White House Gaggle

By Adam Sharon
President’s Schedule

The President this morning will participate in a ceremony celebrating countries selected for the Millennium Challenge Account in the East Room of the White House. He then will travel to the Pentagon to receive an update regarding the Global War on Terror, the Iraq War and the prisoner abuse issue. He will then make remarks to the White House press pool at the Pentagon. Then, the President will be interviewed by Armed Forces Radio and Television. The President will then return to the White House. In the afternoon, he will welcome the Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, at the Rose Garden.

Pentagon Visit

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan remarked that Secretary of State Powell, CIA Director Tenet, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Myers, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Pace and other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will brief President Bush at the White House. General Abizaid will participate in the briefing via a secure connection from Iraq. McClellan added that the White House remains in close contact with the Pentagon concerning the images of tortured Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. This is not the first time, McClellan continued, that President Bush has traveled to the Pentagon to receive a military briefing. McClellan reaffirmed that only a "small number of people committed these despicable acts, and that it is important to discover whether these acts were systemic." Continued McClellan, "The people that committed these acts do not represent the over 200,000 troops that have served in Iraq to date."