White House Report, July 27: CAFTA, Iraq
Bush urging House of Representatives to pass CAFTA agreement
AS VOTE NEARS, BUSH LOBBIES CONGRESS TO PASS CAFTA
President Bush continued to advocate the passage of the U.S.-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (known as CAFTA-DR, or simply CAFTA) by the U.S. Congress with the vote expected within in hours, according to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.
Speaking to the press July 27, McClellan said Bush "has been meeting with members of the House [of Representatives], Democrats and Republicans alike, to urge them to support the agreement."
CAFTA, McClellan said, "is coming up for a vote later tonight," adding, "It's a close vote."
According to the press secretary, Bush told the congressmen that CAFTA has "strategic implications" for the Western Hemisphere because it will help to support and strengthen emerging democracies in the region.
"[H]e also talked about how trade expands opportunity and lifts people out of poverty," McClellan said, which also will create more job opportunities at home and make families less likely to emigrate.
Bush told the congressmen that the measure also will help "level the playing field" for American workers by eliminating or severely reducing trade barriers to U.S. products in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
"We look forward to the House moving forward on the vote tonight, and we continue to urge them to move forward and get that agreement passed," McClellan said.
U.S. COULD BEGIN PULLING TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ IN SPRING 2006
The Bush administration says some U.S. troops can be withdrawn from Iraq starting as early as spring 2006 if the local conditions allow.
"The president wants to see our troops come home... and I know the Iraqi people want to be able to have full responsibility for their future," McClellan said, "but we've got an important mission that we need to complete, and we need to make sure that the Iraqi people are on a path to democracy and security" before the pullout can occur.
The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, General George Casey, said July 27 that certain conditions pertaining to democracy and security in Iraq would have to be met before a withdrawal could take place.
McClellan said President Bush's view is "we will look to the commanders on the ground" to properly assess the right timing for the pullout.
"General Casey is one of our commanders on the ground, and we will make decisions based on what they say, and they make decisions based on the conditions and the progress that's being made on the ground," he said.
In assessing the right time for withdrawal, McClellan also said, the Bush administration is looking at the political progress in Iraq, as well as the training of Iraqi security forces.
"[W]e're going about to make sure that the Iraqi forces have the command and control structure they need, and to make sure that they have the readiness levels to be able to fully defend their country both from internal threats and external threats," he said.
The United States is also committed to "making sure that [the Iraqis] are in position to be able to provide for their own security."
"As we stand up Iraqi forces, we will stand down American forces," the press secretary said, adding that the Iraqi forces are showing more and more strength and willingness in standing up against the enemy.
"Ultimately, it will be the Iraqi people that prevail over the terrorists and those who seek to derail the transition to democracy" regardless of when U.S. troops are withdrawn from the country, said McClellan, who added that "when we succeed in Iraq, it will be a major blow to the terrorists and their ambitions of spreading an ideology of hate."
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
