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Skriven 2006-10-06 23:31:12 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (061006b) for Fri, 2006 Oct 6
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Press Briefing by Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 6, 2006

Press Briefing by Dana Perino
White House Conference Center Briefing Room

Press Briefing view


12:35 P.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Good afternoon. I have two foreign leader calls to readout, and
an announcement, and then we'll get started.

The President this morning, at 9:35 a.m., spoke to Senegalese President
Wade. He thanked President Wade for his support on Darfur, emphasized an
urgent need to stop the offensive of the government of Sudan; he stressed
the need to facilitate access for delivery of humanitarian assistance; he
called for the African Union to transition to a United Nations peacekeeping
force; and he stated that friends and allies need to work together to solve
the genocide and stop the suffering of the people of Darfur.

And 10 minutes later, at 9:45 a.m., he spoke to Canadian Prime Minister
Harper. The President spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Harper about a
number of international issues, including the situation in Afghanistan and
Sudan. Prime Minister Harper also expressed Canadian concerns about the
case of Maher Arar, in light of the recently concluded commission of
inquiry into this case. The President noted his appreciation for Harper
calling him directly on this.

And a quick announcement, just to reiterate that on Tuesday, October 10th,
the President is going to be participating in a Conference on School
Safety. In recent days we have all witnessed with sad and shocking
violence, and it just has broken America's collective heart that so many
children have been victimized by violence in our schools.

The President, in the wake of these events, asked Attorney General Gonzales
and Secretary Spellings to bring together teachers and parents,
administrators and law enforcement officials and other experts to discuss
best practices and learn lessons about school safety. There will be four
panels on that day. The first one is "Preventing Violence in Schools," and
"Prepared Schools and Communities are Safer," "Helping Communities Heal and
Recover," and "Working Together to Make Our Schools Safe."

Mrs. Bush will speak around 12:30 p.m., just with brief remarks. And then
the President will participate in the closing discussion regarding the
lessons learned from the conference, and you'll hear from him briefly then.
And as we have more details over the weekend about specific participants
and logistics -- I know that it is open press, but in terms of the
logistics, they're still being worked out, so we'll get those to you over
the weekend.

With that, I'll take any questions. Jim.

Q Has the President spoken with Senator Warner, since the Senator's return?

MS. PERINO: Not that I know of, today. I believe -- you know, they speak
often, but I don't think that they've spoken since Senator Warner returned
from his trip.

Q What's the reaction to this notion if Iraq does not become a, sort of,
safer place in the next 60 to 90 days, that perhaps the government should
consider a change in course?

MS. PERINO: I don't know what Senator Warner meant by that. And I would
point you back a little bit to the President's speech on August 31st. That
was a first in a series of speeches that he gave -- that was in Salt Lake
City to the American Legion -- in which he said, this is a crucial moment.
And he said that the American people are very patient, as long as the Iraqi
government continues to make hard decisions and continues to make progress.

Secretary Rice was in Baghdad yesterday and she was reiterating the same
message. She said political solutions are critical at this time; we
realized that there would be a spike of violence during Ramadan -- that has
been traditionally the case; violence that is being perpetrated by the
terrorists and the Saddamists and the rejectionists is one that continues
to kill our own soldiers, as well as Iraqi soldiers, and especially
heartbreaking are the innocent men, women and children who are being
targeted by these folks.

One of the hard decisions that the Iraqis had to make this week was after
concluding an investigation about a police unit possibly being complicit in
the violence and some of the torture that was going on in the city, that
they shut that unit down.

In addition to that, they continue to make progress by thinking about
political solutions. And just this week it was Prime Minister Maliki who
announced a four-point plan, the purpose of which is to bring together
representatives of each party and the different religious and tribal
leaders, in order to reach a political consensus so that they can move
forward with a new government.

Q But I don't think looking at Iraq this week and saying that there's
progress being made -- certainly Senator Warner isn't indicating that at
all. Am what I'm hearing from Secretary Rice and perhaps some of your
comments are the beginnings of a warning to the Iraqi government, and
perhaps getting the American people -- signaling to the American people
that perhaps a change might be coming in the next 60 to 90 days?

