MR. RUSSERT: Also, the White House Communications Office on Friday issued a statement called “Setting The Record Straight” and they had this, “Conservatives Stand Behind The President’s Policies.” And what they do is refer to an article by Max Boot and the Los Angeles Times as evidence of the conservative support for the president. “It’s time to let the Israelis take off the gloves. To secure its borders, Israel needs to hit the [Syrian] Assad regime. Hard. If it does, it will be doing Washington’s dirty work. Our best response is exactly what” President “Bush has done so far—reject premature calls for a cease-fire and let Israel finish the job.” That’s the White House Communications Office endorsing an article which says hit Syria—for, for Israel to hit Syria. Is that administration policy?

MR. BOLTEN: That, that article is—I mean, was sent around as a, as a reflection of some of the conservative columnist support for Israel. But, no, the U.S. policy is that what we are doing and our diplomatic effort from Secretary Rice will be to, to ensure that the world community remains united in its understanding that the problem that we’re facing in the Middle East right now was generated by and is being sustained by terrorist attacks that need to stop. And the United States will do everything that we can to ensure that there’s a sustainable cease-fire based on the Security Council resolution that says terrorism has no place in, in Lebanon or anywhere else.

MR. RUSSERT: So the Bush position is not a call for a cease-fire, but rather, “Let Israel finish the job.”

MR. BOLTEN: The, the Bush position is, is as I, as I’ve just said, which is try to get a sustainable cease-fire there based on the U.N. Security Council resolution.

MR. RUSSERT: John Bolton said he doesn’t know if it’s possible to have a cease-fire with a terrorist group. Is it?

MR. BOLTEN: It, it, it may not be, and what—and what we may need to do is have a situation in which the Lebanese government is sufficiently empowered so that it can control its own territory and not permit Hezbollah to be operating out of southern Lebanon as they have been for some time and most virulently in the last couple of weeks when they’ve been lobbing as much as 100 rockets a day out of Lebanon into northern Israel.

MR. RUSSERT: But how can the Lebanese government enforce a cease-fire when they couldn’t stop a part of their government, Hezbollah, from participating in the activity they’ve been doing?

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

MR. BOLTEN: We would like to empower the Lebanese government to be able to do that. That’s what Secretary Rice is going to be talking about when she gets to the region. And when she gets to Rome on Wednesday, talking to the Lebanon core group, which is a widespread international group that will come together and, and support, we expect, the Lebanese government that, that needs international support. That means, France, Italy, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia all coming together to talk about the way forward to try to support a democratically-elected Lebanese government that should control its own territory.

MR. RUSSERT: The Lebanese president has said, and the Lebanese defense minister has said, that if Israel invades Lebanon the Lebanese Army will join with Hezbollah to resist Israel.

MR. BOLTEN: What we want to do is have the Lebanese Army take control of its own territory. And I think, I think Israel itself wants to see that. And as I said, that’s what Secretary Rice’s effort is going to be, which is to ensure that Hezbollah is, is uprooted and removed from being a threat to Lebanon’s southern neighbor Israel, and that the Lebanese government and Lebanese Army are able to control their own territory, as they properly should be.

MR. RUSSERT: But listen to the Lebanese prime minister, who’s considered a more moderate force. This is what he says. “Israel’s criminal bombardments must be stopped immediately. They are bombing civilians and creating sympathies for Hezbollah where otherwise there wouldn’t be any.”

MR. BOLTEN: Well, the—that’s, that’s what you might expect to hear from, from a Lebanese prime minister. But the reality is that what we are all trying to do is give that prime minister an opportunity to control his own territory. I think Prime Minister Siniora, whom you just quoted there, would love to be in a situation in which Hezbollah is not running wild in, in the south of the country there, and Secretary Rice’s efforts will be designed to ensure that he has the, the ability to follow through on his obligation and his desire, I’m sure, to control his own territory.

MR. RUSSERT: Is the Lebanese prime minister correct that the Israeli bombardments are creating sympathy for Hezbollah?

MR. BOLTEN: I don’t know. They, they may be, and I’m sure the Israelis are aware of that. That’s one reason why we have encouraged the Israelis as much as possible to minimize civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. But, but bear in mind, Tim, that’s in this kind of circumstance that’s difficult to do, because Hezbollah has intentionally interwoven itself into the civilian populations and, and made it—basically used civilians as, as shields for their terrorist activities.

MR. RUSSERT: The Iraqi prime minister, Mr. Maliki, has weighed in as well. Now this is someone who is supposedly an ally of the United States. This was his observation on what’s going on. “The Israeli attacks and air strikes are completely destroying Lebanon’s infrastructure. We call on the world to take quick”—let’s see—“stands to stop the Israeli aggression.”

MR. BOLTEN: Yeah, and that’s, that’s the kind of language you might expect to hear from sovereign leaders in, in, in Arab countries. Israel is not very popular in the region. The, the good news is that that is a sovereign, democratically elected leader of Iraq able to express his views. He’ll have an opportunity to discuss that with President Bush when he—when Prime Minister Maliki comes here early this coming week.

