Mokhiber: Ari, last week the President said, on Iraq, "you are either with us or you are with the enemy." France and Germany are clearly not with us. Why aren't they with the enemy?

Ari Fleischer:: That's not true Russell. France and Germany are with us. They just -- in the case of Germany, they have made the decision not to use military force. And in the case of France -- France is still exploring what their ultimate position will be. Clearly, they are both with us. The question is the use of military force. So, I don't think that is quite doing justice to what the President said.

Mokhiber: The President has repeatedly said that he wants to bring democracy to Iraq. But here in the District of Columbia, citizens have no elected representatives in Congress. On the DC license plate, there is a permanent protest that says "taxation without representation." What is the President doing to bring democracy to the District of Columbia?

Ari Fleischer:: Per the Constitution, the District of Columbia is a unique entity. The President has expressed no desire to change the representation that the District of Columbia was given by the framers. And I don't really think you can equate the District of Columbia being a democracy with Iraq's failure to be a democracy -- and it is in fact of course a totalitarian state.

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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