DIRECTOR PAULISON: Good afternoon. Hot enough for you? It's my home, and even living here my whole life, it's still sometimes tough to get used to the heat. And without that ocean breeze, it would be kind of unbearable. Let me just do a couple things. Let me walk through how we got where we are and what we've been doing inside of FEMA ,and then just open up the questions. And you can't hurt my feelings, you can't embarrass me, I'm way beyond that. So you can ask whatever you think you need to ask. When I was asked by the President to come in and step in and take over FEMA, first as an acting and then as a permanent position, I needed a couple things. Probably the most important thing I needed was the full support of the President, and I've gotten that. Not only have I gotten the support of the President, but also Fran Townsend, the Homeland Security Advisor to the President, and not just support, but their personal involvement. And that has helped me tremendously in getting things moving and getting things on the road. So I need to say that right up front. First thing I did was to step back and look at what didn't work in Katrina, what things went wrong, what things worked okay but we could have done a lot better. And there were several significant things that I saw, based on my experience of handling disasters, what I saw simply didn't work. The first and foremost was communications. There was a major breakdown in communications between the local government and the state government, a breakdown between the state government and the federal government, and then, quite frankly, a breakdown of communication inside the federal government itself between agencies. If you're going to run an operation, that type of communication system simply will not work. So we went back and looked at how we're going to put this together. We based it primarily on the National Response Plan -- we're going to focus on having a unified command system. And that will go through our joint field office that you guys are familiar with. And everybody has bought into it. We've had exercises at the Assistant Secretary level, the Deputy Secretary, and even with the Secretaries in the White House. And everyone understands that have to be on the same page. As we do our 12R planning blocks, we all have to be there together doing it, sharing information and making sure that we're all -- have the same information and are responding in the same way. The second piece of that was not having the right equipment. Didn't have the enough satellite equipment, didn't have video capability, didn't have those communication things that, quite frankly, you have at your fingertips that we didn't have. So we purchased a lot of that equipment. But the most important piece of it is a process we're going to use to share information. The second thing I looked at was logistics, and that's having the right things at the right place at the right time. We didn't do that. We didn't have enough equipment, didn't have the ability to get it where it needed to be. So what we've -- what we've gone out and done is purchased a tremendous amount of supplies that we normally carry -- the food, water, ice, blue tarps, medicine, all those types of things that we normally give out during a storm. And in some cases, we've quadrupled them. And I can give you all the exact figures, but just one example I would use, we had 160 tractor trailer loads of MREs prior to Hurricane Katrina, and now we have almost 800 tractor trailer loads. And on top of that, we've signed a memorandum of understanding with the Defense Logistics Agency, which is the military's arm for logistics and support. They are going to be our backup. They'll be moving supplies into our warehouses as we are moving stuff out. Now, it's not a bottomless pit. But at the same time, we have enough stuff in stock already to feed a million people for a week. And with a back-up of that with the Defense Logistics Agency, that's going to give us support behind us we never had before. The other thing is the ability to track our tractor trailers. Once they left the warehouse, we didn't really know where they were. We've had instances where truck drivers just went home and spent the weekend at home instead of going down to the disaster site. We had drivers who got lost. We had drivers who went to the wrong place, and we didn't know where they were. I purchased 20,000 GPS units. We're putting one on every tractor trailer that comes out of our warehouses so we know exactly where it is at any given minute of the day. We get pinged every 15 minutes. And it's accurate right down to the very street corner where that trailer is going to sit. So we can give the states a very good heads-up of where their supplies are, how soon before they get there, and we can tell them exactly where it is at that time. And we can tell when it arrives. We had a couple instances during Rita, actually, where our supplies had arrived at a staging point, but the local mayor didn't know they were there, and he was on the television complaining he had no supplies, and they were around the corner behind the building. So now we know exactly where they are. That's going to help us. That's a tremendous business tool for us to use. The other piece was the situation awareness. A lot of things were going on. We were dependent on the media to get a lot of our information, which is not bad, but we should be able to get a lot of information on our own. So we purchased satellite equipment where we can do video streaming, live video streaming back, so we'll have a better handle on what's happening if you have another Super Dome, or another Convention Center, or another levee issue where you can see real-time exactly what's happening. Those are some of the things that we're putting in place to make the system work a lot better. The other was victim registration. We ended up with people pretty much -- not pretty much -- we ended up with people in every state in this country. All 50 states had people that came out of Katrina. We didn't know where they were, we didn't know who they were, and we didn't know what their needs were. What we are going to do for this coming year is we're going to preposition people in the congregate shelters -- we're working with the Red Cross and with states to identify those ahead of time -- put people in those shelters so we can register people as they come into those congregate shelters. So we know where they are, we know who they are, and we know what their needs are, based on how they register with us. That's going to help us significantly being able to track people and making sure they get the support that they need before they can get back in their homes. We also saw that a lot of people could not come to where we were registering people, simply did not have the capability of getting from point A to point B. I've taken five of our command posts, mobile command posts, which are like big motor homes. We've staffed those and we put 20 laptop computers and 20 cell phones on those things to actually go where people are. And we can either give them a cell phone and say, here, call the 1-800 621-FEMA number and register, or we can sit down with them on the laptop and do it over the website to be able to do that. We've also increased the capacity to be able to register people. I think during hurricane -- four hurricanes in Florida, we ended up registering, like, 25,000 people a day, which was a new record. During Katrina, we ended up registering 100,000 people a day, which was a new record. And we've put the capability, and we can register up to 200,000 people a day, so people won't get that busy signal every time they call. They'll be able to talk to somebody to get registered. And that's going to help them a lot. So that's going to help us locating people, getting them registered, making sure we find out what needs are, have enough supplies in place and have the communications in place to be able to do what we need to do. The other thing that I came across is the debris removal. In the debris removal piece, which is one of the biggest things we have to do -- we work with the local communities -- is we were reimbursing communities differently if they used the Corps as opposed to if they used their own private contractors, and that didn't make sense to me. So we've changed that. So regardless of who you use, whether you used the Corps or a private contractor, we will reimburse you at the same rate. And also, we want to give them much more flexibility, want to give the local communities the opportunity to put those debris contracts in ahead of time, or encourage them to do that. We've put a debris registry in our website, and right now we have 250 debris contractors listed on there. We have the size of the contractor, how many trucks they have, what work they've done before, who they've worked for. So the communities can choose one of those 250, or they can do their own. And we're going to continually add more as we go through there. We want to give the local communities as much flexibility as possible as we go through the next storm. I guess the last piece I want to talk about before we do questions is accountability, waste, abuse, and fraud. We had a lot of people abuse the system. When we did our expedited assistance program, we were giving out $2,000 to people, and for the most part, they were people who were plucked off the rooftops, simply didn't have a shirt on their back, had no identification, had no access to their bank records, and we passed those dollars out. But a lot of people took advantage of that, and now you've seen all the reports, like I have, where some people have applied dozens of times, some people did not live in the affected area. And so we want to stop that. We've hired an identity verification company to check IDs so we can identify are you who you say you are, and did you live where you said you lived. That's going to stop a tremendous amount of the fraud. We've also cut back the amount of money we're going to give out initially. The expedited assistance program is something that FEMA very rarely uses. I think in the last 30 years we've probably only used it less than half-a-dozen times. But every time we've used it it's been a significant issue. We're going to do the initial tranche of money, it will be $500 to families. And hopefully, they can get back in their homes within a couple days of getting over that hump, if we have to do that. And if we have to go back and do more, then we can go back and do more. But instead of putting $2,000 in somebody's hands, we found out a lot of the times the dollars were not spent where they needed to be spent, or where they should have been spent. So we're trying to put some controls on it. We don't want to -- I think you need to hear this very carefully. This is still going to be a very, very compassionate organization, but we have to put some financial controls in to make sure we don't have the waste, fraud and abuse that we had last time. Those are the things we're doing for this hurricane season. We have a lot of long-term things we have to work on. It took FEMA 30 years to get in this shape and it's not something you're going to fix in a few months. But what we can do, what we can very clearly do is put the things in place that we saw that did not work in Hurricane Katrina, and put those in place so we'll be in better shape this next hurricane season, to respond much more quickly. FEMA has got to be a more agile, a more flexible organization than it has been in the past, and that's what we want it to be. That's kind of where we're at. Any questions? Yes, sir. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: I don't know. I haven't seen it and -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: I have not seen it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: I probably would, yes, if I'm not doing hurricane stuff. (Laughter.) If we get too deep into hurricane season, sometimes your days just go away. But anything -- first, I'm taking this very seriously and I'm not taking it personally. We're taking all the reports that come out of Congress, out of the House, out of Senate side, out of the White House, from the GAO -- they've done I don't know how many -- we've got IG reports, and we're taking all this very seriously, and just going through them line by line by line. It is a pretty consistent theme through them, and it's pretty much the things that I talked about. And so anything that -- anybody does a report like that I want to have access to -- you know, did we miss anything, is there something we can do better. We want to make -- I want to make this country proud of FEMA again. I think we can do that. We've got good people. You need to hear that. These people are working literally seven days a week for the last, almost two years, and they want to make this organization better also. My job is to give them the right tools so they can do it. They're willing to do it; I just have to give them the right tools. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: Friday. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: I was in Washington. We brief the President on a regular basis on what we're doing, not only briefing on FEMA, but particularly what we're doing in New Orleans and Louisiana. And the entire Cabinet was there, and we had the -- my Deputy and I had the opportunity, along with Secretary Chertoff to brief the President. And we do this on a regular basis. He gets very personally involved, asks a lot of questions and really holds us to task to make sure we're headed in the right direction. So I'm very pleased with -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: Pardon? Well, anytime we bring something up -- like one of the things I talked about was the chain of command and how we're going to share information. And he wants to make sure that that information flow is going to move like it should move and not end up like we did with Katrina last year, with some people knowing something and others not, and not being able to get on the same page. He asked a lot of questions about that, how that system is going to work. He's asked a lot of questions about the evacuation planning, about sheltering, about transportation of people who don't have the capability of moving themselves, about special needs. He is very engaged in this and very knowledgeable. I was, frankly, very pleasantly surprised -- or pleased with the amount of knowledge he has on how this system works and how it should work. