White House Report: Pakistan, Office of Strategic Influence

(Bush on Pearl case, Rumsfeld/OSI, autos/fuel cells) (420)

BUSH SATISFIED WITH PAKISTANI RESPONSE IN PEARL CASE

The President told reporters after a ceremony on the South Lawn of the
White House February 25 that he is "satisfied with the response of
President Musharraf and the Pakistani government" in the case of
murdered journalist Daniel Pearl.

"I got a phone call from him when I was flying back from China," said
Bush, "and I could tell from the tone of his voice how distraught he
was, how disturbed he was that this barbaric act had taken place in
his country. He knew full well that those killers did not represent
the vast, vast majority of the people in his own country. And he vowed
to me on the phone that he would do everything in his power to chase
down the killers and bring them to justice."

As for pursuing the primary suspect the Pakistani government now has
in custody, Bush said, "Yes, we're always interested in dealing with
people who have harmed American citizens."

BUSH SATISFIED RUMSFELD WILL HANDLE PENTAGON OSI ISSUE "IN THE RIGHT
WAY"

Asked by a reporter if he had told Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld to
get rid of the Office of Strategic Influence (OSI) that Rumsfeld has
been talking about, Bush responded, "I told Secretary Rumsfeld -- I
didn't even need to tell him this; he knows how I feel, I saw it
reflected in his comments the other day -- that we'll tell the
American people the truth. And he was just as amazed as I was about
reading, you know, some allegation that somehow our government would
never tell the American people the truth. And I don't -- I've got
confidence, having heard his statement, I heard him this morning talk
about it, that he'll handle this in the right way."


(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)