Ari & I: White House Briefing

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Ari & I: White House Briefing - May 8, 2003

Ari & I

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Published on Thursday, May 8, 2003 by CommonDreams.org

	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"...
	more Ari & I...
	Ari the Evader by Russell Mokhiber...
	Official Transcripts of the Daily White House Briefings...

Ari & I
White House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer

Thursday, May 8, 2003

by Russell Mokhiber

(Background: Russell nabbed a seat in Row 4 of the White House briefing room today. On previous days this week and in prior weeks, he could only find a seat in Row 5 or Row 6, which Ari tends to skip over.)

Ari Fleischer: Russell, you haven't been here for a while.

Mokhiber: I have been, but I've been in row five, and that doesn't count. (Laughter).

Ari Fleischer: Okay, we'll skip row four and move to row five. (Laughter).

Mokhiber: 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. So, you have a situation where the President is there touting the products of a company that directly benefit financially his father. Why isn't that unethical?

Ari Fleischer: The question is - are Bradley Fighting Vehicles part of what the military does and should be supported? The answer is - of course yes, regardless of who serves on Carlyle Group.

Mokhiber: But what if the President's father was the President of United Defense. Would that be unethical?

Ari Fleischer: What if the President's father was on Social Security and the President wanted to strengthen the Social Security system so that all Americans could have a strong retirement?

###

-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

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