Bush Under Risk

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Q Given the Karachi bombing, how would you characterize the threat level for the President's trip to Pakistan?

MR. HADLEY: That's something that we ought to get you from the Secret Service. They are the ones that sort of continually assess the threat. What I would look at it the following way: Look, as I said, Pakistan is both an ally in the war on terror and, in some sense, a site where the war is being carried about. So there is obviously risks. But what I would say is the Secret Service and others, for the United States, working with the Pakistanis, have taken a number of precautions and what they assess is whether those precautions in their view are adequate given the risks. And that was an assessment that was made before we decided to come to -- to make this trip, to take the trip, and it's something that they reassess up to the point where we head to Pakistan. And at this point, people are comfortable that the necessary precautions are in place.

But this is not a risk-free undertaking. The President has made it very clear, though, in the same way that Musharraf, who is also under risk, has not been deterred from waging the war on terror by the attacks and the terrorists, he and the United States cannot be deterred by the attacks of the terrorists from showing our support to a good ally.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060302-14.html