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: That was not in preparation for this visit. That's our -- we have a regular meeting we have set up. And they happen sometimes every two weeks, sometimes every four weeks where we keep him up to speed. We get tasked to connect -- we come out of there with what we're supposed to report on next week and what he expects us to have accomplished by the time we come back to report to him. So what I'm saying it's a regularly scheduled meeting that we do to keep him up to speed on what we're doing. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: I didn't get that. I'm sure he knows it's from June to December. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: I think you may not have heard the whole conversation. What Max Mayfield was showing is that between this particular date and the end of September is when we have 80 percent of our hurricanes. Hurricane season runs from June 1 until November 31st (sic). But last year, remember, we had hurricanes all the way into January. So, although hurricane season is six months, 80 percent of our hurricanes come within that three-month block between now and probably the middle of October, I guess, if I saw that chart right. Yes, that's what Max was trying to show him, that it's been pretty slow this year so far, but this is the very beginning of our busy season traditionally with hurricanes. And I'm born and raised in Miami so I'm kind of used to that, when we start ducking. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Have you looked at diminishing the use of no-bid contracts? There's been a few cases where you had some reports at least of corruption around that or mishandling of funds. Do they really save that much time that they're worth sticking with? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: Are you talking with the expedited assistance? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: The issue with that is that the only place that we have to -- we have legally at our disposal for this type of assistance comes out of what we call other needs assistance. And the state is required to pick up 25 percent of it. These are their residents. So, I mean, it's not something I'm imposing on the state, it's something I don't have any flexibility with. That's where these dollars -- and that's congressionally mandated that under that particular piece of it, the state picks up 25 percent of it. Again, it's something we don't normally use unless it's something that's catastrophic, like we saw in Katrina. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: Right. And normally, over the history of FEMA, it's been $300 to $500 we've given out. Katrina was an exception; we gave out $2,000. And that proved to have some issues with it. We think we can -- by doing better identity verification, and by just putting the money out in smaller chunks that we can deal with. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: That money is used for if they need clothes or food or anything like that, personal items. It's for people who end up in a shelter. Let me talk about personal preparedness after I answer this question, too, it's one of my bugs. If something happened, like you have a no-notice event and you go to a shelter and you don't take stuff with you that you normally would have, and you've got to get -- in Katrina, for instance, it was right at the beginning of school and people got moved to shelters, the kids didn't have shoes, they didn't have clothes, and that's what that money was for. And the Katrina piece was for housing. We have another housing piece that's taking that place, so that piece is going to be taken care of. One of my big issues is personal preparedness, getting ready for any type of disaster. It doesn't have to be a hurricane, but hurricanes, since we're talking about that, is making sure -- knowing you can take care of yourself for that first 72 hours with food, with water, with your medicines, flashlight batteries, portable radios, all those things you need to survive for two or three days. Right here in Florida -- and I'll pick on Miami since it's my hometown -- after Hurricane Wilma, which was not a devastating hurricane, we had people, tens of thousands of people, lined up for food and water and ice, and they should have been able to do that. My home is still here; my wife and daughter rode out the hurricane, and they went out ahead of time and purchased all the stuff so they didn't have to stand in line for food and water. I spent Memorial Day down here getting my house ready, because I'm never home. But we went out and we went to Wal-Mart, we went to Home Depot, we bought our flashlights, we bought our batteries, and bought our -- all the things that we needed to refresh ourselves for the hurricane season. Bought our canned goods, we had a can opener -- to make sure that if my wife has to ride out a storm by herself again, that she'll have all of the things she needs. Some people can't do that. Some people either physically or financially can't do that. Those are the ones that the local, state, and the federal government should be helping. People that are able-bodied and have time and their homes withstand a hurricane, they should be able to take care of themselves without depending on the federal government to come and take care of themselves. And those that can't, those are the ones that we should be helping. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: Yes, Max was showing him a couple different computer programs that they have on how they track hurricanes and a couple of the charts. One of the charts that he showed him was how their prediction, as far as where the hurricane goes, the tracking of it, has improved over the last 30 years -- and it's significant improvement with their five-day forecast, the three-day forecast and their 24-hour forecast -- pretty darn accurate. Also what he showed him was the predictions of how big the storm is going to be has not improved at all. It's pretty much steady over the last 30 years. They have not been able to predict the size of storms, or how big a storm is going to get, and what it's going to be when it hits landfall as accurately as they've been able to produce the actual track of the storm. They've been doing very well. But even with that, there's still pretty much a 70-mile -- if they do their average, they're pretty -- there's about a 70-mile gap, if they miss it by 70 miles one way or the other, over the average of the last few years. So even with -- so what he was trying to tell the President was, when you see that chart on TV where you've got a black line that goes right to where a city is and you've got a cone, he says, don't look at the black line, look at the cone because that's where that hurricane could be one way or the other. So just because you're not in the middle of that black line doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare. That's the message he was trying to get across. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And also can you explain the scientist -- who said he had studied the relationship between hurricane patterns, and he was looking to see if there was a link to global warming. Was he suggesting that there was no consensus that there's a link? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

DIRECTOR PAULISON: It could -- that's what he was suggesting, yes. That was my understanding of it. Anything else, folks? Good question, by the way. Anything else? All right, thank you very much. I appreciate it, and try to stay cool. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Just a couple small pieces of news. You've probably seen a little bit -- or maybe you haven't -- but the Israeli government has announced that there will be a 48-hour period in which they will limit aerial bombardments to targets, or to sites that are aimed directly, or targets that are aimed directly at Israel. There will also be a 24-hour period of safe passage -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Where things are aimed directly at Israel -- to targets aimed directly at Israel. That's for 48 hours, and a 24-hour period of safe passage for humanitarian aid in Lebanon. The President just got off the phone with Secretary Rice. She has held numerous meetings today -- I think she's met twice with the foreign minister of Israel; had a long session with the Prime Minister; she had also met earlier with the defense minister; she'll meet in the morning again with Defense Minister Peres and head home. She will meet with the President upon her return -- at least, that's what they intend to do. And that's about all I've got. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Three. The President spoke three times today with Secretary Rice. He also had a phone call with Prime Minister Blair that lasted about 10 minutes. And was in fairly constant communication also with National Security Advisor Hadley. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q The Israelis have told her -- according to what we're hearing both from U.S. officials there and Israeli officials -- that they think this could take another week -- 10 days, two weeks. Is that sustainable in the current political climate? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: That was not part of the conversation. He and the President were talking about -- well, let me put it this way. The President and the Prime Minister are talking about diplomatic moves and they are trying to get the proper conditions for a sustainable peace. So I don't want to respond to your characterization, but they have talked in some detail about how to move forward together. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, because the diplomacy -- a lot of the things we're talking about, in terms of diplomacy, were underway before this -- I promise you -- so that there is still -- we have always thought that there was urgency in trying to get to the position where you can have sustainable peace precisely because innocent people, both in Lebanon and in Israel, have been affected by this and have been held hostage by the aggression of Hezbollah and we continue to urge restraint on the part of the Israelis. Obviously, you just have to have the qualifier today about the civilian deaths in Lebanon, it's something that is -- something for which everybody feels compassion. The President made that clear when he was out on the South Lawn. But it doesn't accelerate the efforts because the efforts really were going forward in a very aggressive and pretty comprehensive way throughout, and they continue to do so. Now, I think it is safe to say that as a result of what happened today the Secretary of State did cancel her trip back to Beirut, did stay in Israel. And rather than, again, trying to interpret that, I'll direct you back to her statement earlier in the day and also forward to what she has to say about it tomorrow. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't have any idea. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, Secretary Rice spoke today with Siniora. The only foreign leader call today was to Prime Minister Blair. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No. We'll have comment on it tomorrow. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, again, I hate to be repetitious, but it's the same thing -- you look at it and, obviously, it's a terrible tragedy for the people involved. But the President is also determined to try to put together conditions to make sure that this is not a regular feature, that the threat of this kind of action does not become or does not continue to be a regular feature of life in Lebanon. What he wants to do is to make sure the people in Lebanon have the ability to live in peace and security where their own government is in control of their own land. He still believes in the framework he laid out, and he's pursuing it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: We're not dragging our feet. As a matter of fact, we've been leading the coalition from the beginning. I'll direct you to what I've said before: We were the first with humanitarian aid; Secretary Rice was the one who was pushing and worked with the Israelis to set up humanitarian corridors. I think it's safe to say that in terms of trying to develop international consensus on this and move forward so that we can support the government of Prime Minister Siniora, that we have not been on a sidelines. We have been in there and we have been in the lead. And we are working as quickly as we can. The President has said repeatedly that he would love to have a cease-fire immediately, but you have to have conditions under which it is a cease-fire that will lead to peace and not a cease-fire that will simply provide a brief cessation to the hostilities. He wants to create conditions where there really is a possibility of a lasting peace. The Lebanese people deserve it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: About the trip tomorrow? This trip? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Look, it's interesting because the President still has a full agenda as President of the United States. He has domestic and foreign responsibilities. In the Port of Miami tomorrow he will be talking in some length about the situation in the Middle East and the way ahead. So we will certainly address that. But there is ongoing concern around the country -- as many of you have reported -- about people's desires to make sure that we've got a growing economy that's going to have opportunities for them and their kids. He's going to talk about that, too. He'll talk about it in the context of ensuring that the economy continues to grow, as well as working on international trade. Miami has a big and important port. He will make reference to the role of trade and free trade agreements have had in making that port even more prosperous and bustling. He'll talk about port security and a whole series of related issues. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: There's a dinner with local folks. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Local, l-o-c-a-l. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I'll find out. I'll come back and see if I'm at liberty -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes, there will be a few you know. