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President Obama Speaks at NATO Summit; Repairing U.S. Relations; At Least Three Police Officers Shot in Pittsburgh; Massacre Suspect Named

Aired April 04, 2009 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody, and welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

We do have some breaking news to tell you about out of Pittsburgh. Three officers have been shot. They were called to a domestic disturbance early this morning. And we understand the gunman is still holed up inside of a home. At one point, some 80 shots were fired.

Again, three officers have been shot. We do not know the extent of their injuries, but we are following this very shortly, and we will take you to the scene of the crime.

From the CNN Center, though, this is the CNN NEWSROOM. It is Saturday, April 4th.

Good morning, everybody, on this very busy day.

I'm Betty Nguyen.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I'm Drew Griffin, in today for T.J. Holmes.

Thanks for starting your day with us.

It's 10:00 a.m. Eastern; 7:00 a.m. for people waking up on the West Coast; 4:00 in France, where we are awaiting President Obama to speak.

NGUYEN: Let's take you live now to Strasbourg, France, where the NATO summit is currently under way. Again, we are standing by, waiting for President Obama to speak. But after the NATO summit, the president's next stop is the Czech Republic, where he is going to attend a summit for the EU. That is his third European country in one day.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry has been on the president's trail.

And Ed, a lot of the NATO summit was really directed at trying to get some support for the president's plan for Afghanistan. Have those NATO members decided to go that route?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We are getting some new information, Betty, suggesting that some of these NATO allies do want to help with the effort in Afghanistan, perhaps not as much as President Obama wanted, but this administration clearly will take what it can get, frankly. And what we're waiting is a heads up from Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, about some of the things President Obama will announce at a news conference we're expecting later this hour.

For example, that the NATO countries are going to announce that they're committing more than 400 new paramilitary trainers and mentors to train the Afghan national police. That is made up of about 300 trainers from France, 100 from Italy.

NATO also committing for the first time as an organization to help train the Afghan police itself. Also important to note that NATO is going to commit about 3,000 forces, combat troops, to help secure Afghanistan in the run-up to the upcoming national elections.

Of those 3,000 troops, about 900 from Great Britain, 600 from Germany, 600 from Spain. You note that France is not on that list contributing troops. And 3,000 still pales in comparison to the some 20,000, 21,000 that the U.S. is committing to send more troops that President Obama is sending in the early days of his administration.

So what we're going to see the president announce is essentially that these NATO allies are putting up some more support, small amount of troops, more in the form of training. And the White House still looking for some development aid as well, and they're going to get some money.

Not getting everything they want. And I think the broader view is that President Obama seems to be very popular here in Europe, he seems to be forging some new friendships here with some of these leaders, like French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but that does not automatically translate into automatic support of everything he wants.

We saw the same thing play out in London earlier in this trip at the G-20 summit. He got pieces of what he wanted in terms of dealing with the financial crisis, but not everything.

The same here at NATO. He's going to get some more combat troops, about 3,000, for the war in Afghanistan, but not as much, perhaps, as he wanted. And this is still a very U.S.-heavy war in Afghanistan, not getting all of these allies to put up greater numbers.

So he's getting some, but not all of what he wants. And that's to be expected in these international negotiations when you come to the table. You're not going to get everything you want -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Yes, absolutely, but you try. You have to try.

Let me ask you this very quickly, Ed. He is headed to the Czech Republic after this for the EU summit. This is what, the third European country in just one day?

HENRY: That's right, he'll be going to Prague tonight, and he'll be delivering a major speech tomorrow in the White House is billing as a major foreign policy speech focused on proliferation, trying to prevent nations like Iran from getting nuclear weapons. We can expect -- we're told that his speech is going to be in a public square, and there could be up to 25,000 or 30,000 people there, which will be quite interesting, if they can get a crowd like that.

Again, it would show, once again, President Obama trying to use some of the tactics from the campaign last year. We saw a campaign- style town hall meeting here in France yesterday with students, trying to drum up support for his ideas. Now a very big speech in Prague tomorrow -- Betty.

NGUYEN: We'll see how it works on the world stage.

