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Q. What is the White House position on –

Q. — the 9/11 commission, which is, if Congress –

SCOTT McCLELLAN: David is dialing 911. He’s got to get his question in. (Laughter.)

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Q. Okay. More generally, if this bill had come to the President with this price tag on it, would he have signed it?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Well, one, that’s a complete hypothetical because what everybody worked from was –

Q. It’s not a hypothetical.

Q. No, it wasn’t at all. Not at all.

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Q. Scott, two weeks ago today, when the President was given this number, he was also preparing for his State of the Union address. Why did the President not take advantage of that opportunity to level with the people, say, Congress has bought a pig in a poke, here’s what it’s really going to cost? (Laughter.)

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Q. It could, in fact, be more expensive than $540 billion.

SCOTT McCLELLAN: It could be less expensive. The Congressional Budget Office numbers are the numbers that Congress works from. And their numbers say — they estimate that it will be $400 billion over the next 10 years. But what we know is that America’s seniors are going to receive more affordable drug coverage, they’re going to receive the kind of modern, preventive medicine that they deserve to have, that will help prevent them from spending even more on health care because it will address their health care needs earlier, before they have to –

Q. We know, and certainly your family knows well, given your brother’s job –

MR. McCLELLAN: Let’s not talk too much about him. (Laughter.)

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SCOTT McCLELLAN: …And with that, I’m ready for your questions.

Q. Scott, in terms of the new Medicare cost estimates –

MR. McCLELLAN: Steve. (Laughter.)

Q. In terms of the Medicare cost estimates…

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SCOTT McCLELLAN: …And here shortly I’ll try to move through the briefing quickly, the President, because the President will be meeting with the NATO Secretary General, de Hoop Scheffer –

Q What’s his name? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: I just said it. Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer. Do you want to jump in? Is your Dutch better than mine? (Laughter.) His Texan isn’t, though.

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SCOTT McCLELLAN: …Go ahead, Mark — I mean, Greg.

Q. Back on the 9/11 panel. Has –

MR. McCLELLAN: No mustache. (Laughter.) Radio guys, you know? (Laughter.)

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Q. Given what we know now, or the information that we have now about what’s in Iraq, was the war worthwhile?

(Cell phone rings.)

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Hello? Cell phone violation in the room. Sorry, that was not me trying to get out of this briefing.

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Q. A quick — two questions –

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Yes, quick. We’ve got a lot of hands up.

Q. This week President completes 1,100 days of his presidency. Could you give us little rundown of his achievements?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think we kind of went through that at the end of last year and put out some information on what we’ve achieved –

Q. It can change now –

MR. McCLELLAN: And I think in the interest of keeping this briefing moving, I will go to the next question. Keith.

Q. I want to hear every achievement.

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay, okay.

Q. — day-by-day? (Laughter.)

Q. Run back through the State of the Union, if you would. (Laughter.)

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Q. David Kay said on the Hill today that he supports the idea of an independent investigation into the intelligence failures about what Iraq had in terms of weapons. Does the administration support David Kay’s idea, or support that idea?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Terry, I think that David Kay has also publicly talked about the importance of letting the Iraq Survey Group complete its work. The Iraq Survey Group — the mission of the Iraq Survey Group is to find the truth. That work is ongoing. They did provide a progress report, I would remind you, which showed that Saddam Hussein’s regime was, indeed, in material breach of Security Council Resolution 1441. So it’s important that we let the Iraq Survey Group complete their work and gather all the facts they can. Then we can go back and compare what we knew before the war with what we’ve learned since. But that work is ongoing at this point.

I would point out that the CIA has publicly talked about the fact that they have an internal process where they go and review their intelligence. And that’s something that’s ongoing at this point, as well. It’s important that we gather all the facts, that we look at all that information and compare it to what we knew before the war. That’s important. But first, before we can draw firm conclusions, we need to let the Iraq Survey Group complete its work. But, at the same time, the CIA is already looking into the intelligence as well.

