For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 7, 2003
Part 1 of 3....
Press Briefing
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Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
12:30 P.M. EDT
whitehouse.gov
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. I have no prepared opening statements, so I'm happy to take your questions.
Q Ari, Senator Robert Byrd yesterday had some pretty tough words for the President and his appearance aboard the USS Lincoln, saying that the Lincoln is not some made-for-TV backdrop for a campaign commercial; also that he questions the motives that a "desk-down President who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech." That and Henry Waxman has also asked the GAO to investigate the cost of what he says is a political event. What's the President's response to Senator Byrd's words and the request for a GAO investigation?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, more than 100 Americans in our military paid the ultimate price to defend us, and this President is proud to have visited the Abraham Lincoln, to have flown on to it to say thank you in person to those who defend our country. That's the President's focus; that's why he did it. He's proud of the way he did it and he's proud he did it.
Q On that idea, Senator Byrd also said, "This is real life, real lives have been lost. It's an affront to me, it's an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the President to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech."
MR. FLEISCHER: I think it does a disservice to the men and women of our military to suggest that the President of the United States, or the manner in which the President visited the military would be anything other than the exact appropriate thing to do. And I think that the 5,000 sailors on that ship recognize this for what it was -- the President going out there to say thank you to those who risked their lives.
Q And on the request for a GAO investigation of the cost?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well --
Q The suggestion has been made that the President's political campaign should reimburse taxpayers for the trip.
MR. FLEISCHER: There's not a Republican that Congressman Waxman doesn't want to investigate, and so I just dismiss that as not serious.
Q Ari, is the President disturbed that you have not found weapons of mass destruction, you have not found Saddam Hussein, you have not found bin Laden, you have not found the anthrax dealer? I mean, it seems to me all of these things are a dead-end. What's his feeling?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I think the President looks at this at two levels: one is the accomplishment of the overall mission, and, two, some of the component parts of the overall mission. In terms of the fight against those who attacked our country on September 11th, the al Qaeda, harbored by the Taliban, there is no question this has been a successful mission. The abilities of al Qaeda have been severely diminished, and the President is grateful for that happening.
Obviously, Osama bin Laden has not been captured. But as you look at all the operations -- just ask Khalid Sheik Mohammed how he feels about our ability to track people down. So, over time, the President is confident that there will be additional arrests. But this is about more than one man as the President has repeatedly said. The mission against al Qaeda continues.
Vis-a-vis Iraq, clearly this, too, was a successful operation, a successful operation. The Iraqi regime is no more. The threat is no more from the Iraqi regime. And as you can see from the deck of 55 cards, there has already been, in a short period of time, tremendous success in capturing these people or having them be turned in.
As for Saddam Hussein, and as for the latest -- this tape that is in the news, we don't know if the tape is genuine or not. It's being studied. We don't know if he's alive or not.
Q Well, we went to war, didn't we, to find these -- because we said that these weapons were a direct and imminent threat to the United States? Isn't that true?
MR. FLEISCHER: Absolutely. One of the reasons that we went to war was because of their possession of weapons of mass destruction. And nothing has changed on that front at all. We said what we said because we meant it. We had the intelligence to report it. Secretary Powell said it. And I may point out to you, as you may know, there is a news conference at Department of Defense today at 2:00 p.m. to discuss one element in this.
And so we have always had confidence, we continue to have confidence that WMD will be found. He's had a long period of time to hide what he has in a variety of different places, and there is a whole protocol of the search that is underway, that is being conducted in a very methodical fashion.
Q But would he have been able to use them despite shock and awe and so forth, I mean, really made them operable to contend with the U.S. forces?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I think one of the reasons that he did not use them was because of the successful manner in which the military campaign was carried out, both in the days leading up to the actual fighting, and then when the fighting began.
Q Ari, there's some reports that Germany now may have offered the United States help in the U.N. resolution to lift the sanctions. Are you optimistic that -- has Germany come forward and offered this kind of help?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, we will continue to work with all the members of the Security Council on the lifting of the sanctions. The President's position, as you know, is that the sanctions should be lifted. I don't want to speak for the German government. But Germany, I think, has an interest in working closely with the United States, and we want to listen to them and hear their thoughts. So we will continue to pursue this and consult with all our allies.
Q What about Russia? Has there been any signs from Russia that they're more accommodating than they were in the past?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm not prepared, and I think it's still early at the United Nations' process. No resolution has been offered yet. I think the diplomats continue to consult among each other on the language of the potential resolution. And so I'm not prepared to go down country-by-country on something that's under discussion.
Q Will there be a resolution next week?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm not going to predict a date. The date that everything is backed up against is June 3rd, when the current terms for the oil-for-food program expire. The diplomats will make that decision when they think the time is right.
Q Would you like to have one before Powell's trip next week to Russia and Germany?
