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Skriven 2004-12-27 23:33:20 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (041227) for Mon, 2004 Dec 27
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Press Gaggle by Trent Duffy
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 27, 2004

Press Gaggle by Trent Duffy
Crawford Middle School
Crawford, Texas



12:17 P.M. CDT

MR. DUFFY: Good afternoon. Let me update you on the President's schedule.
The President had his normal intelligence briefings. And then following
those, he received a special briefing, an update on the situation in Asia
following yesterday's earthquake. The President also spoke directly with
Secretary Powell about both the response efforts underway, as well as the
elections in the Ukraine.

But back to the earthquake, again, this is a terrible tragedy. There is a
significant loss of life. And our thoughts and prayers are with all those
who are suffering. The United States, at the President's direction, will be
a leading partner in one of the most significant relief, rescue and
recovery challenges that the world has ever known. And the USAID briefed
earlier today about all those efforts underway. As we said yesterday, the
United States expresses its sincere condolences for the loss of life and
suffering, and we've been working since early yesterday morning to support
American citizens who may have been affected in the region through the
various embassies.

And with that, I will answer your questions.

Q The President was said to have written a number of letters to chiefs of
state of nations. Do you have a list of those nations that he has written?

MR. DUFFY: Yes. The President sent letters of condolence to leaders of the
seven countries that were affected. I don't have that list handy, but we
can get that for you. But the list of the seven countries that were
affected mainly by the earthquake and the tsunamis.*

Q Trent, is there any estimate of how much money we're going to be putting
up to --

MR. DUFFY: I think the State Department addressed some of that this
afternoon. I mean, obviously, the first thing that needs to be done is
there needs to be an assessment of what can be done. There are some initial
United States funds that are already flowing through the embassies. I think
the dollar amounts are $400,000 at the early outgoing, and then $4 million
in the next few days. But I would refer you to the State Department for
more on the actual dollars.

Q Will the U.S. military be involved?

MR. DUFFY: That's something Secretary Powell addressed. He said that the
Pacific Fleet is going to look and see whether there is a role, and what
the role might be for the United States military. I was able to check with
the Pentagon, as far as impact to the military from the earthquake and the
tidal waves --and, obviously, keep in touch with the Pentagon -- but as of
now, we don't detect any large impact to the United States military, at
this point.

Q Trent, is the President going to make some phone calls, as well, or is he
just going to write letters at this point?

MR. DUFFY: All I have is the letters of condolences that he's sent. We'll
keep you updated on any other calls. As I said, the President spoke with
Secretary Powell this morning.

Q Can you just tell us, was he watching any of this? Has he seen the
images? Is he watching it on television?

MR. DUFFY: He's been monitoring it very closely. He's seen some of the
images on television, yes.

Deb.

Q Is there any anti-terrorism component to this? Is the administration
concerned about -- that the terrorists might take advantage of the
situation?

MR. DUFFY: Well, the United States is always concerned about terrorist
activity, no matter what day it is, or no matter what the events are. The
President's most solemn obligation is to protect the American people.
Certainly, any time that there's events like this, the U.S. government will
be working overtime to ensure that the American people are protected, and
the war on terrorism goes on. So as far as any specific activities,
obviously, we wouldn't get into any classified types of information, but
the American people can rest assured that no matter what happens in the
world, that the government will be doing everything it can to protect the
American people from terrorism.

Q Trent, today one of the Sunni parties in Iraq said that they would not
participate in the elections because of security concerns. Does this give
rise to any concerns about the credibility and legitimacy of the election
if this party does not participate and Sunnis don't participate?

MR. DUFFY: Well, I think Secretary Powell addressed this, as well. But our
interest is, we want as broad a participation as possible in the Iraqi
elections and we're urging all parties to participate. Remember, what
happens on January 30th is that a transitional national assembly will be
selected, and that national assembly will act as the legislature, will
begin drafting a constitution, will select presidents and vice presidents.
And from that perspective, they'll go forward from there. But, yes, we'd
like to see as broad a participation as possible. We've made that quite
clear, and we support those efforts.

Q Do you remain confident that the security situation will allow this
election to move forward on schedule?

MR. DUFFY: We're confident that the security is going to be in place. The
American and the multinational forces are helping the Iraqi people to
secure the polling places around the country, and we're confident that that
will go forward.

Q Can I ask you just about some more detail about what the President is
doing in terms of preparing for the State of the Union, Inaugural Address,
who is he meeting with; are some of the speech writers down here with him,
or do they plan to be?