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I'll let the diplomats handle the reaction business. But I think it's safe to say that we're working on something that we think is consistent with the goals and the language the President has used from the beginning. And we're working with numerous parties. We're also looking forward to what we think will be constructive action on the part of the U.N. Secretary Council. How's that? I sort of danced around it, but, you know. I'm just not going to fight the French from here. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No. Again, the strategy is to lay out the vision for what Lebanon deserves, in terms of peace and security; to work at the same time on a parallel track with the so-called commitment talks, which I gather will be taking place Tuesday and Wednesday -- at least, that's the most recent schedule -- so that a Security Council resolution is accompanied also by clear plans on where you go next, so that it's not merely a resolution that says "we hope Lebanon will be able to gain control over its borders," but also points a way forward to making that possible; to support the government of Prime Minister Siniora and also the Lebanese armed forces. So I think the general strategy is the same. Again, an event like today is the sort that makes everyone grieve; there's just no way around it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I don't know how to characterize it. What's interesting is you go back to the original incursion, the comments the President made -- I think originally on the 12th, in a press conference with Chancellor Merkel -- and everybody has agreed, the G8 statement, the statement in Rome -- people understand generally what the long-term problem is and also where you can put together a long-term solution. And I think -- if you want to put it this way, this I think helps dramatize the urgency of getting an agreement that will allow the people of Lebanon -- men, women and children; innocent people who have gotten caught in harm's way -- will permit them to live in peace and security. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I'm not aware of any. He has spent more of his time -- I know that he's keeping tabs on what's been going on at the U.N., and, as you know, the meetings, as far as I know, are still going on at this hour. But the most important thing is to get a Security Council resolution where everybody is working together to help out the people of Lebanon and create the conditions so you'll have democracies in Lebanon, Israel and, eventually, also for the Palestinians. Thank you, Deb, for providing the questions for today's press briefing. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Anything else? All right. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Hello, welcome. Busy day. Helen, I'd like to see you afterward. No, you're not in trouble. I just have a favor I'd like to ask. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: You'll find out. A very busy day here at the White House. The President, as you know -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I'm sorry, what? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: You'll find out. Life is full of surprises. The President has signed H.R. 9, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. At 11:15 a.m. there will be a meeting with the President of Romania, followed by a working lunch; 1:15 p.m. the signing of H.R. 4472, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. That will be followed at 1:50 p.m. by remarks to the National Association of Manufacturers. It's an economic speech. The President will be talking about economic policy and also about the importance for fiscal discipline on Capitol Hill. Also, we take note of the fact that the House has passed the U.S.-India Nuclear Act, with a 359-68 vote. It is going to exempt certain requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. It is a proposed nuclear agreement for civil nuclear cooperation with India. It's an important step to advancing the strategic partnership between the two countries. The President now encourages the Senate to pass the legislation as soon as possible. Also, there will be hearings today on John Bolton and his nomination, which has been pending for some time. As United Nations Ambassador, we think Ambassador Bolton has done a terrific job. He's won over a lot of critics while building alliances on a range of issues, including Iran and North Korea, and working tirelessly to achieve meaningful results and reforms at the United Nations. You may recall that Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, who was an early and vehement skeptic, has now said that he has come to the conclusion that Ambassador Bolton deserves confirmation. We hope that the Senate will follow suit. This morning the President, at about 7:30 a.m. or so, had a conversation with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. They talked primarily about the Middle East and also the way in which partners can work forward to build a sustainable peace. They talked about the outcome of the Rome conference and also ongoing efforts to secure conditions necessary for a sustainable cessation of hostilities in Lebanon. Speaking of which, it's probably worth opening at least a little bit, and then we'll get to questions, with a little bit of perspective on what did and did not happen in Rome. I've seen a number of press accounts describing this as not going anywhere, and as a matter of fact, there were significant victories achieved in Rome. For those who expected Rome to be a cease-fire conference, they were wrong. As Secretary Rice noted yesterday on her trip to Kuala Lumpur, the Middle East is littered with failed peace agreements. It's time now to take a realistic look at what is going to be required for a lasting and sustainable peace, so that the democracy in Lebanon not only can take root, but thrive. And to that end, people in Rome were talking about the conditions that are going to be required going forward. There are also ongoing diplomatic efforts, and those are worth highlighting. First, there's a recommitment on the part of everybody to make sure that there's full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. As you know, that not only called for the removal of Syrian forces, but also internal militias. While Hezbollah has some elected representation in the government of Lebanon, it is ironic that Hezbollah militias are working directly against and independently of that government, and therefore are weakening it. We've also been working very hard on the humanitarian side. As we first noted, the United States has dedicated $30 million to humanitarian aid. We are pleased that the Saudis have contributed half a billion dollars in humanitarian aid, and already a billion dollars for reconstruction purposes. The Jordanians and Iraqis have made contributions, and the United States is doing that. Furthermore, there are ongoing talks about a troop contribution effort with our allies. Philip Zelikow is working with Javier Solana's staff in Brussels. There will also be some U.N. consultations over the weekend over troop contributions when it comes to -- when a cease-fire is possible, to provide some sort of troop presence to supplement the Lebanese armed forces. Again, the Lebanese armed forces should be the principal means for creating peace in Lebanon, and we hope to give them the capability and the capacity to do so. So Phil Zelikow, as I said, is right now in Brussels speaking with members of the EU staff. In addition, David Welch and Elliott Abrams have returned to the region, and they are also working on some possible -- with the regional partners. There may be some action on the United Nations in terms of laying out some of the conditions necessary for achieving a cease-fire that is consistent with our stated goals, which is a durable peace. We also want to remind people that Syria and Iran are playing leading roles here, and they need to step up. They need to make it -- we have already made it clear to both parties what is necessary, and what is necessary is for Hezbollah to lay down arms and to choose a political rather than a military track. And I think that's sort of the basic take on that, and now I am ready to take questions. Tom. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Before we go back to Lebanon, could you talk about the proposal out of ASEAN to have eight-party talks instead of six-party talks to talk about North Korea's nuclear program, adding Australia, Malaysia and Canada, in lieu of the six-party talks? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Again, I'm not -- I'm not going to do an "in lieu of" because that is a diplomatic question more properly posed to the Secretary of State. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, look, with regards to Ayman al-Zawahiri, I think this is about the 15th or 16th such communication. None of them in the past have been -- all of these in the past have been confirmed; it certainly looked like him. We have not yet, at this point, fully confirmed. But let us assume that it is such a statement. It is hardly new for Mr. Zawahiri, from his place in hiding, to issue threats. But I think it does expose something else, and it's important in putting the war on terror in context, because one of the weapons is to use the media and you use the Internet and to use mass communications as a way of fomenting hatred and encouraging violence. And this certainly fits into that pattern. Al Qaeda's military capabilities have been significantly degraded, and everybody knows that. And so now Ayman al-Zawahiri is issuing tapes. I think it is worth reminding people that a global war on terror involves disparate terrorist organizations using mass communications to achieve the same end, which is to destabilize hopes of democracy and to foment violent action against sovereign governments so that they can spread their own totalitarian brand of Islamic fascism. We're not surprised to hear from Mr. Zawahiri in that sense, but the broader war on terror is something that is always a concern in the sense that we need to be vigilant about threats that may be sprouting up. And that is one of the things that the President first started talking about on September 20, 2001. He's remained vigilant on it and it's very important. A couple of other things. There's a certain amount of hypocrisy in the claims of Mr. Zawahiri to be a defender of Islam when many of the things that he has done has led -- have led to the murders of Muslims around the world by his own jihadists. These are people who do not believe in peaceful coexistence. They believe in their way or the sword. We've made it clear that that is not our way. They have made their choice, and as the war on terror proceeds, you've got to keep in mind it's not merely a war against an abstraction, it's a war against something very concrete, which are Islamo-fascists, Islamic fascists, whatever you want to brand them -- people who have a totalitarian view of things which they claim to be representation of a religion, using that to destabilize sovereign states. And it's his attempt to stay in the game. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q May I ask one other question? Dr. Rice has been using the phrase, "a new Middle East," instead of, "a democratic Middle East." Is this an intentional, deliberate, administration-wide change of phraseology, because I don't think it sounds Western or -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Can you comment on the concerns expressed by Britain's foreign secretary about how munitions were transferred from the U.S. to Israel using British territory? They are a close ally, they seem very unhappy about how that was done, and -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I'm actually not sure that's the case. I think you would have to ask the Brits about that. That's a characterization, and I'd see how you would draw it. I'm not sure that's the case, because these sorts of things have happened before, and probably are going to happen again. So I would be careful not to read too much into it, but, obviously -- we're going to have Prime Minister Blair here, we'll find out what's going on. But I will try to -- I really would recommend taking -- contacting the Department of Defense, because they've got sort of chapter and verse about the paperwork issues. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: There is an urgent need to end the violence. There is also an urgent need for Israel to defend itself. We will continue to abide by our treaty obligations. Helen. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, we're pursuing two different things here, and it's a very good question, because I can see how people would draw the conclusion. What we're talking about with India is a civil nuclear program. This is not something to be used -- and there are safeguards built in. And, obviously, you know that there would be considerable sentiment on Capitol Hill to make sure that those are firm safeguards. It actually fits into something entirely different, in that it doesn't have to do with the nuclearization of Iran or anything else. But the President has made the point a number of times, and we see it now in escalating oil prices, that we need to get rid of our addiction to oil. Part of what we're seeing, in terms of the global oil markets, is as a result of rapidly-growing economies in places like India and China; you've got two billion people there. When you have growing economies, they're going to have a pretty good appetite for energy. And we have been encouraging them to take a look at sources other than oil, including nuclear energy, and the President also has been trying to make that case here at home, because it is important in the long run, if people want to wean themselves from that dependence on oil, you've got to look for other sources. And this civil nuclear agreement, I think, is an important part of that. Go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Well, are we -- neither has signed the Nonproliferation Treaty. Are we trying to encourage that? And also, there -- maybe it's not true, that even enhancing the civil nuclear operations with India, they can transfer all their know-how to war making. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: That is a question beyond my competence, and I'll have to turn it to somebody else. I apologize. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Let me -- let me -- go ahead, Goyal. You've got a dog in this one. Go ahead. (Laughter.) I shouldn't say that. (Laughter.) That is an American colloquialism. Please forgive any international -- no, I'm not going there. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q My question is, yesterday watching -- it was not amusing to watch the world's greatest body to debate on the civil U.S.-India nuclear agreement, and also a number of congressmen there, they had some charge, many charge, and especially from California. Do you think President buys the Washington Post story on Monday, and what the Congressman was saying that Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan? And also, this may have a nuclear arms -- or nuclear race in the region, and Pakistan may make 50 to 70 nuclear bombs because of this agreement yesterday -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Right now, the Senate votes have been pretty lopsided, and the President has made his views known. So he -- as I said, we encourage the Senate to go ahead and pass the bill. Go ahead, Ed. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Because -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Because, Ed, you're laboring under the presumption that she was supposed to come with a magic wand and say a cease-fire. What she has said is, what on earth is the good of having another empty-handed cease-fire in the Middle East? What is the purpose of having something that is not enforceable at this juncture and is not realistic? The purpose -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, because -- I want to push back a little bit, because the presumption was, it wasn't success unless you had a cease-fire. In other words, you measure by a piece of paper, rather than by the ongoing efforts. What do we have? We've got American diplomats on the ground talking in the region, working toward a U.N. resolution. We have American diplomats also in Europe working about troop contributions. We also have ongoing American efforts, which we have led, in dealing with contributions to deal with the humanitarian crisis. Each and every one of these junctures -- now, you have nations that in the past have had different views, or different views of different areas of engagement or disengagement for the region, and they're all pulling in the same direction. That is significant. Now, the fact that you don't have somebody sort of jumping out and saying we have a cease-fire, I think is a reflection of the seriousness of the deliberations, rather than the idea of trying to get a PR pop out of this. What the Secretary is determined to do, and the President, is to work toward conditions that are going to create a durable peace in the region. Again, we have seen many, many peace agreements in the region before, and they have all come to naught. The determination this time is, create the conditions so that you not only have the piece of paper, you have the peace. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Yes, but you just said a moment ago that it would be -- it would not be an enforceable cease-fire. How do you know until you have a cease-fire? Why not get a cease-fire, and then if Hezbollah does not follow it, the world community sees that they're to blame. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, no, no, wrong. Again, Hezbollah is firing, what, 150, 200 rockets a day. Do you seriously believe they're going to stop if somebody in Rome says there's going to be a cease-fire? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, no, no, don't play "what if." That is naive, Ed, it's naive. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: How many times do peace efforts have to fail? Do you really -- apparently, what you're saying is it didn't make us happy because we expected a cease-fire. What Secretary Rice went for was to get people to roll up their sleeves and take a realistic look at the region. And that's important. It's important for Hezbollah also to make strategic decisions, whether to take a military or a political path. And so far, every statement and every action by Nasrallah and others have indicated that they intend to be military. Now, that is a fact. You also have to keep in mind that if -- the parties have to agree to a cease-fire. And right now, the conditions are not right for that. However, suppose that you have nations working together to get conditions where it is in the interest of both parties to do so. Then you lay down a cease-fire. Then you'll have a chance -- say, oh, man, boy, we tried, but look, we showed Hezbollah; they lied again. No, you don't want to do that. What you really want to have is not a trial balloon for a cease-fire. What you want to have is a cease-fire that really does lay in conditions. And I think people who have long experience in the region understand the complexities and the disappointments of not doing it right, and they want to do it right. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: All right. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q In terms of world opinion, you keep saying the "what if" game, if it seems as though the strategy is to isolate Hezbollah. Is there a risk with the United States and Israel gets isolated in terms of world opinion by not saying, let's cut the shooting now, cut the rockets now, and work it out? I hear what you're saying about -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Rather than -- I'll let you connect dots and draw conclusions about what people may be saying behind the scenes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: That is -- that is so theoretical, Connie, that I can't even -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, we're not there. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Let me take care of this, then we'll get back to economics. John, is this on this topic? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Okay. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q All right. You're talking about communication with different groups. Is the administration in touch with any of the exile or the opposition groups in Syria that would probably be opposed to terrorism, as well as to the Assad regime? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Tony, same issue. Going ahead a little bit here, when there is a cease-fire, both sides agree that a stabilization force will have to be put in place. I know you don't want to address it, but if you look at the few possibilities to staff such a force, the U.N. has been a disaster, historically. If you look at NATO or the European Union, but perhaps -- the Arab League, does the President have a preference as to how he'd like to see a force made up -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I've got two questions on this. First, the leader of Hezbollah, Nasrallah, said to Al Jazeera last weekend that there were members of the Lebanese government that knew about the strategy prior to their kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. Does the President or the White House have any feeling on the credibility of that claim? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Okay. Second is, among the most ardent supporters of Israel in this country, and supporters of the current foreign policy in letting Israel do what Israel thinks it needs to do, are evangelical Christians, among the President's strongest supporters, as well. Many of the leaders of this community believe that what's going on right now is part of a biblical prophecy that includes Armageddon. I'm not trying to make light of this, this is -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: The President views this as one of his challenges as President. He's not looking at this through a theological lens. He's looking at it through the lens of national interest, and also commitments to expanding democracy globally. And so that's his view. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Even if there is a cease-fire, many analysts believe that it is going to be months before actually the beginning -- accords. Have you got an idea about -- that when both Presidents have -- the debate, and how willing, I mean, how far can you go? What is the measure -- being set back 50 years -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: There are a lot of common interests that they have and I will leave it to when you hear from the two of them. But, obviously, there will be discussions on the Middle East; there will be discussions, I dare say, on other matters of mutual interest. I really don't have a full agenda at this point, so I don't want to get ahead of myself on it. But it's a typical meeting between the two of them, and they tend to cover a pretty broad spectrum of things. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, he's got a follow-up, and then -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Again, these are conversations and consultations that are being conducted at various levels. I don't expect the two of them to sit around and say, this is how we ought to parse it up. What they're trying to do -- I think you have to look at steps that are going on right now. Again, let me remind you, there's a humanitarian track that we've been conducting for some time. There is also a negotiating track to try to make sure that everybody has agreed upon the proper ends. There is also the possibility of building sort of the troop contribution track, and we also have reconstruction ongoing. So you put all those together, they will be discussing them. But I think it's a little early to begin to start saying, okay, this is how they're going to do it. Yes, go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, I mean, they talk about what's going on and the two of them are agreed. It's not like she needs specific instructions. Again, what we have is the dispatch. Already Phil Zelikow is in Brussels, we've got Elliott Abrams and David Welch in the region. Condi is in constant contact. She's in Kuala Lumpur right now dealing with those problems and others. And the President is in contact with allies. Again, he spoke with Chancellor Merkel this morning. So as happens every day -- and Steve Hadley is in conversation with people throughout the region. So there's a lot of activity going on. But -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes. How can I make this clear? When you have a group of nations working together on common goals, and they are all pitching in and they're contributing -- let's talk about the humanitarian thing. That's coming together. There is talk about a contributors conference; they're talking about troop contributions; they're talking about action in the United Nations. I will return to my quote from a few days ago about egg timer diplomacy: Things do not happen on snap deadlines. But on the other hand, there is progress, and I think you're going to see the fruits of that progress before too long. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Staying on the -- staying on the Middle East. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Okay, go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Tony, something just basic in the midst of negotiating for peace is trust. You're talking about egg timer diplomacy. How can you put a timetable on peace in the Mideast when Hezbollah does not trust this administration, this administration does not trust Hezbollah? All sides have to come together. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I think -- no, Hezbollah has to cease. Hezbollah has the primary obligation. Hezbollah is the aggressor. Hezbollah will have primary responsibility for creating the conditions for peace. To lay it on the United States is something that places us in the position of being one of the combatants. We are not. The parties -- what we are trying to do is to create conditions where the parties to the conflict are going to be able to move forward. The real victim in this is the government of Lebanon, which has been weakened by Hezbollah within its borders. So, April, I think you're asking the wrong question here. What the United States is trying to do is to make it possible for the government of Lebanon to regain control of its own country and its own territory and to move forward peacefully. And you have to address the condition that Hezbollah has been actively doing it. Furthermore, there's nobody to negotiate with in Hezbollah. You -- again, you don't have a formal structure. Unless you know. Who would you negotiate with? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No. See, you've got a small fraction of people in the parliament. They would not be seen as "leaders of Hezbollah." That is precisely your problem. You have a political track versus a military track. You have a militia operating absolutely independently of the Lebanese government and the Lebanese parliament. That's how this started, no consultation, no information. I know Jake had -- there's somebody who had a press report that we certainly haven't been able to confirm and do not have comment about. But the fact is, they operated independently. They didn't notify anybody. Boom, they create the conditions. So you have to keep your eye on the ball here, which is Hezbollah. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: The essence of this peace -- sometimes it's not -- sometimes the essence of it is somebody has to make a strategic calculation, that it is in their interest to pursue peace rather than war. I don't care whether it is trust, whether it is fear, whether it is cold-hearted calculation, there has to be something that creates the conditions for the people who are responsible for starting this to stop it. Lester. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, no, no, I want to stay -- let me complete the round of the foreign, then we'll go to domestic. Yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, how do you know that it's achieved little in weakening Hezbollah? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes, I understand that. But I'm not sure that the characterization is correct. I would leave that, though, to people and troops on the ground. It's an argumentative question in the sense that it makes an assumption about Hezbollah. I don't want to get into intelligence on it, but I think it's a disputable premise. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: The President doesn't -- when you have world events in a situation like this, what you try to do is to figure out the best way to pull people together to come to a solution. You don't say, how long do you think it's going to last, because I don't think it's a fruitful question and I'm not sure that he sat around and tried to game out in his mind how long it takes, or whatever. What he does is he says, what do we need to do to create the conditions for peace? And on the first day, he was clear about that. He had a press availability with Angela Merkel -- I think it was on the 12th or the 13th of July -- where he laid out the conditions that remain the conditions to this day, that now have the support of partners in the region and in the EU, and now people are moving forward toward achieving it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Can I follow up? Is the administration at all concerned by taking this stance, an unpopular stance, resisting calls for an immediate cease-fire, that it could affect the gains made in the international community regarding North Korea and Iran, and is that why the President has spoken with Chancellor Merkel twice in a week now? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: A lot of these people haven't had a first question. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I'll tell you what, we'll save that for later. I don't want to break the flow. We'll get to the meeting. Go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Let's stay on this topic. We'll get to it. I do have your answer, by the way. Yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No. The administration has made its position clear with regard to both of them, and there have been repeated attempts to reach out, especially to Syria, and they have proved fruitless. Nevertheless, we have encouraged those -- and we still have ongoing diplomatic ties with Syria. So we have made our views very clear to both governments. I don't think there's any doubt about what's going on, and frankly, there's nothing to negotiate. The condition here is not, well, do you get Hezbollah to back off a little bit. When you're talking about negotiating, there's some assumption that there's a middle ground. There isn't. Hezbollah has to stop the violence -- has to return the kidnapped soldiers, it has to stop the violence. That is something that if you stop short of that, you're going to find yourself in a position where violence will be encouraged in the future, because it's going to be read as a triumph for terror in other places. And furthermore, it's not going to create the kind of conditions necessary and conducive for the government of Lebanon to be able to govern effectively within its own territory. All right -- same topic? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Same topic. Tony, on this question about the impression of other countries, Arab nations, the nations that got together in Southeast Asia yesterday, is the President concerned that, as some would have it, he has abdicated the U.S. role as a peace broker in the region by effectively taking sides with Israel and now becoming a party to the crisis -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Okay, we'll go into second rounds, and then go -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Secretary Rice keeps saying that there is a charg d'affaires in Damascus that we could speak to, and could speak to the Syrians. And the Syrians keep saying that they are willing to talk to the United States. Could you please clear up what's going on, why there's no communication, direct communication? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Quickly, thanks. Tony, Iran is still supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, and also some -- one of the spokesmen today, Israeli spokesmen, said that many are also supporting Hezbollah. They are sympathizing to Hezbollah. And he said that how can you have cease-fire when the terrorists are terrorizing innocent people in the area? So what -- where do we stand -- how can we have a cease-fire -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes. Are we on domestics? Are we pretty cleared up -- you've got -- go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, I'm sorry, I'll finish up the foreign. We got a couple foreign. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: All right, let me just -- because you did -- you were kind enough to ask in advance, so let me just pull through my notes here, and I will get your official response. The fact is that we're -- we note with satisfaction the decision by the government of Japan. U.S. beef is safe. The Prime Minister had an opportunity to sample it during his trip to the United States on multiple occasions. And we look forward to seeing U.S. beef reenter the Japanese marketplace. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: That's something that you have to see -- it's a little presumptuous to try to look forward to market share issues. The first thing is getting into the marketplace, and that's the most important thing. As for the Romanian leader, I'll tell you what we're going to do -- and I apologize for this. What the President -- it's, I mean, he's looking forward to a courtesy meeting with the President of Romania, and I'll give you a readout afterward. As you can see, I'm tap dancing a little bit. So I'll get you better data on it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q On the Voting Rights Act, the President said he would vigorously enforce the law. Would this be a change of course? Because some of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus said afterwards that they feel that the administration has not done a great job of enforcing certain sections -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I know, and there will be disagreements about whether they think things are being enforced properly. But it's -- look, it's the President's job as the head of executive branch to see that the laws are faithfully executed, and he'll continue to do it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: You know, it seems to me that you're asking -- you're trying to get me into a question of people's varying judgments on this. What I would do is change it and say, look and see, and if there are problems that people see in enforcement, let's hear about them, and we'll address those in due course.* Okay, Lester. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Two questions. The Washington state supreme court ruling against same-sex marriage follows similar court rulings in New York, Georgia, Connecticut, among seven state courts this month, while 45 states have passed laws that bar same-sex marriage. And my question, does the President believe that this issue on November the 7th should result in the public voting to remove a number of members of Congress who refuse to vote against same-sex marriage? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Does the President believe that there is anything wrong or mistaken about 78 percent of France's power coming from nuclear plants, while our own government has not approved of even one new nuclear plant since the presidency of Jimmy Carter? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Before you were talking about PR props in strategic moves. And the President today is going to NAM, the National Association of Manufacturers. I mean, is this just another PR prop? Because frankly, the polls show voters don't take him seriously as someone who is fiscally conservative, and they don't take him seriously because Republicans in Congress are fiscally conservative. What's he going to say today that we haven't already heard? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Exactly. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, I didn't. Thank you, very much. The President is going to -- you've got an economy that is expanding vigorously. You take a look at the unemployment report, and what you have is a four-week track that shows continued growth. You have seen projections, consensus projections at 3 percent. When it comes to fiscal discipline, there have been -- if you take a look at the budgets, what are we doing? The deficit is going to be cut in half, in less than half -- well, ahead of the President's earlier request and projections. And -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Because you give a speech, among other things, to answer critics like you who apparently haven't been reading the data. And so you could make the point that a lot of important things are going on with the economy as a percentage of GDP. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Okay, well that's -- what you've given me are unattributed critiques that are more personal than precise in nature. And so I apologize for saying that to you, because you're right. I know you understand the data. But it is important, when a President is getting pushed like this or criticized, to go ahead and make the case and explain what's going on. And I think it's safe to say that there is a need for further -- the President wants a line-item veto. The line-item veto would enable -- because we have seen that the Congress quite often is unwilling to address spending, and it places the President in a predicament: Do you veto an essential bill just for the sake of cutting out bits of pork, or do you have to accept the pork as part of the natural political process? He thinks there ought to be a better way, which is to do the people's business as effectively as possible by getting rid of the pork and leaving room for the essentials. So I think you're right, I mean, I think there has been that concern, and it is worthy to be addressed. So I'm glad that you kept at me on this so I could take a more constructive poll on it. And the President, I think, will talk not only about the need for continued economic growth, but also, as I mentioned at the top, fiscal discipline here in Washington. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: A lot of people traveling with the President -- well, good to have you all here. One little scheduling note: Tonight the Vice President will be hosting a dinner for Prime Minister Maliki. They'll be at the Naval Observatory. There will be the Prime Minister's traveling party. On the U.S. side, Liz Cheney; John Hannah of the NSC; Zal Khalilzad, our Ambassador to Iraq; Secretary Gutierrez, Secretary Bodman, and General Hayden. Speaking of Prime Minister Maliki, he has now spoken to Congress. It's probably worth noting a couple of things. He gave, I think, an important talk on the nature of war on terror, saying that the fates of the United States and Iraq are interlinked, and furthermore, as he said, "Should democracy be allowed to fail in Iraq and terror permitted to triumph, then the war on terror will never be won elsewhere." That's why the President has said we will win the war on terror in Iraq, and we will win in Iraq. And Prime Minister Maliki demonstrating the kind of determination that I think was impressive to members of Congress. It's also worth noting that the Prime Minister illustrates one of the benefits that we've talked about in terms of democracies. If you listen to the speech, what happens in a democracy is that it's no longer -- a government is no longer a dictator's play thing, it, in fact, becomes a servant of the people. Therefore, he talked about the fact that you've got a free press in Iraq. He talked about the fact that there's an active effort to secure equal rights for women. He talked about the fact that the economy is growing and that they are working to eliminate the vestiges of state ownership. He talked about the fact that those who try to kill innocents will meet with justice. He said that Iraq will not become a launch pad for al Qaeda -- all, I think, are important notes. Also, Secretary of State Condi Rice has now departed Rome and she's making her way to Malaysia. But let me run through very quickly, because I know there has been a lot of talk about what was accomplished in Rome today, and what you had is a statement that very much mirrors the statement delivered by the G8 ministers not so long ago. And it is this: The status quo cannot persist in southern Lebanon. It is time to make sure that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 -- which talks about the integrity of the Lebanese government within Lebanese borders; it talks about the inadmissability of internal militias or foreign states -- needs to be fulfilled. And that is going to require Hezbollah standing down. And we were happy that Secretary of State Kofi Annan -- Secretary General Kofi Annan did mention Iran and Syria. And it's important to realize also that we do regard a cease-fire as urgent. We also regard the humanitarian situation as urgent, and are acting as rapidly as we can on both fronts. The United States will remain in consultation with allies about appropriate measures and we'll try to find ways to make conditions proper for a cease-fire. In addition, it's -- I'll repeat something I said at the gaggle, which is that Elliott Abrams and David Welch from the National Security Council and Department of State, respectively, are returning to the region to continue consulting with partners and allies on how to move forward. And with that as preface, Jennifer. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Thanks. This Israeli strike on the U.N. post in Lebanon, how worried is the White House that's going to complicate efforts to get agreement on the details of how to end the violence? And how worried are you all that it's going to reduce patience overall with the Israelis? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: The presumption of the question is that there's lurking impatience. What we're trying to do -- again, the onus here goes on Hezbollah, not on Israel. But the Israelis also need to practice restraint, which we have said from the very beginning. And they understand all the ramifications of that. But in terms of patience/impatience, I'm not sure it's helpful to characterize it that way, and I'm not sure, even if I knew some way to calibrate it, I could describe it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't think so. I mean, Israelis, for one thing, have tried to do targeting -- tried to hold down civilian casualties and collateral damage. They've made that clear. The other thing is the Israelis have also made clear their concerns about the humanitarian situation, both in this specific instance by saying to the U.N., yes, we're troubled, and you're going to be able to see what's going on, but also by opening up land, sea and air humanitarian corridors. That is not the act of a nation that is calloused about what is going on. Jim. