White House Gaggle

Briefer: Dana Perino


President’s Schedule

President Bush participates in a photo opportunity and makes remarks to members of the 2008 United States Summer Olympic Team in the Rose Garden. At 10.55 am, he participates in another photo opportunity with the 2008 March of Dimes National Ambassador in the Oval Office of the White House. This afternoon, at 1:15 pm, President Bush meets with the President of Kosovo and the Prime Minister of Kosovo.
This evening, the President and Mrs. Bush host a social dinner in honor of United States past and present Olympians in the East Room of the White House.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino will brief the press at 12.15 pm

Iraq:

When asked about a statement from the Iraqi press secretary about a timetable suggesting US combat troops to be out of Iraq by 2010, corresponding with Sen. Obama’s plan for withdrawal, Perino said that she did not see the reports this morning and declined a comment on it. However, she did say that, “we share the goal of American troops being able to transition their mission into one of more overwatch, training and of counter terrorism. We want to get there, and we can get there if we continue to have success, we will be able to bring troops home, this is return on success. But it is going to be based on conditions on the ground and the Iraq Prime Minister has reiterated that and that is what we are working towards,” Perino said.
The US team under Ambassador Crocker is working with the Iraqi team, and they will have to see what they come out with, Perino said and continued, “Whatever we get to, it will be based on conditions and it will be flexible and it will not be arbitrary, and it will be bilateral, which would be a joint goal …but it will not be a unilateral decision, a unilateral date imposed on them. “
“They are not ready to take over all the provinces, but they are closer and we share the goal of them being able taking over more of their responsible,” Perino said. She also quoted General Petreus saying that the gains the Iraqis have made are not irreversible and he believes that the Iraqis understand that.
The gaggle also became rather heated as one reporter referred to the back and forth information from the Iraqis on aspirational goals as almost comical. The reporter was referring to the government spokesperson in Iraq, who over the weekend stated that Maliki’s remarks were mistranslated, and that the White House was working very hard to bend this back into something that looks ok but that they clearly were not on the same page. Perino replied that she would not describe this as comical but very serious business, and then she stopped and decided to not reply further. When the same reporter mumbled something about the notion of this being stupid, she came back to the reporter, who then continued to say that the White House is trying to construct something here to make sense out of the conflicting things that coming out of Baghdad, even though is has been said very clearly from Baghdad. Perino wanted to know what is so clear that he had to call it comical.
Perino then said that she did not agree with his characterization and she is glad he sees it as comical. Perino said that she has checked this info and worked on it all weekend, and she referred to our American spokesperson in Iraq who talked to Dr. al-Dabbagh. Dr. al-Dabbagh was then the one who said that he did not remember it as stated, so he was going to be back and check it. “The key issue is that they understand that this is not arbitrary, it will not be a date that you just pluck out of thin air, it will not be something that Americans say we are going to leave at this date which is what some have suggested,” Perino said.
When asked who has the final say, if it comes down to the Iraqis saying that they want us to go and we do not want, or do not think it is time to go, but they say “go”, don’t we have to go?; Perino replied quoting the President, “We are there because the Iraqis want us there. If they wanted us to leave then we would talk about that, or we would do that. But nobody is talking about that. We are talking about working together, jointly in a bilateral way…” Perino said.
When asked about Perino saying that there will be an aspirational date in the Strategic Framework Agreement, and if that cannot be considered to be a timetable, she replied that is it not; not if it is agreed to on a bilateral basis, that is flexible, and not set in stone and is dependent on the conditions on the ground.

Rice

When asked about this weekend’s meeting in Switzerland, where Secretary Rice described the Iranians as not being serious and Perino was questioned where things go from here. She replied that Secretary Rice did feel that they got the runaround from the Iranians and that nobody appreciated that. Perino also said that there is new found energy in the diplomatic efforts that they are reinvigorated and that the Iranian received the message that there consequence for a missed opportunity like this.

Zimbabwe

When asked about the latest reports coming out of Zimbabwe and if the President supports them, Perino said that they have seen the reports, though they do not know the details of it, and they are monitoring the situation. Perino also said that any final measure has to deal with the concerns expressed by the United Nations, the African Nation and the SADC, and the will of the Zimbabwean people needs to be taken in to account.

Kosovo minority rights: Great on paper, not in reality

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek addressed the protection and promotion of minority rights in Kosovo. Once he noted his neutral position on Kosovo’s legal status, he described the tense inter-ethnic relations and poor minority rights implementation that persist in the society.

Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.) of the Helsinki Commission was in full agreement of Vollebaek’s assessment of the minority conditions, referring to them as “plain appalling.”

A group often brought up during the address was the Roma (gypsies) of Kosovo, among other minority groups in the region. Implementation of minority rights is a big hurdle as Vollebaek points out that “many norms exist on paper but not in reality.” Reasons for this are the lack of financial means, human resources, goodwill between countries and economic development.

Along with Vollebaek’s assessment of the minority situation in Kosovo, he offered his recommendations to alleviate the negative conditions of the minority communities in Pristina, northern Mitrovica Serbs and rural dwellers were encapsulated in four distinct points. Firstly, government institutions should be clear on which areas of minority rights implementation they should be responsible. While an office for community affairs has been created by the Prime Minister, its paradigms remain undefined. Secondly, it is vital that a substantive amount of minority rights should be implemented. Third, the status of the Roma and other minority groups needs to be raised such that all are on par. In an attempt to deal with this, the Roma Strategy was drafted to aid all aspects of living. Finally, a systematic approach to reconciliation between each other and Kosovo’s institutions is pertinent in achieving fluent dialogue in multi-ethnic Kosovo.

