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Skriven 2007-08-24 23:30:48 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0708242) for Fri, 2007 Aug 24
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Press Gaggle by Gordon Johndroe
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 24, 2007

Press Gaggle by Gordon Johndroe Crawford Middle School Crawford, Texas

˙˙Press Briefings


11:52 A.M. CDT

MR. JOHNDROE: Good morning. The President had his normal briefings this
morning. He also taped the weekly radio address, which is on the war in
Iraq and contains examples of Iraqis stepping forward to defend their
democracy.

I'd like to give the President's schedule for next week now. The President
will depart from Crawford on Monday morning, August 27th. He will travel to
Albuquerque, New Mexico and attend a People for Pete Domenici reception at
a private residence.

Q Open or closed?

MR. JOHNDROE: Closed. The President will then travel to Bellevue,
Washington, to make remarks at a Friends of Dave Reichert and the
Washington State Republican Party. That reception is pool for cameras, open
for correspondents. The President then goes on to Reno, Nevada, where he
will remain overnight on Monday.

On Tuesday morning, August 28th, the President will make remarks at the
89th Annual American Legion Convention in Reno, Nevada. The President will
focus on the Middle East and why the rise of a free and democratic Iraq is
critical to the future of this vital region and to our own nation's
security. The President will also provide an update on the developments we
are seeing on the ground in Iraq. That afternoon the President will then
travel to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he will remain overnight.

On Wednesday, August 29th, the President and Mrs. Bush will visit New
Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This will be the President's 15th
visit to the region since Hurricane Katrina. The President continues to
follow through on his commitment to help local citizens rebuild their lives
and communities on the Gulf Coast. The federal government has provided more
than $114 billion for relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts, over $96
billion of which has been disbursed or is available for states to draw
from. The President and Mrs. Bush return to Washington on Wednesday
evening.

Another update from this morning: The President called the Reverend Billy
Graham to check on him after his recent surgery. They had a very good
conversation and we can report that the Reverend Graham is resting
comfortably.

And with that, I will take your questions. Olivier.

Q Gordon, The Los Angeles Times reports that General Peter Pace is set to
advise the President privately that in order to alleviate strains on the
U.S. military, the levels of -- troop levels in Iraq need to come down by
as much as half. Has General Pace provided any such advice, either
privately or a formal report, and what's your reaction to that report?

MR. JOHNDROE: The President has received no recommendations regarding our
future force posture in Iraq, and I would caution everyone that between now
and the next approximately 19 days we're going to see a lot of reporting
about what different people are recommending, what they're not recommending
-- more troops, less troops, stay the same. I think we're going to see a
lot of that over the next two-and-a-half weeks. The most important thing is
to wait for General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker to return from Baghdad
and make their report to Congress, the President and the American people.
And after that, the President will then make his own report to Congress.

Jeremy.

Q Gordon, given Senator Warner's comments yesterday, is the President
reaching out to lawmakers on the Hill to bolster waning support toward his
plan in Iraq?

MR. JOHNDROE: Well, you know, I disagree with the notion of "waning
support." I don't think that Senator Warner's position on Iraq has
substantially changed. I'm not aware of any sort of announcements of anyone
changing their votes; of Senator Warner saying he's going to change his
vote regarding support for the mission in Iraq. He made a recommendation.
He made a suggestion following his trip there that perhaps troop position
or posture could change.

But right now, as I just said, regarding the news reports about other
people's recommendations, the President will listen to generals on the
ground, Ambassador Crocker, Secretaries Rice and Gates, and also members of
Congress, take in everything that they have to say, and then make
recommendations on the way ahead. But that's not coming until next month.

Q Gordon, one of those members of Congress, Republican Pete Hoekstra was
saying today that the White House needs to move away from focusing on
establishing a stable democracy in Iraq. He called that focus, "too big of
a reach" to expect that we can accomplish that, and you should instead
focus instead on security and stability. Do you agree with that notion?
Because there are others -- there have been some generals on the ground
also reportedly saying that maybe it's too much of a reach to have a stable
democracy, maybe a strong man needs to be put in. What's the White House
view on that?

MR. JOHNDROE: Well, I would refer you and members of Congress to the
President's remarks on Tuesday to the -- or Wednesday, to the VFW, where
many people decades ago were saying the same thing about Japan, South
Korea. And now those two countries are incredible success stories in Asia
-- thriving democracies, allies of the United States.

So the immediate goal in Iraq is to bring security and stability, and for
the Iraqi political leaders to come together and forge some agreements so
this national unity government can work together for the better of all
Iraqis.

So I think that -- I think to suggest that we need to change our goal away
from democracy, they have a democracy. They have an elected government in a
sovereign country. And that's what the Iraqi people want. They showed it
when they went to the polls.

Q The Republican lobbying firm that's working to help Allawi against
Maliki, it's now come out that they're getting paid $300,000 for six months
of work. And the person working on the account is Ambassador Robert
Blackwill, who, as you know, is the former deputy national security
advisor; at one point was the presidential envoy to Iraq. What does that
say about the President's policy that one of his former deputy national
security advisors is now working against Maliki?

