Text 573, 706 rader
Skriven 2005-03-02 23:33:56 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0503025) for Wed, 2005 Mar 2
===================================================
===========================================================================
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 2, 2005

Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

Press Briefing
"); //--> view


12:51 P.M. EST
  þ Iran
      þ Reference B
      þ Reference C
  þ Social Security
      þ Reference B
  þ Syria/troops in Lebanon
      þ Reference B
  þ Supreme Court/Ten Commandments
  þ Iraqi judge killed

MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon. The President looks forward, here shortly,
to go over to the Capitol to pay tribute to Jackie Robinson, who will be
honored posthumously with the Congressional Medal of Honor. Following that,
the President looks forward to welcoming the World Series champions, Boston
Red Sox to the White House, and congratulating them on their great victory.
And then this afternoon, the President has a meeting scheduled with some
members of Congress to continue talking about our efforts to strengthen
Social Security and the need to act this year to do so because of the
problems facing Social Security.

You all heard testimony from Chairman Greenspan this morning talking about
the need to address this unfunded liability, and he talked about the
importance of acting sooner, rather than later, because the choices only
become -- as he put it -- more painful if we wait and do not act.

With that, I'll be glad to go to questions. Steve.

Q Where do you stand on the Iran question in the wake of Secretary Rice's
visit to the European Union?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, she had further discussions with her European
counterparts about how we can move forward together on a common strategy to
get Iran to abandon any ambitions for a nuclear weapon. We want to do our
part to support the European efforts. This is about strengthening their
diplomatic approach to resolving this matter. And so we've continued to
discuss this issue with our European friends. The President has been
looking at ways that we can help and do our part to make sure we're doing
everything we can to support those efforts. We want those efforts to
succeed.

You understand why we've been skeptical about Iran's intentions, because
for some 20 years they have hid their activities from the international
community. But the European efforts are important efforts. We want to see
them succeed, and we want to do our part to help.

Q Are you negotiating elements of this common strategy, including the
economic incentives?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the issue here is really about Iran's behavior and
what Iran's intentions are. And the question is, what is Iran going to do
to come into full compliance with its international obligations. The
international community is sending a very clear, unified message to Iran
that it should give up any ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon, that it
should come into full compliance with its international obligations, and
that it should cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has pointed out that there has been
some cooperation, but they have much more to do. And we expect Iran to live
up to its international obligations.

And Secretary Rice is now back here. She was having a lunch here, and a
short time ago, just a few minutes ago she stopped by the Oval Office. And
so we're continuing to look at these issues, and when there's more to say,
obviously we will at this point.

Q She gave him an update on her conversations?

MR. McCLELLAN: She just went in there a few minutes ago, so I expect that
she will certainly talk with him about those discussions that she had with
her European counterparts. The President had very good meetings last week
with the European -- with each of the European leaders who are involved in
these efforts.

Q Scott, a month ago, Chairman Greenspan urged a go-slow approach on Social
Security reform. Today he stressed the urgency of it. What changed?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think you're probably talking about two different
things here. What Chairman Greenspan was referring to two months ago was
talking about how we phase in the personal accounts, and by acting now we
will have more time to go about that approach and phase it -- phase it in.
The President has called for a plan that phases in those personal accounts
over time.

So -- and today, what he was talking about is that if you're going to make
changes to Social Security, you need to do them sooner rather than later,
because if you wait, the solutions -- this is his quote -- "the solutions
are going to be very painful." The fact is, that in 2008 -- and I think
Chairman Greenspan touched on this a little bit -- in 2008, the first baby
boomers are going to start retiring. You have a lessening amount of workers
paying for a growing number of retirees. And the current system cannot
sustain that over time. It's an unsustainable liability that is facing the
system of more than $10 trillion. By 2018, you're going to have shortfalls
start to be experienced and what is being paid out is going to exceed
what's coming into the system.