MR. FLEISCHER: The diplomats make the decision when they believe the time is right.
Q Ari, everybody is getting into this trap a little bit about whether WMD will be found, which may not be the issue because, A, you may not find them, they may have been destroyed. Or as the President said, they may have been dispersed. Which raises the question that they could have somehow been spirited out of the county by terrorist groups and the like. What information do you have about that eventuality happening? And isn't it presumptuous to presume that the American people are safer when you can't account for whether weapons have been taken out of the country, or weapons materials have been taken out of the country?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I think the real threat here came from a nation state, headed by Saddam Hussein and his henchmen who showed they were willing to use weapons of mass destruction before. That's what --
Q Well, what --
MR. FLEISCHER: That's the basis for saying that people are safer. If you're asking the question, on what basis does the President conclude people are safer, that's the answer.
Q I thought the concern was if it falls into the hands of al Qaeda -- wasn't that the rationale?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm continuing. The President said that the removal of the regime has diminished the threat and increased our security. And I think that can go -- that's unquestionable. It was, after all, the regime that used weapons of mass destruction in attacks previously. Of course, we always have concerns about anyplace that has weapons of mass destruction passing them along. But given the routing of the Iraqi regime, it certainly makes that much harder to do. Any type of organized efforts, organized movements are harder for the disparate people in the regime to carry out now, those who may be hiding or who are still among the 55. So it's a question --
Q It wasn't too hard for them to get three trailer trucks of American hundred-dollar bills out of the country.
MR. FLEISCHER: It's a question of diminishing their abilities. It's not a question of eliminating the abilities for terrorists to do things -- no. That's why when the President gave the speech on the aircraft carrier, he said that there still are risks, that the fight against terrorism will continue to go on. And that is the case.
But make no mistake; the threat has been diminished. The threat from terrorism has not been eliminated, and the war against terrorism must continue.
Q I know that, but you're making these pronouncements without answering the direct question, which is, what does this administration know about not only what has been found -- you're still checking -- but what weapons materials or actual weapons may have been taken out of the country?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, we don't have anything concrete to report on that. The President has said that some may have been destroyed, some may have been dispersed -- he didn't indicate to where they may have been dispersed. It certainly is possible they were dispersed to various hiding places throughout Iraq. So it's not a question that we have reliable information to know of.
Q Or outside of Iraq?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President didn't specify when he said where they may have been dispersed to.
Q Was that what he was indicating?
MR. FLEISCHER: He didn't specify, and as I indicated, we have no --
Q Don't we deserve some specificity on this?
MR. FLEISCHER: It may not be knowable with precision. The President has said that they were dispersed, and not all of that is knowable.
Q Ari, the President yesterday talked about his confidence that the weapons of mass destruction programs, evidence of programs would be turned up. And other administration officials have talked about capabilities and programs. Before the war, many administration officials, right up to the President, talked about actual weapons, battlefield munitions, stockpiles, locked and loaded, ready to go, as the administration claimed there were orders to field commanders, you can use them. Does the administration still say that kind of capability will be found in Iraq?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think if you continue to look you'll find a common thread in the statements made by administration officials repeatedly -- and Dr. Rice said in some of the interviews she gave with foreign journalists just this week, where she expressed again the confidence of the administration that WMD will be found. And there are a variety of forms of that, and our statement covers all those forms. You're accurately pointing out that as we learn more about the Iraqi program, we're finding information about just-in-time delivery mechanisms that they have. But that doesn't substitute for the previous statements about finding WMD.
Q So it is still the administration's claim that Iraq had battlefield munitions, WMD weapons ready to go that simply haven't been found yet in Iraq, but they were there?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, clearly, when you look at many of the things that were found in Iraq in terms of all the chemical protection units and suits that the Iraqi military officials had, the atropine that is used to protect somebody from a chemical weapons attack, all of which were in the hands of Iraqi officials, it's kind of odd that they would have all that equipment for their own forces on the field -- that's typically what you would employ if you're in a chemical environment.
So, no, no changes on it, Terry. It's going to be a long process, and that's what's driving this. And the search is underway. We made no predictions about how long it will take -- it may take a while. And we will continue to develop information; as I indicated, there will be some information forthcoming on what may be known so far.
Q And just one on the visit to the Abraham Lincoln. There are some people who have raised a question about the appearance, that the President arrived on deck in a very dramatic, spectacular fashion, on board a military aircraft wearing full flight suit. And there were some people who were concerned that that might have dissolved or weakened the distinction between civilian control of the military and adopt the civilian -- the President adopting military regalia at the end of a war. Is the President concerned at all about that?
MR. FLEISCHER: Heavens no, that's a non-issue. If you noticed, everybody who came off the Viking wore a flight suit, as you were required to wear a flight suit if you were going to participate in a flight on the Viking. That is what you wear if you're on a Viking. |
