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The draft constitution, Bush said, “protects
fundamental freedoms, including religion, assembly,
conscience and expression.” The proposed federal
system of government “is essential to preserving the
unity of a diverse nation like Iraq,” he said, and
the document “declares that all Iraqis are equal
before the law, without regard to gender, ethnicity
and religion.” (See Iraq's Political Process.)
Welcoming Talabani to the United States, Bush
thanked him for Iraq’s “generous pledge of aid” to
the victims of Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf
Coast, and said that when the Iraqi leader attends
the U.N. High-Level Plenary Meeting in New York
September 14, that session “will mark the first time
in a half-century that Iraq is represented by a
freely elected government.”
Speaking on behalf of the Iraqi people, Talabani
thanked Bush and the American people for
“liberat[ing] us from the worst kind of
dictatorship” under the former regime of Saddam
Hussein.
“We salute you. We are grateful to you. We'll never
forget what you have done for our people,” Talabani
said. Expressing regret for American losses in his
country, he said “a great people like America have a
mission in … history,” and cited troops killed in
both World Wars and in recent conflicts in the
Balkans and Afghanistan.
The Iraqi president said no timetable for the
withdrawal of American or other international forces
from Iraq will be set because it would encourage the
terrorists.
“We hope that by the end of 2006 our security forces
are up to the level of taking responsibility from
many American troops with complete agreement with
America,” he said, but added, “We don't want to do
anything without the agreement with the Americans
because we don't want to give any signal to the
terrorists that our will to defeat them is weakened
or they can defeat us.”
COMMENTS ON SYRIA, IRAN, HURRICANE KATRINA
Bush said Iraq’s neighbor Syria “can do a lot more”
to prevent foreign fighters from crossing its border
into Iraq, and that President Bashar al-Asad “must
understand we take his lack of action seriously.”
He warned that the Syrian government “is going to
become more and more isolated” not only for being
uncooperative on its border with Iraq, but also for
“not being fully transparent about what they did in
Lebanon.” (See related article.)
Talabani appealed to Iraq’s neighbors to “stop
attacking Iraqi democracy” and to “join us in
fighting against terrorism.”
“We want our Arab brothers stopping the media, at
least the official media, to support terrorism. We
want them to stand with us against terrorism,
because the terrorism is the enemy of all Arab and
Muslim countries in the world,” the Iraqi president
said.
Asked about Iran’s nuclear program, Bush said it is
important for the international community to
understand that “Iran with a nuclear weapon will be
incredibly destabilizing.”
He described the idea of allowing that country to
receive enriched uranium from a third country, with
international inspections, as “a rational approach”
to Iran’s stated desire for a civilian nuclear
program, even though he questioned whether Iran
needs a civilian program since "they're awash with
hydrocarbons.”
“Nevertheless, it's a right of a government to want
to have a civilian nuclear program,” Bush said, “but
there ought to be guidelines in which they be
allowed to have that civilian nuclear program … in
such a way that they don't gain the expertise
necessary to be able to enrich.”
Turning to Hurricane Katrina, Bush took
responsibility for federal shortcomings in the
response to the disaster.
“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response
capability at all levels of government, and to the
extent that the federal government didn't fully do
its job right, I take responsibility,” he said.
Bush said he wants to know “what went right, and
what went wrong” in the disaster response, as well
as how to better cooperate with state and local
authorities so as to better respond to national
disasters in the future.
Following is the transcript of Bush and
Talabani's remarks:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
September 13, 2005
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BUSH AND PRESIDENT TALABANI
OF IRAQ IN A PRESS AVAILABILITY
The East Room, 11:35 A.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Thank you all. It's an honor to welcome the first
democratically elected President of Iraq to the
White House. I'm proud to stand with a brave leader
of the Iraqi people, a friend of the United States,
and a testament to the power of human freedom.
Mr. President, thank you for your leadership; thank
you for your courage.
