The White House today repeatedly refused to publicly discuss a U.S. millitary raid into Syria along the Iraq border.  Here is part of the transcript from Monday's White House briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino.

Q    What is the likelihood of more raids into Syria like the one we saw this weekend?

MS. PERINO:  The United States government has not commented on reports about that and I'm not able to here, either.

Q    So we've talked about Pakistan, the raids into Pakistan, whether by ground or by air.  And there's been some acknowledgment by U.S. officials that those are happening.  We're now seeing this sort of thing spread to other countries.  Can you not -- you can't shed any light on why, when, where, how, whether we're going to --

MS. PERINO:  I can't comment on it at all, no.

Q    Have you heard anything about whether the target was successful, that it hit the target?

MS. PERINO:  I'm not going to comment in any way on this; I'm not able to comment on that.

Q    You're not even able to say that there has been some decision taken by the administration that "if you guys can't clean up your act we will clean it up for you"?

MS. PERINO:  I'm not going to comment on the reports about this, no, I'm not.  Anybody else?

Q    Can you comment on Syria's protest?

MS. PERINO:  I'm not going to comment on it at all.  This could be a really short briefing.  (Laughter.)

Q    Has anybody from the White House spoken to anybody from Syria?

MS. PERINO:  I don't know.  I don't know.

Q    Let me ask you this one:  You have another government making claims.  At some point, you either have to confirm or deny the claims they're making, no?

MS. PERINO:  Jim, all I can tell you is that I am not able to comment on reports about this reported incident, and I'm not going to do so.  You can come up here and try to beat it out of me, but I will not be commenting on this in any way, shape or form today.  Or tomorrow --

Q    What about another agency, nobody -- if it comes, it's going to come from here, and so it's not going to -- nothing is going to come out of this?

MS. PERINO:  I don't believe anybody is commenting on this at all.

April.

Q    Dana, why can't you comment?  Is it a reason for national security, or is it political?  I mean, why --

MS. PERINO:  To give you an answer to that would be commenting in some way on it, and I'm not going to do it.

Q    But, I mean, Dana, you can't give us anything?  I mean, this is a major issue --

MS. PERINO:  Nothing.

Q    This is a major issue --

MS. PERINO:  I understand the reports are serious, but it's not something I'm going to comment on in any way.