White House Daily Briefing

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

May 9, 2001

PRESS BRIEFING BY ARI FLEISCHER

The James S. Brady Briefing Room

1:40 P.M. EDT

Q: On Iraq, has the President received a recommendation from his
national security team about scaling back U.S. flights over the no-fly
zone? I believe The Washington Post reporting today that some
commanders in the field say that the flights should be scaled back
because of danger

and a chance of a pilot being shot down.

MR. FLEISCHER: The President has directed a review to take a look
broadly at the United States policy, vis-a-vis Iraq. That review is
underway. And we are always, as a government, looking for ways to make
the no-fly zones more effective. The no-fly zones are a critical part
of our efforts to defend against threats that are posed by the Iraqi
regime, were they to have unencumbered access to the airspace. It
could risk threatening their neighbors and American allies. So the
United States has made clear to Iraq that any attempt to threaten our
forces patrolling in the no-fly zones will be a cause for us to
respond militarily, and that policy remains in effect.

Q: And just a follow-up, because the review has been underway for a
while now, since you started the administration. Is there any new,
newer approach here or any --

MR. FLEISCHER: Nothing new, the policy is in effect.