The president says he'll wait until investigations are completed. He praises Congress for passing major bills and criticizes states' attempts to regulate emissions.President Bush insisted today that he did not personally know about the existence or destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes until briefed on the matter earlier this month, and said that he would withhold judgment until after investigations are completed.
"Until these inquiries are complete, I will be rendering no opinion from the podium," Bush said.The destruction of tapes of the 2005 interrogation of two terrorist suspects is being investigated by the Justice Department, the CIA and Congress. Critics believe the tapes contained evidence of the use of a technique called water-boarding, which international human rights organizations have described as torture.
At a year-end press conference, Bush praised Congress for funding the war in Iraq and for the landmark energy bill. But he cautioned that no effort to reduce carbon emissions or affect global climate change can be successful without a prosperous economy, saying you can't afford fixes "if you're broke.
"Bush criticized states like California who have sought to independently regulate greenhouse gas emissions."
The question is how to have an effective strategy. Is it more effective to let each state make a decision as to how to proceed in curbing greenhouse gases, or is it more effective to have a national strategy?" he said. A bill passed by Congress this week that would raise gas mileage standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 would be "more effective for the country," he said. "We now have a national plan. It's one of the benefits of Congress passing this piece of legislation."
Complaining that Congress included hundreds of earmarks for pet projects in its gargantuan $555-billion spending bill passed this week, Bush said he has instructed his budget director to review options "for dealing with the wasteful spending in the omnibus bill." He would not specify the possible actions, but suggested the issue could dog the 2008 congressional session.
Promising to use every available option to spur the U.S. economy, Bush also called on Wall Street to adopt transparency, to "put it all out there for everybody to see" and, if they need to announce some write-downs because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, "they need to do it now."
Bush, who has long declined reporters' efforts to get him to comment on the GOP presidential primary, repeated today that he would not become "the opiner in chief." But Bush, whose approval ratings are in the 30s, did spell out what qualities he thinks make a good leader.
"You can't be the president unless you have a firm set of principles to guide you, as you sort through all the problems the world faces," he said. "And I would be very hesitant to support somebody who relied upon opinion polls and focus groups to define a way forward for a president."
He also said he was "confident" that Republicans would hold the White House and pick up seats in the House and Senate in next year's elections.
Bush, who makes his first trip to the Middle East next month, was asked if he would be willing to talk to Syria in an effort to stabilize the situation in Lebanon.
"Syria needs to stay out of Lebanon," he said. "My patience ran out on President [Bashar al] Assad a long time ago. If he's listening, he doesn't need a phone call, he knows exactly what my position is."
As for the war in Iraq, Bush said there is still work ahead, especially on the political front. "Are we satisfied with progress in Baghdad? No, but to say nothing is happening is not the case," he said. Noting that citizens of both Iraq and Afghanistan feel better about their lives, Bush said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has at least put into place "a functioning government."
Posts
