Q Scott, what did the White House make of what happened in the Senate yesterday?
MR. McCLELLAN: What did we make of it? Do you have a question about it?
Q Yes, what do you make of it?
MR. McCLELLAN: Senators talked about it.
Q I'm just wondering what you all think -- what you all think.
MR. McCLELLAN: They talked about it yesterday.
Q I'm just wondering what you all think of it?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, if Democrats want to talk about the threat that Saddam Hussein posed and the intelligence, they might want to start with looking at the previous administration and their own statements that they've made. . . .
Q Isn't your statement in error when you say that the previous administration came to the same conclusion? The previous administration did not come to the same conclusion --
MR. McCLELLAN: I said the same conclusion, that Saddam Hussein--
Q -- to intervene militarily.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- that Saddam Hussein's regime was a threat.
Q But they didn't go to war.
Q But isn't the point of the --
MR. McCLELLAN: You want to talk about their comments? Let's talk about their comments.
Q But the point of what they raised yesterday is the President's decision to move militarily into Iraq. Are you saying --
MR. McCLELLAN: There's no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. His regime 'threatens the safety of his people, the stability of his region, and the security of all the rest of us' -- President Clinton, remarks to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pentagon staff, February 17, 1998.
Q But he didn't take us to war.
Q But isn't the specific issue --
MR. McCLELLAN: The conclusion they came to was that Saddam Hussein's regime is a threat and a destabilizing force in a dangerous part of the world.
Q But he didn't take us to war.
Q But the specific issue is weapons of mass destruction.
Q But the question was whether the United States --
MR. McCLELLAN: You asked me about a statement I made, and I just backed up the statement that I made.
1 comment:
If McClellan wasn't an alcholic before this week, I daresay he is now.
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