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Again, the violence starts with Hezbollah. And I don't -- we don't stop the violence, they do. Now, what I -- but I think -- well, I want to say that as preface, Jim. It's pretty clear now, with the G8 statement and the Rome statement, and also actions that have been taken within the region, that it is realized that Hezbollah is a threat to peace in the region. And there is also the recognition that Iran and Syria play a role in supporting and funding Hezbollah. And they now have -- it's been pretty clear that in the region and around the world, people want them to assert pressure on Hezbollah. Meanwhile, we've said to Israel, you need to practice restraint. We've been very clear about that, as well. But the conditions for peace begin with Hezbollah's stopping the terror, returning the soldiers, stopping firing rockets. You've heard the formulation many times. That doesn't change. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I understand that. But let me ask the question another way. Someone is going to hear that there was a meeting this morning -- oh, Secretary of State Rice was in Rome, met with members of the international community. The question is going to be, are we any closer to getting this thing stopped. What's the answer? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes. And also everybody now realizes, okay, we've got to start working on certain things together. And it's not like they have a meeting, break up, and don't talk anymore. Again, we're maintaining a diplomatic presence in the region and there will be continued extensive negotiations -- I'd say consultations -- as I've told you, each and every day. The Departments of State and Defense, plus the National Security Council are talking with people all throughout. So this is one where I think within the region and within Europe, you've got a lot of people who are very aggressively trying to figure out how to do their part. It's not just the United States, and each and every ally I think is pitching in. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Tony, if I could follow. Prime Minister Siniora, after his talks, was clearly disappointed. He said they'd hoped to agree to an immediate cease-fire. He said his country is being brought to its knees. And he also said that every day that there's not an immediate cease-fire, more Lebanese are dying. How does that complicate the United States' position to move forward and not undermine support from Arab allies, who are looking at this policy and saying, look, this is going to cost civilian casualties the more we wait? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, that's argumentative, and I think, again, the calculation here -- for instance, you take a look at the statement out of Rome today is -- it's urgent. It was not a call for an immediate cease-fire. This was an agreement that was signed by all parties. But is it urgent? Yes. As I've said many times, we would love a cease-fire yesterday. But, unfortunately, the conditions for a durable and sustainable peace are not yet present. And most importantly, the people who started the fight, Hezbollah, have given absolutely no indications -- those who are involved in military activities -- that they intend to cease and desist. Quite the contrary. We are hoping that diplomatically, others can persuade them to lay down arms and join civil society, and choose a political rather than military course. But that simply hasn't happened yet. Helen. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't think that there is an official role, but it is obvious that at this point that there are consultations with the government of Syria. And, again, the Syrian government certainly knows what the U.S. position is. But other nations have been speaking with the Syrians, and we're aware of some of those conversations. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, the U.S. has had a sense of urgency all along. Again, we dispatched diplomats to the region very shortly after this began. There is no new sense of urgency. There's been a sense of urgency all along. What has been, I think, an important commitment on the part of this government is to build the kind of diplomatic might so that we're not simply acting alone, but, in fact, you've got a lot of people with a lot of interest and a lot of equity in the region who can, all in different ways, support the mission of creating those conditions for a sustainable peace. Jessica. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I haven't spoken to the President, but I think you've -- look, the Israelis -- I think you take the Israelis at their word, but also, the Israelis are doing an investigation into it, and they're trying to figure out precisely what happened. Clearly, something went wrong. And it's important to find out what went wrong and to try to ensure that it never happens again. And I think I'll let the Israelis speak for themselves on that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Tony, understanding that terrorist groups are very unpredictable and that they obviously want to cause terror, you and others in this administration have said it's hard, if not impossible, to negotiate a cease-fire with a terrorist group, paint a picture of an end game here that does not get to eliminating Hezbollah. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q If somebody sitting at home hears the sustainable cease-fire and hears it's tough to negotiate, or impossible to negotiate a cease-fire with a terrorist group, and then they hear the Israelis saying the Americans essentially have given us 10 to 14 days to finish this up, what is that person supposed to think? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Is this on Iraq? Or is this on -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Okay, let's -- I want to stay on Iraq. Victoria. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Yes, this is on Iraq. In Iraq right now, there are -- of fatwas being issued, banning women from driving, or being seen out alone; you've got women being stoned for wearing make-up and professional women being murdered. And in his speech this morning, al-Maliki praised the high status of women in Iraq. Would you acknowledge that, in fact, the status of women in Iraq is perilous right now? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Again, I redirect to them. I have a feeling -- the Prime Minister also made the point that Iraq has moved to a point of elections and not mass graves. We can argue this both ways, I suppose, but I think a situation where people are being dumped into mass graves by a regime that used murder as simply a way of clearing up what it saw as political difficulties is far different than one that tries to deal with its political difficulties by appealing to the needs and desires of the people. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't think the purpose of a government is to control the people, it's to respond to their will. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No. No. But I think the Prime Minister -- I don't know why everybody here wants the Prime Minister to come and talk about a different set of problems. He's the Prime Minister of Iraq. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: That's right. And he also understands that Iraq is the centerpiece of that, and that a failure to address and combat and vanquish terror there would have catastrophic effects throughout the world. His job is to be the Prime Minister of Iraq, and I would expect him to go before the United States Congress and not only talk in general terms about where they've gone, but where he intends to go. This is a chance for members of the Congress and for Americans to assess somebody who is now the head of a sovereign state. We have put much -- we have committed some of our finest young men and women to service there; 2,600 have lost their lives; we've spent billions of dollars. This is important for many Americans. And the Prime Minister, I think, is making it clear that he is not somebody who takes these sacrifices lightly. The first thing he did was to thank the American people, and also to give a sense that he is determined to make sure -- and this gets to the point Victoria was making -- that you get a democracy that secures the rights of all people, and also demonstrates to the region that such a thing is possible in that part of the world. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No. As a matter of fact, I think Senator Harry Reid was saying that he has received some word that the Iraqi foreign ministry is going to come out with a statement condemning Hezbollah. Prime Minister Maliki has never delivered a statement supporting it. So, again, what you're trying to do is to pick a fight. And I understand it; it's colorful, it's interesting, but it's the Prime Minister's job to serve as the Prime Minister of Iraq. And he understands how the war on terror operates far more personally than any of us. He's living in Baghdad, he's living in the condition; he's seen people try to destabilize his government every day. He understands the human toll, he understands the economic toll. And I think he talked very directly about those things, and I think it's -- again, it's a message that I'm glad people get to hear. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I don't have any readout of conversations. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it was pretty tight, because she made her way from Rome and is now in the air, I know, on her way to Malaysia. Certainly there have been contacts with members of the State Department -- I was doing some of these. So I don't honestly know if there was a direct conversation with the President, but I guarantee you the President will have gotten a readout, and may, in fact, be getting calls from the plane, as well. I'll try to find out. We'll attach a footnote if we've got any context on it. Let's stick with questions on the area. Richard. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I'm not going to characterize. I will give you our position, but I'm not going to get into the position -- we've been through this a lot of trying to grade the activities -- because among other things, it would require my knowing what all the conditions and considerations are. And I don't. And I dare say even very wise and involved people in this country don't know each and every consideration that goes into specific battle plans. That is a question that I think can only be answered in hindsight, not from here. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Okay. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Right. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I am not aware of recent conversations along those lines. I am aware that they have access to electronic communications including this. So let me be clear one more time: You need to do your part. But the ambassador -- so I don't know -- and I also don't know what would count as a contact. I honestly don't know if Ambassador Mustafa has spoken to people at State or elsewhere. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: No, as a matter of fact, let me -- Secretary Rice sort of addressed this a little bit today, and let me see if I've got the comments with me, because she's talked about the fact -- Colin Powell, Richard Armitage, Bill Burns, a number of others over the years maintained pretty active contact with the Syrians. In addition, the President, I think as recently as 2004, had dispatched a letter to President Assad. So it is clear that there have been, over the last 30 years, many, many, many attempts to deal directly with the Syrians and it has yielded no discernable fruit. And so at this particular point, the Syrians know our position. But more importantly, a number of other countries that may in the past have been silent about it are no longer silent -- both publically and privately. And this would include people in the neighborhood. So the more significant -- the Syrians know what our position is, but now that they know their neighbors share substantially the same concerns, that may make a difference. I don't know. We'll have to see. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Okay, we'll sever it -- well, okay, let's just do it. Let's get it over with. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I appreciate it. Thank you. Since Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has killed hundreds of Americans, why is it that the President wants Israel to cut short its war to destroy its infrastructure, since that is what the President pledged to do to all international terrorist organizations after September the 11th? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Let me just apologize personally to the network for legal jargon. Continue. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: We have the broad sweep of literary history here. Let's walk through a couple of things. I am told by some of the reporters who were at the scene that it was mischaracterized. But I will leave to people who were there to characterize more fully the statements that were made. Number two, the President, the First Lady, the President's father, I believe the Vice President -- the Vice President, Karl Rove, this administration has been in Maryland campaigning for Michael Steele. We want him to become the next U.S. senator. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, again, I've received characterizations, but having not been in the room, I think it's probably not up to me to say exactly what happened. There are probably different versions, and I would refer you either to the people who are elbowing up with him, or -- because, apparently -- well, in any event, or to Mr. Steele, himself. I'm just not going to -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Once again, you're leaping ahead. I think I've made my point on this. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Not that I'm aware of. I wasn't there. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes, he does. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q We're all going to have to start wearing A's for "American" in a minute. On Beirut, NBC and -- I hope I've got the right network -- NBC had a fascinating report about Beirut, showing the Christian section saying it hadn't been changed at all. There are other reports that said only one percent of Beirut has been bombed. Is this true, and if so, what -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Going back to the questions about the Iraqi Prime Minister's approach or no approach to Hezbollah, he was asked in a private session with the senators today the same question he was asked at the news conference yesterday, and he again refused to characterize, in a private session, his feelings. So, to paraphrase what the President said after 9/11, "you're with us or you're with the terrorists." When it comes to Hezbollah -- we know where he stands on terrorism, in general, but when it comes to this group that the administration says is fomenting so much trouble, is this guy with us, or is he against us? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Yes, and? And? And? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: You know, we understand that allies have their own concerns, and what we're not going to do is to say to the Prime Minister, this is what you should say. We're not going to tell him, we want you to issue a statement against Hezbollah. It's inappropriate. He's the head of a sovereign state. He has the ability to say what he thinks, or, if he chooses not to answer the question, he has that right, too. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I don't have -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Don't know. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Tony, with respect to the legislation on the detainees at Guantanamo, the Attorney General was interviewed today and he said that the administration has been looking to international tribunals, such as those that have been held in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as a guide. He also said that, these are ideas, but they're just ideas. So, two questions. First, to what extent is the administration trying to base this new commission approach on those kinds of international tribunals? And also, how much is this open to negotiation? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: I think you're going to have to talk to the people involved directly. A final -- I suspect you'll see a final draft when there's a piece of legislation. That will be the final draft. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Don't know. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: Good afternoon. I thought I'd try and talk a little bit about the visit today and what was accomplished, a little bit about the format, little color, little bit about what was accomplished. And then I'd be pleased to take any questions folks have. It was a very good visit. The President, of course, had met Prime Minister Maliki in his visit to Baghdad. That was obviously a fairly short visit. This was an opportunity for the two men to sit down in a more relaxed setting and talk about the way forward in Iraq. The two leaders started out with a one-on-one meeting. They then expanded it to a larger group. It went about 90 minutes. There was then the press availability, and then there was about an hour or so at lunch. The one-on-one meeting was supposed to go 30 minutes; it went about an hour and 10 minutes, just the two ministers -- the President and the Prime Minister and a translator. And it was a very businesslike session. These are two men who, I think, see in each other someone who is aware of the challenges they face, are willing to set some priorities, and clearly want to see some action and some progress, some results from the initiatives that are being adopted. The Prime Minister had an opportunity to outline his plan, going forward in Iraq, and the President made clear that he supported that plan, as he talked about publicly. I think the two men established a very good working personal relationship, clear the challenges before them, very resolute and committed to overcoming them, and sharing a real confidence that they can and will be overcome, and pledging to work together to do that. So I think it was a good session where the two really established the kind of working relationship that you'd want them to have. There was a lot accomplished at this meeting. It's summarized in a fact sheet. You also heard the President and the Prime Minister talk a bit about it during the press availability. The things I would emphasize would be, obviously, Baghdad security, the priority the Prime Minister gives to enhancing security in Baghdad. The Prime Minister has been working with his Minister of Interior, Minister of Defense, and General Casey to develop a plan to go, as the Prime Minister said, into a second phase on the Baghdad security program. It will involve going much more on a neighborhood-to-neighborhood approach, going into a neighborhood, securing it, getting Iraqi security forces in place, working with the locals in the neighborhood to identify those who are purveyors of violence so that the security forces can go after those people, and then going neighborhood-to-neighborhood and expanding the control within Baghdad. It's going to require some additional forces -- some additional U.S. forces, some additional Iraqi forces. And the Prime Minister is working with those two ministers and General Casey to identify just exactly what forces will be required to do that. But it's clearly a commitment that the Prime Minister has, and, of course, a commitment that the President has. Separate from that, there was some discussion about strengthening the Iraqi security forces. That is in terms of equipment, mobility, protection -- that's an equipping issue. There's also a desire to strengthen the police forces, the national police and the local police, deal with some of the concerns about infiltration by various groups that have been talked about and that need to be addressed. A lot of that will be done in the framework of what was announced today, this joint committee to achieve Iraqi self-reliance. This is to try and chart the way forward so that Iraqis can take more responsibility for security. That really goes, as you know, in two steps: Iraqi security forces first taking responsibility in an area for security with coalition forces very much in support; and then, finally, handing over control of those forces to the local political structures, the provincial leadership, for example -- something that was done in Muthanna province, that the Prime Minister talked about, and hopefully will be done in other provinces in the months ahead. There was discussion, of course, about the international compact. I think you heard the Prime Minister is a strong supporter of that compact. The President undertook to go to other countries and encourage international support and participation in the compact. There was the talk about the young leaders program, to try and help train the next generation of Iraqi leadership through a fairly important exchange program with Iraqi youth. That was very much the substance of the conversation that the two men had. At lunch the two leaders began with opening statements, and then the Prime Minister decided to turn the floor over to each of his ministers in turn, so they could report to the President the kinds of progress and plans that they had. As you remember, the President had an opportunity to meet a number of these ministers in Baghdad. They spoke to him at that time of their aspirations, and they had an opportunity to indicate some of the progress they have made. The Oil Minister indicated that oil production is up; it's now about 2.5 million barrels a day. He believes that that will continue to increase through the end of the year. He talked about the additional steps that are being taken with Iraqi security forces to protect the pipeline, which is important for getting oil up to the north for export out of the north. He talked about the need, down the road, to upgrade Iraqi refining capacity, first by upgrading existing facilities, and at some point building additional capacity so that Iraq does not need to import refined products, but can make refined products in Iraq itself, and, therefore, cut down on the budget that is required otherwise to import. The Electricity Minister talked about the increase in electricity production, which is now over 5,000 megawatts. They believe that will continue to go up. Obviously, security continues to be a challenge with respect to the electricity grid, and he talked a little bit about how they are dealing with those challenges. There is also, again, an investment requirement here. One of the things that both ministers talked about is the need for greater investment in the infrastructure. And in the subsequent discussions with the Trade Minister and the Planning Minister, they emphasized the importance of foreign investment, of privatization and other tools that they will need to try and get a handle on these problems. They talked -- the Minister for Human Rights talked about the situation and the challenges in Iraq today. The President had had an opportunity to hear from her in Baghdad. It was a follow-on conversation. As I say, it went about an hour and a very good opportunity to do a little back and forth. As you know, U.S. Cabinet Secretaries are now beginning to go to Iraq and beginning an exchange with their counterparts. Commerce Secretary Gutierrez was recently in Iraq dealing with his counterparts. He's reported back to the President. Secretary Bodman was recently in Iraq, and, in turn, was able to entertain the Energy Minister here. So we are now beginning U.S. Cabinet Secretaries-to-Iraqi ministers to engage directly and see how we can support the plans that the Iraqi ministers have adopted. And I think that's all I wanted to cover in terms of an opening statement. And I'd be happy to have any questions. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: There is some discussion about that. My understanding it's ongoing. I've heard some discussions of those numbers. I think it's something that is still being looked at. And the answer is, I think we don't know at this point. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: I think we're going to let Ambassador -- Prime Minister Maliki deal with his ministers, deal with General Casey. And when he's ready and comfortable that there's a plan that will work, I think we're going to let him announce what those movements will be. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: I think you heard from the President's statement today, what they're talking about is repositioning of forces in a way that more reflects the situation on the ground. Obviously, there's a security challenge in Baghdad that is a priority for the Prime Minister and the President. And I think what you're going to see is repositioning of forces to that particular requirement. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q One final thought. You mentioned equipment. Is this something that's going to require a supplemental or something, or emergency bill to Congress? Or is there money to pay for all this equipment? And what kind of equipment are we talking -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q The U.S. could not have a newer ally in that region than Maliki, and today he was asked his view on Hezbollah and he did not answer that question directly. In your private conversations, did you have any sense of why he did not more publicly state a view on Hezbollah? And should we infer that he does not share the President's view on that group? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I thought he ducked the question, clearly. But there's a legitimate follow here. First of all, is your understanding of his party's ties to Hezbollah -- what I've been reading in several accounts, which is that there is a working tie between his party and Hezbollah -- and if that's the case, does that present any problem for the administration? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: You didn't like my color? (Laughter.) You missed it? Can I try it again? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I just wanted to make sure we heard it. (Laughter.) The Prime Minister said that he talked about the national reconciliation plan with the President. Obviously, a controversial provision of that plan is proposed amnesty for insurgents who have attacked U.S. troops. Did the President have a response when he brought it up? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: In the discussions I was in, the reconciliation came up in a general way. That particular issue did not get raised. But again, I can't tell you what the two might have discussed one-on-one. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: I think the first phase of the plan has not achieved all the results I think people would have liked. That's why it has been -- we have moved into a phase two, which has a different -- a little different operational concept, and which will have additional forces. Obviously, they would like progress as soon as possible. Nobody likes the situation that's going on in Baghdad. At this point, I don't think they put a calendar on it because the program is still coming together in terms of its details. So I can't give you a calendar on it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: No, it's really going into an area, making sure that they have control of that area, establishing the local Iraqi security presence, primarily police presence, giving some reassurance to the population there that, in a way, the sheriff has arrived and it's going to calm down. And that will allow people to have the confidence to begin to indicate those people who have been the purveyors of violence in that community. That's the concept. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q This will ping-pong around, but he had initially said -- the Prime Minister had said, when he announced his initial security plan, that we would not be targeting specific neighborhoods. That's almost an exact quote to that effect, that they didn't want to target neighborhoods, and if one read between the lines, I guess he didn't want to send a message there that any one group was being targeted. This would seem to have an opposite approach. So that's my first question -- do you agree with that? And secondly, are these troops that will come into Baghdad leaving areas that the U.S. now thinks are secure enough to have a diminished presence, and therefore, what would that say about an eventual larger troop withdrawal? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Steve, when the President met with Prime Minister Maliki the first time, five weeks ago, whenever that was, there was a lot of talk by him and by his aides about how much confidence he had in Prime Minister Maliki. This is the man who finally after all the Iraqi leaders was going to be the person who had the decisive leadership style to make things happen. Do we still have that confidence? Is there any room for reevaluation at this point? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Can I follow up? I have a follow-up. The discussion, of course, in the States is often centered around the idea of withdrawal, and there's been various scenarios floated in the papers and by the Pentagon. Do the events of the last five weeks change that dynamic, in your mind? Is it less likely today, for instance, than it was five weeks ago that we'll see a withdrawal by the end of this year or so? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q You say events on the ground. Obviously, the events on the ground, you just said yourself, have not been very positive in the last few weeks. Given that, should Americans tamp down any expectations they might have, not get their hopes up that there will be significant withdrawals, say, the next few months? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q If I could just follow, because I know President Bush and Maliki were both asked, you know, why should Americans expect that this would be -- that the new security initiative be any different than the ones that had failed before. And the President said that obviously they need to be flexible to adapt to the conditions on the ground. What is it about Baghdad that specifically has been so difficult? Can you enlighten us about those conditions? I mean, it's been three years since the invasion, and the coalition has not been able to secure that city. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: It has not, obviously, produced -- it has not solved the problem. There was some discussion early on that it would probably be a phased operation. What we've really done, and what the Prime Minister has done with the Minister of Interior and Defense and with General Casey, is say, in phase two, we've got to do some things differently. And what they're developing is that plan for phase two because they want greater success than they got out of phase one. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Can I get back to the Hezbollah question? There's been some consternation on the Hill this afternoon that the Prime Minister did not, A, condemn Hezbollah in any way; or, B, recognize Israel's right to exist -- both obviously stances that are first what the administration has been pushing. Can you address whether that issue concerns you? And obviously, there are other members of his government who have had much more, shall we say, aggressive statements about what's going on there. Does that concern you, as well? We have now a Shia government in a region that is seeing increasing Shia-Sunni splits on this issue. I'm wondering if you're worried about where Iraq stands on this and how it might -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: He said three things. One, he said he's in a different place now, as -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: Let me answer your question. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: He said three things. One, he said it's in a different context with a unity government, as I outlined before, and as he outlined, elected by the Iraqi people. Secondly, he has launched a reconciliation initiative. It's about three or four weeks old. The reconciliation commission had its first meeting. So the second element is he now has a political strategy to bring reconciliation to the communities. And, third, he believes that along with that political reconciliation effort there clearly has to be a cost for people who go around as death squads and murder innocent civilians. And he's also said there has to be a cost. And that means we need to have a different strategy in terms of Baghdad security, and additional forces and additional equipment. So he's basically saying there are three strands to this strategy and that's what he's pursuing and that's what he talked about today. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: I don't know what account. You know, Iraq does have oil revenues; they're about 2.5 million barrels a day. So this is a country that has its own means. I think what I take from that is there is international recognition about the plight, the humanitarian plight among the Lebanese. The President sent Secretary Rice out for consultations in the region and then the meeting in Rome, which will occur tomorrow. And his first priority was, you need to address the humanitarian assistance, the humanitarian needs of the Lebanese -- through assistance, through humanitarian corridors, which she's talked about with the Israelis and which were announced today. And that will be a topic of discussion in Rome. Part of it is there will be requirements for humanitarian assistance now, in the short run, for the suffering of the Lebanese people, and also reconstruction requirements in the long run. The Saudi government made an announcement today of a total of about $1.5 billion worth of assistance. We've announced about $30 million. Obviously, there will be more coming. The Iraqis have decided, moved by the plight of the Lebanese, to offer $35 million. I think it's a good thing. I hope the rest of the world, particularly countries in the region, step up to their responsibilities and help the Lebanese people and help the government of Lebanon deal with this very difficult situation. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Steve, with the number of attacks rising, and with the death toll rising, and in particular with the audacious nature of a lot of these attacks in Baghdad of groups of Sunnis pulling Shiites out, killing them in the street, and vice versa, there's a wide array of political leaders in Iraq that say a low-grade civil war, marked by ethnic cleansing in mixed neighborhoods, in particular, has already begun. The Prime Minister today, when he ended the press conference, said, with God's help there won't be a civil war, which was not a particularly inspiring statement when you listen to the words of it. Does the administration think a civil war has begun? If not, how much -- what else has to happen before you would look at it and say, there is a civil war now raging inside of Iraq? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Steve, a couple for you. Over the past few days, American officials have talked about a focus on the instigators of sectarian violence in Baghdad. Will U.S. forces be involved in targeting these instigators? What are the parameters -- what is an instigator? Is it somebody who says, I hate the Americans, they have to go, or is it someone who actually has to pick up a weapon and shoot an American? That's the first one. The second one is, in two phone calls I think in three days last week, the President promised Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey to address the PKK issue and cross-border terrorism there. Did that come up in today's meeting, and what did they decide to do about it? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Mr. Hadley, do you -- the President was saying that he and the Prime Minister had a frank exchange about Lebanon. Let me try this again. Did the President hear anything from the Prime Minister that made him believe that the Prime Minister agrees that Hezbollah is thwarting the march of democracy? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I'm sorry to shift the spotlight to a different region, but in my region there are trouble spots, too. One of the trouble spots in my region is Georgia, the Republic of Georgia, where the government is moving the troops and the weapons into Abkhazia, a separatist region. Basically I -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. HADLEY: Which government? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Good afternoon, welcome. Just a couple of miscellaneous items from the morning briefing. There was some curiosity about the national background of the three soldiers that the President visited today, who were to become, and have become naturalized American citizens: Specialist Noe Santos-Dilone is from the Dominican Republic; Specialist Sergio Lopez, originally from Mexico; and Private First Class Eduardo Leal-Cardenas, originally from Mexico. And with that little bit of trivia, I'm ready to take questions. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, rather than pointing fingers, let me tell you what's happened. The Doha round talks have been suspended. President Bush at the G8 made it clear that the United States was willing to make concessions at the table if some of our other allies wished to do so. They did not. So flexibility is something the Americans -- we're still willing to be flexible, and we remain committed to the objectives of freer trader and, especially -- this is a development round; this is designed to provide aid to developing countries and we think that's very important. We think it's a missed opportunity for those parties. But on the other hand, the stuff that was on the table at Doha would never have been approved by Congress. And, realistically, we have to make sure that we have something. The United States, at this point -- especially on agricultural subsidies -- has done a good job. Our average tariff on agricultural products is 12 percent. For the EU it's 24 percent. For WTO countries it's 62 percent. So in days and weeks ahead you're going to see Ambassador Susan Schwab and Agricultural Secretary Mike Johanns continuing to reach out to other nations and try to achieve the objectives of the Doha round. It would be wrong to say that they have collapsed, but what they have been is suspended. Now, one of the other things is -- well, I'll leave it at that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q On Lebanon, there seems to be two tracks that have emerged. There are those calling for an immediate cease-fire; there are those calling for a sustainable cease-fire. And the sustainable camp says there's a risk -- if you just call for an immediate, you'll be back here in three weeks or three months. Isn't it worth the risk if you stop innocent Israelis and Lebanese from being killed; isn't it worth taking that risk while you try to bang out something more sustainable? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q If you -- I don't think there's any disagreement about the goal, even the folks calling for an immediate cease-fire want to see something sustainable. The point is, what do you do in the interim -- this risk everyone is talking about, that you could be back there in three weeks? So what? So you're back there in two weeks. In the meantime, you've had three weeks less of -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q About your position, though, if they're not peaceful weeks, doesn't that, in some way, also insulate the administration, the Israelis from criticism from people saying that response is disproportionate. Doesn't that improve and strengthen your position to say, hey, we tried it, we called for it, and it didn't happen? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: Well, no, that is -- no, that is if you call for a cease-fire that is unenforceable, that is not enforced and people suffer, that is the practical consequence. The point is, there's no give on this. The United States believes in a sustainable cease-fire. Secretary Rice is in the region talking about it. She had a very good meeting today with key leaders in Lebanon and they talked about that. They also talked about humanitarian assistance and a number of other topics. So I think the notion that you have a cease-fire that, at this point, is unenforceable, does not really get us to the point we need to be at. You do not want to give -- you simply don't want to go there. Let me add something. I'm going to switch this slightly, and you can come back on me if you wish. Secretary Rice also has been speaking with the Lebanese and others about humanitarian assistance. And later today she will be announcing a major U.S. commitment, a significant U.S. commitment in terms of humanitarian aid. And at the order of the President, humanitarian supplies will start arriving in Lebanon tomorrow by helicopter and by ship. We are working with Israel and Lebanon to open up humanitarian corridors. Also, Secretary Rice did get a full briefing from the Lebanese on the situation, as far as they see it, an on-the-ground reporting. She heads next to Israel, where she is going to meet with Foreign Minister Livni, Prime Minister Olmert and the Defense Minister Peretz, and head after that to Rome. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. SNOW: You know what, that's not -- the humanitarian aid really is -- this is not a device designed to mute criticism, it is a move that is designed in recognition of the fact that innocent men, women and children are being hurt. And that is an awful thing. We have compassion for all of them, and we want to start giving them as much help and aid as possible, as quickly as possible. And we're calling upon our friends and allies to do the same thing. It is clear that there are humanitarian concerns that need to be addressed, and will continue to need to be addressed in Lebanon, and that's one of the two missions. Secretary Rice is there to talk about conditions for a sustainable cease-fire and a sustainable peace. And people in that neighborhood know it; they have been through peace agreements that did not yield peace. They understand it, and they understand the importance. And I think the reception she has received -- I guess that's redundant, isn't it -- the reception has been respectful and supportive. So what you're going to see now is a number of our allies meeting in Rome in a couple of days to build upon that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.