[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 19 (Monday, May 14, 2007)]
[Pages 601-607]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference in Arlington, Virginia

May 10, 2007

    The President. Good morning. I've just completed a meeting with 
Secretary Gates and General Pace and the members of the Joint Chiefs. I 
appreciate your hospitality. I really enjoy coming to the Defense 
Department to sit at the same table with these distinguished Americans. 
These folks are good,

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strategic thinkers. They're smart; they're capable; and we're lucky they 
wear the uniform.
    I spent time discussing with them the needs of our military 
personnel as they carry out vital missions. The Joint Chiefs shared with 
me the latest developments and updated me on the troop rotations as they 
implement our new Baghdad security plan. They report that the three 
additional Iraqi brigades promised by the Government are in place and 
are conducting operations in the Baghdad area. Three additional American 
brigades, totaling about 12,000 troops, have taken up positions and are 
also conducting operations.
    The Chiefs told me that the fourth American brigade of 
reinforcements has just entered Baghdad and its surrounding towns and 
that the commanders expect the fifth American brigade to be in place by 
the middle of June. So it's going to be another month before all the 
additional troops that General Petraeus has requested are on the ground 
and carrying out their missions in Iraq.
    American reinforcements in Baghdad, along with the Iraqi security 
forces, are now living and working with the Iraqi people in neighborhood 
posts called joint security stations. These stations are a place from 
which American and Iraqi forces act against terrorists and insurgents 
and death squads. And they patrol streets to build trust and increase 
local cooperation. In other words, there's active engagement by Iraqi 
forces and coalition forces in neighborhoods throughout Baghdad and the 
area.
    And what happens with increased presence, there's increased 
confidence. And with increased confidence becomes increased information, 
information that forces can use to go after extremists, to bring down 
sectarian violence that plague the capital city of that country. The 
level of sectarian violence is an important indicator of whether or not 
the strategy that we have implemented is working. Since our operation 
began, the number of sectarian murders has dropped substantially.
    As we have surged our forces, Al Qaida is responding with their own 
surge. Al Qaida is ratcheting up its campaign of high-profile attacks, 
including deadly suicide bombings carried out by foreign terrorists. 
America responded, along with coalition forces, to help this young 
democracy, and a brutal enemy has responded as well. These attacks are 
part of a calculated campaign to reignite sectarian violence in Baghdad 
and to convince the people here in America that the effort can't 
succeed. We're also seeing high levels of violence because our forces 
are entering areas where terrorists and militia once had sanctuary. As 
they continue to do so, our commanders have made clear that our troops 
will face more fighting and increased risks in the weeks and months 
ahead.
    As we help Iraqis bring security to their own country, we're also 
working with Iraqi leaders to secure greater international support for 
their young democracy. And last week, Secretary Rice attended an 
international meeting on Iraq and Egypt, and she briefed me, and she 
briefed Secretary Gates--there he is, right there. [Laughter]
    The meeting included representatives from Iraq's neighbors, as well 
as Egypt and Bahrain and G-8 countries and the Arab League and the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference and the five permanent members of 
the U.N. Security Council. It was a robust international meeting where 
Iraqi leaders expressed their determination to meet a series of 
benchmarks they have set for political progress. In other words, they 
have not only told me that they're going to meet benchmarks, they've not 
only told Secretary Gates that they intend to meet benchmarks, but 
they've also told the international community they intend to do so.
    These benchmarks include adoption of a national oil law and 
preparations for Provincial elections and progress on a new de-
Ba'athification policy and a review of the Iraqi Constitution.
    The nations assembled in Egypt pledged to support Iraq in these 
efforts. In other words, the Iraqis said, ``We need help,'' and these 
nations pledged support. It was a very positive development. They're 
going to help Iraq secure its borders. They've said they will help stem 
the flow of terrorists into their country. They agreed to support the 
International Compact established by Iraq and the United Nations so that 
Iraq can reform and rebuild its economy.