President Talabani has dedicated his life to the
cause of liberty in Iraq. As a lawyer, a journalist,
and a political leader in Northern Iraq, he stood up
to a brutal dictator, because he believes that every
Iraqi deserves the be free. The dictator destroyed
Kurdish villages, ordered poison gas attacks on a
Kurdish city, and violently repressed other
religious and ethnic groups. For President Talabani
and his fellow citizens, the day Saddam was removed
from power was a day of deliverance. And America
will always be proud that we led the armies of
liberation.
In the past two years, the Iraqi people have made
their vision of their future clear. This past
January, more than 8 million Iraqis defied the car
bombers and the assassins and voted in free
elections. It is an inspiring act of unity when 80
percent of the elected National Assembly chose the
President, a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority, to
lead the free nation.
In our meeting today, I congratulated the President
on his election, and I thanked him for his
leadership on Iraq's draft constitution. The draft
constitution is an historic milestone. It protects
fundamental freedoms, including religion, assembly,
conscience and expression. It calls for a federal
system of government, which is essential to
preserving the unity of a diverse nation like Iraq.
It declares that all Iraqis are equal before the
law, without regard to gender, ethnicity, and
religion.
The Iraqi people can be proud of the draft
constitution, and when an election to ratify that
constitution is held next month, they will have a
chance to vote their conscience at the polls.
As the Iraqi people continue on the path to
democracy, the enemies of freedom remain brutal and
determined. The killers in Iraq are the followers of
the same ideology as those who attacked America four
years ago. Their vision is for an Iraq that looks
like Afghanistan under the Taliban; a society where
freedom is crushed, girls are denied schooling, and
terrorists have a safe haven to plot attacks on
America and other free people.
To impose their hateful vision, our enemies know
they must drive America out of Iraq before the Iraqi
people can secure their own freedom. They believe we
will retreat in the face of violence, so they're
committing acts of staggering brutality, murdering
Iraqi children receiving candy, or hospital workers
treating the wounded. We have no doubt that our
enemies will continue to kill. Yet we also know they
cannot achieve their aims unless we lose our
resolve.
Today, Mr. President, I pledge that we will not
waver. And I appreciate your same pledge. Iraq will
take its place among the world's democracies. The
enemies of freedom will be defeated.
President Talabani and I discussed our strategy for
the months ahead. America will stand with the Iraqi
people as they move forward with the democratic
process. We're seeing hopeful developments in places
like Fallujah and Ramadi and Mosul, where Iraqis are
registering to vote, many for the first time --
well, obviously, for the first time.
At the same time, American troops will stay on the
offensive, alongside Iraqi security forces, to hunt
down our common enemies. At this hour, American and
Iraqi forces are conducting joint operations to rout
out terrorists and insurgents in Tall Afar. Our
objective is to defeat the enemies of a free Iraq,
and we're working to prepare more Iraqi forces to
join the fight. As Iraqis stand up, Americans will
stand down. And when the mission is complete, our
troops will come home, with the honor they have
earned.
Tomorrow, President Talabani and I will take our
seats at the United Nations in New York. The session
will mark the first time in a half-century that Iraq
is represented by a freely elected government.
Securing freedom in Iraq has required great
sacrifice, Mr. President. You know that better than
anybody. And there's going to be difficult days
ahead. Yet I have no doubt about the impact of a
democratic Iraq on the rest of the world. As Iraq
becomes a federal, unified democracy, people
throughout the broader Middle East will demand their
own liberty. The Middle East will become more
peaceful, and America and the world become more
secure.
We're proud to call you, friend, Mr. President, and
proud to have you as an ally in the war on terror.
On behalf of the American people, I want to thank
you for Iraq's generous pledge of aid to the victims
of Hurricane Katrina. Welcome to the United States.
PRESIDENT TALABANI:
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President, for your kind
remarks. It is honor for me to stand here today as a
representative of free Iraq. It is an honor to
present the world's youngest democracy.
In the name of Iraqi people, I say to you, Mr.
President, and to the glorious American people,
thank you, thank you. Thank you, because you
liberated us from the worst kind of dictatorship.
Our people suffered too much from this worst kind of
dictatorship. The -- (inaudible)
-- was hundred thousand of Iraqi innocent children
and women, young and old men. Thank you, and thanks
to the United States, there are now 15 million
Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq liberated by your
courageous leadership and decision to liberate us,
Mr. President.