MR. DUFFY: I don't have any plans on senior staff, but right now, as I said
yesterday, this week the President is, obviously, reflecting back on what
he has accomplished and looking forward towards a very active second term
agenda that he outlined in the course of the campaign, from securing Iraq
and having successful elections, to continuing to grow democracy in
Afghanistan to the Middle East peace process; and then on the home front,
continuing with our education reforms, continuing to build the economy and
have job creation, and address some serious challenges, like Social
Security, tax reform and other items -- medical malpractice. So he's got
some very big speeches coming up, with the Inauguration speech, as well as
the State of the Union. And now is the time for him to sort of think about
how he wants to address the American people and try to bring us together to
move forward on some big challenges. I think that's the best way to
classify it.

As far as formal speech preparation, I mean, there's been some early
draftings. Obviously, you're aware of Mr. Gerson's health -- it's good,
it's getting better, he's doing very well. So I'm sure he'll be back in the
rotation before too long.

Q Is Gerson back here doing --

MR. DUFFY: I beg your pardon?

Q Is -- are any of the speechwriters down here?

MR. DUFFY: No, they are not; not at this point.

Q Is he actively working on the speech this week? Are they faxing or
emailing copies back and forth?

MR. DUFFY: There are some drafts. I think the best way to characterize it
is there are some initial drafts, but as I was just mentioning, that Mr.
Gerson is back in the rotation, or soon will be after his health issue.

Q Do you have anything further to say about the Ukranian election?

MR. DUFFY: Nothing further, besides what Secretary Powell said. Obviously,
we certainly await the final outcome, but we're very pleased with the
conduct of the election. It appears to have gone very smoothly and meet all
the international standards. We're pleased that it looks like the Ukranian
people have had a chance to exercise their votes in the Ukraine. The U.S.
interest all along has been for a process to take place that was fair, open
and transparent.

Q Separately, a new bin Laden tape has emerged that's calling on Iraqis not
to vote in the election. Do you have any information on whether that tape
is authentic, or any reaction to it?

MR. DUFFY: I just saw the news reports on that, Caren, I don't have any
confirmation of that. Obviously, we're hoping that there will be broad
participation and we think there's been some positive starts in the
registration and the kinds of activities that are underway there now.

Q Trent, on the explosion in Mosul, has the President been updated on
either of two questions -- how the infiltrator got into the U.S. base, or
what kind of explosive was used?

MR. DUFFY: Let me take that question. I mean, he's always updated on the
activities in Iraq. As far as the day to day sort of tactical type of
issues, I'll see.

Q Can you get back specifically on those two issues?

MR. DUFFY: Absolutely, I'd be happy to.

Q Trent, you said the President got a special briefing on the quake and
tsunamis -- who gave it to him?

MR. DUFFY: Normal briefers in the National Security Council, along with
Secretary Powell, Mark.

Q Apparently the U.N. emergency relief coordinator today called the U.S.
and other governments stingy for spending only a tenth -- or two-tenths of
a percent of GNP for international assistance. Any response to that?

MR. DUFFY: Well, as we all know, the United States is one of the largest
contributors -- in fact, I think it's the largest contributor to
international relief and aid efforts, not only through the government, but
through charitable organizations. The American people are very giving.
We'll continue to be that and we'll be a leading partner in this effort
that lies ahead.

Q Besides, you know, keeping track of what's going on abroad, is he doing
anything special today? Is he outside? Is he fishing? Is he --

MR. DUFFY: I think he was clearing some brush, one of his favorite
activities, this morning; working hard on the ranch, doing some yard work.
That's pretty much it.

Q The French foreign minister is going to the region, where the tsunami has
hit. I know he's going to Sri Lanka and Thailand, and some other government
officials from European countries are going. Is there any intention to send
a U.S. delegation to the area? If so, who would it be? Is there any thought
as to who it would be?

MR. DUFFY: I don't have anything on that at this point; I would refer you
to the State Department. We already have the disaster assistance response
teams heading there. I assume personnel will be going there. As far as
official delegations, we'll make those announcements when they get
together.

Q I believe it was last week the White House was suggesting cutting U.S.
help to the World Food Bank, to help with budget problems. Has this
disaster in Asia changed that at all?

MR. DUFFY: I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

Q Sure. Last week, the White House was suggesting cutting U.S. help to the
World Food Bank, to assist with budget problems. And has this changed that
at all? That was one of the suggestions that came out.

MR. DUFFY: I don't know about that. I will check into that.

I do have one phone call to read out, but I figured you didn't want to do
that at the beginning. The President spoke to Spanish King Juan Carlos, the
King of Spain, on December 24th. During this Christmas Eve call, the
President and King Juan Carlos exchanged their best wishes and holiday
greetings. They also discussed their hopes for good relations between their
nations and peoples during the year ahead.

Q Any --

MR. DUFFY: New Year's plan for the visit? Are we going to Spain?

Q Are we going to Germany?

MR. DUFFY: I don't have anything further on the President's schedule.

Thanks.

END 12:30 P.M. CST

*Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Maldives, Malaysia
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