Kosovo: Balkan Moment of Truth?

The Foreign Relations Senate Committee held a hearing today analyzing the recent independence of Kosovo and the problems being faced in the Balkan region. The hearing was divided into two sections with two different sets of witnesses.

During the first half of the hearing, Daniel Fried, assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, introduced the situation in Kosovo, presenting the American support. He talked about the newly free and independent nation and the problems with Serbia. Serbia is trying to isolate themselves from the rest of Europe, due to the recognition of the latter to the independence of Kosovo. According to Fried, the United State’s strategic interest is, for Serbia to find itself into the European Union, but after all it remains Serbia’s responsibility.
The financial situation of the country is creating some concerns regarding its independence; however Fried explained that 25 percent of the costs will be provided by the U.S., 50 percent from Europe and the remaining from organizations such as The World Bank and United Nations.

Witnesses present in the second half of the hearing were Janusz Bugajski, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Daniel Serwer, vice president for Peace and Stability Operations and lastly Ivan Vejvoda, the executive director of Balkan Trust for Democracy. They gave the European and local perspective of the situation. Serwer especially emphasized on the fact that Serbia is the problem and not Kosovo.

Ambassador Wisner and Dimitri Simes discuss "Kosovo: What Next?" at the USIP

At the discussion “Kosovo: What Next?” held at the United States Institute of Peace, Ambassador Frank G. Wisner, Special Representative of the Secretary of State to the Kosovo Status talks, said that it is an “unusual declaration” for Kosovo to declare independence, because their independence will be supervised. It was clear to anyone, he said, that Kosovo had a few bridges that would need to be built across the divide toward independence. Serbia finds itself on a real threshold of history, and he said the opinion today is that Serbia is looking backwards with humiliation and cannot move forward if it continues to carry the “albatross of Kosovo” with it.

Wisner said that he did not think the outcome could have been different. The offer put on the table was limited autonomy, but the deeply held views by Serbia would prevent autonomy from being a solution. First and foremost, he said, if peace is to be maintained, the United States and the Europeans must be heavily involved in the detailed protection of the minorities in order to produce success.

The United States, he said, needs to reestablish ties with Belgrade because Serbia is a major factor in the Balkans. Why Russian chose to “draw a line’ over Kosovo is a question, he said, and Russia’s decision has produced a deep alienation between Moscow, many European capitals, and the United States. Russia’s blocking of the declaration is making them alienated, but he said he does not think that Russia’s opposition will continue much longer.

Dimitri K. Simes, President of The Nixon Center, said he thinks it is a tragedy to what extent informed people in the United States do not know “the other narrative,” which, he said, is very important. Russia is not going to use military force or establish bases in the Balkans. Russia will not cooperate, he said, because Moscow does not want Kosovo’s independence.

The problem, Simes said, is that if we are prepared to “swallow it,” he does not know why we are not prepared to make a deal with Russia. There are serious implications he said, and as a result of the United States violating the UN resolutions, Russia will most likely approach the Kosovo issue “selectively” just like the United States does. According to Simes, Moscow says that if the UN security resolutions can be ignored, Russia should be entitled to be selective when it is in Russia’s interests.

Ambassador Wisner said that his conclusion after listening to Simes was that Russia thinks it’s the most important element in the Kosovo issue, but that he disagrees. He said the United States interests were broader than that. He said he believes that Russia, like the United States, has interests that can be accommodated but that he does not believe that the cost of denying a solution to a problem that was “crying out” was wrong. His question to the audience was, ‘do we want to destroy the UN, are we going to leave the UN and revert Kosovo to autonomy?’ He declared that Russia’s view that autonomy was offered is disillusioned. UNSC Resolution 1244 makes it clear, he said, that there can be independence and that violation of national law has not occurred.

White House Gaggle February 25, 2008

White House Gaggle
Briefer: Dana Perino

President’s Schedule
At 8, the president had his normal briefings, then at 10:30 he will have a briefing by the Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives. At 11:00 he meets with the National Governors Association. Tonight at 7:00 the President will make remarks to 2008 Republican Governors Association Gala at the National Building Museum.

This morning the White House will release a statement responding to the Washington Post Op-Ed by Congressional Democrats on FISA.

Perino also announced that King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan will visit the White House on March 4, 2008.

Governors
Responding to a question about governors possible infrastructure improvements as part of a second stimulus package, Perino said that the President will meet with the governors and hear their views. Infrastructure improvements were not sought as part of the first stimulus package because they take time to have an effect.

Turkish border
On the Turkish forces going into northern Iraq, Perino said that it was not an ideal situation, but that the "PKK is a common enemy of Turkey and the United States." She said that the White House hopes this is just a short-term incursion and is in contact with Turkey.

Kosovo
Responding to a question about Serbian parts of Kosovo wanting to remain part of Serbia, Perino said that there are people with mixed emotions, and the White House has encouraged Kosovars to ensure minority rights are protected.

Cuba
Perino said she was not aware of any discussions about possibly lifting the embargo against Cuba.

Supreme Court gun control case
Vice President Cheney has signed on to amicus brief filed by a party other than the Department of Justice. Perino said, "It’s no problem."