined we are, and they are just as determined. And I think anybody who
thinks that this enemy is tired, they are mistaken. This is a very
determined enemy. They are watching what we are doing and what we are
saying, and it's critically important that we finish the job in Iraq.

Q But it doesn't sound that hopeful, when you talk about a military man
saying --

MS. PERINO: It's going to take -- it's going to take a long time before we
can finish out this new Baghdad security plan, as General Petraeus has
said. I think only about half of the additional troops that we wanted to
send in have arrived. He said it's going to be several --

Q Why is it taking so long on that point?

MS. PERINO: I think it just takes a little while to get troops moved.

Q Do you have anything more on why it's taking so long?

MS. PERINO: No, I don't, you'll have to ask DOD.

Go ahead, Mark.

Q Sorry, Dana. At the outset, you said the troops desperately need the
money. Are U.S. troops in Iraq desperate for lack of money?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that the Department of Defense has articulated
the measures that they'd have to take because they don't have the money,
and those have been well laid out by the Department of Defense. And they
said that this is very difficult for the troops. It's difficult for the
Department of Defense to move money around. And it's really unfortunate
that the political debate is getting in the way of allowing the troops to
have what they need. I think the political debate is going to happen,
regardless, but as the President said, the troops shouldn't be caught in
the middle.

Q Dana, back on Sudan.

MS. PERINO: Okay.

Q For decades, there's been fighting. Sanctions have already been placed
against the Sudanese government. What more can new sanctions do,
realistically, if they've already been in this spiraling conflict and
sanctions and disapproval for years? What more will this do?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that we've shown that, as a diplomatic tool,
economic sanctions can be very powerful. And it puts a lot of pressure on a
government. And so it's just one of the many diplomatic tools that you can
use in order to help effect a behavior change.

Q So what sanctions do you think will bring a change that you didn't have
before? What new will make them allow AU troops or other troops to come in
to bring peace? What new?

MS. PERINO: Well, as the President said, he would allow for targeting of 29
companies, and then some individuals. I'm not going to give you any detail
on that. One, I don't have it, and it wouldn't be prudent for me to do so.
While Bashir has this time that he's been given in order to comply, we want
to make sure that that program stays intact.

Go ahead.

Q The White House said in other situations that military options are not
necessarily off the table. You said you wanted to do a diplomatic approach,
but is there a possibility that this administration could take military
action, air strikes against Sudanese interests, possibly?

MS. PERINO: As you know, the President's position is that no
Commander-in-Chief or head of state should take that option off of the
table. But it's not anything that I hear being actively discussed.

Goyal.

Q Two quick questions. One, as far as the school shooting is concerned, my
heart goes out and my condolence for the families.

MS. PERINO: Absolutely.

Q -- in fact, from Washington to New Delhi, because among the dead at least
one Indian student and also a professor from India.

MS. PERINO: Yes, professor.

Q My question is that now there's a feel among the students not only here,
but across the globe, including in India, those who want to come for the
higher education here. What do you think the President will have a message
for them now?

MS. PERINO: I know Sean McCormack got asked this question yesterday at the
State Department, and I think it's one that not only people around the
world are asking, but I'm sure that parents who are encouraging their
children to go to college, and that they have it on their minds, too.
Again, I would just try to assure that there people who are working very
hard to make sure that places are safe. Unfortunately, there are
individuals who, if they are determined to perpetuate violence and to kill
people, that they have ways of doing that. And as the facts unfold in this
case, we're just learning a lot more about this individual's background and
behavior.

What was your second one, quickly?

Q Second one, as far as the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement is
concerned, it still is not finalized by the U.S. Congress because there are
some questions by the Indian government, which is not recognizing or not
agreeing to some of the conditions set by the agreement. My question is --
and also last week, India tested a missile. You think testing a missile
last week, and also two Indians were arrested two weeks ago --

MS. PERINO: I don't know of any of that being related. I do know that we're
working very hard with the Indian government to get the deal completed.

Q Do you think anything on the way as far as this deal is concerned, all
these issues are concerned?

MS. PERINO: I don't think there's any connection.

Go ahead, Olivier.

Q Dana, two on Sudan. The first is -- I don't have the wording exactly in
front of me, but the President talked about supporting or exploring ways to
deny the Sudanese government the ability to use war planes in Darfur. Was
that a reference to an international no-fly zone?

MS. PERINO: I'm going to let the details of that work itself out. Hopefully
it won't even come to that, but when there's more to announce, we would
announce it. But again, I would stress that hopefully Bashir will follow
through on his commitments.

Q Okay. And Tony Blair now says the first discussions on this new
resolution will be tomorrow at the U.N. But Russian and Chinese diplomats
are already saying it's a non-starter. Was there any effort out of the
White House to reach out to either Moscow or Beijing to get some sense of
where they were, or to canvas their support before coming out today and
saying --

MS. PERINO: I'll check into it. I'm sure that the State Department was in
contact with their officials.

Ann.