MS. PERINO: I wouldn't look at it that way. Secretary Rice -- the purpose
of her trip was to reiterate the support of the American people and to
remind and help this young government to start making the tough decisions
that they need to make and to help stand themselves up. The government is a
little bit more than -- just about five months old. And, yes, the American
people are very patient; we are committed as a country to winning. We
understand the stakes of victory and the consequences of defeat. But in
terms of it being a warning, no, I would not consider it a warning.

Q You're saying you don't quite understand what Senator Warner meant by
that? It seems pretty clear --

MS. PERINO: No, I don't know -- I think your question was, what did he mean
in terms of how would we be switching gears in 60 to 90 days. I don't know
what his suggestions were in terms of that, and if we get anything more on
that, or if he makes any further public comments, we'll take a look at
them.

Q But you're not considering any switch in gears?

MS. PERINO: We are continually looking at ways to adapt to the enemy and to
stay ahead of them and to help this young government, continually trying to
work how to be flexible. We have a pretty nimble strategy, and I think
Caldwell talked about that this week. And things can change within 60 to 90
days, in terms of needs, in terms of different areas. For example, in some
places we've been able to turn over security to the Iraqi forces, and in
other places we had to beef up with some more American support.

Jessica.

Q When the Secretary was there yesterday, she said that the security
situation in Baghdad is not being helped by political inaction. Does the
President agree that there's a problem with political inaction in Baghdad,
in Iraq?

MS. PERINO: I think that we want to make sure that they understand that
even though it's hard -- we're a democracy that's had about 200 years of
experience, and we can figure out ways to work well with one another. This
young democracy is coming to the table with a lot of anger and distrust,
and they have to find ways politically in order to help find those
solutions. I do think that Prime Minister Maliki, who has asked us for our
patience and reassurance that we are going to stick with them, has shown
some innovation, in terms of his ideas of pulling together this four-point
plan. And as I understand it, it includes some of the parties that had been
most recalcitrant and not interested in participating.

So that is encouraging. But no doubt about it, this is very tough, it's
very troubling, and it's very heartbreaking when innocent men and women and
children die at the hands of the terrorists.

Helen.

Q A lot of the innocent men, women and children have been harmed by the
tons of cluster bombs that we sent to Israel the last days of the war. Is
the President doing anything to compensate or to help these people now,
make amends in southern Lebanon?

MS. PERINO: Yes, and I think there are -- our financial contribution at
this point is $230 million, and in addition to that, I don't know if you
are aware, I think it was just last weekend, the President sent a team of
five top CEOs of the United States to go over and work with the Lebanese
government in order to find ways that we, in America, can help. It's
similar to the efforts with the Iranian earthquake earlier in the year,
where Americans are very generous of spirit and generous when they open up
their pocketbooks. So on all fronts, we will be helping in terms of the
reconstruction.

I don't have any specifics in regards to the bombs that you mention in the
story that was in The New York Times today. If I can get some more, I'll
certainly reply to you. But the reconstruction and rebuilding, we'd have to
consider that problem, as well, as we move forward.

Toby.

Q The Japanese apparently believe that North Korea is going to test a
nuclear weapon this weekend. Would you concur with that assessment, or
disagree with it?

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to comment on any of our intelligence, but we
have -- the North Koreans, themselves, put out a statement saying that they
were planning to test a device. And what we have done is, the international
community has joined us in sending a clear signal to the North Koreans that
any such test of a nuclear device would be unacceptable. It is not in the
best interest of the North Koreans. And this hostile act would be most
incendiary and threatening to North Korea's immediate neighbors. It would
be destabilizing to the region and could lead to further escalation of
tensions. And a test by its very nature could advance the North Koreans
capabilities.

Q What would be the repercussions from the United States if they were to
test? And how soon would the repercussions be felt?

MS. PERINO: I would refer you back to what Under Secretary Nick Burns has
said about possible next steps. But one thing is for sure is that we will
be continuing to work with our partners in the region using our influence
to the greatest extent possible, as well as those of our partners -- the
five of the six-party talks.

Mark.

Q If I could go back to the war for a second. His two-word summary of the
situation in Iraq was "drifting sideways." Would you agree with that
assessment?

MS. PERINO: I haven't spoken to the President about Senator Warner's
comments or his visit, and I know that the President would be anxious to
hear from Senator Warner, and perhaps we'll have something for you later if
they are able to connect either by phone or in the coming days.

