Editor's note: Each week, WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asks the tough questions no one else will ask. And each week, WorldNetDaily brings you the transcripts of those dialogues with the president and his spokesman. If you'd like to suggest a question for the White House, submit it to WorldNetDaily's exclusive interactive forum MR. PRESIDENT!
At today's White House news briefing, WND asked presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer about the administration's intentions regarding Syria, as well as Palestinian support for Saddam Hussein.
WND: Syria has the Bekaa Valley terrorist training camps; Damascus is the headquarters of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah; Syria is now harboring escaped Iraqi leaders; and they have chemical WMDs. With the president having assured us that we are at war with terrorists and those countries that harbor terrorists, my question: With so many of our troops along Syria's border with Iraq, why is Syria any less deserving of a regime change than Iraq, because a regime change would also liberate Lebanon?
FLEISCHER: I'm going to leave it just as I left it. I'm not going to go beyond what the president said.
WND: How does the president believe that his roadmap to a Palestinian state can possibly succeed as long as Arafat and his handpicked prime minister are on the scene where so many thousands of Palestinians cheered in the street last week in support of Saddam Hussein, just as they did earlier when they heard about 9-11?
FLEISCHER: The president does believe that it is important for Israel and a newly created Palestinian state to live side-by-side. This is a president who is willing to work very hard with both parties and the neighbors in the region to create that as a reality. Much of it is dependent, as the president said on June 24th, on reforming the Palestinian institutions, and the president is looking forward to seeing what the Palestinians are able to do as they deal with the confirmation of Mahmoud Abbas. The president also continues to believe that the Israelis have responsibilities, other nations have responsibilities, and he will work with all three parties to achieve his goals.
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