Ed Henry, joining us live.

Thank you, Ed.

OK. So exactly what is NATO, you may be asking. Well, we do want to give you a quick look at it.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an alliance with 28 members. Central to the membership, the pledge that each member will respond to an attack by an outside force. But that response would not have to be military. Now, it is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: We're going to talk a little bit more about the president and his trip and his goals and expectations for it.

We have with us Nia-Malika Henderson, the White House reporter for Politico.com.

And Nia, we have seen a lot of handshakes, a lot of walking across bridges, some big events, and some campaign style, but is the president really coming through with what he needed to do on this trip?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, POLITICO.COM: Well, in terms of the G-20, I mean, he judged that his performance there was OK. And in terms of NATO, I think we're going to see him lay out a lot of plans in terms of Afghanistan, and really try to gather a lot of support. I mean, kind of a coalition of the willing, if you will, for this stepped-up effort in Afghanistan.

GRIFFIN: As this is all about, according to the president and his staff, kind of reengineering how the U.S. -- how America fits in this whole global community, a new era, a new change, but really, you know, a couple of handshakes. We're getting a positive signs, certainly they like him, but not really a whole lot of commitment yet, from what we're hearing from Ed Henry.

HENDERSON: It's true. I mean, not a lot of commitment. And, I mean, they've kind of said, yes, they support the U.S.'s efforts in Afghanistan, but in terms of really putting troops on the ground there, there's not a real sense so far that they're going to be willing to do that. I mean, you saw Nicolas Sarkozy say that he would take one free detainee from Guantanamo Bay. Well, that leaves about 239 more. And it was more -- kind of a symbolic effort on his part.

But in terms of a real commitment, it's true that they obviously like Barack Obama -- lots of handshakes and pats on the back -- but in terms of a real commitment, it's unclear if they're going to make it. It looks like in terms of monetarily, they'll put some money up, but in terms of a real kind of expanded effort there, it doesn't look like that might happen. Probably because there's just a lot of disagreement in these countries about putting more troops on the ground, and also some concerns about human rights violations in Afghanistan.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

He's obviously making great strides in trying to repair whatever damage there was or perceived to be between Europe and American relations. But has he done any damage back here domestically, especially when he's apologizing for the arrogance of America over the -- you know, he doesn't name the Bush administration, but certainly that's the undercurrent here.

HENDERSON: Yes. I mean, that was really kind of startling, to see an American president on foreign soil essentially say, yes, American policies have been arrogant. But he also kind of, you know, called out Europe for some of their anti-American sentiments. So it was a really kind of balanced -- I mean, it wasn't quite a lecture, but it really was kind of an effort to rebrand these relationships.

In terms of some of the policies that came, for instance, out of G-20, those stepped-up regulations and really kind of tightening restrictions on some of the executive pay, it looks like that will kind of strike a real balance. It won't upset Wall Street, but it pleases France. So it looks like he's been able to strike a pretty good balance there.

GRIFFIN: A lot of analysis over just a few days here, but we will continue to do it and see how he does on this trip.

Nia-Malika Henderson, thank you so much for joining us.

HENDERSON: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: And after President Obama speaks later this hour, he will leave for the Czech Republic. When most Americans are in bed tomorrow morning, he'll meet with the Czech president and prime minister at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and then make remarks.

At 6:15, the president attends a working lunch with the European Union. And just before 9:00 tomorrow morning, he holds bilateral meetings with Spain and Poland. After 11:00, he has a meeting with former Czech president Vaclav Havel, then at noon Eastern Time, flies off to Turkey -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, at least three officers are wounded after a shootout in Pittsburgh. Police say the gunman holed up at a home with another person inside, and medical help can't get to some of the wounded because they're in the line of fire.

Andrew Stockey from affiliate WTAE takes us right to the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STOCKEY, REPORTER, WTAE: Gunfire has picked up again at this Stanton Heights location, where this standoff has occurred for a little less than two hours. Let's take you down there. We want to show you what's going on.