And that's why we need to act now. There are serious problems facing Social
Security, and it only gets worse over time, and it only -- and it starts
costing $600 billion each year you wait to act. That's why it's important
to act now when the choices -- you have more choices available to you for
addressing this problem.

Q The battle lines on both sides here are becoming increasingly sharp. Is
the President concerned about the depth of the political battle that this
issue is igniting?

MR. McCLELLAN: The depth of it? The President believes he was elected to
lead and act and address problems. That's what the American people elected
us to do. This is one of the biggest problems facing the American people.
It affects every American. And that's why the President is really just now
stepping up our efforts to engage the American people in this national
discussion. We are going to be blanketing the country, senior White House
officials, Cabinet officials, talking with the American people and
educating them about what those problems are facing Social Security and the
need to act on a solution this year.

The President has never been afraid to take on the big priorities facing
this country. He knows these are difficult issues, but it was a difficult
issue when he took on the education reforms, it was a difficult issue when
he took on Medicare reform, it was a difficult issue when he advocated tax
cuts to get out economy growing again. And we were able to accomplish big
things because people put aside some of their partisan differences and
said, let's get things done.

Q Scott, you talked about --

Q I give the floor to my colleagues.

Q You talk about acting right --

MR. McCLELLAN: Deb is waiting patiently.

Q Well, what, I have not been?

MR. McCLELLAN: No.

Q Just because John gave her the imprimatur there?

MR. McCLELLAN: You have not been. But I'll get to you in a minute.

Q Would the President view it as a defeat if Social Security reform did not
pass this year? And why does it have to pass this year?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think -- well, because for the reasons that I stated, and
for the reasons that Chairman Greenspan highlighted in his testimony today.
It's important that we act now because the problem only gets worse with
time. As I pointed out, it costs an additional $600 billion each year that
we wait to fix the problem. The President wants to make Social Security
permanently sound, and he wants to strengthen it for our younger workers so
that they can realize a greater rate of return on their retirement savings.

This approach will not change anything for those who are now retired or
those who were born before 1950. And one of the issues that has been out
there is that some are trying to engage today's seniors in saying this is
going to affect you. Well, it's not. It's not going to have any changes for
today's seniors. What this is about --

Q Would the President view it as a defeat --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, hang on -- what this is about is strengthening it for
our children and grandchildren while making sure that our current retirees
and near retirees continue to receive the exact coverage that they've been
promised.

Q But, Scott, the people who are saying, we've got to act now, get it
passed this year, don't have to face the voters next year. Those people,
the actual lawmakers in this country, on the Republican side, are saying,
maybe not so fast. You had Senator Frist, who is saying it may not even get
done this year. He couldn't say whether it would be weeks or months or even
a year. You have Tom DeLay on the House side saying, there are months worth
of dialogue that needs to happen. There is a certain amount of pessimism
and concern among Republicans about actually getting this done. So, how
does the President deal with that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Leadership is about confronting the big challenges that we
face, and the American people will reward those who act to address the big
problems that this country faces. That's the message that the President is
sending. The American people expect us, when they -- when we see problems,
to work together in a bipartisan way to solve those problems. And that's
what leadership is about. That's why the President is going to lead.

Q I assume he said that to Senator Frist and Tom DeLay, and they are still
making public comments that seem to convey a -- less of a sense of urgency
than the President is communicating.

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think so. Senator Frist actually, yesterday, said
that he was encouraged by the progress that is being made to reach out to
the American people and engage them in this important national discussion,
and --

Q The President is saying it must get passed this year. Frist said, in
terms of whether it will be a week, a month, six months, or a year, it's
just too early to tell. It sounds to me like that's a little bit more
equivocation than the President would like to hear.

MR. McCLELLAN: He said what we've said. We're very early in the process
right now. That's why I said we're really just now beginning to step up our
efforts.

Q But he said he wants it this year. He said he wants it this year, and
he's not getting that level of commitment yet, is he, from Republican
leaders?

