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 What a Secretary of State Does - White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 1/14/09 — Wednesday, January 14, 2009 —  Q Okay. On Gaza, I'm assuming that the President is not trying to wrap or push for a resolution before he leaves office, but, I mean, is he okay with this conflict continuing as he leaves office or is there any kind of sense within the White House that he'd like to wrap things up or at least achieve a resolution before -- MS. PERINO: This is not -- President Bush didn't want the situation to arise in the first place. But given where we are I think that he has exercised the appropriate authority that he can over what the United States can do. And the United States is not there pulling any triggers. But what we have done, the United States has done is tried to work with the Israelis to provide more aid for the humanitarian crisis that's occurring. And we'd like to see a durable cease-fire established as soon as possible, but we're not -- I know there's a lot of countdowns that are going on around here, but when it comes to protecting innocent people and caring about the people of the Palestinian Territories, especially those in Gaza, the President has no time limit on that. Q Dana, on that, the President has said numerous times that he's sprinting to the finish in these final days and weeks. On that point, then, when's the last time he was working the phones on this situation? MS. PERINO: President Bush every morning is working with his intel advisors, and obviously works with Steve Hadley every morning at 7:00 a.m., and Secretary Rice and he talk several times a day. And we keep you updated when appropriate on phone calls; we don't read all of them out to you. Q But when is the last time he had direct conversations with people brokering the Egyptian-French cease-fire -- MS. PERINO: The President isn't doing that; he has a Secretary of State who he has working on that and that's who should be -- that's absolutely appropriate, is to have his Secretary of State working on that. Condeleezza Rice | Dana Perino | Gaza | Israel | Middle East | President Bush |Press Briefing | White House Press Corps Labels: Condeleezza Rice, Dana Perino, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, President Bush, Press Briefing, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 6:39:00 PM  Press Briefing by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley 4/3/08 (NATO Summit Results) — Thursday, April 03, 2008 —  Q With these decisions today by NATO, do you think that President Bush and President Putin will be able to settle their differences this weekend on missile defenses, or do you think it could be more of a broad, strategic statement that they're going to come to?SECRETARY RICE: Well, I certainly think that there will be a -- we expected that there would be a strategic framework about which we've talked. And a part of that has to be some discussion of missile defense. We are hopeful that Russia will take the opportunity to express the views that have actually been expressed to us about the usefulness and the importance of the measures that the United States has been willing to take, concerning the third site in the Czech Republic and Poland, that are meant to allay Russian concerns that somehow this missile defense system, the nine interceptors and radar sites, are somehow aimed at the Russian deterrent. And so that opportunity obviously arises, and already when we were in Moscow the Russians said that these were useful and important. We hope that we can move beyond that to an understanding that we will all have an interest in cooperation on missile defense, but we will see. Yes. Q As far as Afghanistan is concerned, are you -- you said you're satisfied with the result. But is this the end of your pressure of the other allies to provide more commitment, more troops, and I think about Italy, Germany and Spain, or you just satisfied with this result, and that's the end of it? MR. HADLEY: Well, interesting your question is -- "the end of our pressure." I think one of the things that was interesting about that meeting today was the NATO allies are all putting pressure on themselves. And NATO ally after NATO ally said, we have got to succeed here; it is important for the credibility of the Alliance; more to the point, it's important for the security of our people, and we need to succeed and we need to do more. This isn't just President Bush's line. This is now the line of everyone there. It's what we heard of President Karzai: a lot of progress was made; we all have to do more. Same thing from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: progress -- need to do more. And as you know, the United Nations is stepping up. So I think everyone recognizes we need to do more. And it's not like we're going to come to a level and that's it, success is around the corner. This is going to be a long commitment. This is a hard fight. We are going to have to assess our requirements, modify our forces, modify our tactics and strategy, and do it over the long term. So I think what you are seeing is a much more focused engagement in Afghanistan, and a commitment that we cannot fail, and therefore are going to have to, in a very focused way, do more, and work more effectively with the forces that we have, both military and civilian. Afghanistan | Condeleezza Rice | NATO | President Bush | Press Briefing | Stephen Hadley | White House Press Corps Labels: Afghanistan, Condeleezza Rice, NATO, President Bush, Press Briefing, Stephen Hadley, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 8:00:00 PM White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 11/5/07 (Pakistan and Democracy) — Monday, November 05, 2007 — Q For a long time the President has urged Musharraf to give up his military status, and he has not done so. And you cited a couple of reasons why we should all be mindful of Pakistan's assistance in the war on terror. Is the U.S. willing