Dana Peroxide Gets Helenized

MS. PERINO: Helen.

Q I have two questions on the Middle East. Has the President been in touch with King Abdullah on his critical comments that we’re wrong to be in Iraq?

MS. PERINO: Not that I’m — no. The President only spoke to President Roh this morning, of South Korea. There have been no other calls that I know of.

Let me just remind you of something I said this morning, which is the United States and Saudi Arabia cooperate on a wide number of issues. It is not accurate to say that the United States is occupying Iraq. We are there under —

Q It is not right to say we’re occupying Iraq —

MS. PERINO: That’s right.

Q — with 150,000 troops there?

MS. PERINO: Helen, we are there at the invitation of the sovereign government of Iraq that was democratically elected —

Q Did we invade that country?

MS. PERINO: We were there under the U.N. Security Council resolution, and we are there now at the — I think one of the things to point out — and I think somebody brought up the Talabani comments this morning — is that he was talking about the initial when we — initially when we went in, of establishing a coalition provisional authority, rather than an Iraqi provisional authority. And we were there —

Q Did we have a right to go in?

MS. PERINO: We were there under a U.N. mandate, yes.

Ouch! But It’s Not Over Yet, Dana — More Helen

Q I have another question then. Does the U.S. take any responsibility for the reign of terror in Tal Afar yesterday between the Sunnis and the Shiites, where the Sunnis were killed, execution style, about 70 or so?

MS. PERINO: It was a horrible and atrocious day. I think that the people —

Q Well, do we take any responsibility for that?

MS. PERINO: I think the people who committed those atrocities are the ones who are responsible. And I know that the United States forces, the coalition forces that are there, who are working alongside the Iraqi security forces, are working to bring security to the region.

This is exactly what we’re talking about —

Q We had nothing to do with their killing each other?

MS. PERINO: The people who commit atrocities are the ones who are responsible for committing atrocities.

Q But, Dana, what about the apparent situation where the revenge killings were conducted, at least in part, by Iraqi police officers? We’re talking about Iraqi police actually trained by the United States, by the coalition.

MS. PERINO: I’ve seen parts of those reports. I don’t have a full report in terms of all that happened there. Clearly, it’s very disturbing if there are police officers that people are supposed to be able to trust committing such atrocities. I did hear also a report — and I hesitate to say it because I don’t have all of the facts — but that the Iraqi army went in and tried to help secure the situation. And that’s what we need, is that the Iraqi forces there being able to take over their own security. And if there are problems with the police forces, and clearly this would be one of them — that they need to go in there and purge those individuals from those positions of authority and the positions of trust that the Iraqi citizens should be able to have, and get them out of there, and allow for the peace to take over. And that’s what General Petraeus is working on.

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Man, the gagglers batted Dana Peroxide around the briefing room like a ping-pong ball today.

First, On The President And Majority Votes In Congress

Q On this Iraq spending bill, does the President really think that majority votes by both houses of Congress requires no give on his part?

MS. PERINO: Well, that’s — first, let’s step back and talk about that majority, which was a bare majority of 50 votes in the Senate and 218 votes in the House, which were cobbled together in order to twist arms and buy votes using domestic spending from all the different lobbies that I mentioned, plus other ones — tropical fish — I forgot to throw that one in there.

So if we start there, and say that is not, in any way, representative of large majorities in either side. Of course, the President understands that there needs to be give-and-take between Congress and the White House when we’re talking about any type of legislation. But they’ve known for three weeks what the President’s position is regarding arbitrary timetables for withdrawal, and that is what he said he would veto.

Q Dana, just to follow up on that, then, perhaps a little clarity — if a bill were to come back stripped of spinach, peanut, shrimp, tropical fish, anything else, if it came back stripped entirely of pork, but had timetables in there, would they still get a veto?

MS. PERINO: I think the President said that if there are arbitrary timetables for withdrawal that would tie the hands of our commanders on the ground, then, yes, he said he would veto it.

Iraq War Forevah!

Q So he doesn’t want to be out before 2008?

MS. PERINO: The President would like to see troops home as soon as possible —

Q We know all that business.

MS. PERINO: — but the President does not want to tie the generals’ hands on the ground. I’ll tell you, the framers of our Constitution had it right when they realized that you needed to have one Commander-in-Chief in charge of the war, not 535 generals on Capitol Hill.

