PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm proud to welcome
President Obasanjo back to the White House. We just had a
very good visit.
We discussed our mutual concern,
our mutual desire. And that is to
fight and win the war against
terror. The President has been a steadfast friend of the
United States government and the United States people, before and after
September 11th, and for that we're most grateful.
He has got a huge
Muslim population in his country. And I assured him, and
assure those Muslims who live in his country, that our war that we
now fight is against terror and
evil. It's not against Muslims. We both
understand that the Islamic faith
teaches peace, respects human life, is nonviolent. And I
want to thank the President's leadership in sending a --
not only a message of tolerance and respect, but
also his vision, which I
share, that our struggle is going to
be long and difficult. But we will prevail. We
will win. Good will overcome evil.
Part of the reason why is we've
got a strong coalition. And the
President is part of that
coalition. So welcome, Mr. President. Thank you.
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
Mr. President, thank you for receiving me once
again at the White House. Of
course, we have come this time to express
solidarity, to express support, to
express condolence for the terrorist
attack on this country, on innocent people of all
faiths and of all races on the 11th of September.
We have no doubt in our mind that
terrorism must be fought. And it
must be fought to a standstill. And
as you have rightly said, we must distinguish and we must lead people
to understand that there's a difference between fighting
terrorism. And it doesn't matter what mask the terrorist
wears. And of course the love that we have for humanity, and
the love that we have for men and women of all faiths.
I want to particularly commend your effort, Mr. President, for the
way you have built up a coalition, because the tendency and the feeling
we need to do something quickly, that we take
time to build coalition, and as you rightly said, we are part of that
coalition, and we will remain steadfastly part of that coalition.
Only, as I said, we are unique in a way,
because we have the highest population of Muslims in Africa. We are
also unique in the fact that almost
50 percent of the commission are Muslims, and almost
50 percent are Christians. That has advantage and also has
disadvantage. It is up to us
to let our people, the citizens of our
country, know that whatever faith
they belong to, they are
not safe as long as we allow terrorism to take hold of the world.
Whatever ideal we stand for,
their ideal will amount to nothing if
terrorism rules the world. Whatever
ambitions or aspirations they have,
their ambition and aspiration will come to naught
if terrorism is allowed to take over a ruling of the world.
And as I said to the President, if leaders who are
brought into power through democratic means will
abandon their responsibility to terrorists, then they might
as well go home. Mr. President, in that case will have to go
back to his ranch, and in that case I will have to go back to my
chicken farm. (Laughter.)
But we are not going to do
that, because that would be height of irresponsibility.
We have a duty. We have a
commitment. And we believe
that the duty and the commitment we have is the
duty and commitment given to us by our people. And we should
not shirk that responsibility.
I believe that the coalition --
and I know you are anxious to ask
questions -- I believe that the coalition has this challenge, the
challenge to fight terrorism.
It is also a challenge to make the world
wholesome, more equitable, fairer and
safer for all of us to live in. I
believe that the coalition should not relax until that
objective is achieved.
And I believe that we have a leader in
President Bush to ensure that the world achieves that objective.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Very eloquent. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, President Bush, why did it
take so long to have an
African leader visit here, when African leaders had met
such strong
statements of sympathy and statement
of condemnation of the terrorists? Why did it take so long?
PRESIDENT BUSH:
One of the first phone calls I
received was from President Obasanjo.
His support has never been
-- has never wavered. There's no question about
where we stood in the coalition. And I'm proud to have him
by my side.
Q Sir, is it still
your position that the bombing campaign would
stop if the Taliban turned over bin
Laden and his followers? Or has the war gone beyond that?
PRESIDENT BUSH: We still have the same
objective. And that is, for
the Taliban to hand over al Qaeda, the
leaders, to release those who are
being detained, and to destroy any terrorist
training camps. And they've been given ample time to meet
those demands, and now they're paying a price for not having met the
demands.
Q Could you tell us a little bit more about
what you discussed, in
terms of reaching out to young people
in Muslim countries and addressing the poverty and the despair that
they feel, so that they do not become foot soldiers for terrorist
networks?
And for President Obasanjo, could
you tell us how you plan to deal
with the military action in east
central Nigeria last week, where some civilians were killed?
PRESIDENT BUSH: We did spend time talking about the
totality of a war against terror not only require
strong military action, strong diplomatic
action, strong financial action -- but it also
recognizes that we need to share a message that our
respective governments respect tolerance, respect
other points of view.
We don't share the point of view that
evil is religious. We don't appreciate the fact that
somebody has tried to hijack a religion in order to justify terror
activities.
And we also recognize that economic prosperity throughout the world
is
more likely to make people appreciate rule of law,
appreciate other
people's points of view.
That's one reason why I've been such a strong supporter of AGOA, which
is the African trade act. That's why I believe we
ought to start a new round at Qatar, a new round for world
trade. I mean,
I believe prosperity can best be enhanced by a
world that trades in freedom. And I think that's
a significant part of making sure people are able to rise out of
poverty.
But on the other hand, I don't accept the excuse that poverty
promotes evil.
That's like saying poor people are
evil people. I disagree with that.
Osama bin Laden is an evil
man. His heart has been so corrupted that he's
willing to take innocent life. And we are fighting evil, and
we will continue to fight evil, and we will not stop until we defeat
evil.
Anyway, you've got a question for the President?
Q On the actions in east central Nigeria by
the Nigerian military, in which some civilians were killed?