We agree with Mr. President Bush that democracy is
the solution to the problems of the Middle East. Mr.
President, you are a visionary, great statesman. We
salute you. We are grateful to you. We will never
forget what you have done for our people.
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Thank you, sir.
PRESIDENT TALABANI:
We have had a good discussion with Mr. President. We
are partners. We are proud to say openly and to
repeat it that we are partners of the United States
of America in fighting against tyranny, terrorism,
and for democracy. It is something we are not shy to
say and will repeat it everywhere, here and in Iraq,
and the United Nations and everywhere.
Iraq is America's ally in the war against terrorism.
Our soldiers are now fighting side-by-side with your
brave soldiers, now and every day. We have captured
many senior elements of al Qaeda. We killed many of
them, and we have also many of them in our prisons.
With your support, we could create a society
enjoying democracy for the first time, obviously.
Now Iraq is a free country. We have all kinds of
democracy, all kinds of freedom of expression of
parties, groups, civil society, organizations --
that we can say that our democracy is unique in the
Middle East.
Our strategy is solvent. We build democracy and
defend democracy. We talk about how we could improve
our tactics. There is progress in security in our
country. The number of the -- (inaudible) --
reduced; the traces which were under the full
control of the terrorists are now liberated, and
they're now registering their names for the new
election.
In the areas which were known that there was any of
al Qaeda now became the area of Iraq. And two
important signals appeared in that area -- the
people started to -- (inaudible) -- and to fight
terrorists. Now we have Iraqi Arab tribes, Sunni
tribes fighting terrorism and al Qaeda. We have also
people who are in -- (inaudible) -- who are
cooperating with Iraqi forces, and with American
forces against terrorism. It is a good signal that
our people start to understand that terrorism is the
enemy of Iraqi people before becoming enemy of
Americans. They are killing our civilians, or
innocent children. They are destroying our mosques
-- church, everywhere, regardless of what may happen
to the people.
And we are now progressing gradually. Last year, for
example -- (inaudible) -- a year ago, Najaf was a
battlefield. Najaf is a holy city of Shiites, the
Vatican of the Shiites. Now Najaf is being rebuilt,
is free, and ruled by the elected committee, elected
government.
There are still important security challenges we are
neglecting. But we are fighting al Qaeda. Now our
fight in Tall Afar proved that the enemy is going to
be weakened and low morale. The fighting in Tall
Afar was easy to defeat the terrorists and to
liberate the town.
The so-called jihadists want to impose oppression
and dictatorship and worst kind of society on our
people. For that they are not only -- so they are
not only the enemy of Iraq, but they are the enemy
of humanity, the enemy of real Islam, and the enemy
of all Middle East peoples. Together with our
American friends and partners, we will defeat them.
Today, American and international presence in Iraq
is vital. The American and international presence in
Iraq is vital for democracy in Iraq and in the
Middle East, and also for prevent foreign
interference in the internal affairs of Iraq.
We will set no timetable for withdrawal, Mr.
President. A timetable will help the terrorists,
will encourage them that they could defeat a
superpower of the world and the Iraqi people. We
hope that by the end of 2006, our security forces
are up to the level of taking responsibility from
many American troops with complete agreement with
Americans. We don't want to do anything without the
agreement with the Americans because we don't want
to give any signal to the terrorists that our will
to defeat them is weakened, or they can defeat us.
We are proud that one day will come -- as soon as
possible, of course, we hope -- that American troops
can proudly return home, and we tell them, thank
you, dear friends, and you are faithful to
friendship. Of course, we are sorry for the
sacrifices of American people in Iraq, but I think a
great people like America has a mission in the
history -- they have sacrificed hundreds of
thousands of their sons in the war -- first world
war, second world war, and in liberating people in
Afghanistan, Kurdistan. And the great leader, Mr.
George W. Bush is continuing the same mission of the
American people. We are grateful. We are grateful
for American generosity, and we honor -- we honor --
sacrifices of America in Iraq -- and everywhere, not
only in Iraq.