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay, let me finish what I'm trying to tell you, because --

Q All right, but let's be responsive.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- time and time again, the naysayers in Washington have
said that we cannot get it done. Time and time again, this President has
led, the Congress has acted, and we have gotten it done. We saw that in the
first term when we passed historic education reforms. We saw it in the
first term when we passed the first improvements and reforms to Medicare in
its history to give seniors prescription drug coverage. We saw it in the
first term when the President was able to pass tax cuts for all the
American people and to get the economy growing and creating jobs. And now
we've seen the result of the action that the President has taken. So we --

Q Senator Frist is a naysayer at this point, your leader in the Senate?

MR. McCLELLAN: No.

Q Well, he's --

MR. McCLELLAN: You seem to be, though.

Q I'm not anything. I'm just quoting to you what the leaders say. They're
the ones who matter here, not me.

MR. McCLELLAN: And I think you should talk to Senator Frist's office,
because if you look at what he said, he said he was encouraged by the
progress that is being made, and he said that he supported personal
accounts. And leader DeLay is someone who is committed to getting this
done, as well. So I think you need to look at the full context of their
remarks. I think some of those remarks were taken somewhat out of context
and used very selectively in some of the reporting that I saw.

Q Scott, can you describe to what extent the President and the
administration have been involved with Chuck Hagel and the legislation that
he plans to drop on Monday that will include the PRAs, as well as
addressing solvency?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that we've -- I don't know what level of
involvement we have, but I don't think it's been much. I mean, I'm sure
we've talked with him, as we have others at the staff level. But I don't
think we've had much involvement in that legislation.

Q Is the President comfortable with the legislative vehicle being
introduced on Monday?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President welcomes people that are putting forward ideas
for solving this problem. He welcomes all ideas. He's made that very clear.
This is a time to talk about the problems and make sure that we all have a
common understanding of the problems facing Social Security, first and
foremost. Then we can work together to come up with a bipartisan solution
to get something done this year. And so he's going to continue saying he
welcomes all those who have ideas for making Social Security permanently
sound, and strengthening it for our younger workers.

Q You said we're at the beginning of this process. The President has been
talking about this for about two months now. And I'm just wondering, when
you say he and others are encouraged by the progress, what progress has
been made so far? What's next? And then, what's --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think, first and foremost, more and more people are
recognizing that there is a serious problem facing Social Security. If you
look at surveys, the American people clearly understand that Social
Security faces major problems. Survey after survey has shown that they
believe it's in crisis or it faces major problems. And you heard Chairman
Greenspan this morning -- remember, Chairman Greenspan was the one who
chaired the commission back in the '80s to fix Social Security. And the
result was tax increases and benefit cuts. And the end result is we're
still back in the same problem. It didn't fix the system permanently.

The President wants to fix the system permanently. And when you say two
months, the President really went to the nation just 30 days ago in his
State of the Union address and clearly outlined the problems facing Social
Security and talked about some ideas for solving it. So we're very much in
the early stages of this legislative process and this education process.
And the President looks forward to continuing traveling all across this
country engaging the American people, as do administration officials. We're
going to engage people all across this country to involve the American
people in this important priority, because all of us are affected by Social
Security. And the President wants to make sure that we strengthen it and
that it's there for our younger workers. Many people my age and younger
don't think it's going to be there for them.

Go ahead.

Q The President, at the beginning of his term, made a strategic decision to
reform Social Security first, and then next year to tackle tax reform. Now,
if we don't get Social Security reform this year, does that complicate or
derail tax reform?

MR. McCLELLAN: You can ask me that question at that point in time. The
President --

Q What's the reason that the President -- is that a reason that the
President said, I want to do Social Security first?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President is optimistic and confident that we're going
to get it done this year because the American people are involved in the
process. The American people expect us to solve problems.