Q The critics of the Supreme Court decision today say that this is a case
in which the new formation of the Court is taking away Americans'
liberties, some of their rights. What does the President say to critics who
don't like the change in what they see as --

MS. PERINO: Did they say that last week when the Supreme Court rules on the
greenhouse gases issue? They didn't. So I think that the Supreme Court --
they decide and we all follow. And I think that that's what people will
have to recognize.

Q Does the President think this is a trend, since this is the first such
decision since Roe v. Wade?

MS. PERINO: I haven't heard that from him, no.

Q In his speech on Monday, the President said, "Families gathered here
understand that our troops want to finish the job." What evidence does he
actually have for that? Because there doesn't seem to be any polling data
whatsoever to support the idea that the troops do want to stay and finish
the job rather than go home.

MS. PERINO: Victoria, I think that there are many troops and there are many
families, and the President hears it personally from them, asking to make
sure that the President stays strong and completes the mission.

Q The only polling data there seems to be is an Army Times poll that came
out last December, which seems to show, really, that the doubts are whether
the troops actually feel that they could finish the job and whether they
wanted to finish it.

MS. PERINO: I'm not familiar with that poll. I do know that the President
feels confident that when he describes what he hears from the troops, that
he's being as forthcoming as he can with the American people. And you just
have to -- I think that a lot of it could be anecdotal, but I'm not a
polling expert and we don't, as you know, make decisions based on polls.

Q So this isn't based on any empirical data; this is based on people he's
spoken with?

MS. PERINO: I think people he's spoken with, generals he hears from that
are over there on the ground, people that he talks to. I mean, he talks to
many outside experts. Yes, I think that he feels very comfortable that the
troops, families of the troops believe that this mission should be
completed.

Q I was wondering why you think that the House Democrats have not moved
forward with conferees? Do you think they just can't reach an agreement or
--

MS. PERINO: I don't know. You'll have to ask the Speaker's office. It's
unfathomable. It's nothing I can explain for them -- I wish I could.

Q Thank you, Dana. Two questions. How does the President believe it will
help -- how long does the President believe it will be before the lack of a
funding plan for the military in Iraq starts costing lives?

MS. PERINO: I'm sorry, how long does he think it will be?

Q -- believe it will be before the lack of a funding plan for the military
in Iraq starts costing lives.

MS. PERINO: Costing lives --

Q Of our servicemen.

MS. PERINO: Let me just say that the Department of Defense has said that
this is creating hardships for the military to do its job. They need the
resources now.

Q What does the President think of the gun control rule which prohibited
guns on the campus of Virginia Tech?

MS. PERINO: I haven't spoken to him about that specifically. I do know as
governor he supported weapons-free school zones.

Q He supported?

MS. PERINO: When he was governor of Texas, yes.

Q And he thinks that this was effective at Virginia Tech?

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to comment about -- obviously, the investigation
is ongoing at Virginia Tech.

April.

Q Dana, what happened yesterday when President Bush was helping the person
directly behind him?

MS. PERINO: That individual was a father who lost his only daughter, and he
was overcome with grief. He shared with the President later that he hadn't
eaten or had anything to drink for many hours, and it was quite warm in the
gym. He fainted briefly. And then the President did see him afterwards,
when he met with the families in the gym, and they shared good fellowship
and lots of hugs and had a nice time talking to one another.

Q As everyone is looking back at what could have happened, what should have
happened, is the President somewhat taking a look to say maybe this could
have been prevented, or maybe this child should not have had -- this young
man should not have had a gun, because of certain laws?

MS. PERINO: I think what the President thinks is that, in this time of
mourning and grieving and thinking about the aftermath of one individual's
actions, that it's only natural that you think about what led to such a
tragedy and how to prevent one in the future.

Q Are you thinking -- is he thinking about changing or stepping up gun
control issues?

MS. PERINO: As I said yesterday, I think that there's going to be a debate.
The President said there's going to be a debate, and it's one that we have
in our country about the right to bear arms, as well as gun control
policies. In addition to that, I think one of the things that we're
learning out of this investigation, as we have from many of the others, is
that there are some individuals who are disaffected in society, lonely, and
we have to figure out as a society how to identify those individuals and
get them help prior to them having -- going on a rampage and killing all
this innocent life.

Q When General Pace talked about some evidence that Iran may be supplying
weapons in Afghanistan, in addition to Iraq, does the President think this
is a spread of Iranian influence, or something that they've just been able
to identify now?

MS. PERINO: I have not spoken to the President about it. What I would be
able to say is that Iran obviously is trying to spread its elbows out and
have more influence in the region, and not anything good. They are a state
sponsor of terror, and the more they sponsor terrorism, the more innocent
life is ruined. And this is -- and these are people that are -- the people
that are in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places that are dealing with the
aftermath of the Iranians providing such weapons are people who are dying
-- they are innocent people who are dying. It is tragic, and the pressure
that we need to put on Iran is very real.

Q Thank you.

MS. PERINO: Thanks.

END 1:04 P.M. EDT
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