I think that the commanders on the ground continue to tell us that while it
is very tough and it is hard, that if we continue to be nimble and
flexible, that if we keep our commitment there, that we'll be able to help
this young democracy succeed. So until we have a little bit more, in terms
of a conversation between the President and Senator Warner, I don't know.

Q But you're not rejecting that? I mean, that's --

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to question what Senator Warner said that he saw
or that he felt, no.

Q Obviously, he's been a supporter of the war, he's a very well-respected
thinker. He's been to Iraq many times. He goes to Iraq and he literally
can't get around the country. And his reaction (inaudible) -- remarks is
that things are drifting sideways and they're not encouraging here. And it
strikes me as the President ought to take a look and want to talk to the
Senator. Has anyone from the White House been in contact with him to get a
fuller explanation of what he's talking about?

MS. PERINO: I don't have an update in terms of the past few hours this
morning, if someone had been in touch with him directly after his visit. I
know that we have regular contact with Senator Warner. I don't believe that
in his comments that he lessened his commitment to his support of the war
in Iraq, but he has said --

Q No, but he provided a pretty stark assessment of where he thinks things
are going --

MS. PERINO: He did?

Q -- and things that aren't going well.

MS. PERINO: That's right. And as soon as -- if we have more to say, in
terms of a conversation that we have with him, I'll certainly provide that.
I think we would -- I was pointing back to you the things that I have
mentioned that, it is very tough. Secretary Rice said yesterday, we need to
have political solutions along with the military solutions so that we can
help this young democracy fully stabilize and get the security situation
under control.

Peter.

Q Thanks, Dana. Going back to the school safety forum next week, to what
extent should the availability of guns be on the agenda for that?

MS. PERINO: Well, there is going to be -- the President wanted the Attorney
General and Secretary Spellings to work jointly on this. So they will be
talking about both the law enforcement side of things and how to prevent
violence, how to recognize it when it comes -- or recognize it before it
starts.

And the debate over gun control is one that Americans are keenly aware of;
it's a politically charged debate. And as you know, the President has been
supportive of the Second Amendment in general, believes that people who are
law-abiding citizens and pass background checks should be allowed to own
guns. However, even going back to when he was governor, he supported
weapons-free school zones and instant background checks, and other things
of that nature. So it's certainly possible that on these panel discussions,
which aren't scripted, that people could talk about gun control and
availability of guns.

Q Are advocacy groups on either side going to be involved in this, invited
to --

MS. PERINO: I have not seen a final list. In fact, they're trying to right
now try to pull together a list of invitees, which I hope that we'll be
able to get to you over the weekend as that finalizes.

I do know that the Secret Service is going to be a participant. One of the
things that the Secret Service has is a partnership with the Secretary of
Education and the Department of Education, in which they work to -- they've
done a lot of research, in terms of how schools can keep themselves safe.
And so you'll not only have Department of Justice representatives and local
law enforcement folks, but the Secret Service will add another element to
the security side of things.

Q Of course, the use --or some would say, abuse -- of guns, is the one
common thread in all of these recent incidents. So you're indicating that
-- has the President's thinking at all on gun control changed because of
what's happened in these incidents over the past few weeks?

MS. PERINO: Not that I've heard. I think that the purpose of this
conference is to bring together the collective thinking of America, in
terms of not only how we can help recognize violence and stop it before it
happens, but to look at how we can make schools safer places to be, and
also a good focus on how we can help communities heal, especially children
heal. And, thankfully, there's been a lot of research and good information
coming out of these communities since the Columbine incident. And that type
of work has been able to be used in other instances, as well, in terms of
helping children recover from the trauma of the 9/11 attacks or other such
tragedies.

And so we'll bring the best thinking together. I wouldn't expect a lot of
policy outcomes and recommendations to come out of this conference. This is
a gathering where people will be sharing thoughts, best practices, and
hopefully coming up with some ideas that can help school districts.

Q Dana, you mentioned the President's calls about the Darfur situation
today. The group Save Darfur Coalition has a recent pretty big ad buy in
newspapers and TV. They show graphic images of children and women, and at
the end of these ads, it says, "President Bush, stop the genocide now."
Could I get you to react to the charge that the U.S. should and could do
more, that this last line, the President somehow has the ability to stop
the genocide in Darfur?