Chimpy Is Responsible For Al Qaeda In Iraq

Q The President emphasized al Qaeda in Iraq, and if they don’t — we’ll fight them there. Before the war, he indicated — he not only indicated, he said that there were no ties with Saddam. Is he responsible for bringing al Qaeda into Iraq?

MS. PERINO: I don’t think the President is responsible — no, absolutely not. Al Qaeda went to Iraq —

Q Absolutely not?

MS. PERINO: You just have to go back to Zarqawi, and how he set up shop there in Iraq, and started fomenting the sectarian violence, and he was successful —

Q And he doesn’t think our moves brought them in?

MS. PERINO: — and we’re having to fight that now.

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Dana PeroxideLays Out The Assministration’s Iraq Policy: Leaving = Losing

Q Doesn’t this go against the will of the American people who want to pull out?

MS. PERINO: I think the President has been very clear that they don’t want to pull out if it means losing. And the President has said that —

Q How does losing — losing what?

MS. PERINO: The President has made it clear that the goal is to make sure that we can stabilize Baghdad, especially, so that the politicians in Baghdad can do the work that they need to do in order to reconcile politically and get the economic engine going, so that the security situation can not only stabilize in Baghdad, but then spread throughout the country.

Q At any price?

MS. PERINO: We understand fully the sacrifice that our men and women and the innocent Iraqis —

Q And you still think it’s worth it?

MS. PERINO: We do.

Dana Thinks It’s Unfortunate That A Member of the Assministration May Have Committed A Crime

Q I’d like to ask you about Monica Goodling. Her decision to take the Fifth contradicts the Attorney General’s promise that his staff would be forthcoming. What are your thoughts about that?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think it’s unfortunate that a public servant no longer feels that her testimony would be treated fairly before the Congress. And, yes, the Attorney General, with the support of the President, urged all the members of the Justice Department to cooperate with Congress’s request for testimony. However, we must respect the constitutional right of the individuals involved, and we are not going to question decisions that she made in private conversations with her and her attorney to protect those right.

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Dana Peroxide Cannot Over-Emphasize Her Answer To This Question

Q Dana, quick two questions, but before my questions, I just pray for a speedy recovery for Tony.

MS. PERINO: Yes, we certainly — we all do.

Kinda Shorter Peroxide: Abu G Was Not Lying When He Said He Was Not Involved In Any Discussions Regarding the US Attorney Purge And Anyway We Don’t Even Know For Sure That He Was At That Meeting

Q Let me ask you about the email that shows the Attorney General in a meeting on November the 27th, and then the Attorney General’s statements on March 13th, “We never had a discussion about where things stood.” Do you find anything inconsistent in that?

MS. PERINO: The Justice Department, when they gave their statements on Friday night, said that they weren’t inconsistent. And my reading of it is that the Attorney General has said — I understand that there’s a March 13th piece, but I also looked back on March 14th, when he did interviews back and forth — I think it was with a CNN network — in which he said, and he said consistently, that he does not recall being involved in deliberations about who — which U.S. attorneys might be asked to be replaced for the remainder of the term. But he does say that he signed off on the final list. And my reading of that meeting was that was the final decision — the decisions had been made, the final plan had been in place, and they were asking the Attorney General for a sign-off.

Q So what’s he getting out of the 13th, when he said, “We never had a discussion about where things stood”?

MS. PERINO: I think what he’s referring to — and, again, I’m going to refer you to Justice Department for exactly what his thinking is, but when he says he doesn’t recall having recollections about having deliberative discussions about the ongoing process over that two-year period, but that he does take responsibility for signing off on the final plan.

Q Are you concerned — this is a Cabinet Secretary. Are you concerned at all that there seems to continue to be drips and drabs of information that comes out which seems to contradict the ever-changing story of the Attorney General?

MS. PERINO: I would take a slight issue with that, because I think what the Justice Department has done was what the President has asked them to do, which is to go back and look and leave no stone unturned, and find the documents that are responsive to the Congress. And when they do so, they turn them over. On that November 27th date, there was apparently a meeting. I don’t know who attended, I know that it was on a schedule.

Q Well, it’s pretty clear who attended. I mean, it says there who —

MS. PERINO: It says who was invited to attend —

Q Right.

MS. PERINO: — but I don’t know who all ended up being there.

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