We also need our neighbors, at least some of them,
to stop attacking Iraqi democracy. We want them to
join us in fighting against terrorism. We want our
Arab brothers -- (inaudible) -- media, at least the
official media, to support terrorism. We want them
to stand with us against terrorism, because
terrorism is the enemy of all Arab and Muslim
countries in the world.
But we will proceed, and we will remember those who
helped us in our struggle to establish a democracy
in Iraq. And you are first those people who
supported us for this noble mission.
There is, in Iraq, political progress. We are
talking taking the gun out of Iraqi politics, for
the first time. Iraqis will have -- speak in
peaceful dialogue, not with arms. The majority of
Iraqis are committed to political process. Iraq is a
diverse country. They are mostly settling --
(inaudible) -- peacefully.
We have agreed a draft constitution. Of course, it
is not perfect document, but I think it is one of
the best constitutions in the Middle East. Of
course, we didn't solve all problems, we have some
problems. We are still suffering from many problems.
But we are achieving progress on all fields --
economic, trade, education, political life. And we
hope that we will remain having the support of the
United States, and yourself, Mr. President, and
other friends in Arab world and in Europe.
It is true we are a young democracy, but our draft
constitution has a bill of rights, ensures the
equality of all Iraqis -- regardless of their
gender, creed, religion, or ethnicity. It enshrines
the separation of powers, and involves many checks
and balances on the exercise of power. It is the
best constitution in the entire region, as we claim.
We hope it will be correct.
We are reaching out to some other Iraqi citizens who
were not able to participate in the election -- I
mean our Arab Sunni brothers. We tried to be
involved with them in the process. When the result
of the election was announced, the two main lists of
alliance -- the Kurdistan Alliance and the United
Front of Iraq Shiite Alliance -- we got 238 votes,
and the Assembly was 275. But, nevertheless, we
tried to bring our Sunni Arabs to the government, to
participate. We elected a vice president, an Arab
Sunni; two deputy prime ministers; the Speaker of
the House is a Sunni; and six ministers, among them,
two main posts, the Minister of Defense and Minister
of Industry.
It means that we are anxious to have all Iraqis
united, and to solve all our problems through
dialogue. We are calling all Iraqis to come to
participate in the democratic process and to say
what they want, and they are free to decide the
government -- decide the President of Iraq, the
Prime Minister, the ministers, and they are able to
say what they want through democratic process, they
can say their -- and demands.
This, of course, constitution is not perfect, but it
can be amended in the future, if the Iraqi people
want this. But now, compared with others, we are
proud to have such a kind of constitution. Some of
our brothers, Sunni Arabs, are under the threat of
terrorism. We will try our best to liberate them
from terrorism and from the violence.
To those in America, in other countries, still ask
of war of liberation in Iraq, if it was right -- the
right decision. I say, please, please, come to Iraq,
to visit the mass graves, to see what happened to
the Iraqi people, and to see what now is going on in
Iraq. To those who talk of stability, I say, Saddam
imposed the stability of the mass graves. To the
terrorists, I say, you will never win; freedom will
win in Iraq.
Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Thank you.
A couple of questions. Two a side. Nedra.
Q: Mr. President, given what happened with
Katrina, shouldn't Americans be concerned if their
government isn't prepared to respond to another
disaster or even a terrorist attack?
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Katrina exposed serious problems in our response
capability at all levels of government. And to the
extent that the federal government didn't fully do
its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know
what went right and what went wrong. I want to know
how to better cooperate with state and local
government, to be able to answer that very question
that you asked: Are we capable of dealing with a
severe attack or another severe storm. And that's a
very important question. And it's in our national
interest that we find out exactly what went on and
-- so that we can better respond.
One thing for certain; having been down there three
times and have seen how hard people are working, I'm
not going to defend the process going in, but I am
going to defend the people who are on the front line
of saving lives. Those Coast Guard kids pulling
people out of the -- out of the floods are -- did
heroic work. The first responders on the ground,
whether they be state folks or local folks, did
everything they could. There's a lot of people that
are -- have done a lot of hard work to save lives.
And so I want to know what went right and what went
wrong to address those. But I also want people in
America to understand how hard people are working to
save lives down there in not only New Orleans, but
surrounding parishes and along the Gulf Coast.
