For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
March 2, 2004
VP Interview with Wolf Blitzer, CNN
The Vice President's Ceremonial Office
10:44 A.M. EST
Q Mr. Vice President, thanks very much for joining us. Let's
get right to Iraq, terrorism. It seems to be getting worse, what's
happening today. Is it getting worse?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's a terrible tragedy, what
happened today, obviously. But I think in terms of the overall
course of events, that what we've seen today in these attacks are
desperation moves by al Qaeda-affiliated groups that are -- that
recognize the threat that a successful transition in Iraq represents.
Q When you say, al Qaeda-affiliated groups, be specific,
because -- give us some evidence that this is orchestrated by Osama bin
Laden.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, today we don't know specifically
about this attack yet. It has the hallmarks, in my opinion, of
an attack orchestrated by a man named al-Zarqawi.
Q Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's right. We've talked about him a
lot before. He, at one point, ran a training camp in Afghanistan
before we went into Afghanistan. He took refuge in Iraq and was
there prior to our invasion of Iraq. He oversaw the poisons labs in
northeastern Iraq that were al Qaeda-affiliated, run by Ansar
al-Islam. He has recently written a letter to senior management of
Osama bin Laden's group, al Qaeda, that we intercepted, where he
talked specifically about his strategy in Iraq, and that includes,
among other things, launching terror strikes against Shia in order to
try to start sectarian --
Q So you see his fingerprints there.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And this looks very much like that kind of
an attack.
Q Let's talk about that a little bit, because as Americans
see what's going on, today being the first anniversary of the
Department of Homeland Security, they see these suicide bombings in
Baghdad and Karbala and other places in Iraq -- Pakistan and
Jerusalem -- is it only a matter of time, God forbid, before it happens
here?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We have to continue to be on guard here at
home. We cannot assume because it's been over two years now since we
were struck in the United States, we cannot assume there's no threat.
There obviously is a threat. And we're working at it all the
time. Every day the President and I get briefed every morning on the
status of the threat, both overseas and domestically. And we've been
able to disrupt attacks against the United States, disrupt cells, and
by going on offense, we made it much tougher for them to hit us. But
we have to assume they're still out there. We know they're still out
there, still trying to launch attacks against the United States.
What we're seeing, in terms of these other attacks, in Casablanca
and Istanbul and Riyadh and Mombasa, Bali, Jakarta, this is a
worldwide enterprise; some 20,000 terrorists who went through those al
Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the late '90s. And what we are seeing
now in Iraq today, specifically, obviously, is an attempt to use
terror to disrupt and interfere with out plan to turn over
sovereignty to the Iraqis later this summer. The closer we get to
standing up a democracy in Iraq, the more desperate the terrorists
become, and that's why we've seen the attacks we saw today.
Q You said before the war -- and I think I'm quoting you --
you said, "There's no doubt that Saddam Hussein has weapons
of mass destruction. There's no doubt he's amassing them to use."
The U.S. has not found any significant stockpiles of weapons of mass
destruction. Were you wrong, or was the U.S. intelligence
community giving you bad information?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: My statements tracked with what we were
getting from the intelligence community. If you look at the National
Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION and my
statements, they track almost perfectly through that period of time. I
think it's important here to distinguish between stockpiles and
capability --
Q Because they found no stockpiles.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: They have not yet found stockpiles.
Q Do you think they still might?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Don't know. They've still got a lot of work
to do before we can say we've been through all the documents
and we've interviewed all of the detainees, and we've looked in all the
corners of an area as big as California, before we'll be able to
say there's nothing there.
The Iraqi Survey Group will be at work there probably for a
couple more years before we'll be able to completely resolve all those
outstanding questions. But we do know he had capability. David
Kay said he had capability. David Kay said he was capable of
producing biological weapons in relatively short order. He had the
technology; he had the technical experts to do it; he had the basic
raw materials, the labs, whatever he needed to produce biological
weapons.
He had a nuclear program that had been robust back in the early
'90s, remember when you and I were at the Pentagon --
Q But that was before the first Gulf War.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That was before the first Gulf War, and
there was evidence that he had, according to the Agency, the
reporting we got before this go-round, and the NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
ESTIMATE was that he had, in fact, reconstituted his nuclear --
Q Let's cut to the chase -- sorry about that -- do you
have confidence in George Tenet as the CIA Director?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I do.
Q Did you go over to the CIA before the war and try to
influence U.S. intelligence analysts, as the accusation has been
made against you that you were pressuring them to come up with an
assessment that you liked, and that you ignored conclusions that you
didn't like?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No. That's absolutely not true, Wolf.
And there's testimony from David Kay, who has talked to dozens
of their analysts; the Senate Intelligence Committee, that's
interviewed a couple of hundred analysts from the CIA, that they've
not one single individual who felt that they were in any way coerced
with respect to their findings.