Q But if -- let's say it didn't happen, it doesn't get done this year. What
is the ramifications for taxes?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't play "if," but as far as tax reform, we have the
bipartisan advisory panel, headed by former Senators Mack and Breaux, who
are moving forward. They've already had a meeting. They're working on this
issue. They're going to come back with some recommendations to the Treasury
Secretary. The tax code is a complicated mess, as the President has often
talked about. It needs to be updated and reformed and made simpler and
fairer. And we need to make sure that it's a tax code that encourages job
creation and economic growth. And so that's a high priority for this
President. We're moving forward on that priority, as well. But we are
further along right now in the national discussion on Social Security, and
that's where our immediate focus is right now.

Q The reason I ask is, Senator Mack told me he was glad that he didn't have
to deal with Social Security, because if Social Security wasn't reformed
this year, then the tax panel would have to consider it and it would
complicate things unimaginably.

MR. McCLELLAN: I haven't seen exactly what he said, but these are both high
priorities, and these are both important priorities for the American
people. And the President is -- we are early in the second term. This
President was not reelected to, in his view, just sit and hold the office.
He was reelected to get things done, both at home and abroad, and he is
going to continue tackling the big priorities that we face and continue
solving problems. He believes it's important for us to focus on the big
issues of the day and not pass those on to future generations.

Go ahead, John.

Q Scott, a couple questions on the Middle East, starting with
Syria/Lebanon. The President, obviously, is of the view that Syria should
pull its troops, intelligence officials -- pull its influence out of
Lebanon immediately.

MR. McCLELLAN: Military forces, intelligence services.

Q President Assad yesterday was quoted in Time Magazine as saying, within a
few months. That deadline appears to be unacceptable to the United States.
As you answer, is it the view of the administration that if that happened
tomorrow, if Syria got religion, in your view, and just pulled everybody
out, can Lebanon handle that? Can the interim government of Lebanon, then,
handle its internal security, or would it need help?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, it's the international community that is
saying to Syria, you need to comply with United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1559. You need to withdraw from Lebanon. And we've seen words;
what we want to see is action that moves in that direction. Syria needs to
quit interfering in Lebanon. The Lebanese people are standing up in the
streets of Lebanon and saying, we want to reclaim our sovereignty and
independence free from outside interference. And the first step is for
Syria to get out of the country.

They will also be having parliamentary elections coming up. We want to make
sure that those elections are free and fair. That's why it's also important
for Syria to remove the military forces and remove the intelligence
services. And we want to do what we can to support those elections. And I
think Secretary Rice has spoken about election monitors.

But as we move forward on these efforts, as the Lebanese people move
forward to build a truly democratic future, I think the international
community is prepared to do what it can to help. And we certainly want to
do what we can to help. But we don't want to get ahead of that process
right now. It is where it is right now, and right now, we are continuing to
say to Syria, you need to change your behavior and get out of Lebanon.

Q But it's possible, if you get to that point, help could include some sort
of security assistance --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not prepared --

Q -- Israel, for example, has raised concerns that if Syria came rushing
out of there, the Hezbollah --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that's getting ahead of ourselves at this point.

Q On the issue of Iran, you said Secretary Rice is here to brief the
President, and had her lunch with others here at the White House. The
administration, by all accounts, appears poised to embrace the European
approach that there can be, should be some incentives in these negotiations
with Iran. What is the administration's view on, if you embrace these
incentives, financial and otherwise, what about the sticks, if you have the
carrots? How detailed is the administration insisting that the Europeans
must be? In the past, there have been hangups over, say, a deadline for
referral to the Security Council. Does the administration want the
Europeans to put it out there that if there's not progress in these talks,
that those countries will suspend economic relations? What are you looking
for, specifically?

MR. McCLELLAN: You bring up an important point. First of all, the issue
here is Iran's behavior and Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. And that's
where our focus is. All of us have a common purpose. That was stated very
clearly in Europe by all the leaders involved in this effort. And that
common purpose is to make sure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.
And we believe, ultimately, that that means the permanent end to its
enrichment and reprocessing activities. That's the way it can show
confidence that it is not developing a nuclear weapon under the guise of a
civilian nuclear program.