About five minutes ago, we heard more gunfire, maybe 10, 15 shots fired at a location, a home on 1016 Fairfield Street. Now, from what we understand, there were multiple officers hit, there were multiple injuries. That's all Pittsburgh police will confirm for us right now. At one point during a 10, 15 minute stretch, as many as 80 shots were fired in this altercation.

Let's kind of take you back.

A little before 7:00 a.m. this morning, we understand Pittsburgh police -- and this is what neighbors are telling us -- responded to a domestic situation. And at that point, we understand there were officers hit at that point.

That's when the police came, state police, city police, and that's what led to this particular standoff. Talking to a neighbor, we understand there are two people that live in that location, 1016 Fairfield Street.

We understand one is a 23-year-old white male. That is unconfirmed, but that's what neighbors are telling us. And the other person may be a grandmother, although we can't confirm that for you. This is what neighbors in this location are telling us.

And once again, shots were fired. Shortly after that, six or seven shots. That's what brought this entire police presence.

We have officers out here in riot gear surrounding the location. As you can see, in fact, if you look, obviously, on your screen, you see officers there with rifles, as they surround the area, trying to find out exactly what's going on. And about 8:30, that's when we had those 70 to 80 shots fired in this location.

Once again, Pittsburgh police not saying much of anything right now in terms of whether they have subdued the suspect. We thought they may have at one point, because the shots had stopped coming. But then, all of a sudden, a short time ago, we heard 10 to 15 more shots.

We are hoping to get more information on this situation. We understand that the mayor is on his way down here as well. We hope to talk to him to find out exactly what is taking place, but right now, this situation is very fluid at the moment, still developing, still unfolding. We do not know if there are any fatalities. We do know there are multiple injuries involving three police officers. As we get the very latest, we will bring it to you from this location.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: So, as mentioned, this is happening at this hour right now. So let's take you as close to the scene as we can right now with a neighbor nearby. He lives on the next street over, that being Randy Branch. He joins us by phone.

Randy, what are you seeing and hearing?

RANDY BRANCH, LIVES NEARBY, HEARD GUNSHOTS: Well, right now, it sounds like the next street over. The streets are very close together in regard to how the neighborhood is set up.

It's definitely a very active neighborhood at the moment. I mean, my street is closed off, there's -- we're not being allowed out the doors at all. There's all kinds of police, like the reporter was saying before, in riot gear.

There's SWAT guys here. There's guys in military outfits. It's quite a -- for our neighborhoods, it's a very active neighborhood at the moment.

NGUYEN: Yes, no doubt. We're looking at video of it right now.

And we heard from that reporter that was on the scene that in a period of 20 minutes, there were some 80 shots fired. Did you hear that?

BRANCH: Oh, yes, for sure. In fact, I was on the phone with a friend of mine who called to check in. And he's like, "What is that noise?"

To be honest, I think it was more than 80 shots. I mean, the amount of artillery that I can see right now in the neighborhood is way more than 80 rounds, I'm sure.

NGUYEN: Do you know have any idea who lives in that home?

BRANCH: No. It's a very quiet neighborhood. Most of our neighbors in the community are retired policemen, firemen. And I have a 2-year-old son here that I'm raising. And it's a typical neighborhood. I mean, it's quiet and this is very rare for us.

NGUYEN: So you don't know if the gunman who's holed up in that house actually lives there or not?

BRANCH: No, we do not.

NGUYEN: OK. But you don't know the people who do live there either, correct?

BRANCH: No. It's just a couple of doors down from where I'm at.

NGUYEN: All right.

Well, Randy Branch, stay safe. And I know that you're holed up inside your home because of all the road closures and all that's going on there with the S.W.A.T. team. But we do appreciate your time in bringing us the action as it's taking place right now. Thank you for that -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: And as we're dealing with that shooting in Pittsburgh, we're still learning about what happened yesterday in Binghamton, New York. Thirteen people killed before a gunman kills himself at an immigration center there.

Allan Chernoff, our senior correspondent, is there all morning, getting us the latest,

Allan, what do you have for us?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Drew, we're learning more about Jiverly Wong, the man who police say walked into the American Civic Association right behind us and killed 13 people, and then turned the gun on himself. They say that the two guns found at the association were actually registered to Mr. Wong.