Mr. President, you want to call on somebody?
Q: (Question is asked in Arabic.)
If I may, Mr. President, it's been a scathing attack
from top officials of your administration on Syria
yesterday for allowing foreign fighters to cross the
border. We heard yesterday from Ambassador
Khalilizad. Is this an escalation on the pressure
that you're putting on Syria? And what more can you
do when you say that all options are open?
PRESIDENT TALABANI:
May I?
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Please, yes. You might want to try it English.
(Laughter.)
PRESIDENT TALABANI:
Well, I say it in Iraqi because the question was in
Arabic. (Answers the question in Arabic.)
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Oops. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT TALABANI:
(Continues answering in Arabic.)
THE PRESIDENT: I'm not sure if I agree, or not, but
-- (laughter.) The Ambassador did speak strongly
about Syria because he understands that the Syrian
government can do a lot more to prevent the flow of
foreign fighters into Iraq. These people are coming
from Syria into Iraq and killing a lot of innocent
people. They're killing -- they're trying to kill
our folks, as well. And so, of course, he's speaking
strongly about that.
And the Syrian leader must understand we take his
lack of action seriously. And the government is
going to become more and more isolated as a result
of two things: one, not being cooperative with the
Iraqi government, in terms of securing Iraq; and
two, not being fully transparent about what they did
in Lebanon.
And so we're going to work with our friends. And
this is a subject of conversation, of course, I'll
have with allies in places like New York and other
times I communicate with our allies, that Syria must
be a focus of getting them to change their behavior,
particularly as it regards to democracy and trying
to prevent democracies from emerging.
Toby.
Q: Mr. President, do you believe at this
point that Iran will be referred to the U.N.
Security Council to face possible sanctions over its
nuclear program? And how will you convince reluctant
members like China that this is the way forward?
PRESIDENT BUSH:
There is still an IAEA process to go forward. And we
will work with our Ambassador at the IAEA,
Ambassador Schulte, to continue to press forward
with a full disclosure about Iranian intentions so
that then the Security Council can make a --
determine the right policy to go forward.
I will bring the subject up with leaders whom I'll
be meeting with today and tomorrow and later on this
week. I will be speaking candidly about Iran with
the -- Hu Jintao, as well as with President Putin,
for example. Just had a conversation with Tony Blair
and the subject came up.
It is very important for the world to understand
that Iran with a nuclear weapon will be incredibly
destabilizing. And, therefore, we must work together
to prevent them from having the wherewithal to
develop a nuclear weapon. It should be a warning to
all of us that they have -- in the past, didn't
fully disclose their programs, their programs aimed
at helping them develop a weapon. They have insisted
that they have a civilian nuclear program, and I
thought a rational approach to that would be to
allow them to receive enriched uranium from a third
party under the guise of international inspections
that will enable them to have civilian nuclear power
without learning how to make a bomb.
Some of us are wondering why they need civilian
nuclear power anyway. They're awash with
hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, it's a right of a
government to want to have a civilian nuclear
program. And -- but there ought to be guidelines in
which they be allowed to have that civilian nuclear
program. And one such guideline would be in such a
way that they don't gain the expertise necessary to
be able to enrich.
This is a subject of grave concern, and it's
something that we're spending a lot of time on in
this administration. I want to applaud the Germans
and the French and the British for sticking together
in developing a common message to the Iranians. And
now we'll see how the Iranians respond here on their
visit to the United States.
Final question, Mr. President.
Q: Mr. President, I hope you will excuse me,
since you've never had Kurdish -- spoken Kurdish. I
put my question in Kurdish. (Question asked in
Kurdish.)
PRESIDENT TALABANI:
With your permission, Mr. President, he's from
America and his voice, American voice in Kurdish --
I must answer in Kurdish.
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Yes. Answer his question -- perfect.
PRESIDENT TALABANI:
(Question answered in Kurdish.)
THE PRESIDENT:
On that cheery note, the press conference is over.
(Laughter.)
Thank you, Mr. President, good job.
END 12:05 P.M. EDT
(end transcript)
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