BUSH POINTS TO AL QUEDA INFLUENCE IN GEORGIA, THE PHILIPPINES, YEMEN

President Bush answered foreign policy questions from White House reporters traveling with him in Charlotte, North Carolina February 27, following a welfare-to-work speech he had delivered there.

In response to a question as to whether he thinks there is al Qaeda influence in Georgia, Bush replied, "I do," adding that "so long as there's al Qaeda influence anywhere, we will help the host countries rout them out and bring them to justice."

As for what specifically the United States is doing to help Georgia, Bush told reporters that it is "mainly equipment and technical advice. Obviously, in order for us to work closely with governments that have been invaded by al Qaeda cells, they're going to have to request help. And we've made it very clear that either you're with us or you're against us, and we've made it very clear that we hope that nations step up and do their jobs.

"Obviously," he said, "we've got a presence in the Philippines because there is an al Qaeda-affiliated group of people there. And we have had some successes in Yemen, where we're working.

"We're working around the world," said Bush. "When this war started, I told the American people that there would be a variety of fronts on the war against terrorism, some of which would be very visible, some
of which we wouldn't see much about. And the American people need to know that, one, we're maintaining our coalition and the efforts of the coalition, and two, any time we find terrorist organizations, like al Qaeda, we will do everything we can to bring them to justice."

BUSH ON COLOMBIA

The President was asked what he can do in Colombia where there are some legal constraints. "Well, we do have legal constraints," he said. We're providing advice to the Colombian government as to drug eradication, and we will need to keep it that way. The law is very clear. If the Colombian government decides to take military action against the FARC, which they look like they may decide to do, and continue to do, that is their business to do so. I applaud the efforts of the President (Andres Pastrana), by the way, to try to bring the country -- bring order to the country. But we are restricted by law, and I intend to adhere to that law."

GALLUP POLL IN ARAB NATIONS REVEALS VERY NEGATIVE VIEWS ABOUT THE U.S.

White House reporters asked Bush about the new Gallup Poll conducted in Arab nations, just in the news February 27, showing deep suspicion and resentment of the United States. The President replied, "I saw that -- briefly looked at it. I haven't analyzed, you know, the sampling and who was asked and all that stuff. But here's my attitude: If the United States shows strong leadership when it comes to fighting terrorist organizations, the world will follow. And if we're determined and resolute at routing out murderers and killers, people who want to destabilize legitimate governments, the world, regardless of the nature of their population -- the religious nature of their population -- will respect that.

"Secondly," Bush said, "there is no question that we must do a better job of telling the compassionate side of the American story. And I'll give you one example. This kind and great nation provides 300,000 tons of food a year to starving North Korean citizens. And yet the North Korean citizen has no idea that we've provided the food. We don't even know whether or not the food has gotten to the starving North Korean people. All we know is we've made a strong commitment, followed through on that commitment. My point is that it is essential for us to not assume that the kindness of the country is known. And therefore, we've got to do a better job of telling the story.

"I can give you one good example of how we, perhaps, can do that," he said. "Colin Powell went on interactional MTV, and the first question he was asked, by a lady from Brazil -- and I'll paraphrase -- was basically, Why is the nation of America so evil? And it floored him, like it would floor most Americans to think that people would think of our nation as evil, when, in fact, defending freedom is good. We're the largest supplier of help and food and medicine in the world. But Colin was able in his -- in his, you know, classy fashion, to answer the question and all of a sudden was part of an education process.

"So we've got work to do," Bush said. "And people will realize we're peaceful. Yet we're determined and patient. And we use our strength for positive reasons."

BUSH SAYS TERRORISTS "HAVE FOUND OUT THAT WE WILL DEFEND FREEDOM"

In remarks later in the day at a fund raiser in the Charlotte Convention Center for Elizabeth Dole and Robin Hayes, the President said, "we've got an important agenda in Washington. We're defending our country. You know, the enemy attacked us thinking we were soft, thinking our culture was corrupt, thinking we'd just kind of roll over and say, okay, fine, we'll figure out if we can sue 'em. Man, did they make a mistake. They found a nation that's resolved.

"They have found out that we will defend freedom," said Bush. "They understand now that this nation is slow to anger, but when angered we will chase 'em down and we'll bring 'em to justice."

Bush told the audience that "We're just in the first theater in the war against terror. We were able to uphold a new doctrine which said, if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you try to hide a terrorist, you, yourself, are just as guilty as the terrorist. The Taliban, one of the most repressive governments in the history of the world, has found out what we meant when we said, we will hold you accountable for harboring terrorists.

"Our military, they're not conquerors; they're liberators," said Bush. "We liberated women and children from the clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes in the history of mankind, and I'm so proud of the accomplishment in Afghanistan."

"And our troops are still in harm's way," said Bush. "We're now in a dangerous phase in accomplishing our objectives. After all, we're chasing down people who, on the one hand, send young boys to their death in the name of religion and, on the other hand, hide in caves. But there's no cave deep enough, they can't hide long enough. Because I'm patient, and so is the United States military. We will take however long it takes to hunt them down and to bring them to justice. And that's exactly what they deserve, the justice of a freedom-loving nation, a justice of a nation which will defend herself at all costs. The price of freedom is expensive, but we'll pay the price necessary to defend our freedoms.

"But history has called us into something larger than just one organization," the President said. "We must defend ourselves and, more importantly, our children and our children's children against future terrorist attacks. And so the cause goes way beyond one person or one country. Our cause is to rout out terror wherever it hides, is to rally a coalition and insist upon results, insist that we bring terrorists to justice."

NIGHTMARE SCENARIO INVOLVING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

The President told his Charlotte Convention Center audience that the cause "also recognizes a nightmare scenario, a scenario which recognizes that great harm could come to freedom-loving nations if we ever allow a terrorist organization to hook up or become an alliance with a transparent nation which develops weapons of mass destruction.

"We cannot allow some of the world's worst leaders to develop the world's worst weapons, to hold America and our friends hostage," said Bush. "This administration will rout out terror wherever it exists and will hold people accountable -- if they harbor a terrorist or...or threaten the United States with terrorist weapons."

BUSH ON HOMELAND DEFENSE AND BORDER SECURITY

Bush told the Charlotte audience that his "most important job is to protect innocent Americans. The best homeland defense is to pursue terrorists overseas. The best way to secure the homeland for the long run is to be successful. In the meantime, however, I found a good man, the Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, I've known for a long time, a friend of Tommy (Thompson's) and mine, to set up a national strategy to defend the homeland. We've got a first-responder initiative that's strong, that basically will rally police and fire departments at the local level to respond if there ever is a problem.

"We're strengthening the Coast Guard to make our coasts more secure," the President said. "We're going to make sure our borders are secure by understanding who's coming in and who's going out of the United States of America. We're doing everything in our power to rally the resources of law enforcement and intelligence communities to protect the American people. I'm proud of the efforts of the law enforcement level -- at the federal and state and local level. They will stay on alert so long as there is a threat to the United States of America."