Replies

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 17, 2006
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
Q Well, all right. In the last two months, two former Iraqi officials have said Saddam moved weapons of mass destruction to Syria before the U.S. invasion. And now one of the documents released by the Pentagon yesterday, a letter by a member of Saddam's intelligence apparatus, ties him to al Qaeda and the Taliban before 9/11. All of this, and yet, the President does not talk about any of it with the American people. Question: With increasing information coming out of here on Iraq -- WMDs and Saddam's link to al Qaeda -- what does the Bush administration want the American people to believe about these two crucial issues?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Les, first of all, the Director of National Intelligence has started putting out volumes of information and documents that were discovered in Iraq. And I think that that provides the public an opportunity to go and look, and they can make judgments for themselves in terms of some of the issues that you raise.
But the one thing the President has talked about, as we approach the three-year anniversary of Operation -- the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom is that the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power was the right thing to do. This was a regime that was a destabilizing force in a troubled region of the world. This was a regime that had invaded its neighbors, that had a history of using weapons of mass destruction, that had a long history of defying the international community and failing to come into compliance with the demands of the international community.
And one thing that tyrants around the world know is that we mean what we say, and when we say there are going to be consequences for such behavior, it's important that we follow through on that. The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution giving Saddam Hussein one last chance to come into compliance; he continued to defy the international community. He made the choice, and the world is better off with him removed from power.
[To "what does the Bush administration want the American people to believe about [Saddam moved WMD to Syria & Saddam had ties with al Queda]?", an answer that Saddam was a destabilizing force.]

Q Thank you. Scott, it doesn't look as though there will be an immigration bill passed by Congress this year, and if there is one, it will probably not contain a guest worker provision. Would the President sign an immigration bill that does not contain this provision?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think that kind of speculation is a little premature at this point. The Senate is working to move forward on immigration reform. The President has said that we need to have a comprehensive package that continues to build upon the steps we've taken [1] to strengthen our borders and better secure our borders, [2] to continue to enhance our interior enforcement, and also [3] to have a temporary guest worker program. The President believes very strongly that if we're going to address the problems we face from immigration, that we need to take a comprehensive approach.
And there are a number of leaders in Congress that recognize the importance of addressing this in a comprehensive way. There have been discussions going on among leaders in the Senate about how to move forward on legislation. The House has moved forward on some legislation. And so we're going to continue working closely with leaders in Congress to move forward on immigration reform. This is an important priority for the President. He has laid out very clearly the direction we should go and the principles that are important to keep in mind as we move forward on legislation. And so we look forward to continuing to work with congressional leaders. ...
Q On immigration reform, you said the Senate wanted to -- you were glad the Senate was moving forward with comprehensive immigration reforms, but do you think that --
MR. McCLELLAN: I said the Senate is working to move forward on immigration reform.
Q Right. But do you agree with what Senate Majority Leader Frist did, in terms of moving a bill directly to the floor, or wanting to move it directly to the floor --
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, those are decisions for our legislative leaders to make. They determine how to move forward on the legislative process and the timing of those issues and how they go about it. So that's something for the Senate to decide.
Q And would it be a comprehensive bill if it doesn't include the guest worker program?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we believe that it needs to have all those three elements that I outlined earlier.

Q Scott, the Irish Prime Minister told us when he came outside that the issue of rendition had come up, that he registered concerns with the President about the possibility that Shannon Airport was being used as a transit point. Did the President offer him any assurances? What was his response?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that we have spoken about this issue previously. Secretary Rice had a good visit to Europe and addressed these issues. I think that you saw European leaders appreciate the information that they received from Secretary Rice during her trip. Renditions are a valuable tool in our efforts to save lives, and to protect the American people. And we previously have talked about how we respect the sovereignty of other nations. And Secretary Rice made that very clear on her trip. So I don't think anything has changed in terms of what she has already said on the issue.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060317-2.html

08:37 AM - March 23rd, 2006
Thank you Harry Reid for finally being so candid with the American people.
Yesterday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Minority leader Reid gave away the Democrat playbook.
During the course of the interview, Harry Reid said:

The wiretapping of Al Qaeda terrorists by the NSA was illegal.
That he, as leader of Senate Democrats, would not rule out impeaching President Bush over the wiretapping program.
He would seek to filibuster the border security legislation, Secure America's Borders Act, that I introduced in the Senate last Thursday because it focused only on border security and interior enforcement.
He is in favor of "fair track" amnesty for the estimated 11 million illegal aliens.
He does not believe in improving the physical security of our borders, because with better interior enforcement of employers, illegal immigration would stop (Harry forgot about the very real possibility of drug runners and terrorists crossing our porous borders...I imagine they wouldn't be looking for jobs).

Comments like this make very clear what is at stake in November.
Republicans need to rally around the President. We need to support our Senate and House candidates. We need to volunteer on their behalf. We need to walk door to door. We need to write letters to the editor. We need to post messages on popular online bulletin boards. And we need to wake up to the reality of what a Democrat controlled Senate led by Harry Reid would mean for our country.
To read the full text of the Reid interview please click here.
I encourage you to use the "email this blog" option in the action items box and send my blog post to as many friends, family members and co-workers as you can. We need to spread the word.
Written by Bill Frist, M.D
http://www.volpac.org/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=230