Senate Armed Services Committee review of Defense Authorization Request

At the Senate Armed Forces Committee review of the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal year 2009, Senator John Warner (R-VA) said he felt the situation in Iraq was "drifting sideways," but that there were definite signs of improvement. While violence has fallen off considerably, and substantial degradation has taken place, he said, al Qaida remains a threat. Criminal activity remains at a higher than acceptable level, and he said he regrets that the present situation does not show the ability to govern a sovereign nation. "Two steps forward, one back," he said. The Iraq people have a tremendous potential to become a nation that would "be the envy of all in the Middle East." He said he thought the poppy situation is "dismal" and "totally unacceptable."

Admiral William J. Fallon, Commander, U.S. Central Command, said he is encouraged about Afghanistan, because the government there receives a lot of support from the people, and the military force there is really going to be able to provide the stability needed to get them on their feet. Pakistan, he said, just completed an election, and opportunities are available for us to help them help themselves. As he spends his time in the region, he said, he is overall encouraged, and that he "couldn't be any more proud" of the men and women in uniform.

Fallon said that Iraq is a sovereign country and they have the right to do what they choose. Iran shares a long border with them, he said, and there are many things perceived as being good from Iran (in the mind of the Iraqis), but it's a very "mixed bag" and from his perspective, we are not going to be able to help solve the problems in that country without assistance from the outside. His understanding is that Iran is showing positive engagements and is being more cooperative. It's a difficult picture, he said, to determine where we are.

White House Gaggle

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
(Waco, Texas)

_______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 3, 2008


PRESS GAGGLE
BY GORDON JOHNDROE

Aboard Air Force One
En route Andrews Air Force Base



10:11 A.M. EST


MR. JOHNDROE: All right, let me do the -- I'll do the President's schedule. We just left Texas en route Washington. The President received his regular briefings on board. On arrival, at 12:20 p.m., the President will participate in a photo opportunity with winners of the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Voice of Democracy Award. That's on the North Portico of the White House.

Then at 1:00 p.m., the President meets with the National Association of Attorneys General. Attorney General Mukasey will be briefing him ahead of time. The President will come in, spend some time with them. His remarks to the attorneys general with the pool will focus on FISA. Twenty-one of our nation's attorneys general have written a letter in support of FISA modernization.

Then the President, at 1:40 p.m. in the Oval Office, will meet with the former commanding general of Multinational Corps Iraq, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno. General Odierno assumed command of Multinational Corps Iraq in December of 2006, and recently redeployed with the 3rd Corps back to Fort Hood, Texas, and continues to serve as the commanding general at Fort Hood.

As the number two commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Odierno oversaw the day-to-day operations, and in particular, commanded the surge of military forces the President announced last year. The President and Lieutenant General Odierno will discuss the continued progress in Iraq, the training of Iraqi security forces and Iraqi security forces' increased capability to take the lead in combat operations.

At 2:35 p.m., in the East Room -- this event is open press -- the President will present the Medal of Honor posthumously to Master Sergeant Woodrow Keeble of the United States Army. As the Army News Service recently reported, during the final allied offensive of the Korean War, Master Sergeant Woodrow Wilson Keeble risked his life to save his fellow soldiers. Almost six decades after his gallant actions, and 26 years after his death, Keeble will be the first full-blooded Sioux Indian to receive the Medal of Honor.

And with that, I am happy to take your questions.

Q On Condi's trip to the Mideast, what's the expectations, and how does she deal with the recent flare-up?

MR. JOHNDROE: Sure. Obviously, as you know, the Secretary of State leaves at 11:00 a.m. this morning to go to the Middle East, has meetings in Egypt, as well as meetings with Israelis and Palestinians. We have a clear message: The Palestinian people have a choice to make. It's a choice between terrorism, or a choice between a political solution that leads to a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel.

The number one thing that has to happen is Hamas has got to stop targeting Israeli citizens with rockets. It must stop. The parties then need to get back to the negotiating table and have discussions. Ultimately, it is in the best interest of the Palestinian people and their future, and also in the best interest of the Israelis and the whole region, for these two parties to have discussions that leads to a peaceful settlement.

Q Do you fear that the -- Abbas pulling out of the discussions for now will be prolonged and stall efforts by the President to get this going?

MR. JOHNDROE: Well, look, I saw that President Abbas had said that he suspended talks. We obviously want these talks to resume as soon as possible. I think that's something that Secretary Rice will take up with President Abbas, as well as other leaders in the region.

Q Does the President -- in infer from your comments that the President does not feel that Israel has used disproportionate force, as the Secretary General of the U.N. has said?

