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Skriven 2007-07-10 23:30:54 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070710) for Tue, 2007 Jul 10
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Press Gaggle by Scott Stanzel
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 10, 2007

Press Gaggle by Scott Stanzel Aboard Air Force One En Route Cleveland, Ohio

˙˙Press Briefings


9:59 A.M. EDT

MR. STANZEL: Good morning, everyone. We are on our way to Cleveland, Ohio.
I'll give a run through of the President's day, and then take your
questions. The President had his normal briefings this morning at 8:00 a.m.
On Air Force One today we have Representative Steve LaTourette, Republican
from Ohio.

At 10:45 a.m. the President visits GrafTech International, Ltd. GrafTech
manufactures carbon and graphite products for industrial applications, and
they also engineer and are developing new fuel cell components from natural
graphite. So the President will take a tour there. At 11:40 a.m. the
President will have some lunch with community leaders in Cleveland. We'll
announce that location once we get closer to that. You should all have the
list of participants for that lunch already.

At 1:00 p.m. the President is visiting Cleveland Clinic. The Cleveland
Clinic, as you're probably all familiar, is a not-for-profit,
multi-specialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and
hospital care with research and education. And the President will take a
tour there and have an opportunity to discuss with the leaders at the
hospital how they are working to improve quality of care through
information technology and outcome measurements.

At 1:45 p.m. the President will make remarks to the Greater Cleveland
Partnership, with is a association of companies in Northeast Ohio. And they
have approximately 16,000 members. And there will be about 400 invited
guests to that, including members of the partnership of the Cleveland
Clinic and local business leaders.

So that's the President's day. And with that, I'll take your questions.

Q Scott, in the speech, can you give us a preview of what the President is
going to address related to Iraq?

MR. STANZEL: First of all, the President is coming to Cleveland today --
he'll talk about a number of things. This is really an opportunity to have
a deep dive on the important issues that the President believes are
impacting the American people. The President will talk about the issue of
Iraq and the war on terror. He'll also talk about how Congress should move
forward on energy legislation, and also on health care and how we empower
individuals to have greater care -- greater ability and authority to make
their own health care decisions. So much in the way that we did last year
in Miami and Chicago in June and July, this is an opportunity to take a
deep dive.

On the issue of Iraq, the President will continue to talk about the things
that he has discussed in the past, and that is why it's important to
continue to take the fight to the terrorists. The surge, as we've noted, is
just a couple weeks underway, in terms of the full complement of troops.

As you may have heard him talk about on the 4th of July, you know, we all
want to get to a day when we don't have 159,000 American troops on the
front lines. We want to get to a time when the Iraqis are better able to
account for their own security and have made progress on the economic and
political fronts. So there will be an opportunity for the President to talk
about that today, as well.

Q -- focusing on that -- is that going to be a real focus, about wanting to
get the troops back or drawing down?

MR. STANZEL: I think -- you know, the President, going back, all the way
back to January 10th, when he announced the new way forward, he talked
about how we had to have -- we made a commitment through the Baghdad
security plan, to have an increase in the number of troops to bring greater
stability, to provide that breathing space so they can make progress on the
economic and political and security and training issues.

So the President will continue to talk about how he believes that we should
try to get to the goal that all Americans, we believe, want, and that is a
stable, peaceful Iraq where they can be an ally on the war on terror and
not a home base for al Qaeda, which is what would happen if we had a
precipitous withdrawal.

Q Is there a shift in strategy at all? You know, politically, if not an
actual military --

MR. STANZEL: The shift in strategy occurred with the new way forward, which
is now two weeks underway. And that was a dramatic shift in strategy, based
on the input that the President received from commanders on the ground and
leaders in Washington. That operation is now just two weeks underway in its
full array of troops.

So the President believes that this June -- or, July 15th report will be an
opportunity for an initial snapshot of how that is going; just an initial
snapshot after a few weeks. September 15th is another time to provide an
assessment and receive some recommendations from commanders on the ground.

