White House Press Corps.org: Press Briefing by Dana Perino 03/06/07 (Topic: Lewis Libby Trial)

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Press Briefing by Dana Perino 03/06/07 (Topic: Lewis Libby Trial)
— Wednesday, March 07, 2007 —

Q One more follow on this. And again, what I'm asking you in no way deals with any ongoing legal proceedings. I'm asking you now that the administration has, on one hand, with the Libby trial, questions raised about how the administration decided to go to war, and on the other side right now, with the Walter Reed situation, there's questions about what happened once the administration did go to war. Are you feeling political pressure building in sort of a new and intensified way?

MS. PERINO: I'm not sure how you're putting those two things together. In regards to intelligence and prewar intelligence, we have answered those questions repeatedly, and we have taken action to fix what was wrong in the intelligence community in order to make sure that that never happens again. When you're talking about the Walter Reed and the effects from that, I'm not exactly sure how you bring those two together.

Q I'm saying there are two news stories right now that are making -- putting the war, not only how we got there, but what happened once we did get there, in terms of various ways the policy that the White House pursued -- the consequences. And I'm wondering if you feel now a new pressure to sort of -- or the President feels a new pressure to look the American people in the eye and explain the fallout, the consequences of what's obviously and naturally going to be raised by these two stories?

MS. PERINO: I don't see where -- I understand where you're coming from. I don't see it that way. I think that the President answers to the American people quite regularly, all the time. We're here every day on his behalf, and then you get to ask him questions quite regularly, as well. So the President talks about how we are going to make sure that this never happens again in the intelligence community, as well as taking immediate action to make sure that the problems that were uncovered at Walter Reed are fixed, and not only at Walter Reed, with the DoD commission, but just today he announced a bipartisan non-governmental commission to take a longer view, to make sure that our global war on terror servicemen and women get the care that they need. We can talk about both stories, I just don't know if they fit into the same paragraph.

Q They fit into the fallout of the decision to go to war.

MS. PERINO: The President has said that the hardest decision that any President ever makes is a decision to send young men and women into war. And again, he's taking action to make sure that the servicemen and women get what they need upon return, if they are wounded, or -- beyond being wounded, but also if they need additional education, if they want to start a business, to make sure that they get back on their feet when they come back to the States.

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