Jerusalem more dangerous than Baghdad?

Editor's note: Each week, WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asks the tough questions almost no one else will ask. And each week, WorldNetDaily brings you the transcripts of those dialogues with the president and his spokesman.

At today's White House news briefing, WND asked presidential press secretary Scott McClellan about unfulfilled plans to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, comparing the safety level there with that of Baghdad.

WND: Scott, since the president is strongly opposed to any discrimination against the Jewish people, could you tell us why the Bush administration has just continued to make the Jewish state of Israel the only nation in the world where the U.S. embassy is not located in its capital city? And I have a follow-up.

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McCLELLAN: Yes, for the same reasons we've stated before, Les. There are national security reasons here. And that's why it has been extended again.

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WND: The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, introduced by Senator Bob Dole, a good Republican, requires that relocation of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem unless there are national security concerns, which President Bush has just claimed there are, and he has every year of his presidency. And my question: Since we are opening a U.S. embassy in Baghdad, how on earth can the president claim Jerusalem is more dangerous than Baghdad?

McCLELLAN: Les, right now in the Middle East it's a very hopeful period for the Palestinian people and for the people of Israel. And we've got to keep our focus on the step that is before us right now. It's an important step. That is the disengagement plan. That's where our focus is. The president this afternoon is receiving an update from General Ward, our security coordinator, who is helping the Palestinians restructure and unify their security forces, and from the U.N. special – or the Quartet special envoy, Jim Wolfensohn, who is helping the Palestinian people make sure they have the institutions in place and the economy in place to take over the Gaza area once Israel withdraws from there.

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WND: Well, is Baghdad – do you believe that –

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McCLELLAN: Les, hang on –

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WND: – is more dangerous –

McCLELLAN: Les, Les, it's –

WND: – is less dangerous than Jerusalem?

McCLELLAN: Les, Les –

WND: Do you? I mean, could you answer that?

McCLELLAN: I don't think that's a distinction to get into. I think that the focus needs to be –

WND: You don't want to answer that question.

McCLELLAN: – on moving forward on the disengagement plan and making sure that's successful, because then it will help us move forward on the rest of the road map. But we need to take that step right now and focus our efforts there.

As WND reported, today large numbers of activists, some blocking traffic at key intersections, took to the streets of Israel to protest the planned evacuation of Jewish communities from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, bringing the country to a near standstill for several hours.