White House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer May 23, 2001

Ari & I

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Published on Wednesday, May 23, 2001

	7/14/03: Ari, in the 2002 election campaign, the Republican Party took in $7.2 million from convicted criminals. Is the President okay with his party taking millions of dollars from convicted criminals?...
	6/10/03: Ari, is the President concerned about a culture of cheating, lying and criminality taking hold in the country? And if he is, what does he plan to do about it?...
	6/9/03: Ari, you said in April that the war was about weapons of mass destruction. The war resulted in thousands of innocent civilian deaths, according to the Los Angeles Times. Do you personally feel any remorse given the public case that is being made that this war was based on that false pretext?...
	5/27/03: Ari, there is a new documentary film by an Irish journalist, Jamie Doran. He alleges U.S. military involvement in a massacre of 3,000 Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan...
	5/19/03: Ari, one of your predecessors, Jerald terHorst, resigned as President Ford's press secretary, he said, as a matter of conscience - because he couldn't defend President Ford's pardon of President Nixon. I was wondering, is there anything President Bush has done as President, that made you think, even for a moment, that you would resign as a matter of conscience?...
	5/14/03: Ari, you said on April 10th, about weapons of mass destruction, "That is what this war was about." On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that the group directing U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof...
	5/8/03: Ari, the President was in Santa Clara, California last week. And he appeared at United Defense, a major defense contractor controlled by the Carlyle Group. The President's father is a paid advisor to the Carlyle Group...
	4/22/03: Ari, MSNBC reported this week that Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal rivals that of France and Britain. Given that arsenal, does the President support Syria's call to make the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction?...
	4/15/03: Ari, a 21-year-old British peace activist, Thomas Hurndall, was shot by an Israeli sharp shooter and killed on Friday. That brings to four the foreign peace makers who -- peace activists who have been shot or killed or wounded in the last couple weeks. I'm wondering if the President is concerned that the Israelis are targeting peace activists?...
	4/14/03: Ari, Lawrence Eagleburger, the Secretary of State under George Bush Sr, told the BBC yesterday: "If George Bush Jr. decided he was going to turn the troops loose on Syria and Iran - after that he would last in office for about 15 minutes"...
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Ari & I
White House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 1:30 PM

by Russell Mokhiber

Mokhiber: Ari, as part of his energy plan, the President has proposed renewing the Price-Anderson Act. That would limit the liability of nuclear companies in case of a nuclear meltdown or disaster. And the government would step in and pay the excess losses. This has been labelled corporate welfare, because the government comes in and subsidizes the nuclear industry. Why would the President, who is a supporter of the free market, support this kind of corporate welfare proposal?

Ari Fleischer: Well, I differ with you on the characterization of it. There are a series of impediments that have been put in the path of nuclear power, which now seem to be changing. Nuclear power provides 20 percent of the electricity for homes in this country. One out of every 5 homes is powered -- receives its electricity from nuclear power. And the President is concerned, as he looks at the energy situation broadly, that we need a comprehensive policy that uses natural gas, that uses clean coal, that stresses conservation, and uses nuclear power as well.

Mokhiber: Why not let the nuclear companies pay the cost if there is a nuclear accident? Why should the government step in, why should the people step in and pay for it?

Ari Fleischer: I think the report addressed that directly and why the President took the actions that he took.

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-Thanks to Russell Mokhiber

White House reporter Russell Mokhiber is the editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter - www.corporatecrimereporter.com. He co-authors the weekly Focus on the Corporation column with Robert Weissman which Common Dreams publishes. He can be reached at: russell@nationalpress.com