Q. Well, the CIA, obviously, isn’t an independent commission. Do you think the idea of an independent commission is incompatible with letting the Iraq Survey Group complete its work?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I think our position at this point is we want the Iraq Survey Group to complete the important work that it has undertaken. That work is still a work in progress. There is a new head, Charles Duelfer, of the Iraq Survey Group. We need to let him get in there and complete the work that Dr. Kay started. Dr. Kay –

Q. Are you saying weapons can still –

MR. McCLELLAN: Dr. Kay did a great job working on the Iraq Survey Group. We very much appreciate his service. It’s difficult work. But he has pointed out that they need to complete their work.

Q. Are you saying that still — you still expect weapons to be found, when the President, the Vice President, Powell and so forth have basically written that off?

MR. McCLELLAN: Helen, I think I’ve addressed this question over the last couple of days. What we know is that Saddam Hussein’s regime was a gathering threat. And in a post –

Q. I didn’t ask you that –

MR. McCLELLAN: I understand, but I’m coming to your question. In a post-September 11th world, it’s important that we confront those threats before it’s too late –

Q. What were his threats? Has he ever threatened us?

MR. McCLELLAN: And before — before — well, we — and Dr. Kay, himself, has stated that it was a very dangerous place. The President talked about, you had a dangerous man in a dangerous part of the world. And after September 11th, this President is acting decisively to make sure that we are doing everything we can to protect the American people, because we want to do everything we can to prevent something like that from ever happening again.

Q. Do you still expect to find weapons?

MR. McCLELLAN: The work of the Iraq Survey Group is ongoing. And they’ve already found that he was in material breach of Security Council Resolution 1441. I would remind you that that was a unanimous –

Q. That’s not answering the question.

MR. McCLELLAN: Helen, that was a unanimous resolution that said, Saddam Hussein, you have one final opportunity to comply, or face serious consequences.

Q. I’m asking you if you found the weapons.

MR. McCLELLAN: And as I pointed out yesterday, if the inspectors had found even half of what Dr. Kay’s team, through the Iraq Survey Group, has already uncovered, they would have had to have found his regime in clear violation of 1441. So we’re going to let their work continue. I’m not going to get into prejudging the outcome of their work; it’s ongoing. But we already know that they have reconfirmed –

Q. You’re doing a beautiful job of filibustering. (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you, Helen. We have already reconfirmed that it was the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

Q. Who said so?

MR. McCLELLAN: The world — I think a lot of people say so. The world is a safer and better place –

Q. Well, the jury is still out.

MR. McCLELLAN: — the world is a safer and better place because Saddam Hussein has been removed from power. America is more secure. It was the right decision then, and we know that it was the right decision today.

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Q. Scott, since you brought up the subject of weapons, a question that has been nagging me all morning –

SCOTT McCLELLAN: I don’t want you to be nagged. (Laughter.)

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Q. My question is, is he personally getting a little concerned about this company’s involvement in one of the most critical issues facing this administration?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: There are a lot of safeguards that have been put in place in the contracting process. We expect those safeguards to be followed, and I think that that is exactly what is happening now, because the Department of Defense is moving forward to look into that matter and to get to the bottom of it. And then if there were over-payments, we expect that to be repaid in full.

Q. I have a follow-up. The Associated Press is reporting today that a French judge is investigating a bribery scandal involving Halliburton when the Vice President Dick Cheney was the CEO of that company. And the judge, according to this AP report today, has warned Cheney that he could be subject to criminal charges in France concerning this bribery scandal in Nigeria. So the question is, if the French want to extradite the Vice President to stand trial in France, will the President allow for that extradition? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Did I just talk about people using this for election year advantage?

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Q. Related to –

Q. Thank you.

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Thanks — well, one more, one more. You started before he said “thank you,” so we’ll get one more.

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SCOTT McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everybody. We’ll go straight to questions.

Q. Does the President have any new ideas –

MR. McCLELLAN: Did I call on you? (Laughter.)

Q. Yes, I’m “question.” (Laughter.)

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SCOTT McCLELLAN: Good morning, gagglers…

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