Thursday, July 31, 2003
Scottie & Me (formerly known as Ari & I)
White House Press Briefing with Scott McLellan - Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Russell Mokhiber: Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defense Secretary, said last week this: “I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq.” And I was wondering if the President agrees with that?
Scott McLellan: We've made our views very clear in terms of foreign terrorists being in that country in terms of countries that maybe could be taking steps to prevent that from happening. So I think the President has made his views very clear on that issue.
Russell Mokhiber: The other question is this – the New York Times reporter, Stephen Kinzer, has just come out with a book called, All the Shah's Men, An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. He documents a CIA operation – Operation Ajax -- which was a coup that overthrew the democratic-elected Prime Minister – Mossadegh. And he makes the following argument -- and I was wondering if you agree to this -- he says, "It is not farfetched to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's repressive regime and the Islamic revolution to the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in New York."
Scott McLellan: I appreciate the opportunity to comment on a book that I haven't read, but -- you're asking about the Central Intelligence Agency?
Russell Mokhiber: It was a coup by the United States of a democratically elected leader in Iran.
Scott McLellan: Russell, I haven't even seen that book --
White House Press Briefing with Scott McLellan - Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Russell Mokhiber: Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defense Secretary, said last week this: “I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq.” And I was wondering if the President agrees with that?
Scott McLellan: We've made our views very clear in terms of foreign terrorists being in that country in terms of countries that maybe could be taking steps to prevent that from happening. So I think the President has made his views very clear on that issue.
Russell Mokhiber: The other question is this – the New York Times reporter, Stephen Kinzer, has just come out with a book called, All the Shah's Men, An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. He documents a CIA operation – Operation Ajax -- which was a coup that overthrew the democratic-elected Prime Minister – Mossadegh. And he makes the following argument -- and I was wondering if you agree to this -- he says, "It is not farfetched to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's repressive regime and the Islamic revolution to the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in New York."
Scott McLellan: I appreciate the opportunity to comment on a book that I haven't read, but -- you're asking about the Central Intelligence Agency?
Russell Mokhiber: It was a coup by the United States of a democratically elected leader in Iran.
Scott McLellan: Russell, I haven't even seen that book --
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