MR. JOHNDROE: Look, we obviously don't want any innocent civilians to lose their life, but I think that started with these rockets that have been fired from Gaza into Israel, recently killing and injuring Israeli citizens in some of their bigger cities. So they've had these -- a barrage of rockets fired out of Hamas for some time now, and now Hamas escalated it, firing larger rockets longer-range and killing people. And so that's got to stop.

Q So the answer is, no?

MR. JOHNDROE: The answer is the stated.

Q It seems as if Hamas is driving this Middle East agenda, because any time they want to derail the negotiations, they can.

MR. JOHNDROE: You know, there are always people, whenever they see the democratic process making progress, that try and derail it. And so that's why I said the Palestinian people have a choice to make. President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad can help lead the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people in a better direction. And that's what Secretary Rice is going to be focused on when she arrives there later today.

Q Do you guys think there's any possible way to have a peace negotiation, a peace accord if there is a divided Palestinian group?

MR. JOHNDROE: As the President has said, it's a two-state solution, not a three-state solution. But I think I'm going to wait for Secretary Rice to get there and have her discussions before I say anything more.

Q Is there any chance of having any kind of Middle East accord by the end of the year like he wants?

MR. JOHNDROE: We're going to keep on -- we're going to keep after it.

Q Are you optimistic about that?

Q The President hasn't given up on this yet?

MR. JOHNDROE: No, absolutely not. We're going to keep on pursuing it. It is in the best interest of the Palestinian people, it's in the best interest of the Israeli people, it's in the best interest of the people in the region and the whole wide world, so we've got to keep after it.

Q What about the air strike and reports that civilians were killed, in this pinpoint strike?

MR. JOHNDROE: I would say that it's unfortunate whenever civilians lose their life. We do not want to see that, either Israeli or Palestinian --

Q -- about Somalia.

MR. JOHNDROE: Somalia, okay. Somalia, look -- the United States is going to go after al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated operatives wherever we find them. They are plotting and planning all over the world to destabilize the world, to inflict terror, and where we find them, we are going to go after them.

Q Who was the target?

MR. JOHNDROE: I'm going to refer you to the Pentagon for any specifics, but the action was to go after al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists.

Q -- get anybody?

MR. JOHNDROE: I'll refer you to the Pentagon for any additional details.

Q Gordon, does the President feel that the elections yesterday in Russia were fair and free?

MR. JOHNDROE: Dimitri Medvedev is now the President-elect of Russia, will soon be the President of Russia. The President looks forward to working with him. It's in our mutual interests that the United States and Russia continue cooperation in a number of areas, including counter-proliferation, counter-terrorism, fighting transnational crime. So I expect that in the coming days the President and Mr. Medvedev will have a chance to talk.

Q Right, but the President has been very eloquent in the past about the need to hold free and fair elections all around the world. That's not quite the question I asked. What does he think about how the elections went in Russia?

MR. JOHNDROE: I think the United States position in the lead-up to the elections was clear. But now I'll refer you to election observers who have made some comments about the election. They're also continuing to take a look at it. So we'll wait to see what these observers have to say.

Q Do you folks have any comment about Ahmadinejad's visit to Baghdad? He's saying that they're not arming the insurgents there. He said they're not training the --

MR. JOHNDROE: I heard his comments. Nice words for him to say in the middle of Baghdad, but the facts on the ground prove otherwise. We continue to intercept equipment and people coming in from Iran into Iraq with no other purpose but for the killing of innocent Americans and innocent Iraqis, and the destabilization of that country. So we would just urge them to stop that. But at the end of the day, we want Iraq and Iran to have good relations. It's in the best interests of both people, and in the region.

Q Gordon, on FISA, Congressman Reyes said yesterday that he was hopeful that there might be some kind of compromise worked out on the Hill on this issue. Do you know anything about that? Is the President willing to entertain some kind of compromise?

MR. JOHNDROE: I think our position has been clear; we need to see liability protection for these telecommunications firms, so that they will be willing to provide assistance to our national security agencies. We're hopeful that the House Democratic leaders will bring the vote to the floor soon, because it has the votes to pass.

Q How much pressure are the phone and the telecom communications companies putting on the White House and putting on the administration to get this done?

MR. JOHNDROE: I would just say I think we're --

Q Are they putting any pressure on --

MR. JOHNDROE: I think I would decline to comment on any specific conversations. Our intelligence community has conversations with the telecommunications companies about the -- about some of our national security requirements, but I'll just leave it at that.

Okay, all right. Thank you all.

END 10:18 A.M. EST

AEI discussion Iranian influence in the Middle East

At the The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) discussion on "Iranian Influence in the Middle East and Beyond," Danielle Pletka of AEI said looking at the Iranian "reach" from the past helps us gets some insight into the regime’s intent in Iraq. There are a lot of telling signs of change, she said, using as an example the economy in Syria, and how Iran is becoming a dominant role there. Iran imports weapons from Russia, and then provides them to Syria, she said. In regards to Iran’s relationship with Hezbollah, they provide diplomatic, military, and economic support. They have taken a ‘very prominent role’ in the re-armament of the Lebanese.