MR. JOHNDROE: Far be it for me to judge why people sign contracts for
whatever reason. I'm sure they have a desire to help out their client. But
they're former administration officials; administration policy remains
unchanged. There is a sovereign, elected government with Prime Minister
Maliki and the presidency council. They are working to come up with some
sort of political accommodation in Baghdad and that's where things stand in
reality on the ground.

Mark.

Q Is it still administration policy that the U.S. commitment in Iraq is not
open-ended?

MR. JOHNDROE: I think the President has made it clear that he eventually
would like to see the United States in a different configuration in Iraq;
there is no doubt about that. The surge was designed, as we have said
repeatedly, to help bring security to Iraq. We've seen that there are signs
of success on that front -- the NIE even talked about that yesterday.

But obviously, as the President has said, we'd like to be in a different
position at some point, but that's going to be driven by conditions on the
ground.

Olivier.

Q Just two quick ones. Did you get any chance to follow up on the McConnell
question I had yesterday, on the border crossings?

MR. JOHNDROE: Sure. I think over the last couple of years we've seen a
number of Iraqis trying to enter the country from the southwest border in
two ways: one, seeking asylum; and, two, potentially illegal entry. The
number of asylum-seekers, according to Homeland Security, is somewhere over
a hundred; the number of Iraqis trying to enter the country illegally is
just about a dozen or so. But I think for any other specifics I'd refer you
to the Department of Homeland Security.

Q Okay. And today, again, a U.S. general in Iraq said that Iranian weapons
flows are increasing. Are those kinds of weapons flows, are those a casus
belli for the United States?

MR. JOHNDROE: I think we've made it very clear that Iranian activity inside
Iraq has not been helpful. The Iranians state publicly every time they meet
with Ambassador Crocker that they want to play a constructive role inside
Iraq. Yet, according to our commanders on the ground, we see an increased
flow of very deadly explosively formed projectiles. That is not playing a
constructive role in Iraq. It is -- those weapons supplied by Iranians to
militias are responsible for the deaths of American soldiers. The support
of those militias is responsible for the deaths of innocent Iraqis. It is
an understatement to say that that kind of activity is not useful, nor
helpful.

Q But then why not stop it at the source? If these flows are, in fact,
leading to the deaths of Americans -- you've always said that you were
restricting operations to inside Iraq. Why is that? If, in fact, these
weapons are killing Americans, why not go ahead and tackle them before the
threat materializes?

MR. JOHNDROE: The Americans are being killed inside Iraq and U.S. forces
are taking appropriate force protection measures to deal with it.

Ben.

Q A couple questions on New Orleans. In a lot of very basic way, the city
is still in shambles. There are neighborhoods in ruins. There's pervasive
crime and homelessness. Bottom line, two years later, why hasn't the
administration done more to fix this problem?

MR. JOHNDROE: Well, I certainly disagree with the premise of the question.
As I said at the beginning of the briefing, the federal government has
provided $114 billion to the region, of which $96 billion has been
disbursed or is available to the states.

I think that this was a catastrophic natural disaster that we all know is
going to take some time to -- for the Gulf Coast to recover. And there are
a lot of good people in the Gulf Coast Office led by Don Powell, working
with the states and the local governments. You know, this is a combined
effort, combined effort with the private sector involved as well to rebuild
New Orleans and the whole Gulf Coast region.

But these sort of things are going to take -- they're going to take some
time.

Q What's the President's assessment, then, of how progress is going? Is he
satisfied with the pace of progress, does he think it's moving along at a
smooth pace?

MR. JOHNDROE: You know, I think I'm going to wait until the President makes
remarks on the Gulf Coast next week, and leave it at that.

John.

Q Gordon, there was a New York Times story yesterday saying the
administration was set to issue a regulation making it easier to do
mountaintop coal mining. What's the rationale behind that? It's a
controversial tactic.

MR. JOHNDROE: This is a proposed rule that would address environmental
concerns about the disposal of excess mine spoil and coal preparation waste
outside the mine area. It would clarify existing requirements for mining in
and around streams, requirements that are currently not being interpreted
consistently across the country. This rule is designed to achieve long-term
stability, so, important to maintaining effective environmental protections
in this area.

The Office of Surface Mining's environmental impact statement indicated
that there would be no significant increase nor decrease in mountaintop
mining as a result of this proposed rule. And as before, all mining
operations would have to comply with relevant federal and state statutes
and regulations as well as the Clean Water Act.

Okay. Mark?

Q Does the President have any regret that $80,000 in taxpayer funds is
being paid to a couple that was forcibly removed from a presidential
appearance in West Virginia in 2004 and sued the government and the
government arranged this settlement?

MR. JOHNDROE: I've not discussed it with the President, so I'm not
familiar.

Q Do you know if the Presidential Advance Manual is being modified in any
way so that people who do nothing more than have an anti-Bush slogan on
their tee shirt are removed from presidential events?

MR. JOHNDROE: I'm not aware of whether the manual is being revised or not.
I think there are rules that govern the conduct of activities at
presidential events and people try to adhere to them and, I think, for the
most part, do.

Okay. Thank you.

END 12:05 P.M. CDT
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