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    For Iraqi leaders to succeed in all these efforts, their people must 
have security. That's why I made the decision I made; that's why we sent 
additional troops into Baghdad. But we need to give General Petraeus's 
plan time to work. There's a debate raging in Washington here about how 
long we're going to be there--we haven't even got all our troops there. 
I still find it interesting that General Petraeus was given a unanimous 
confirmation vote by the United States Senate after he made clear his 
plan, and before the plan has been fully implemented, some in Washington 
are saying, ``You need to leave.'' My attitude is, General Petraeus's 
plan ought to be given a chance to work, and we need to give the troops 
under his command the resources they need to prevail.
    I met with congressional leaders to discuss the way forward, last 
week. I fully understand Republicans and Democrats have disagreements. 
We should be able to agree that the consequences of failure in Iraq 
would be disastrous for our country. And they would be disastrous for 
our country. We should be able to agree that we have a responsibility to 
provide our men and women on the frontlines with the resources and 
flexibility they need to do the job we've asked them to do.
    I believe that leaders of good will can deliver to our troops. And 
we've got to deliver it soon--time is running out--because the longer we 
wait, the more strain we're going to put on the military.
    All Americans know the goodness and character of the U.S. Armed 
Forces. They are risking their lives each day to fight our enemies and 
to keep our people safe. Their families are making tremendous sacrifices 
on behalf of our country. It's important for the people who wear the 
uniform and their families to know that as the Commander in Chief, I'm 
proud of the sacrifices they have made, and the American people honors 
their service to our country.
    And now I'll be glad to answer a couple of questions. Jennifer 
[Jennifer Loven, Associated Press], why don't you kick it off.

War on Terror in Iraq/Emergency Supplemental Appropriations

    Q. Thank you, sir. With some Republicans saying they need to see 
measurable progress by September, are you willing to reevaluate troop 
levels then, based on what General Petraeus says? And also, are you 
willing to accept any consequences for benchmarks in the war funding 
bill?
    The President. You know, I meet with a lot of people on the subject 
of Iraq, and I should. There's a lot of opinions on both sides of the 
aisle about this issue. And my message to the Members of Congress is, 
whatever your beliefs may be, let's make sure our troops get funded and 
let's make sure politicians don't tell our commanders how to conduct 
operations, let's don't hamstring our people in the field. That's my 
message.
    Their message to me has been, you know, don't you think the Iraqi 
Government ought to do more? They recognize what I recognize and these 
gentlemen up here particularly recognize, that without political 
progress, it's going to be hard to achieve a military victory in Iraq. 
In other words, the military can provide security so a political process 
can go forward.
    Look, the two questions you asked, one was about General Petraeus's 
report to the--back--around September about what's taking place in 
Baghdad. My attitude toward Congress is, why don't you wait and see what 
he says? Fund the troops, and let him come back and report to the 
American people. General Petraeus picked this date. He believes that 
there will be enough progress one way or the other to be able to report 
to the American people, to give an objective assessment about what he 
sees regarding the Baghdad security plan.
    It's at that point in time that I'm confident that the Secretary and 
the Joint Chiefs will take a look at what David Petraeus says and make 
recommendations about troop levels based upon the conditions on the 
ground, which stands in stark contrast to Members of Congress who say, 
we're going to determine troop levels based upon politics or the latest 
opinion poll or how we can get our Members elected.
    And the second part of your question was about benchmarks. Look, let 
me talk about this recent effort by Congress to fund our troops. The 
idea that the House of Representatives put forward is one that we will 
fund our troops by piecemeal. Secretary

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Gates was very strong about why that's a bad idea. And the American 
people must understand that if you fund our troops every 2 months, 
you're in a--put in a position where we have to delay certain 
procurement, or that military contracts must be delayed. There's a lot 
of uncertainty in funding when it comes to 2-month cycles. So we reject 
that idea. It won't work.
    I find it odd that the Congress is--I find it ironic that the 
Congress is ready to fully fund unrelated domestic spending items and 
only one-half of the money requested for our troops. They provide 100 
percent of the money for the special interest projects that--they don't 
have anything to do with fighting the war on terror, and 50 percent of 
the money to go to those who wear our uniform. They got it wrong. They 
ought to provide 100 percent of the money for people who wear the 
uniform and leave these special pork projects out of the bill. And so 
I'll veto the bill if it's this haphazard, piecemeal funding. And I made 
that clear.
    One message I have heard from people from both parties and--is that 
the idea of benchmarks makes sense. And I agree. It makes sense to have 
benchmarks as a part of our discussion on how to go forward. And so I've 
empowered Josh Bolten to find common ground on benchmarks, and he will 
continue to have dialog with both Republicans and Democrats.
    You know, this bill--I believe we can get a good supplemental, and I 
hope it's as quick as possible. The first blush is the bad supplemental 
coming out of the House. Nevertheless, there is--the Senate will have a 
say, and then there will be a conference committee, and hopefully we can 
move a good bill forward as quickly as possible. These gentlemen will 
tell you that the longer we wait, the more it hurts our military and the 
families.
    Toby [Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters].

