I believed -- and I said from the podium -- that as Iraqis became more politically empowered, the insurgency would become politically weakened. That hasn't happened. The political process has been resilient -- and so has the insurgency. |
It was an Iraqi-led investigation, an Iraqi-led raid. It was the result of Iraqi arrest warrants. |
Saddam's ultimate designation is unaffected and undetermined by this designation. President Bush said that the pursuit of justice with regard to Saddam Hussein should have an Iraqi leadership role. |
Saddam's ultimate designation is unaffected and undetermined by this designation. President Bush said that the pursuit of justice with regard to Saddam Hussein should have an Iraqi leadership role. |
The document expresses great concern about our efforts to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis. In fact, it explicitly says that once Iraqis are in control of their government, it will make it virtually impossible for the foreign terrorists to operate. |
This has all the look and feel of similar terrorist attacks we've seen in Iraq. Large explosives, well-orchestrated, clearly designed and timed to progress we're making on the political front. |
Those are the sorts of people for which there was a process built in to allow exceptions, to allow appeals, but the exceptions and appeals process doesn't do anybody any good if it is not expeditious. |
We are cautiously optimistic about this. Today was a very good first step. Now, let's just see where it goes. |
We are committed to getting to the bottom of what exactly happened. |
We have a lot of good days; unfortunately we also have a lot of bad days like today. The good news is that we have more good days than bad days. |
We have no group that's claimed responsibility. It could be any number of groups attempting to operate inside Iraq. |
We made it clear that time was ticking, there was a lot of progress to be done and a lot of work ahead and if there was not substantial progress quickly, major hostilities would resume. |
We're going to do a real investigation here, spend some substantial, significant time with him getting to the bottom of what happened and how he escaped. And then we'll release details as we have them. Right now, let's just make sure he's in good physical shape, which he appears to be, and give him an opportunity to reconnect with his loved ones. |
We're hopeful that the deadline will be met. The Governing Council has given us every indication that it will. |