Ari Fleischer: And with that, I'm more than happy to take your questions. Helen.
Helen Thomas: At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President
deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent
lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.
Ari Fleischer: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack
on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the
President, as he said in his statement yesterday, deplores in the
strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those
people, innocents in Israel.
Helen Thomas: My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent
Iraqis?
Ari Fleischer: Helen, the question is how to protect Americans,
and our allies and friends --
Helen Thomas: They're not attacking you.
Ari Fleischer: -- from a country --
Helen Thomas: Have they laid the glove on you or on the United States, the
Iraqis, in 11 years?
Ari Fleischer: I guess you have forgotten about the Americans who
were killed in the first Gulf War as a result of Saddam Hussein's
aggression then.
Helen Thomas: Is this revenge, 11 years of revenge?
Ari Fleischer: Helen, I think you know very well that the
President's position is that he wants to avert war, and that the
President has asked the United Nations to go into Iraq to help with the
purpose of averting war.
Helen Thomas: Would the President attack innocent Iraqi lives?
Ari Fleischer: The President wants to make certain that he can
defend our country, defend our interests, defend the region, and make
certain that American lives are not lost.
Helen Thomas: And he thinks they are a threat to us?
Ari Fleischer: There is no question that the President thinks that
Iraq is a threat to the United States.
Helen Thomas: The Iraqi people?
Ari Fleischer: The Iraqi people are represented by their
government. If there was regime change, the Iraqi --
Helen Thomas: So they will be vulnerable?
Ari Fleischer: Actually, the President has made it very clear that
he has not dispute with the people of Iraq. That's why the American
policy remains a policy of regime change. There is no question the
people of Iraq --
Helen Thomas: That's a decision for them to make, isn't it? It's their
country.
Ari Fleischer: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in
a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don't think that has
been what history has shown.
Helen Thomas: I think many countries don't have -- people don't have the
decision -- including us.
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