Prime Minister Tony Blair/Europe's Role in Iraq

    Q. Mr. President, with Prime Minister Tony Blair stepping down, are 
you concerned that British policy on Iraq could change significantly?
    The President. First of all, I'll miss Tony Blair. He is a political 
figure who is capable of thinking over the horizon. He's a long-term 
thinker. I have found him to be a man who's kept his word, which 
sometimes is rare in the political circles I run in. When Tony Blair 
tells you something, as we say in Texas, you can take it to the bank. 
We've got a relationship such that we can have really good discussions. 
And so I'm going to miss him. He's a remarkable person, and I consider 
him a good friend.
    I obviously look forward to meeting with his successor. I believe 
that the relationship between Great Britain and America is a vital 
relationship. It is a relationship that has stood the test of time. And 
when America and Great Britain work together, we can accomplish 
important objectives. We share common values. We share a great history. 
And so I look forward to working with the--with Gordon Brown, who I 
presume is going to be the--maybe I shouldn't say that--I shouldn't 
predict who is going to be in, but I--the punditry suggests it will be 
him.
    I have had a meeting with him and found him to be an open and 
engaging person. It's amazing how people make all kinds of 
characterizations about people in the political process, and I found him 
to be a easy-to-talk-to, good thinker.
    Q. What do you think he'll do on Iraq? Do you feel like you're in--
--
    The President. I think--look, yes, I believe he understands the 
consequences of failure. The interesting thing about the Iraq debate, by 
the way, is, I don't hear a lot of discussions about happens if we 
fail--what happens if we fail. I hear a lot of discussions about, maybe 
we can make good political progress based upon this issue, or let's just 
make sure that we constantly achieve--make political hay based upon 
Iraq. I hear a lot of that. But there needs to be a serious discussion 
about what happens if we create a vacuum into which radical movements 
flow.
    If you're worried about Iran, then it's really important that people 
understand the consequences of us leaving before the job is done. I am 
deeply concerned about what would happen in the Middle East should 
America's credibility be diminished as a result of us not keeping our 
word, as a result of us abandoning millions of people who are

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anxious to live in a stable, secure, free society. I worry about the 
signal it would send to Al Qaida. As I told you earlier, and as David 
Petraeus said--let me put it in his words--``Al Qaida is public enemy 
number one in Iraq.'' Al Qaida also should be viewed as public enemy 
number one in America.
    And why do I say that? Well, Al Qaida attacked us once and killed 
thousands of citizens on our soil. I believe they want to attack us 
again. I believe failure in Iraq would only embolden Al Qaida further. I 
know that vacuums in the Middle East are likely to be filled by radicals 
and extremists, who, at the very minimum, would share a common enemy, 
the United States and some of our strongest allies.
    And so it's vital we succeed. The debate in Washington is, how fast 
can we withdraw--amongst some. The debate ought to be, what do we need 
to do to make sure that we not only don't fail but succeed?
    And so I believe Gordon Brown understands the consequences of 
failure. But I'm looking forward to working with him. I'm looking 
forward to working with the new President of France. I'm looking forward 
to working with a lot of people in Europe to not only achieve success in 
Iraq but also achieve success in Afghanistan, another theater in the war 
on terror.
    Let's see here--Roger [Roger Runningen, Bloomberg News]. Yes, Rog. I 
call him ``Rog.''

President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy of France/Vice President Cheney's Visit 
to the Middle East/Iran

