THE MASSES ARE ASSES

From the Ari Fleischer files,
'reminding all Americans that they need to watch what they say and watch what they do.'

White House Press Briefing - Dec 13, 2001

Question: President Putin has just said that pulling out of the ABM (treaty) was a mistake. And once again reiterating that the treaty is a cornerstone of world security. What's your reaction to that?

Ari Fleischer: Ron, I think there is much more to his reaction than that. I do not believe that you have all of it. And we will take a look at his reaction in its entirety as the government receives it. And so I will withhold on any reaction until his statement is received in its entirety, because there is much more to it than what you've just indicated.

Question: Like what?

Question: That doesn't change the fact that he thinks it's a mistake...

Question: One more. The President said he had consulted, obviously, with President Putin extensively. Who else did he consult with? This is something that could damage the coalition, arguably, since there were a lot of nations who didn't want to see this. Did he talk in particular to China?

Ari Fleischer: He did. The President, this morning, called President Jiang of China. As well, he has spoken this week with Prime Minister Blair, with President Chirac, with Chancellor Schroeder, with Mr. Koizumi. The President has had a series of consultative discussions with the leaders around the world. In addition, the Vice President and the Secretary of State had a series of conversations. The Secretary of State, of course, met with many leaders in his recent travels.

And so, the United States has done exactly what the President committed to do, which was to consult, to talk to various nations --

Question: What was their reaction?

Ari Fleischer: And I'll let each nation characterize it for itself...

Question: You know we're not going to be able to call China and so forth.

Ari Fleischer: Well, your phones work. You have reporters there.

Question: When he talked to those leaders, did he tell them --

Ari Fleischer: ...The President, in his conversations, number one, everybody appreciated the fact that the President had consulted with them. Two, on the case of China, for example, President Jiang said to the President he looked forward to further, high-level dialogue about this topic. And other leaders just recognized that the President had always said he was going to do this, and they recognized that the President kept his word, did what he indicated what he was going to do.

So I think you will be able to get additional reaction from the governments; they will, most likely, have public statements.

Question:They didn't really like it, is what you're really saying, but they had no alternative.

Ari Fleischer: I think again, different leaders say different things. As you know, right from the beginning of the year, Europe has basically been of several minds about this topic. The President has all along had widespread support for these from Spain, from Italy, from Hungary, from Poland. There have been many nations that strongly do support this.

Question: To break the treaty -- they all had supported that?

Ari Fleischer: They've always understood the United States' statement about the need to develop missiles defenses and they supported that.