Now, he apparently had worked at Endicott Interconnect Technologies, a company right nearby, in Endicott, New York, a high- tech company. I spoke with two of his co-workers there, and they said that he was well respected, very intelligent, a very quiet and peaceful person. They were stunned to hear the news.

He lived with his parents and a younger sister in nearby Johnson City. Most recently, police say, he had worked for a division of Shop-Vac, a company that makes industrial vacuum cleaners. We have not been able to independently confirm that. But it seems that he may have suffered a decline in his fortunes over the past few years and, indeed, police say that the parents told them he had recently lost a job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JOSEPH ZIKUSKI, BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, POLICE: We talked to some family members, and that he recently lost a job. Spoke very little English, and they said people were disrespecting him and looking down upon him, and he wasn't happy with his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Perhaps the biggest mystery here, why actually attack the American Civic Association, an organization that is designed to help immigrants just like himself? That is something that we may never really know the answer to -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: Allan, did the families of the victims, have they all been notified yet, or is this drama still playing out in Binghamton, where families may not know that loved one was one of these victims?

CHERNOFF: The victims of the families certainly have been notified. And we still, of course -- keep in mind, we still do have four people who are in the hospital, two people in critical condition, one serious and one stable condition. Included among those four is the person at the reception desk who was shot in the abdomen and was able to make call to 911 to get the police over. Police say she is heroine, she may have prevented this from being much, much worse.

GRIFFIN: Yes, that will be amazing to hear that phone call, which I'm sure we will get. And amazing to hear her story as well.

Allan, thanks a lot.

Binghamton police will hold a news conference at noon Eastern. We're going to bring you that live, right here on CNN.

NGUYEN: All right. So when you have lost your job, your house, maybe all hope seems gone, that's when you need a hero, Drew. And we found one. He is making life just a little bit easier for the homeless. We're going to show that to you.

And as well, we are waiting for President Obama to hold a press conference. It should happen about 10:45 Eastern, in about 35 minutes. When that happens, you will hear it right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Happening right now, the NATO summit is wrapping up in Strasbourg, France. It's been a very busy day -- actually a busy week for the president. In fact, he's supposed to be speaking any minute now at a news conference there, as he highlights exactly what was accomplished during this trip.

And as we've been talking about, Drew, a lot of that really focused on getting some of these NATO members on board with the president's plan for advancing in Afghanistan.

GRIFFIN: Yes, a little bit how the sausage is made here, we were given a two-minute warning probably about three or four minutes ago now, and the president is supposed to walk out onto that platform and speak to the press. Not clear if he's going to be taking questions or not.

Of course, our Ed Henry is there to ask them, if he does take those questions. But the president really went in trying to -- the high goal was to get boots on the ground from France and Germany in Afghanistan. We don't have the exact decision yet, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

NGUYEN: Right. The reception has been somewhat lukewarm there. I mean, no full-on commitment as of yet. As we've been talking with Ed Henry, that's when he's been reporting. So we will wait to see what the president has to say about it. You know, what kind of bookend does he put on the NATO summit, and how does he describe his accomplishments there?

But to give you a little bit of background, a lot of you, as we talk about NATO, the question comes up a lot, well, what is NATO? Well, we can tell you this -- the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That's what NATO stands for, and it's an alliance with 28 members.

And central to this membership is the pledge that each member will respond to an attack by an outside force. Now, that response would not have been military. The NATO is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. And we have seen, throughout this week, there have been a lot of events as the president pushes his agenda there at NATO.

And also this morning, Drew, we have been watching as protests have broken out. And that, in fact, has hampered some of the first lady's traveling throughout France this morning. She was going to go to a hospital, and because of all the protests outside, they deemed that that was just not the right thing to do. So that was diverted a little bit, but the schedule is still on track, because after we hear from the president, hopefully momentarily, they will then board a plane and head to Prague, the Czech Republic, for the EU summit there.

So we are waiting anxiously to hear what the president says when he steps up to that microphone. And of course when that does happen, we will bring it to you live.

