For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 28, 2003
Press Gaggle by Ari Fleischer Aboard Air Force One En Route Dearborn, Michigan
11:08
A.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: The President before he left
had his intelligence briefing, FBI briefings, policy briefings. And will arrive at the Dearborn Ford
Community Performing Arts Center, where he will have a roundtable with Iraqi
Americans, and will make remarks on Operation Iraqi Freedom, where the focus of
his remarks will be an update on the progress of reconstruction as the
President sees a hopeful, democratic Iraq
to emerge from war.
And then prior to the departure the President will
meet with the three heads of the auto industry in the area. That will be the Chairman of the board and
CEO of Ford Motor Company, the President and CEO of General Motors and the
President and CEO of Daimler/Chrysler.
The purpose of the meeting is to talk to them about his jobs and growth
program, and also to get their sense on how the economy is doing because,
clearly, the automotive sales is an important part of durable sales and job
creation and consumer confidence.
With that, I'm happy to take your Qs.
Q Any access to that meeting,
or will there be a readout afterwards?
MR. FLEISCHER:
The auto meeting?
Q Yes.
MR. FLEISCHER:
Closed meeting. I'll be there, so
I'll let you know afterwards. I believe
that the three of them may have their own plans to talk to local media
afterwards.
Q Coverage
on the meeting with the Iraqi exiles is closed.
Will we get any readout, or why no coverage for us?
MR. FLEISCHER:
It is closed. I should advise you
that there are many reporters from Arab media outlets who are on this trip, who
flew out on the press charter. There are
some eight who don't typically travel with the White House press corps, who
asked to go. They were
accommodated. And we are going to
accommodate a couple of them into the meeting.
So they will be there for their own reporting purposes.
Q Are
there going to be American reporters there?
MR. FLEISCHER:
No.
Q Why
not allow --
MR. FLEISCHER:
Because we cannot open up the whole thing up.
Q Are
they pooling for us?
MR. FLEISCHER:
They're given an exclusive.
Q We
have to object to that, we just have to object to that. You're going to allow Arab reporters in
because you want to get that message out, but you're afraid of American
reporters?
MR. FLEISCHER:
The reason I put it on the record here and told you is so you could go
to them and talk to them about it afterwards.
Q That's
not good enough. That's not good enough.
Q We
can't rely on people that we don't know or that are not part of the regular
White House pool to report to the American media on something this sensitive.
MR. FLEISCHER:
Let me see if I can expand it into one more. Let me see if I can.
Q Please. Thanks. Some of the Iraqi -- or at least one Iraqi
group has served notice that it wants to issue a communique
to the President to say that they want to control their own destiny. What is the administration's reaction to that
sort of sentiment?
MR. FLEISCHER:
We want the Iraqi people to control their own destiny. There's no difference in that. That's one of the reasons that the second meeting
took place today with all the various Iraqi groups to talk about the structure
of the IIA. And we understand there are
going to be different people have different thoughts about the pace of how
quickly Iraqis will be able to take over.
But there are many others who want the United States
to continue to lend a hand, particularly on security and organizational efforts. And as the President said,
and he'll talk about this in his remarks, but we are here for the purpose of
helping the Iraqi people to arrive at that point. But then we want to leave.
Q Ari, are there just Iraqis, or are there other Arabs, as
well?
MR. FLEISCHER:
Other Arabs, as well. The
roundtable -- we're distributing the list of people who are going to
participate in the roundtable, you'll have that. I don't remember if the roundtable is
exclusively Iraqi, but then the speech will be Arab Americans, Iraqi Americans.
Q Will
the President discuss the Middle East
road map or prospects for the Middle East?
MR. FLEISCHER:
The speech is about the future of Iraq.
Q On tax cuts, the Chairman
of the Finance Committee said yesterday he might be able to get it up to $425
billion or $450 billion, but that that would require offsets or spending
cuts. Would the President back offsets
which amount to tax increases by another name in order to get it up to that
kind of range?
MR. FLEISCHER:
Well, first of all, we're pleased to see a willingness
from the various parties on the Hill to come together so that the economy can
grow and jobs get created. We will
continue to work with the Congress on the exact details of it.
You know, the President's budget, for example, had
some $11 million over 10 years in areas that raised revenues. So I think it really comes down to the nature
of the specific proposal. And we'll work
with Congress to see what they come up with.
Q Would
he support including in any tax package the expanded business depreciation
proposal that's being talked about if it came at the cost of scaling back, in
particular, the dividend tax exclusion?
MR. FLEISCHER:
The President continues to support, and will fight for, a 100 percent dividend exclusion, not scaled back.
Q Ari, when are we going to be able to ask the President
questions again? It's been more than a
week.
MR. FLEISCHER:
I'm working on it.
Q I
mean, last time was Fort Hood.
MR. FLEISCHER:
But in fairness, I understand, that's absolutely accurate for the White
House Press Corps. But of course the
President has done numerous press interviews.
I take the point.
Q --
as much time --
MR. FLEISCHER:
Fair point, I take it, I'm working on it. But I do want to say, the President has been
accessible, not to the White House Press Corps immediately, but he has been
visible taking questions from -- whether it was Tom Brokaw or whether it was a
media forum Tuesday with a group of business and economic writers from the press.
Q Is there going to be some give
and take with the Iraqi roundtable, or is he speaking -- is it just a
one-way thing?