MS. PERINO: I believe it's -- you've heard the President. He is one of -- I
believe he was the first to call this violence in Darfur genocide. And he
has called upon the international community and the United Nations, as
recently as two weeks ago when we were at the U.N. General Assembly annual
meeting, for the United Nations to create a blue helmeted force in the
region. He does not think that they have moved fast enough. We know that we
have to work with the international community in order to get this done.

One of the things the President did when he was in New York was to appoint
special envoy Andrew Natsios to the -- to be a special envoy for Darfur. I
expect he'll be going to the region soon, and perhaps from there we can get
some movement on behalf of the government there.

Q If the Sudanese government continues to resist a strong U.N. force, what
are the options?

MS. PERINO: I think what I would do is let Andrew Natsios get down there
and survey the situation, and then come back and work with the United
Nations in order to figure out how to get there. What the President wants
to see is a blue helmeted force in the region.

Q Is a U.S. military force there off the table?

MS. PERINO: I don't think anyone is talking about that right now. I think
what the President would like to see is a blue helmeted force in the area.

April.

Q Back on Darfur. I understand that sanctions are still an option. What
sanctions are in play, or are thought about as it relates to Darfur --

MS. PERINO: I checked into this after you asked me this morning. I
understand that we currently have a pretty full and extensive list of
sanctions -- economic sanctions imposed upon the government of Sudan. I
will give you a few of these, that they relate to prohibition of foreign
assistance, a ban of defense exports and sales, controls over U.S. export
to Sudan of dual-use items, directed voting at the international financial
institutions, and other miscellaneous financial restrictions.

And is your question, are there more on the table?

Q Right --

MS. PERINO: Those are in place right now.

Q What more, what other sanctions are they talking about? I understand more
sanctions are in play. What sanctions are up in the air to put more
pressure on the Sudanese government to allow --

MS. PERINO: I think before we detail any of those discussions out, it's a
good idea not to tie Andrew Natsios' hands behind his back, let him go the
region, survey the situation, make the President's case, and explain why he
believes -- or the President believes so strongly that a United Nations
blue-helmeted force is the best way to help bring stability to the region
and stop the genocide and the killing of these innocent women and children.

Q And also, another question to ask, as a follow up, does this
administration believe guns are playing a central part, more so than just a
healing of the community in this conference? And this recent wave of
shootings across the country --

MS. PERINO: Well, no doubt that American citizens who have a gun should
abide by the laws and should understand the difference between right and
wrong.

The purpose of this conference really is to bring together the best
practices of everyone's thinking on those range of issues that I talked
about, not only the security side of things, in terms of prevention of the
violence before it happens, but also looking at how to make sure that the
schools are safe buildings, and that's one of the things the Secret Service
can really help shed some light on, on Tuesday. And then moving on into the
other pieces in terms of the healing.

Q Will one of the panels specifically deal with the issue of guns, because
many are concerned that this administration, with the President's view of
Second Amendment rights, that this administration will kind of gloss over
the gun use issue, or gun issue and just move into --

MS. PERINO: There will be no glossing over of any issues at this
conference. It is an open-ended discussion. Let me give you a little bit
more description of that first panel. I think that's the one that you're
most interested in. This is the one that is headed by Attorney General
Gonzales called, "Preventing Violence in Schools."

The panel will examine the scope of the school violence problem and focus
on lessons learned from prior experiences. The goal of this best practices
session is to offer common sense ideas and solutions from law enforcement
and security experts. They can help the schools effectively from both
outside and inside, prevent these attackers. That doesn't -- that means
that we're not ruling anything in or out in terms of the discussion.

Lester.

Q Yes, I have two questions. Since The New York Times reports this morning
that radio station WHO in Des Moines has been running a commercial of Tony
Snow promoting Nu-Vu, I'm wondering if you know of any recordings of Tony
as a radio talk show host having difficulty getting non-evasive answers to
his questions of White House Press Secretary?

MS. PERINO: I don't even know if I understand the question, but I don't --
I think the answer is, no. (Laughter.)

Q Okay. All right. Has the President -- has the President expressed any
gratitude that talk radio host Mike Gallagher was able to persuade that
church group in Kansas not to disrupt the funeral services for those five
Amish girl murder victims in Pennsylvania?

MS. PERINO: I'm not sure that the President is aware of that particular
incident, but certainly he believes that no funeral should be protested.
Those are private family affairs.

Victoria.