Let's note that Congress debated this issue for 100 days. They debated the
Iraq war funding for 100 days. Then they put in place, in passing that,
they put in place two opportunities to get those updates: July 15th and
then two months later on September 15th. So we are just now in the
beginning phases of that.

Q Scott, is it a shift in message, not so much a shift in strategy, but do
you want to highlight the fact that he does want to draw down troops?

MR. STANZEL: Well, I think if the President has been saying that we want to
get to a place where we do not have as many Americans on the front lines
and Iraqis have taken more control over their security -- if he's been
saying that since January 15th, maybe that hasn't been reported, maybe that
hasn't been noted, but he said it as recently as July 4th. And I can --

Q Would you say he's trying to -- I mean, we know he's said that in the
past, but is he trying to reemphasize that today?

MR. STANZEL: I think those are your words, Martha, but he, in his speeches
--

Q But you seem to be going back -- we know he's said all that. Is he
reemphasizing this today because --

MR. STANZEL: But you're not reporting it, Martha.

Q Yes, we have. Of course, we have.

MR. STANZEL: That's the key difference here, is there is this impression
that the President doesn't want to bring the troops home. He does. And we
--

Q So you're trying to reemphasize that?

MR. STANZEL: Those are your words, Martha.

Q Are they accurate?

MR. STANZEL: I would say you will hear the President's remarks and you can
make your assessment then, just in time for the evening news.

Q Is he going to address the July 15th report that's due this week? Is he
going to talk about it?

MR. STANZEL: Stay tuned.

Q Scott, do you know when that report ends? I mean, whatever information
they're gathering, was it a week --

MR. STANZEL: I don't know the window. I can try to get you that
information.

Q Do you know whether it was two weeks ago, or whether all the surge forces
were in place?

MR. STANZEL: I don't know the window of assessment, so we can try to get
that for you.

Q Can I ask you about something else? On Libya, there's a story out from
the news service over there that the President had Fran Townsend deliver a
letter to Moammar Gaddafi this week. Can you tell us anything about that,
what did the letter say?

MR. STANZEL: I'm aware of that report, Toby, but I'll have to gather more
information for you.

Q Can you even just confirm --

MR. STANZEL: I will have to gather more information for you. I'm aware of
the report, but don't have anything for you on that.

Q Any response to Pakistan's response to the Red Mosque siege?

MR. STANZEL: That's an internal matter for the Pakistani government to
address. What remains clear is, in places throughout the world the threat
of extremists is real, but that operation is a matter for the Pakistani
government.

Q Scott, can you respond to The Washington Post story today on -- that
Attorney General Gonzales received multiple reports from the FBI about
lapses in the procedures safeguarding the use of national security letters
and other procedures of that sort? Should Gonzales have acted on those
reports from the FBI?

MR. STANZEL: I would refer you over to the Department of Justice on that.
I've certainly seen that story and I know they've had comments in it, but I
don't have any information for you on that.

Q Is it appropriate for a Cabinet officer to ignore reports from below
about wrongdoing within his agency?

MR. STANZEL: I'm not aware that that's the assertion. But maybe that's the
assertion you're making, but the President has said repeatedly that he has
great faith in the Attorney General, and that has not changed.

Q Will the White House be looking into and evaluating his performance in
this regard?

MR. STANZEL: With response to the story, you mean?

Q With response to these reports that the FBI had --

MR. STANZEL: What reports?

Q The FBI reports about improper following of procedures, safeguards on
national security letters and other things.

MR. STANZEL: That's -- you know, Maura, that's all I have for you on that.
We'll continue to -- I'll try to gather some more information for you on
that, but I'd refer you over to the Department of Justice for more facts
about what reports they may have received --

Q But he still has --

MR. STANZEL: -- about this story.

Q He still has faith in the Attorney General, despite the fact you're just
-- I mean --

MR. STANZEL: The President's views on the Attorney -- the President's views
on the Attorney General have not changed.

Q So it doesn't matter about this story, or they don't want to look into it
before you make a statement like that?

MR. STANZEL: I'll leave the comments where they are, Martha.

Q Thank you.

MR. STANZEL: Thank you.

END 10:09 A.M. EDT

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