Press Briefing by Dana Perino

MS. PERINO: Helen.

Q Why is the President dodging a personal phone call to Musharraf?

MS. PERINO: The President has had his Secretary of State –

Q I’m asking you directly why doesn’t he call him?

MS. PERINO: The President feels very strongly that President Musharraf knows exactly how he feels about the situation.

Q That isn’t the point.

MS. PERINO: It is the point.

Q Dana, does the White House believe that Musharraf is now a dictator?

MS. PERINO: Look, I think that that is — it’s premature to say that.

Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Q So he [Attorney General nominee Mike Mukasey] wrote this letter to the 10 Democrats who sit on the Judiciary Committee, and he said, “waterboarding, as it’s been described to him, is repugnant.” And I’m just wondering, in your view, can something be repugnant but also legal?

MS. PERINO: Look, as I said, I’m not going to comment on any techniques, I’m not going to comment on any of it. That was his personal view, and the senators, if they want to ask him more questions about that, should confirm him and then they’d have the opportunity to do so.

Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Q Since [Karen Hughes] assumed the position of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, according to a Pew survey, the U.S. image remains abysmal in most Muslim countries. Favorable views of the U.S. in Turkey are at 9 percent; in Egypt they’re 21 percent; in Pakistan they’re 15 percent; in the Palestinian Territories they’re 13 percent; in Morocco they’re 15 percent.

MS. PERINO: I think I get your point.

Q But in Germany, in just the past two years, the favorable view of the U.S. has dropped from 42 percent to 30 percent. Do you discount those numbers? I just want you to address what has happened since she has taken on that role. It sounds like she didn’t do –

MS. PERINO: I’m not going to comment on that poll and I think it’s preposterous to think that you could question Karen Hughes’s achievements in terms of being responsible for the numbers in a particular poll. That’s ridiculous….

Q So in your mind, she has succeeded in her goal of outreach to the Arab world, based on those numbers that I just cited?

MS. PERINO: Look, I’m not going to comment or respond to a poll that you just read out… What I can tell you is that she has done amazing work.

Courtesy of Helen Thomas:

Q Would the President seek an explicit green light from Congress if he intended to bomb or attack Iran, or does he think he has that right?

MS. PERINO: Well, Helen, there is no intention of bombing Iran. We are on a diplomatic track. We are working with our partners, the U.N. Security Council. We have provided them, the Iranians, a road map to get to a civil nuclear program. They have walked away from that. We are hoping that they’ll come back. We are both working with our U.N. Security Council partners as well as pursuing sanctions on our own, and there is not an intention to bomb Iran, as you said.

Q Does the President think he has the right to do it without going through Congress?

MS. PERINO: That is — it’s a hypothetical situation, Helen. I’m not going to answer it.

Q It’s not hypothetical. It’s concrete.