Kimberly Kagan, President of the Institute for the Study of War, said Iran has been a force of instability in Iraq since 2003. Beyond discussion of weapons, she said, there are a lot of other influences, and that the provision of weapons is just one leg of the story. What is surprising in Iranian policy, she said, is the creation of the secret cells which have become an independent entity. The Iranian and Hezbollah Connection to special Groups in Iraq have been reorganized, Kagan said. She said they have been watching more advisers operating across Iraq to keep the militia running.

Frederick Kagan of AEI said one of the things that is an issue is Iranian weapons supplied to Afghanistan. Too often in a discussion, he said, people tend to look at the regime of Iran from their own point of view. A very important issue, he said, is the Afghanistan refugees in Iran. On the one hand, he said, they have let the Afghans move pretty freely and in general terms have treated them very well, but recently have decided that "enough is enough." In April 2007, Iran began a process of rounding up refugees and migrant workers and "dumping them" in Afghanistan without notifying the Afghan government.

Secretary Condoleezza Rice testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Budget 2009 Hearing

At the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Budget for Fiscal Year 2009 Hearing, Representative Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), said there are many developments in the present that were of concern. At the top of the list, she said, is the "accelerating spread of the capacity to make nuclear weapons." She said the threat to the world’s security is obvious, and said the nuclear fuel in a reactor can be used in "dirty bombs."

She went on to say that our efforts in North Korea to have them give up their nuclear weapons program has encountered obstacles, and that we are in danger of making the same errors we have made in the past. The greatest threat to the world’s security, she said, is Iran’s determination to lay the foundation for a nuclear weapons program.

Lehtinen said that China and Russia continue to assist Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, and said "I regret that the Olympics are being held in the capital of a country which does not respect the human rights of its own population."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "we’ve made a lot of progress" over the last several years. In Iraq, she said, we really did not have an institution that could deal with the restructuring. If America does not stand for freedom, liberty, and the rights of the oppressed, she said, then nobody will.

Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) asked Rice if the American people should be worried about Iran’s nuclear capability. Rice answered the enrichment of fissile materials were of a great danger. In answer to questions from Lehtinen, she said that we have worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to deal with the tunnels in Egypt and the smuggling problems. She said it’s important to note that there are intensive discussions going on with the Egyptians and the Israelis to find a solution that involves all parties, but has no intention of talking to Haamas.

For Afghan reconstruction, Rice said that there is "about a billion dollars" being requested. In response to Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Rice said our commitment to Afghanistan over the last six years has been over 20 billion dollars. This was in defense to the statement by Rohrabacher about the budget being overfunded in the favor of humanitarian assistance programs such as AIDS research.

Representative Robert Wexler (D-FL) said that Rice and Prez Bush made a total of 935 false public statements pre-9/11 in an orchestrated attempt to be misleading about the war. Rice said "I take my integrity very seriously."

House Armed Services Committee Global Security Assessment

Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO), said that although a lot of time is spent focusing on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we cannot afford to be any less vigilant regarding the rest of the world and be careful that we don’t become so near-sighted that we fail to see what’s developing around us.

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Republican Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said that he has concerns in “functional areas,” which were that more than 20 countries have ballistic missile capability, some foreign entities are acquiring American defense companies with critical capabilities, industrial espionage, and cyber-security.

Dr. Thomas Fingar, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis, said that al-Qaida continues to present significant threats both home and abroad. He said the assessment is their plotting is designed to create mass casualties and massive visibility in order to create fear. AQI, he said, has been weakened but remains al-Qaida’s most visible and capable affiliate.

Home-grown extremists are an evolving danger, Fingar said, and described home-grown extremists as persons inspired by militant Islamic ideology but without operational direction from al-Qaida itself.

During the question and answer period, Fingar said with instability in the Middle East, and the importance of energy in that region, localized conflict is a threat to Americans everywhere and it didn’t take “a crystal ball” to see that. He said that a suicide bomber was an “asymmetrical threat.”

Congressman Hunter asked Dr. Fingar if our exposed and open border was a threat, and Fingar answered that a positive development in the last year was the effective efforts by Mexico to make the border less vulnerable for their own domestic stability. Yes, he said, the lack of fences and physical borders along our 2000 mile border with Mexico was a vulnerability.

In response to that same question, Robert Cardillo, Deputy Director for Analysis of the Defense Intelligence Agency, agreed that the access through Mexico is a liability and increases the threat to the United States as long as it remains open.