GRIFFIN: And this is the 60 anniversary, the weekend of the 60th anniversary of the beginning of NATO, which is why earlier today, they had this symbolic walk across a bridge between France and Germany. And the leaders of those two nations, Merkel and Sarkozy, shook hands and then walked back across the bridge, kind of welcoming France back into the military aspect of NATO.

I guess a lot of symbolism there.

NGUYEN: Oh yes.

GRIFFIN: Another picture on the bridge. But again, behind the scenes is what we're mostly interested in, mostly what we're going to be hearing, we hope, from the president this morning.

You mentioned those protests. Who could be protesting NATO? You know, we've heard from Ed Henry and Jim Bittermann, our CNN correspondents, that really, the protests are just the usual crowd that follows cameras around the world, rebel rousers, anarchists.

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: Some protesting global warming and all the things that surround that.

And of course, it's caused a little problems this morning, changing some of the agenda plans. But it never really threw it off course. And at this point, as mentioned, waiting for the president to speak. And as soon as he does, we will bring that to you live.

So don't go anywhere. It will happen soon, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We're going to take you back now live to Strasbourg, France, where we are still waiting for President Barack Obama to speak. This essentially is a news conference, pretty much, a wrapping up of the NATO summit there, as they have been talking all week long, the president, specifically, about gaining support for the war in Afghanistan.

As you know, the president has committed some 17,000 troops to that, additional troops, and 4,000 more troops to train Afghan troops. And we've learned, gotten some information as of late, as to what these NATO members have decided to commit to. What we know so far, according to CNN reporting, is that they are committing some 3,000 combat troops and 400 more paramilitary trainers.

The president has arrived. We'll get more details on this. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... not just finished, because I know there's been a little bit of a delay. We have finished what I consider to be a very productive meeting.

I want to thank President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel for hosting us here in Strasbourg. I should add that not only were they gracious hosts, but the commitments that they made with respect to Afghanistan indicate the seriousness of purpose with which they are approaching the NATO challenge and our mission in Afghanistan in particular.

I want to congratulate Prime Minister and now Secretary-General- to-be Mr. Rasmussen. He is an outstanding public servant, and somebody with an extraordinary reputation. And I have confidence that he's the right man to help lead NATO during a period in which we are moving from a vision first created in the 20th century, to a vision that responds to 21st century challenges.

I should point out that the election of Prime Minister Rasmussen was unanimous, but there was important efforts to make sure that everybody felt included. And I want to thank in particular Turkey for raising some concerns having to do with their security issues, and their confidence that the new secretary general would address them. So I congratulate all the parties concerned in arriving at an outstanding outcome.

And NATO was founded on a basis of a simple but solemn commitment: an attack on one is an attack on all. And from that foundation, we have forged the strongest alliance in history, an alliance that is stronger because it is made up of free nations.

Six years ago, much of Europe was in rubble, and this continent was divided. Today, the Cold War is over and Europe is free, former adversaries have reconciled. We've protected peace and security in the Balkans. Our alliance has more than doubled in size.

There was nothing predestined about this success. It took decades of consistent effort, careful cooperation, and collective action. But while we celebrate NATO's achievements, we can't rest upon them. The 21st century has ushered in a new era of global threats. To meet these dangers, the alliance must renew and reform itself once more.

The United States came here to listen, to learn and to lead, because all of us have a responsibility to do our parts. America can't meet our global challenges alone, nor can Europe meet them without America. I'm confident that the leaders who joined me here today share that view, and that we're moving forward with a sense of common purpose.

We made great progress. Albania and Croatia are now formally NATO members. We welcome France's renewed commitment to the alliance's military structures. And we agreed to develop a new strategic concept which will be critical in modernizing NATO so that it can meet the challenges of our time.

We need to strengthen our planning to protect all of our allies, and we need the capacity to meet new and unconventional challenges. We need to partner with other countries and international institutions, and we need a constructive relationship with Russia on issues of common concern.

Today, I focus in particular on Afghanistan. NATO's mission there represents both the promise of its past and its purpose for the future.