But the, but the particularly good news from the region is the kind of language you have heard from many other Arab countries in the region, which are coming together and recognizing that the problem in the region is the scourge of terrorism, and you saw that in a Saudi statement a week ago, other, other Arab nations, as well. I believe those countries will come together in the Lebanon core group and try to achieve the original promise of the U.N. Security Council resolution, which says, “Hezbollah, get out of Syria.”

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to Iraq. The speaker of the parliament in Iraq said that “The U.S. invasion and occupation is the work of butchers.”

MR. BOLTEN: The, the rhetoric we’ve seen has, has, has been heated. The, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament is a—I believe is a Sunni, who, who staunchly opposed the, the original U.S. invasion, the liberation in Iraq. He didn’t, he didn’t view it as liberation. On the other hand, this is a man who has come into the government and is trying, along with many others, to, to form a real effective government of national unity. He is participating in the democratic process. That, that kind of rhetoric is, is, is the sort that you’d rather not be hearing, but the important part is that the speaker is somebody who is participating in a democratic process and trying to put Iraq on the, on the foundation of a multi-ethnic, free, democratic society that will be an ally to the United States and the war on terror.

MR. RUSSERT: But it must be hard for people all across this country who’ve given almost 2600 American men and women—their lives, on the ground, in Iraq—and for the leader of parliament to call us butchers?

MR. BOLTEN: Yeah, I think that is hard, and that’s not the rhetoric I expect that you will hear from Prime Minister Maliki when, when he comes to visit the, the president in, in a couple of days.

You know, I, I was with the president when he went to Baghdad last month, and the meetings that he had, especially in private, with Prime Minister Maliki were, were very encouraging. There was a strong sense throughout all of the people we met with—including, candidly, the speaker—of appreciation for the sacrifice that so many Americans have made, and I think you will find Prime Minister Maliki expressing that, that sentiment very strongly when he’s here in the United States.

MR. RUSSERT: When you say “encouraging,” this was a report from the United Nations: “Iraqi death toll rises above 100 per day, U.N. says. An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the United Nations reported, registering what appears to be the highest official monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad. ... This sharp upward trend reflected the dire security situation in Iraq as sectarian violence has worsened and Iraqi and American government forces have been unable to, to stop it.” How can you say that’s encouraging?

MR. BOLTEN: What’s encouraging was the, was the attitude of the government officials that, that we had an opportunity to meet with, and their effort to come together in a unity government. The, the situation on the ground remains very challenging. This past week, as you pointed out, was a, was a very difficult week with a lot of civilian casualties. There’s no denying that this Iraqi government is facing a very difficult situation, especially in concentrated areas like Baghdad, with a combination of sectarian violence with an insurgency promoted by outside agitators, and just plain old criminal activity.

Those forces are very hard to control. It’s, it’s relatively easy to, to kill and maim innocent civilians under, under even the best of security situations. Our job is to, is to try to assist the Iraqis in getting control of that situation, and that’s what Prime Minister Maliki and the president are going to be talking about. That, that will be topic A when they get together beginning on Tuesday.

MR. RUSSERT: But it has deteriorated since Zarqawi was killed.

MR. BOLTEN: The, the, the number of civilian deaths has increased in the, in the last few weeks, and that’s a matter of, of considerable concern to us and to the Iraqi government. And as we have been for some time in, in this, this conflict, the United States is going to be working with the Iraqi government to adjust our tactics, to, to try to confront the, the increase in what appears to be largely sectarian violence in Baghdad and elsewhere.

MR. RUSSERT: Politically, John Thune, the senator from South Dakota, Republican, who’s in line to become the man who’s in charge of keeping the Republicans a majority in the Senate in the next election cycle, offered this observation, according to the Associated Press: “‘If I were running in the state this year, you obviously don’t embrace the president and his agenda.’ He said the Iraq war is Bush’s biggest problem. ‘The first thing I’d do is acknowledge that there have been mistakes made,’” he said.

And then this from Congressman Gil Gutknecht from Minnesota, “Once a strong supporter of the war, returned from Iraq this week declaring that conditions in Baghdad were far worse ‘than we’d been led to believe’ and urging that troop withdrawals begin immediately. ... ‘Essentially what the White House is saying is “Stay the course, stay the course.” I don’t think that course is politically sustainable.’” Republicans running away from the president.

MR. BOLTEN: Well, first of all, Senator Thune called me a couple of days ago, very concerned that his remarks had been mischaracterized. He, he expressed his...

MR. RUSSERT: Wait a minute. We called the Associated Press; they stand by the story.

MR. BOLTEN: I understand.

MR. RUSSERT: The Hill newspaper, another reporter in the same news conference headlined, “Senator Thune advises distancing the president from Iraq.” So if both reporters got it wrong, what are the chances of that?

CONTINUED

< Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Next >

Discuss Story On Newsvine
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh
Email
Instant Message
Print