And we are continuing to discuss our common strategy for getting to that
shared objective. We are looking at how best we can help the Europeans
achieve that end result. And that end result ultimately depends on what
Iran decides to do. They know what they need to do, and that is to fully
comply with their international obligations.

Q But if you help them, to use your term, the Europeans, that's what they
want, which is for the President to embrace some incentives to Iran. The
administration is insisting that the Europeans also -- that they stiffen
the stick part of whatever would be put on the table. What is it that you
need them to do?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, look, obviously, we're looking at things, we're
considering some of the ideas that were discussed. The President was very
much listening to some of the ideas that the Europeans discussed. He also
expressed some views. We're all working together in common purpose, and
we're all working together to make sure we have a common strategy to
achieve that end result, and those are the things that we're looking at.
Obviously, we'll have more to say at some point, and then we can talk about
those matters at that point.

Go ahead, Goyal.

Q I have two questions. One, some people who used to work in the White
House, they criticized the President in one way or another, in television
or in the books. Now Ari Fleischer, who used to stand where you are now for
more than four years, Taking Heat, he wrote a book, and he refused to
criticize the President in his book. And in my question --

MR. McCLELLAN: Did he criticize me? (Laughter.)

Q No, he refused to criticize the President.

Q Why not?

MR. McCLELLAN: Hey, no questions for you. (Laughter.)

Q In my -- during my -- during my questions he answered in 2001 and '02, he
said that the President is my hero. Now, what I am asking you, if you have
seen the book, or the President, and why refused to say anything about the
President --

MR. McCLELLAN: I do have my autographed copy. I'm looking forward to
reading it. I've only skimmed through it at this point, but I'm looking
forward to reading it.

Q Second question, Osama bin Laden is still sending messages in the Middle
East and calling on his terrorist movement to go beyond Middle East to
attack Americans or people who are supporting the United States. Where he
is now? I mean, where he is sending all these messages from?

MR. McCLELLAN: Osama bin Laden? We continue to pursue him and other members
of the al Qaeda network to bring them to justice for the crimes that they
have committed against humanity and for the attacks that they are
responsible for against the American people. They will be brought to
justice. We have made great progress in dismantling the al Qaeda network,
but the war on terrorism continues. We have brought to justice in one way
or another many of the al Qaeda leadership. And we continue to pursue
others. Ultimately, we need to work to spread freedom and democracy to
defeat the ideology that leads to terrorism.

Q Again on the Supreme Court. Does the President wish to weigh on the
Supreme Court's deliberations regarding the display of the Ten Commandments
on federal land? And if the justices rule against them, does that mean the
commandments would have to be taken down from the Supreme Court and other
areas?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, to the latter part of your question, we
always respect the decisions of the Supreme Court. They are the ultimate
authority when it comes to those legal issues. So we respect the decisions
they make. In terms of the Ten Commandments, the courts have ruled in a
number of instances, some circumstances they have said that it's okay to
display the Ten Commandments, and other circumstances they have said it is
not. The administration did file an amicus brief in this case to say that
we support the display of the Ten Commandments in this instance for the
reasons that the Justice Department has cited. This is part of a larger
historical display, and we support it.

Q -- about Iraqi judge who was killed. Did you issue a statement about
that?

MR. McCLELLAN: First time I've been asked about it. Well actually, I think
I talked about it to a few reporters last night. We strongly condemn the
assassination, and condemn all acts of violence against the Iraqi people.
The judges and officials who are involved in the special tribunal are not
going to be deterred from holding accountable the regime leaders who are
responsible for grave atrocities against the Iraqi people. They will be
brought to justice by the Iraqi people through their special tribunal. That
tribunal is moving forward to bring people to justice, and we support their
efforts. But it is an Iraqi process. And it will be a process that is
solved by the Iraqi people to hold these people to account for the crimes
they committed.