to accept a certain amount of Musharraf's lack of democracy in order to have his assistance? MS. PERINO: We are not in a give-and-take situation. We want democracy to work. We know that democracy had been working in Pakistan. People have been able to have press freedoms, they've been participating in civil society groups, education had started to reform, the public health system was starting to get better. So I think that if they can return quickly, as Secretary Rice said, return quickly to the rule of law, they can get back on that path to democracy and we won't face that situation, an either/or situation. Q Can you have a partner in the war on terror from a country that does not embrace these democratic institutions? MS. PERINO: I think that the most important thing is for them to get back to their stated goal of having a path to democracy, establishing that free and fair elections would take place in January. You'll hear from the President more. Right now we have a review underway of all of our programs that we are supporting. We have to keep in mind that it is important that we fight the terrorists there for all people, not just those there in Pakistan but for our national security interests as well. And the President has an obligation to protect Americans, to protect American assets. So all of these things are going to have to be taken into consideration as we review the situation. Q Is there any concern from the President that during this time of uncertainty that the work the Pakistani military was doing to try to root out al Qaeda in its border regions would be compromised, or that this could be an opening for bin Laden and his associates? MS. PERINO: I haven't heard that expressed, but I'm sure that since we've been cooperating with the Pakistani military to try to root out the terrorists I don't have any reason to believe that that would end. Q Why hasn't the President called Musharraf, who is, after all, a key ally, personally? Is he reserving that, is there a lack -- MS. PERINO: The President has directed his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to have that direct contact. And if there's more to update later today we will. Condeleezza Rice | Dana Perino | Musharraf | Pakistan | President Bush | Press Briefing | State Department | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Condeleezza Rice, Dana Perino, Musharraf, Pakistan, President Bush, Press Briefing, State Department, War on Terror, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 4:23:00 PM White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 11/1/07 (Foreign Service Officers) — Thursday, November 01, 2007 — MS. PERINO: I understand that there is concern on behalf of many of the Foreign Service Officers at the State Department. As Secretary Rice has said, if there are volunteers to serve, then no one will have to be directed to go. The President understands that at a time of war it is distressing for some individuals to serve in those areas. The Secretary has the responsibility to make sure that when sending people into those areas that are difficult and dangerous, that they have all the tools that they need and all the protection they need in order to do their job to the best of their ability. Our Foreign Service Officers are the very best in the world. They do their jobs wonderfully. Many of them are serving on the provincial reconstruction teams. And Iraqis are benefiting greatly from all of their service. The President is concerned, but he also has confidence that Secretary Rice will handle this matter in a way that is caring for the people at the Foreign Service, but also ensures that the mission that the United States is on is supplemented by the Foreign Service Officers who took an oath in order to serve their country. Q Does that mean that it is a requirement for them to serve, much like active duty military are compelled to serve? Are you equating those? MS. PERINO: I don't know all the rules that go into the regulations for Foreign Service Officers; I'd have to refer you to the State Department for that. They do serve our country very well; they're in places all around the world. And obviously if there is a need to have additional people in -- from the State Department serving in positions, then Secretary Rice might have to take the measure of directing people to go, but the preference is to have volunteers. And there have been many volunteers that have been serving, and they've done an excellent job in helping build economies over in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to help build institutions; like they're helping for their interior ministry, their defense ministry, their rule of law -- these are the experts and so the President understands that there is concern. Secretary Rice knows there is concern. She has fought very hard on behalf of the State Department employees to have additional resources and to make sure that they are protected while they are over there, and they have a very good track record of doing so. Q One of those employees likened it to a "potential death sentence." Does the President think that's overstatement? MS. PERINO: The President is not going to question anybody's personal feelings about possible service in Iraq. If that's how the individual feels, then that's how he or she feels. The President understands that service in a war zone can be very difficult. It's distressing for the families, but they should be reassured, as well, that Secretary Rice takes this issue very seriously. She's concerned about their safety and that is why she has worked very hard to make sure that they have all the tools that they need and the protections that they need in order to get their job done. Condeleezza Rice | Dana Perino | Iraq | Press Briefing | State Department | White House Press Corps Labels: Condeleezza Rice, Dana Perino, Iraq, Press Briefing, State Department, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 9:42:00 PM
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