MR. FLEISCHER:
Every roundtable takes on its own personality. So typically there's some level of
give-and-take. What the President
usually likes to do is go around the room and listen to everybody and hear
everybody's perspective.
Q Some
of the participants have told some of the Detroit newspapers -- they're quoted
in the Detroit newspapers today as saying they want to ask the President why
oil wells were protected but hospitals and buildings, museums and so forth,
were not, that sort of thing. Is he
going to be ready to respond to those kinds of pointed questions?
MR. FLEISCHER:
That does happen at the roundtables.
I think the press has been in some of the roundtables where people
flat-out disagreed with the President's position on taxes, for example. That's kind of how the roundtables go,
sometimes. Sometimes they mix it up,
sometimes there's opposition, sometimes people agree. We'll see what happens at this one.
Q So
does he feel like he has to kind of mend fences here, to kind of woo some of
the people back? You know, do you think
--
MR. FLEISCHER:
Mend fences? I think everybody
here is going to be very appreciative of the fact that thanks to this
President, Iraq
is now free. And these people, I think,
see a very hopeful and bright future for Iraq.
Within that, sure, issues are going to come up. That's why the President seeks these
roundtables. He finds these roundtables, particularly where people will say something to
him that pushes the debate, as very helpful.
It's his way, as he puts it, to break out of the bubble and to hear from
real people and to hear the real thoughts that are on their minds. So that's why I said, sometimes these
roundtables just depend on the particular roundtable for the texture of what's
discussed. Sure, sometimes people
disagree and they tell him.
Q And why were oil fields protected,
if they're correct
-- are they correct in
asserting that oil fields were protected but other civilian buildings and so
forth were not?
MR. FLEISCHER:
Well, of course it gets into the plan that CENTCOM had. And I think CENTCOM would tell you is day
one, it was from a military point of view physically easier to land hundreds
and hundreds of miles away from downtown Baghdad, for defensive purposes, than
it was to arrive at a building, for example, in downtown Baghdad, on day one.
So some things flowed directly from a war plan and
the physical arrangements to protect our forces as they secured assets
throughout Iraq.
Q Can
I ask you about -- what's the administration's position on whether Islamic Sharia law should be part of the new Iraq? There are a lot of people in Iraq
calling for the adoption of the Sharia legal code,
which is very strict and very traditional.
MR. FLEISCHER:
These are the issues for the Iraqi people to figure out, to settle on
themselves. But the administration
believes what should guide any of these discussions is transparency, rule of
law, tolerance.
Q So
you're open to it?
MR. FLEISCHER:
Transparency, rule of law, tolerance.
We've always said that there can be an Islamic democracy -- not an
Islamic theocracy like Iran,
but an Islamic democracy.
If nothing else --
Q Thanks.
* * * * *
Q Do you have any guidance for
us on when the road map might be unveiled?
MR. FLEISCHER:
There's an important vote tomorrow in the Palestinian parliament, which
is one of the final steps, if not the final step, in the ratification of Abu Mazen's cabinet.
It's important to let that event go forward, and then if all is
ratified, then you will see the administration move forward very shortly
thereafter with the release of the road map.
Q Within
hours, or days?
MR. FLEISCHER:
I can't predict hours or that type of thing, but it will be very shortly
thereafter. At that point there's no
purpose in waiting. We want to move
forward to help the parties to find a way to peace.
Q How
are you guys going to do that? Are you
going to have a speech? Is he going to
have a --
MR. FLEISCHER:
It will be principally a State Department-led effort.
Q One
other thing in the -- I'm sorry, go ahead.
Q Powell
is going to do it?
MR. FLEISCHER:
Well, what do you mean when you say, "do it?" I think there could be different layers to
it, you know, in terms of --
Q What
is Bush's role going to be on this?
MR. FLEISCHER:
We'll keep you posted.
Q So
it could be as early as tomorrow, maybe?
MR. FLEISCHER:
I want to, the reason I'm hesitating to be more
specific is, allow the events on the ground to conclude.
Q Any
further guidance for us on what he's -- the tone of what he's going to say when
he goes out to the Abraham Lincoln, in terms of -- is he going to say, peace, victory
in our time, or what is he going to say?
MR. FLEISCHER:
I think he's going to sum up where we are. He will talk about that the combat phase has
come to a -- let me do this. Let me do
this. We'll have more to say about what
the remarks on the Lincoln
will be, as it gets closer to it. We're
still waiting -- we're still waiting to hear from Tommy Franks. The speech on the Lincoln could be the
speech where he gives the summary on that.
If that becomes the case, I'll have more to say about it closer to
it. Today is Monday,
I'm just not prepared to go that far yet.
Q Would
it be jumping at this point? Jumping too
--
MR. FLEISCHER:
You almost had me.
Q Would
it be jumping too far to say, is he going to use the word "victory"?
MR. FLEISCHER:
Whenever he gives the remarks -- and it could be Thursday -- he does not
look at it as declaring victory. He
looks at it as describing where we are, and the fact that we are now turning
into a new and important phase in the war on terror, and in Iraq. There still are missions to be accomplished
in Iraq. So he won't look at it as simply declaring
victory. He'll look -- he will use
different words to describe where we are.
Q Thanks.
Q I've got to clarify. I need to ask, the President still wants
to see the full dividend exclusion.
That's what you said?
MR. FLEISCHER:
The President continues to support and will fight for a
100 percent dividend exclusion.
Q Thank
you, sir.
MR. FLEISCHER:
Okay.
END 11:23
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