My job is to go ask tough questions, and I do. I do that
regularly and frequently -- either have analysts come in and
visit with me on a subject, or I've been out there many, many times
to pursue various and -- important topics. If you're going to
advise the President of the United States, as the intelligence
community does, on these important issues that can affect matters
of life and death, you have to be prepared to answer tough
questions. And they are. I find that most analysts respond very
favorably to that. They want to explain why they believe what
they believe.
So the notion that that should be a one-way flow, that the
President should sit here and just receive input in, and never have
any questions being asked back out, makes no sense at all.
That would be a weak administration, a lousy way to run the operation.
Q The other criticism that the Democrats, a lot of Democrats
are making against you involves your former company, Halliburton,
which is now under criminal investigation by the Department of Defense
for all sorts of potentially wrongdoing, sordid acts. And the charges
you made millions of dollars working there and you're still
getting, supposedly, deferred compensation from Halliburton -- is that
true?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, what happened -- I did work there, but
I severed my ties nearly four years ago when I ran for Vice
President. Halliburton still owes me money, money that was set aside
for my retirement out of my salary back in about 1999, pursuant to
the Office of Government Ethics. What I've done is take out an
insurance policy that will guarantee the payment of what Halliburton
owes me, whether Halliburton succeeds or fails. If they go belly
up tomorrow, it will not affect my financial status one iota.
So I've done everything -- I've gone farther than the rules
require in terms of making certain I have no financial interest
or stake in Halliburton. I don't today; I severed those ties back in
2000, and haven't had any interest since.
Q How much do they owe you?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's one more payment. I deferred half
my salary to be paid out over a five-year period of time after I
left the company, and there's one more -- one payment left.
Q Of what?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Of a hundred and some thousand dollars.
Q A hundred and some thousand dollars. All right, let's move
on and talk about Haiti. This is a critical issue. The former
President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, accusing the Bush administration
of effectively orchestrating a coup against him. You're smiling,
you're smirking.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I've dealt with Aristide before. When
I was Secretary of Defense, we had a crisis involving Haiti. He left
of his own free-will. He signed a resignation letter on his way
out. He left with his security detail, on an aircraft we provided
-- not a military aircraft, a civilian charter. Now I suppose he's
trying to revise history. But the fact of the matter was he'd worn
out his welcome with the Haitian people. He was democratically
elected, but he never governed as a democrat. He was corrupt. He
was in charge of many of the thugs that were committing crimes in
Port-au-Prince shortly before he left.
The suggestion that somehow the United States arrested him
or forcibly put him on an aircraft to get him to leave, that's
simply not true.
Q So you're happy he's gone?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm happy he's gone. I think the Haitian
people are better off for it. I think they now have an opportunity to
elect a new government, and that's as it should be.
Q Alan Greenspan said in recent days that because of the
huge budget deficit, $500 billion at least for the foreseeable
future, if you want to keep those tax cuts that you pushed through
Congress, you're going to have to start thinking of reducing Social
Security benefits, for the baby boomers, future generations. Is he
right?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I read his testimony in slightly
different fashion. He talked about the current tax cuts that we've
got in place; he's supportive of those, believes they ought to be
made permanent, and talked specifically about those in terms of
what they've done for the economy, and encouraging savings and
investment and economic growth.
Separate and apart from that is the long-term problem we have
in entitlements, particular on Social Security and Medicare. And
those were the issues he was addressing -- the long-term that will
kick in five, 10 years down the road, as we have more and more people
retired and fewer and fewer people actually working to support those
retirees.
Q A very sensitive issue, the President now calling for
a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In the 2000 debate
against Joe Lieberman, you said you thought this should be
regulated by states. You said, "I think different states are
likely to come to different conclusions, and that's
appropriate. I don't think there should necessarily be a federal
policy in this area." Do you still believe that?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I restated my position previously.
The President has made a decision, partly because of what's
happening in Massachusetts and San Francisco, that the
administration will support a constitutional amendment. And that's his
decision to make.
Q And do you support it?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I support the President.
Q I don't hear you say you believe there --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I support the President.
Q -- should be a constitutional --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Wolf, my deal with the President is that I
get to advise him on the issues of the day. I never discuss the
advice I provide him with anybody else. That's always private.
He makes the decisions, he sets policy for the administration. And
I support him and the administration.
Q The Vice Presidential running mate, the slot -- is there
any doubt, whatsoever, that you will be on the ticket with the
President?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Not in my mind. He's asked me to serve
again and I've said I'd be happy to do that. And I think that will be
the ticket in 2004.
Q How do you feel?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Very good.
Q Everything all right?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Everything is great.
Q Thanks, Mr. Vice President.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Wolf. Good to see you again.
END 10:54 A.M. EST
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