Q I have a couple of questions on Social Security. First, the meeting today
with the Republican congressional members this afternoon seems to have been
called with some urgency. Is this an attempt to inject them with some
backbone on the issue? And second --

MR. McCLELLAN: I disagree with the use of the word, urgency. These are part
of the ongoing meetings that we're having with members of Congress. We're
continuing to reach out to the American people. We're also continuing to
reach out to members of Congress. The President is having meetings -- the
President is having individual discussions with members, and members of the
White House staff are having discussions with members of Congress about how
we can move forward and get this solved this year.

Q What's the message the President wants to deliver to them today?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think he'll continue to talk about the problems that we
face and why we need to act this year, and also listen to their ideas for
how we go about getting it done this year. I think many of these members
will have some ideas about how we can accomplish this goal.

Q Do you have any detail on this blitz that Secretary Snow talked about
where members of the administration, as well as the President will be going
out around the country?

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure, in fact I referenced that at the beginning. That's why
I said we're really just now stepping up our efforts to engage the American
people in this important national discussion. This is an issue that affects
all Americans. And it is -- Social Security is facing serious problems.
That's why we need to act this year. They're going to continue talking
about what those problems are. There's some demographic facts that we
cannot ignore. Some people may choose to ignore this problem and say it's
not really a problem, or we can wait, but they don't understand the fact
that this is a problem that will be much worse if we wait. They -- for
whatever reasons, they are trying to slow this process down or push it off
to future years.

The President believes we've got to solve this problem now, because it only
gets worse over time, and that we should put aside any partisanship, and
that we should focus on how we can come together on a solution. More and
more people are now starting to talk about possible solutions. That's a
positive sign, that's an encouraging sign, and the President welcomes that.
But we've also got to continue to reach out to the American people, all of
us, to talk about the problems.

Q Secretary Snow said something like 60 stops in 50 days or something that.
Do you have any detail --

MR. McCLELLAN: That's right. I mean, I think it's -- it will be around that
over the next 60 days. But this will include, as I said, senior White House
officials. It will include Cabinet secretaries, and certainly, the
President is going to continue to be out there. He gets back out later this
week to hold conversations on Social Security and to highlight the problems
that it faces.

Go ahead, Bill.

Q Scott, following up on John's question about Iran, what would be the next
step that we should look for from the President in terms of a statement or
a signal that the U.S. is going to change its posture within the EU-3
negotiations with Iran?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I don't think -- I mean, in terms of us changing
anything, I mean, we all have a shared goal. So this is just looking at how
we can support the diplomatic efforts of our European friends. That's the
way you should look at it.

Our goal remains the same, and it's a goal that is clearly shared by the
international community. And so the focus is on Iran and how we get Iran to
come into full compliance and abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.

In terms of -- in terms of the strategy, that's what we've been discussing,
because we have a common purpose. Now we want to make sure we have a common
strategy for getting to that end objective, and when we're ready to talk
about it more, then we can do so at that time. But I'm not going to get
into talking about how that might be or when that might happen.

Q -- the U.S. has done most of its talking with Iran through the IAEA?
Yesterday, the agency issued another criticism of Iran. It's the same
criticism that they issued a year ago, that Iran has not been allowing

inspections, that they're building facilities that are suspected. The
President said that the U.S. backs the EU-3, that they speak for us, but
the United States is not involved directly with Iran in the talks. We're
doing it through proxy. At what point, and what would it take, for the U.S.
to get involved directly?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think the President addressed that issue on a couple
of occasions just last week when we were in Europe. He addressed it very
clearly and very head-on. This is about Iran changing its behavior. It's
not about the United States. It's about Iran abiding by its international
obligations.

Iran knows what it needs to do. Iran is the one that needs to change its
behavior. I think there's also a broader recognition in the international
community that Iran's behavior is not just out of step on this issue, but
out of step on a number of issues. Iran continues to support terrorism,
Iran continues to be involved in human rights abuses that are unacceptable,
and Iran continues, the Iran leaders continue to ignore the will of the
Iranian people to have a greater say over their future.