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. You just mentioned the 
new leader of France, and I was going to ask you about him. Have you 
talked to him? Are you recruiting him as part of the coalition? Any 
messages for him?
    And you've sent Mr. Cheney to the Mideast to visit with the other 
neighbors. What specifically are the requests you are making of them?
    The President. Sure. First of all, Presidents don't recruit; the 
people elect a leader with whom I will work. And I had a--I did talk to 
President-elect Sarkozy, I think it was at about 8:03 Paris time. He won 
at 8:00, and I called him shortly thereafter. And I'm so grateful he 
took my phone call. I had met with him before when he came over here and 
found him to be a very engaging, energetic, smart, capable person. We 
will have our differences, and we will have our agreements. And I'm 
looking forward to working with him.
    Vice President Cheney is in the Middle East. His first message to 
the Iraqis was that they have got to speed up their clock, that--I agree 
with General Petraeus's assessment that there are two clocks, one 
ticking here in Washington and one ticking there. And they must 
understand that we are very serious when it comes to them passing law 
that enables this country to more likely reconcile. And then he'll be 
traveling to talk to other friends in the area.
    One of the questions that many ask is, do we understand the Iranian 
issue well? Do we understand the consequences of Iran having a nuclear 
weapon--which it looks like they want to try to achieve--to get. And the 
answer is, absolutely. And they'll find a stalwart friend in dealing 
with extremism in that vital part of the world. And that--Vice President 
will lay out our strategy of convincing others to join us on this 
Iranian issue. He will point out to them that we have worked hard to 
convince not only the EU-3 to join with the United States in sending a 
clear message but also now Russia and China, and that we do have a 
diplomatic front. And we've got to work--to continue to work together. 
We've got to work to keep it together, to send a focused, concerted 
message.
    He will also remind people that success in Iraq will be important 
for dealing with Iran; that if we were to listen to some of the voices 
in Congress and withdraw before the job was done, it would embolden 
Iran. In other words, there are strategic consequences to what is being 
said here in Washington, DC, about the Iraqi issue.
    And so he's got to--it's a vital trip, and I really appreciate him 
going. And it looked like he had a good stop yesterday. I haven't talked 
to him, but it looks like he's--it looks like he had a good day 
yesterday, and I'm looking forward--he'll check in.
    Mark [Mark Silva, Chicago Tribune].

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War on Terror in Iraq/Emergency Supplemental Appropriations

    Q. Mr. President, in your meeting with some moderate Republicans 
this week, in particular Representative LaHood, who, afterwards, said, 
``The way forward after September, if the report is not good, is going 
to be difficult''----
    The President. Yes.
    Q. ----those are his words. Are you perhaps facing an ultimatum on 
the war this fall with Congress?
    The President. You know, first of all, I appreciate the Members 
coming down to the White House. We had a good exchange. It gave me a 
chance to share with them my feelings about the Iraqi issue. I spent 
time talking to them about what it meant to fail and what it means when 
we succeed. They expressed their opinions. They're obviously concerned 
about the Iraq war, but so are a lot of other people.
    I remind people--I reminded them that last fall, late fall, I had--I 
had been one of these people that get endlessly polled--you know, these 
surveys and the pollsters constantly calling people all the time, it 
looks like--and had asked my opinion, I'd have said, I disapprove of 
what was going on in Iraq. You could have put me down as part of the 
disapproval process--and therefore, had put a plan in place that would 
more likely cause me to approve of what's going on in Iraq. That's why I 
made the decision I made.
    I explained to them why I made the decision I made. And I said, 
look, David Petraeus has got a plan, and Members of Congress--some 
Members of Congress won't let him implement the plan. That doesn't make 
any sense, on the one hand, for us to send him out with the unanimous 
confirmation by the Senate and then to deny him the troops and/or the 
funds necessary to get the job done. And I reminded them that we ought 
to give David Petraeus a chance.
    I did explain to them that General Petraeus has said he's going to 
come back and report to the Secretary and the Joint Chiefs and the White 
House and the Congress about whether or not the strategy that he thinks 
could work is working. And at that point in time, we will respond 
accordingly.
    As I told people, that decisions about the posture in Iraq need to 
be based upon conditions on the ground. And no better person to report 
about the conditions on the ground than somebody who was there, and that 
would be General Petraeus. And at that point in time, upon the 
recommendation of the Secretary and the Joint Chiefs and General 
Petraeus, we will respond to what he says. And so I said, why don't we 
wait and see what happens? Let's give this plan a chance to work. Let's 
stop playing politics. It's one thing to have a good, honest debate 
about the way forward in Iraq; it's another thing to put our troops 
right in the middle of that debate.

    These troops deserve the money necessary to do the job. And our 
commanders need the flexibility necessary to do the job. And I believe 
this cause is necessary and it's noble. That's why I put those young men 
and women out there in the first place. It's necessary for the peace and 
security of our country. It's noble to have such amazing citizens 
volunteer to go into harm's way. And our Congress needs to support them. 
It's one thing to have a political debate or a debate about strategies; 
it's another thing to make sure that money gets sent to them on a timely 
basis. I repeat: This idea of funding our troops every 2 months is not 
adequate, and I, frankly, don't think it's right. They need to give 
these troops what they--what the military has asked for them.

    And we can debate Iraq--and should. But there should be no debate 
about making sure that money gets there on a timely basis so our kids 
can do the job we've asked them to do.

    I want to thank you all for your time.

Note: The President's news conference began at 12:06 p.m at the 
Pentagon. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of Defense Robert M. 
Gates; Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. 
David H. Petraeus, USA, commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq; 
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown 
of the United Kingdom; and President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

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