After 9/11, our allies declared the attacks on New York and Washington an attack on all. And together, we embarked on the first mission beyond Europe against an enemy that recognizes no borders or no laws of war.

Seven years later, al Qaeda is active in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. These terrorists threaten every member of NATO.

They have struck in both Europe and North America. They are plotting new attacks, and that's why my administration undertook a comprehensive review of our strategy.

We listened carefully and we consulted closely with our allies. And today, I briefed them on the results and discussed how we might move forward together.

We start from a simple premise. For years, our efforts in Afghanistan have lacked the resources need to achieve our goals. And that's why the United States has recommitted itself to a clear and focused goal to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.

This effort cannot be America's alone. All of NATO understands that al Qaeda is a threat to all of us, and that this collective security effort must achieve its goals. And as a signal of that commitment, I am pleased that our NATO allies pledged their strong and unanimous support for our new strategy.

Keep in mind, it was only just a week ago that we announced this new approach, but already, with Secretary Clinton's work at The Hague, and with success at today's summit, we have started to match real resources to achieve our goals.

We're leaving Strasbourg with concrete commitments on NATO support. Our allies and partners have already agreed to provide approximately 5,000 troops and trainers to advance our new strategy, as well as increased civilian assistance, to support critical elections for August 20th.

NATO will fully resource our election support force to maximize security. And our allies have committed additional funds to an Afghan elections trust fund that will provide the necessary resources for free and fair elections.

To accelerate and enhance our training of Afghan security forces, a new NATO training mission will focus on high level support for Afghan army and training and mentoring for the Afghan police. And many of our allies and partners have also pledged support for a new trust fund to sustain Afghan national armies going forward.

And to strengthen Afghan institutions and advance opportunity for the Afghan people, we are working with our NATO allies and partners to achieve substantial increases in non-military assistance, and to provide the kind of doctors, engineers, educators and agricultural specialists that are needed to make a difference on the ground.

Now, we'll need more resources and a sustained effort to achieve our ultimate goals, but these commitments of troops, trainers and civilians represent a strong down payment on the future of our mission in Afghanistan and on the future of NATO. These are the new missions that NATO must take on in the 21st century, and these are the new capabilities that we need to succeed.

NATO was founded upon mutual responsibility to our common security. And today I'm confident that we took a substantial step forward in renewing our alliance to meet the challenges of our time.

And before I start taking questions, let me just note that while we were busy dealing with common security issues here at the summit, we received news yesterday of extraordinary tragedy back in the United States, where a lone gunman killed and injured multiple people. My administration is in communications with law enforcement officials -- federal, state and local. We are monitoring the investigation.

I am heartbroken for the families who survive this tragedy. And it just underscores the degree to which in each of our countries, we have to guard against the kind of senseless violence that tragedy represents.

So with that, let me start with Richard Wolf, "USA Today."

RICHARD WOLF, "USA TODAY": Thank you, Mr. President.

I'm wondering if you can say that you got what you asked for here, and also in London, because you didn't ask for everything you wanted? And what I mean by that is you didn't get a lot more combat troops here and you didn't get direct government stimulus there. OBAMA: Well, first of all, I don't want to circle back and have a whole new press conference about the G-20 summit since I have answered some pretty extensive questions there.

A week before the summit, two weeks before the summit, on multiple occasions, I indicated that the notion somehow that we were seeking to dictate to other countries their budgets and their approach to government spending was simply not accurate. What we said was that all of us have to take important steps to deal with economic growth.

We, in the United States, have taken appropriate actions to fill the huge hole in demand that incurred as a consequence of the financial crisis. We saw that other countries at the G-20, like China and Japan and Great Britain and France and Germany, had all similarly taken stimulus steps. And the most important things in terms of stimulus that we wanted to see at the G-20 was a commitment that, as we monitor what takes place, we assure that if what's been done is not adequate, then we reconvene to make sure that we're taking steps that are adequate to create jobs and re-grow the economy.

