*EPF201 12/03/2002
Transcript: White House Press Briefing, December 3, 2002
(Bush campaigns in Louisiana for Republican candidates, news reports of Iraqi shooting at Kuwaiti ship, Iraq/U.N. inspections/possible use of force) (1380)

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed reporters December 3 on Air Force One as they accompanied the President on a day trip to Louisiana.

Following is the transcript:

(begin transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
December 3, 2002

PRESS GAGGLE BY ARI FLEISCHER

Aboard Air Force One En route Shreveport, Louisiana

9:49 A.M. EST

MR. FLEISCHER: All right, let us begin. The President today will travel to Shreveport and New Orleans, Louisiana, to support the campaigns of U.S. Senate and candidate Suzie Terrell and Congressional candidate Lee Fletcher. The event in New Orleans will include a fundraiser at which the President is expected to raise $1.25 million for Suzie Terrell's campaign.

Q: Strictly for her campaign?

MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct.

Q: Is that all hard money? Would that be hard money?

MR. FLEISCHER: I'm sorry, let me back -- let me read this verbatim. "The event is sponsored by Terrell For Senate, the Louisiana Republican Party and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the event is expected to raise $1.25 million for Suzie Terrell's campaign."

Q: It's in Shreveport or New Orleans?

MR. FLEISCHER: The fundraiser is in New Orleans. Our first stop is in Shreveport.

Q: Is this a ticketed event, how much per ticket? Or is this --

MR. FLEISCHER: I don't have any breakdown on the per ticket; either I'll try to get it for you or check with the campaign. My information doesn't have it broken down by ticket. It looks like 1,200 guests.

Q: Do you have anything on the incident in the Gulf today, with an Iraqi -- Iraqi shooting on a Kuwaiti ship, I think it is?

MR. FLEISCHER: We are monitoring the event. The news broke shortly before departure. The President has been briefed. And this underscores why the President is not encouraged by Iraq's fundamental approach toward the issues of peace and disarmament.

Q: All of us haven't been briefed on the incident, we just saw a quick wire story before we moved. What happened in the incident and how does it underscore Iraq's lack of commitment?

MR. FLEISCHER: I'm going to await additional factual information before I get into any details of what happened. As I indicated, this broke shortly before we took off and we'll be gathering additional information as the day goes along. I'll do my best to share with you what I can.

Q: What about the criticism that you're sort of dooming this to failure before it really starts? I mean, what specifically is not encouraging to the President about how the Iraqis have conducted themselves?

MR. FLEISCHER: From day one, the President has been very up front and direct with the American people that he is skeptical about Saddam Hussein's intentions to comply with the peaceful goals of the world, including disarmament, given Saddam Hussein's behavior and history. And there's no beating around the bush. The President will describe it as he sees it.

Put in that context, the President went to the United Nations to ask for the inspectors to return. No one wants the inspectors to be more successful than President Bush, since he's the person that created an environment in which the inspectors have now returned to Iraq. He will be realistic, and he is not encouraged by Saddam Hussein's past actions.

Q: But he said yesterday that the signs are not encouraging about what's happening now. So what's not encouraging now?

MR. FLEISCHER: Those remarks were in the context of the inspections, generally, and Saddam Hussein's past behavior. The President is not commenting on four or five days of Iraqi action here, after four years of the absence --

Q: -- history, you said the signs are not encouraging when he talked about -- he's talking about the here and now.

MR. FLEISCHER: He's talking about here and now based on Saddam Hussein's behavior. He wasn't talking only about four days of inspections, which are too soon to say and still are preparing for the inspections.

Q: The Iraqis are saying they will provide a list on Saturday, but that it may not include weapons of mass destruction. What do you think about that?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, we will see ultimately what they do. There are many reports about what Iraq will do, and only Iraq knows for certain what they'll do and we will refrain from making comment prior to seeing what they provide.

Once they provide us -- whatever day they decide to provide it -- we will review it and assess it, depending on what they provide, how much they provide. This needs to be gone over carefully and thoroughly. We don't know how many pages they'll provide, it could be hundreds, it could be thousands of pages -- we just don't know. But depending on how long it is, we'll take the appropriate time to review it, assess it and study it.

Q: You said that, you know, they may not provide it by Sunday, we'll see what day they provide it. If they don't provide it by Sunday, isn't that a --

MR. FLEISCHER: I didn't say that. I said whatever day they provide it; we will review it and study it. The reason I said that is because they are obligated to provide it by the 8th; the Iraqis have told the media they'll provide it by they 7th. So my point was, 8th or 7th, we don't know what day they'll provide it. We'll see. It's a significant issue, Saturday or Sunday.

Q: Is the U.S. withholding most of the intelligence, their intelligence until after December 8th, to kind of crosscheck from the Iraqi list?

MR. FLEISCHER: You know, I saw that somebody was quoted as saying that. I don't have confirmation of whether that's accurate or not.

Q: Ari, on this stop today, now that the President has a Homeland Security Department and terrorism insurance and a Republican controlled Senate, why does it matter that this candidate -- why does this race matter?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, first of all, the President believes in Suzie Terrell. He believes that she is very qualified, that she represents the mainstream of Louisiana and he would welcome her to the Senate. Every vote counts. Many of the votes in the Senate -- particularly on some of the most important matters such as permanent tax relief, making sure people don't get a marriage penalty reimposed on them -- come down to crucial one votes. And the difference between Suzie Terrell and Mary Landrieu could be crucial on many of these matters, particularly involving the appointment of judges.

The President wants to have a reliable partner in the appointment of judges, and Suzie Terrell will be such a partner. We look forward to -- the President looks forward to Saturday's election. We feel good about the chances in Louisiana. But it's also important to point out, Louisiana has not elected a Republican senator since 1872.

Q: Did they even elect that senator? Wasn't that senator appointed?

MR. FLEISCHER: My information comes from a very reliable source, named Karl Rove. I guess more than 100 years, and Karl advised me it's 1872. I'll go back to the guru.

Q: Isn't Karl one of those Mayberry Machiavelli's? (Laughter.)

Who's paying for this trip? Is the Party paying for the entire travel cost of it?

MR. FLEISCHER: The Party pays for the trip.

Q: Even the first stop, which is a welcoming event? The Party is paying for the whole thing?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, yes.

Q: Ari, do you feel you have the support of the Gulf nations surrounding Iraq, for their help in any possible military force, use of force?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, as you know, my policy, the White House policy is not to speak nation by nation. The nations will identify themselves if they so choose to describe what role they are playing, if it gets to that point. But the President has said that he will assemble, if necessary, a coalition of the willing and the President has high confidence that the coalition will be robust and that the mission will be accomplished, if it gets to that point, thanks to the cooperation of many of our friends in the region and elsewhere.

(end transcript)

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

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