White House Press Corps.org: Press Briefing by Tony Snow 1/12/07 (Topic: Iraq)

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Press Briefing by Tony Snow 1/12/07 (Topic: Iraq)
— Friday, January 12, 2007 —

Q Tony, if, indeed, there needs to be more of a political component, why not keep the troops as they were, instead of increasing the troop effort there to support the Iraqis? Why not just focus mostly on the political aspect?

MR. SNOW: Well, as I said, it's very difficult to focus on the political aspect when you have violence and bloodshed occurring all about you. You do have to have a certain amount of peace so that people can calmly and in good will work through some of the tougher issues before them.

That's not an atmosphere -- I think you'll agree -- because I get question after question every day, what about the escalating violence in Baghdad; how can you possibly survive? The question then is, do you think that is an atmosphere in which you are going to be able to move forward on political matters? The answer is, believe it or not, they've been managing to do it anyway. But on the other hand, it is important to be able to build trust so that people are not worried about their life and livelihood.

And, furthermore, April, one of the key elements in political reconciliation is the belief on the part of the Iraqis that their government is going to represent their interests and defend their rights regardless of who they are -- it's not going to pick favorites. There is skepticism in some parts of Iraq that the government is protecting some and not protecting others, and in that atmosphere you cannot move forward, you have to build the baseline confidence in the government and its institutions in order to proceed with those talks. I think that's a matter of common sense.

Q But, Tony, the President in his speech said words like "failed." And if there was a failure militarily, why send more U.S. troops into harm's way, instead of just taking that component, realizing there's a failure there, and moving --

MR. SNOW: Because if you do not have an improvement in the situation, you will not have the necessities and the basics for doing the political. The two work together. You have to make the -- you have to address the security situation so you can complete the work of security. Look, it appears that the Iraqis are moving rapidly toward passing the hydrocarbon law. That is great. It appears that they are working on deBaathification. It appears that they are working on the election reforms.

But you still have the ultimate question of legitimacy, are they going to protect me or are they going to protect my interests? And if you have some people in the country who believe that their own government is not going to protect them, so that they have to rely on a militia for their safety, or they have to rely on armed bands, or they have to rely on armed groups of Saddamists and rejectionists, then you don't have the basis for the kind of political reconciliation you have to have, and you have to develop that fundamental faith that the government that you are talking about you view as your government, and not as a hostile force.

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Posted by WhiteHousePressCorps.org @ 9:03 PM

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