With respect to what we wanted here in NATO, the first thing we wanted was consensus and unity around a refocused approach to Afghanistan. And because of careful consultation with our allies prior to releasing the results of our strategic review, we came here expecting consensus and were gratified to receive that consensus. You had NATO putting its stamp of approval on what I believe is a well- thought-out, hard-headed strategy and approach to Afghanistan, but also the need to deal with the interaction between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This was not a pledging conference. And yet, we already received the kinds of commitments that historically you don't see at a conference like this. And I think if you will talk to prior participants, they would tell you that what was pledged here today was significant.

Let me just review.

We fully resourced the elections, 3,000 from allies and partners; 300 new paramilitary trainers and mentors for NATO training missions in Afghanistan; 70 NATO-embedded training teams to support expansion of the Afghan national army; $100 million down payment on the Afghan national army trust fund; and the civilian assistance of half a billion dollars. That was at a summit that was designed to discuss strategy, as opposed to attract pledges. And I think it's an indication of the fact that this alliance is committed to achieving the focused goals that we have set out in Afghanistan.

I think that you're not going to see a division between allies in terms of how we approach the situation. I think our allies are encouraged by not only the consultation that we conducted prior to releasing our strategy, but also our commitment to continually reviewing the strategy to ensure that it works.

And what we anticipate is that not only we will see additional resources brought to bear on the strategy, but that, also, we will have established a baseline of honesty and clarity about our purpose so that it will be much more difficult for each of us in NATO to try to avoid or shirk the serious responsibilities that are involved in accomplishing our mission.

OK?

Peter Mayer (ph), CBS.

PETER MAYER, CBS: Thank you, Mr. President. I've got a two- parter on this policy.

I'm wondering if at any time in the course of the meeting or before you asked for a commitment from NATO for combat troops in a war stance like the ones already there and the thousands of others that you're ordering. And since you keep referring to this and you have referred to it as an Afghanistan and Pakistan policy, and you said recently that you don't envision sending -- you don't envision NATO troops being sent to Pakistan, what is the message to Pakistan and the terrorists who are hiding out there?

OBAMA: Well, as I said, this was not a pledging conference. All the NATO allies have troops on the ground who are in harm's way. Our ISAF partners have troops on the ground in harm's way.

They are making significant commitments, despite having participated in what has turned out to be a very lengthy operation. And so, you know, the whole point of the strategy was to get beyond this notion that somehow there's one kind of troop and one kind of way of accomplishing our mission in Afghanistan. The trainers that we're sending in are no less important than those who are in the south, in direct combat with the Taliban, because if we can't achieve these other goals, then we will put more and more of a burden, an unsustainable burden, on those troops that are conducting direct combat operations.

So the answer is, number one, all these allies have combat troops on the ground. Number two, part of our strategy is to make sure that we have got a much more comprehensive approach.

With respect to Pakistan, we want to bring all of our diplomatic and development skills to bear on strengthening Pakistan, in part because they have to have the capacity to take on al Qaeda within their borders. But also because to the extent that we strengthen Pakistan's ability to deliver goods and services and a better life for its people, then the less the contagion of extremism in that country or in the region is likely to spread.

And I informed our allies here today that we are going to, despite difficult budget circumstances, put more money into aid to Pakistan, conditioned on some concrete results in dealing with the terrorist threat. And we are going to be pushing our allies to participate, for example, in the donors forum for Pakistan that's going to be taking place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE) OBAMA: We are going to keep on going until we get this job done. And they should be clear that we are unified, we are strong, they will not wear us down. We are going to complete our mission so that our people are safe.

OK. Major?

MAJOR GARRETT, FOX NEWS: Thank you, Mr. President. And good afternoon.

I would like to ask you about a law that's recently been passed in Afghanistan that affects the 10 percent of the Shia population there. A summary of it says it negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage, and restricts a woman's right to leave the home. The United Nation's Development Fund for Women says this legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband.

I would like your assessment of this law, number one. Number two, will you condition future troop movement to (ph) the U.S. to Afghanistan on the basis of this being redrafted or rewritten? And if not, Sir, what about the character of this law to motivate U.S. forces to fight and possibly die in Afghanistan?

OBAMA: Well, first of all, this was actually a topic of conversation among all the allies. And in our communique, you will see that we specifically state that part of this comprehensive approach is encouraging the respect of human rights.

