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Skriven 2007-05-21 23:31:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070521) for Mon, 2007 May 21
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Press Gaggle by Tony Fratto
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary May 21, 2007

Press Gaggle by Tony Fratto Crawford Middle School Crawford, Texas

˙˙Press Briefings


9:05 A.M. CDT

MR. FRATTO: Good morning, everyone. The President had his normal briefings
this morning. I have a phone call to read out. The President spoke with
Prime Minister Maliki this morning, to mark the one-year anniversary of his
inauguration. The President reaffirmed his confidence in the Prime
Minister, and noted the courage he has shown during a challenging and
difficult year.

The two leaders discussed the importance of political progress in Iraq and
the need to move forward with key reconciliation initiatives to secure
Iraq's democratic gains. Prime Minister Maliki stressed his commitment to
national reconciliation and provided an update on legislative initiatives,
including the hydrocarbon law and constitutional review process.

The two leaders also discussed the regional situation, and the need for all
of Iraq's neighbors to play a constructive role in helping Iraq's democracy
succeed.

And, finally, they reaffirmed their commitment to defeating the terrorists
and extremists who continue to prey on the innocent in Iraq.

I also note, later today the Senate will be moving to a cloture vote in
order to proceed with debate on comprehensive immigration reform. As you
all know, this is a very high priority for the President. We look forward
to this debate. We hope that it is thoughtful. We know that this is an
emotional issue for members on both sides of political parties and both
sides of the ideological spectrum, but we hope that we can find common
ground on this issue so that we can move forward with this reform effort
and deliver legislation to the House of Representatives and, hopefully,
legislation to the President's desk by the end of summer.

As you know, the President is meeting with the Secretary General of NATO
this morning. We'll have a press conference later this morning, and then on
to lunch.

Questions.

Q Do you think you'll have any trouble with the cloture vote?

MR. FRATTO: I don't think so. All indications we're hearing from the Senate
is that there is fairly broad consensus to move to debate.

Jim.

Q Tony, do you have any sense of what the meetings have focused on this
morning at the ranch, and, kind of, what's at the top of the agenda? Is it
still -- was it Afghanistan, indeed?

MR. FRATTO: Some of the issues that I ran through yesterday, certainly
Afghanistan as the number one operational priority for NATO, and certainly
America's highest priority for NATO is progress in Afghanistan. So the
President will be looking forward to an update on how operations are
unfolding there and what the next period will look like for success.

We feel that both the ISAF forces and U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom have
been able to make some progress this spring. We want to consolidate those
gains and try to move forward as we head into the summer, and to continue
to extend the reach and authority of the Afghan government in Afghanistan.
Crucial to that is the continuing buildup and professionalism of the Iraqi
army. That's a high priority -- and to also address the other issues that
-- the other priorities for NATO.

Q And do you know if -- have they discussed the missile shield today?

MR. FRATTO: Have they discussed the -- I don't know that for certain. I
would be surprised if it doesn't -- if it's not part of the conversation,
but I don't have anything specific on that right now.

Elaine.

Q President Carter amended his comments over the weekend, this morning,
saying essentially he didn't mean to say that the Bush administration's
foreign policy was the worst in history, he was talking about it more in
comparison with Nixon's foreign policy. Do you have any response to that?

MR. FRATTO: I don't think I have response -- a specific response to that. I
think it just highlights the importance of being careful in choosing your
words. I'll just leave it at that.

Roger.

Q Questions for this morning, do you anticipate three or four?

MR. FRATTO: Yes, I think we're looking at -- I think we'll probably do four
questions this morning -- obviously, it will be up to the discretion of the
President and the Secretary General. I think we're expecting four
questions, and we'll see how that goes.

Q Tony, you mentioned that when the President spoke to the Prime Minister
this morning he got some updates on some of these key measures -- the
hydrocarbon law and constitutional review. Are we getting -- is the
President getting any commitments about when those things will happen?

MR. FRATTO: It's very hard to put a sense of timing on some of these
things. Obviously, we want the Iraqis and the Iraqi parliament to move as
quickly as possible. Progress on advancing these initiatives is not moving
as quickly as anyone wants, and I think that includes Prime Minister Maliki
and many members of parliament.

So we don't have a specific time frame on that. We want to see them move
quickly. Obviously, those are elements of benchmarks that we've talked
about and that Prime Minister Maliki has talked about. We think they're
essential for bringing peace and security and an equity feeling in a
national Iraq that is, to a large part, based on those kinds of reforms. So
we want to see progress on those issues.

Q One follow on that, Tony. There seems to be a sense in Congress, among
members of both parties, that September is a key month, pegged to General
Petraeus's report then. Does the President see September as a significant,
make-or-break time?

MR. FRATTO: Well, General Petraeus has said that he plans to provide an
assessment at some point in September. We'll look forward to that. We have
to remember that the elements of the troop buildup for Baghdad, the
security operations in Baghdad won't even be fully in place until mid-June,
if things are running on time. So we'll have some opportunity to review
their progress, but we have to remember that progress will be measured
across a broad front.

Obviously, success on every other element in Iraq is dependent on the
security situation. You will not have political progress or economic
reconstruction progress unless you have progress on the security front. So
we'll look forward to that. I'm not going to put a point on a specific
month. But certainly General Petraeus's review of the security situation in
Iraq will happen at some point in September.

Mark.

Q Tony, any movement on the war funding bill since Friday's difficult
meeting?

MR. FRATTO: There have been staff-level talks. Those staff-level talks will
continue. I think the Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten, will continue his talks.
We certainly want to see a bill come to the President before the end of
this month, before Memorial Day. That's what the leaders in Congress
committed to. We'd like them to live up to that commitment and deliver a
bill that the President can sign by Memorial Day. So talks will continue
this week and we hope to see progress.

Q Did you say whether the conversation with al Maliki was a phone call or
secure video?

MR. FRATTO: I'm sorry, it was a phone call.

Q Phone call. Thanks.

Q What time was that?

MR. FRATTO: I don't have the timing on that.

Roger, did you have a question? I'm sorry, not Roger --Steve, did you have
a question? You're good? Okay. Anything else? Elaine.

Q On the search for a new World Bank president -- soon, what does "soon"
mean?

MR. FRATTO: I know Secretary Paulson is leading that effort and he'll -- we
expect that he'll have some recommendations for the President. He's
consulting with other major shareholders at the Bank and other interested
groups that are interested in the leadership of the Bank and how the Bank
will do its business going forward. So he's starting that process.

I've said that -- there is a process in place, and I've said that we intend
to move quickly on this, and we do. But it will be a process, and so we'll
wait to hear from Secretary Paulson and how that's going.

Anything else?

Q For World Bank, nothing imminent?

MR. FRATTO: No.

Q Nomination or --

MR. FRATTO: If "imminent" means within the next days or hours? No.

Q Couple of days?

MR. FRATTO: No, I'm not expecting days.

Q I'm sorry, what?

MR. FRATTO: I'm not expecting it in days.

Q Do you know if the President has spoken to Paul Wolfowitz since his
resignation announcement?

MR. FRATTO: I don't know.

Thank you.

END 9:16 A.M. CDT
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