Q Is the President disappointed with what former Attorney General John
Ashcroft has said about the 9/11 Commission hearing, that they degenerated
into show trials and that they were not so much about discovering the truth
as they were about assessing blame and grandstanding?

MS. PERINO: I don't know if the President has had a chance to look at
Ashcroft's book. I certainly haven't spoken to him about it, and I think
we're going to decline comment on his book.

Q Could you find out for us?

MS. PERINO: I'll see if I can.

Q Dana, how does the bookkeeping work on days when Tony is out doing
politics? Is he taking a vacation day today?

MS. PERINO: There are rules that govern that, that are handled by the
ethics office. All of those rules are being followed. I don't -- since I am
not in demand on the fundraising circuit, I don't know really what they
are. (Laughter.)

Q Would you like to be in demand on the fundraising circuit? (Laughter.)

MS. PERINO: I'd much rather be here with you. (Laughter.)

Q Japan made a decision today to reduce their stakes in the Iranian
Azadegan oil fields from 75 percent to 10 percent. The Bush administration
has repeatedly encouraged the Japanese to be cautious in investing in a
terrorist-supported nation. Would it be safe to say that the Bush
administration sees this new action by Japan as positive? And more
generally, how does the administration view countries investing in the
Iranian energy sector?

MS. PERINO: I think it would be safest to say that the government of Japan
has made its position on Iran's nuclear activities well known. We hold the
same position. Iran should suspend all enrichment and reprocessing
activities. There's a meeting going on today in London talking just about
that.

And as to whether or not this divestiture, as I think you called it is
linked to that position, I would have to refer you over to the sovereign
government of Japan.

Ann.

Q To clarify two things that you've already addressed, does the President
think John Warner is wrong on the phrase "sideways drift" in Iraq?

MS. PERINO: What I said was that I don't believe that the President has
spoken to Senator Warner --

Q That wasn't my question. Senator Warner says that Iraq is in a "sideways
drift."

MS. PERINO: I don't believe that the President thinks that way. I think
that he believes that while it is tough going in Iraq, that slow progress
is being made. We would like to see more progress; Secretary Rice was there
yesterday prodding the new Iraqi government to make more political answers
to some of the problems that they're facing.

The President has not spoken to John Warner that I'm aware. I'm sure he
would be interested in doing so. And if there's more on that I can get back
to you.

Q And on the Second Amendment, I didn't hear whether you were actually
asked, a member of Congress would like to provide for arming some teachers
in schools. Does the President think that sounds like a promising path
forward?

MS. PERINO: That is also something I have not asked the President. It's not
something I've heard come up, in terms of conversations. So I would let the
congressman -- whoever it was that said that -- to sort of explain his
reasoning on that.

Sheryl.

Q Dana, on the detainee legislation, it's been I think about a week since
that bill passed Congress. Why have we not yet seen a bill signing --

MS. PERINO: I think it's underway, in terms of getting scheduled. It's not
going to be next week, but probably the week after -- I think on the 17th.
And as soon as we have that finalized I'll let you know.

Q Will the bill signing coincide with the issuance of an executive order?

MS. PERINO: Not necessarily. I think that that would be a little bit
premature.

Q Is there work being done on the executive order?

MS. PERINO: Let me check for you. I don't know. I know that DOD and DOJ are
working to move forward on the military commission side of things. In terms
of an executive order, I would need to check on that.

Yes, Paula.

Q Dana, on global warming, there's mounting scientific evidence that
climate change is occurring much faster than earlier predicted, as well as
the human factor being a much greater contributing factor to climate
change. Is the White House thinking, or rethinking its current climate
change policy, as well as its definition of what constitutes sound science?

MS. PERINO: The definition of sound science is "sound." And that doesn't
change. What the President said in 2001 is that he established a goal for
the United States to reduce the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 12
percent -- I'm sorry, by 18 percent by 2012. And we are on track to meet
that goal. And what he said is that while the research is ongoing, that we
will take stock of it and that if we aren't making that goal, if research
indicates otherwise, that we might have to take additional aggressive
action. That has been his policy since 2001.

Q But there is research indicating that you are not meeting and you are not
on track --

MS. PERINO: No, we are on track. And I would refer you to the Energy
Information Administration, which is the independent arm, statistical arm
of the Department of Energy, which just released that report in the spring.
And we are on track. We've been on track every year.

Thank you.

END 1:01 P.M. EDT
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