I think this law is abhorrent. Certainly the views of the administration have been and will be communicated to the Karzai government. And we think that it is very important for us to be sensitive to local culture, but we also think that there are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold. And respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity is an important principle.

Now, I just want to remind people, though, why our troops are fighting, because I think the notion that you laid out, Major, was that, you know, our troops might be less motivated.

Our troops are highly motivated to protect the United States, just as troops from NATO are highly motivated to protect their own individual countries and NATO allies collectively. So we want to do everything we can to encourage and promote rule of law, human rights, the education of women and girls in Afghanistan, economic development, infrastructure development. But I also want people to understand that the first reason we are there is to root out al Qaeda so that they cannot attack members of the alliance.

Now, I don't -- those two things aren't contradictory. I think they're complementary. And that's what's reflected in the communique.

GARRETT: (OFF-MIKE)

OBAMA: We have stated very clearly that we object to this law, but I want everybody to understand that our focus is to defeat al Qaeda and ensure that they do not have safe havens from which they can launch attacks against the alliance.

Ed Luce from "The Financial Times."

Where's Ed? There he is.

ED LUCE, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Thank you, Mr. President.

In the context of all the multilateral activity that's been going on this week, the G-20 here at NATO, and your evident enthusiasm for multilateral frameworks, to work through multilateral frameworks, could I ask you whether you subscribe, as many of your predecessors as, to the school of American exceptionalism that sees America as uniquely qualified to lead the world? Or do you have a slightly different philosophy? And if so, would you be able to elaborate on it?

OBAMA: I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I am enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world.

And if you think about the site of this summit and what it means, I don't think America should be embarrassed to see evidence of the sacrifices of our troops, the enormous amount of resources that were put into Europe post war, and our leadership in crafting an alliance that ultimately led to the unification of Europe. We should take great pride in that.

And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world, we have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our Democratic practices, and our belief in free speech and equality that, though imperfect, are exceptional.

Now, the fact that I am very proud of my country and I think that we've got a whole lot to offer the world does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries for recognizing that we're not always going to be right, or that other people may have good ideas, or that in order for us to work collectively, all parties have to compromise.

And that includes us. And so I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity, and recognizing that that leadership is incumbent, depends on our ability to create partnerships because we can't solve these problems alone.

Steve Tomlin (ph), McClatchy.

STEVE TOMLIN, MCCLATCHY: Thank you, Mr. President.

The 3,000 troops that NATO committed to send to Afghanistan, I wanted to ask you, is that a net increase, or will some of them be replacements? And more importantly, how open-ended is that commitment? Will they stay past the election in August and into 2010, alongside U.S. troops?

OBAMA: You know, keep in mind that this is not a ceiling for what we're achieving. Again, I just want to emphasize, this was not a pledge conference. So what I prefer to do is to have Bob Gates or Mike Mullen or General McKiernan or others talk to you in detail about troops rotations, how various NATO contributions will be integrated into the various operations that are going to be taking place.

But if you ask people who have been around these NATO summits, they will tell you that it is highly unusual to see the kinds of commitments that we saw today, this early, and this much unanimity in terms of what our strategy should be.

Everybody understands it's going to be hard, and part of why I think our strategy was received favorably was because we did not try to paper over the difficulties. And I think every leader who participated in the summit understands that these commitments place a strain on our populations at a time when we're already going through very difficult times.

We got jobs reports yesterday back home that 663,000 people had lost their jobs just last month. You know, states are struggling, families are struggling. Military families are going through all the strains and stresses of deployments. And although we're dealing with that issue successfully, thanks to some good planning by Secretary Gates and our drawdown in Iraq, this is still a strain, both on our budgets and on our troops, who are performing brilliantly. And that's not unique to the United States, that's true for all the NATO allies.

But what I'm deeply encouraged by is, I don't see any lessening of will to ensure that terrorist organizations cannot operate with impunity and continue to threaten devastating attacks on the United States, NATO members. And that, I think -- that promises success over the long term.

Let me -- I'm going to take just two more questions and I'll -- from non-Americans.