And so there are many concerns we have when it comes to Iran. This is one
that we're working through our European friends to resolve. We're
supporting their efforts. We're also working through the International
Atomic Energy Agency. We are one of 35 members on the board of the
International Atomic Energy Agency. And the International -- the
Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency has spoken to
some continued concerns about Iran's failure to come into full compliance,
failure to be fully transparent. We want it -- Iran needs to come clean,
Iran needs to fully comply with its international obligations, and Iran
needs to be fully transparent with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, how did the President interpret the signal from Syria that it may
remove its troops over a period of time? Is that an encouraging sign at
all, that Syria is heeding demand --

MR. McCLELLAN: As I said, we need to see by their action, not by their
words, that they are going to change their behavior, and that they are
going to withdraw from Lebanon. We also need to see action on other fronts,
as well. Syria is a country that is out of step with the rest of the way
the Middle East is moving.

The Middle East is moving on democratic reforms in many areas, and that is
a very positive sign. Syria continues to be out of step with those efforts.
Syria continues to support terrorism. Syria continues to allow its
territory to be used by terrorists. Syria -- we have firm evidence now that
Palestinian Islamic Jihad was -- out of Damascus -- was involved in
planning the attack in Tel Aviv. It is unacceptable that terrorists are
allowed to operate out of Syrian territory. Syria is a country that is very
controlled, and the Syrian government needs to act against those terrorists
and shut them down or get them out of their country.

Syria also needs to act against the regime elements in Iraq that are -- I
mean, the regime elements in Syria, operating on their territory, that are
planning attacks on the Iraqi people. And Syria needs to get its forces and
its intelligence services out of Lebanon, so that the Lebanese people can
move forward on a future that is based on sovereignty and independence,
free from outside interference.

Iran -- I mentioned some of the concerns a minute ago about Iran. We
continue to have concerns, even growing concerns, that Iran is trying to
influence the shape of the new government in Iraq. The new government
should be formed by the Iraqi people, by their chosen leaders; that is our
view. Iran knows what they need to do. They need to not be involved in
influencing in any way the internal politics going on in Iraq. The Iraqi
people want their future to be determined by them, not by outsiders.

Q Scott, in terms of the pressure we're putting on Syria, why now, or why
not earlier? We've known for more than two years that Syria has been
supporting various Palestinian terrorist organizations. We've known for
more than two years that Syria has been used as a transit point for
terrorists and others into Iraq. We've known for more -- since the '70s
they've had troops in Lebanon. What has changed? Is it because they could
now play a very distinct spoiler role in the greater Palestinian-Israeli
peace process that we're hoping to get -- will continue to move forward?

MR. McCLELLAN: It's not a "why now." We have previously expressed our
concerns. We have previously acted under the Syrian Accountability Act to
get Syria to recognize that it needs to change its behavior. Syria is
playing a destabilizing role in the region. And as I said, they are out of
step with other efforts in the region to move forward on democratic
reforms. While the Iraqi people are moving forward on moving democratic
institutions and building a peaceful society, Syria is allowing their
territory to be used by regime elements. While the Lebanese people are
seeking to build a democratic future, Syria is frustrating those efforts by
their continued presence in the country. While the international community
is working to support the aspirations of the Palestinian people in real and
practical ways, Syria is frustrating those efforts. And they know what they
need to do. Syria needs to change its behavior and they need to stop
supporting terrorism and they need to get on a different path.

Q "Why now" might have been an inappropriate way to put it --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, let me point out that there was an atrocious attack on
former Prime Minister Hariri just recently in Lebanon and --

Q I meant there is a ratcheting up the pressure at this time --

MR. McCLELLAN: We've worked closely with our French counterparts on this
issue for quite some time. Back in September, there was a Security Council
resolution -- another Security Council resolution passed at the United
Nations that said all foreign occupation of Lebanon must end. And that was
one of the steps that called for it, and also called for supporting free
and fair elections in the country, and sovereignty and independence for the
Lebanese people. And Syria needs to abide and comply with those
resolutions.

So, thank you.

END 1:26 P.M. EST
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050302-5.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)