PRESIDENT OBASANJO: Maybe you don't know what
happened. Let me just put you into exactly what
happened. That is an area where there have been
some clashes between two or three groups, the
Tiv, the Jukun and the Fulanis. And this has
been going on for maybe 15, 10 years. At times it goes down,
at times it goes up.
And this time when it went up, the governors
of the two states where
this happened, Teraba state and Benue
state, separately invited to the military, through me, to take care of
the -- what I call the lawlessness of
young men who put illegal roadblock on either
side of the state boundary, and if you do not belong to their ethnic
group, they take you and kill you.
And then we sent soldiers there to clear the
roadblock and keep this
menace out of the way. And
they did that. And the last roadblock, the
last roadblock, in a place
called Vaase, the soldiers were ambushed and taken, disarmed and killed
and their bodies were dismembered, chopped up.
And then I got in touch with the governor,
and I said, do everything to apprehend those who committed
this heinous crime, and hand them over to us.
After three days, they called on me
and said that I have failed, I will ask you to send soldiers to help me
in apprehending these people. And that's what we did.
Q Mr. President, thank you very much.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Good morning.
Q James Rosen, Fox News.
PRESIDENT BUSH: If that's the case, then I'll
call on somebody else. (Laughter.)
Q
Now that you're a wartime President, sir,
interest in your
decision-making processes and those that you
involve your staff in, is going to be greater
than even normal times. And yet, the executive order
that you signed yesterday makes it harder for
journalists, scholars, historians to write anything about
the decisions you're going to be making
and have made, even sympathetically.
And I wonder why you took that action?
PRESIDENT BUSH: We responded to a
new law written by Congress that lays out a procedure that I think is
fair for past Presidents. And it is a
process that I think will
enable historians to do their job, and at the same time protect state
secrets. That's why I did what I did.
Q -- be able to get their hands on documents
for many years?
PRESIDENT BUSH: There are some documents are
privileged, protected.
And this is just to make sure those documents remain
protected and privileged.
I don't see this as anything
other than setting a set of procedures that I believe is fair and
reasonable.
Q Mr. President, the Director of Homeland
Security, Governor Ridge,
has just said that the state of alert,
which was introduced last Monday, the high state of alert is
now indefinite. A lot of Americans are rattled
by what they see as a mixed message; being told to go about
their business on the one hand and, yet, having to look for some
unspecified threat on the other.
What's your message?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I wasn't rattled when I
went out and threw out
the ball at Yankee Stadium.
Right after, I had instructed the Justice Department to inform 17,000
law enforcement agencies to be aware, to harden targets, to
harden assets. Most Americans, Bill, understand that there
is a new day here in America. They
appreciate the efforts the government is
making, and they're going to
fight terrorism by going about their daily lives.
But what Governor Ridge is saying, and
what I've been saying all along, is we're in a
new day here in America. We're fighting a two-front
war. And I believe most Americans understand
that now. And I appreciate
the courage of most Americans.
But we have a responsibility at the
government to protect the people. When
we see something that we think is
credible, we hear something that might be real,
we're going to notify the respective authorities to help harden
targets.
Q Mr. President, given these terror alerts,
given that these terror alerts are indefinite, should the American
people conclude that despite the bombing campaign that Osama
bin Laden and the al Qaeda network are no less potent or
able to conduct a terror campaign than they were before the 9-11
attack?
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Oh, no.
As a matter of fact, I think that the
American people ought to conclude that
our enemy is fighting an army not only overseas, but at
home; that the enemy is being hunted down abroad and
at home.
We've detained over a thousand people
here in America, we're running down every single lead, we're
hardening assets, we're on the hunt. We're going to chase them down.
And the American people fully understand
that we're in for a long struggle.
And I appreciate the patience of the American
people. We are making progress
overseas in Afghanistan.
We're slowly but surely
tightening the net on the enemy. We're
making it harder for the enemy to communicate.
We're making it harder for
the enemy to protect himself. We're making it harder for
the enemy to hide. And we're going to get him, and them.
There are some that say, well, shouldn't this have happened
yesterday? This is not an instant gratification
war. This is a struggle for freedom and
liberty. This is a struggle for the ability for America, and
America's children, to live in peace. This is a struggle for
the people of this good man's country to be able to live in peace.
And that's why I can assure our
allies, assure the American people, for so long as I'm the
President, this will be my focus. And we're making very good
progress.
Q Mr. President, were
you surprised, even if you weren't looking
for instant gratification, at the
resilience of the Taliban regime under
these attacks? And are you concerned, sir, about
the future -- about the
disarray among the people who may
take over Afghanistan if the Taliban should fall?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Terry, we've been
at this part of the battle for a couple of
weeks. And as I explained to the American people, this is
going to be a long
struggle. And I am very satisfied, and the American people
should be satisfied, with the progress we're making on the ground.
The Taliban's air defenses have
been completely demolished. Their
assets, whatever assets they had, have been
demolished. And we're slowly
but surely tightening the net to achieve our objective.
This is a different kind of war. The country has
been used to Desert Storm, or have been used to Kosovo, where we were
able to have massive formations marching across the desert,
and/or simply an air campaign that eventually brought a
country to its knees.
This is a different type of struggle,
and our strategy reflects that. And I believe the
American people understand that and are very patient, as am I.
I am mindful of the objective, the military is mindful
of the objective in Afghanistan. But the
objective goes beyond just Afghanistan.
That's why we're working on the financial front
to cut off money. That's why I have
encouraged nations all around the world to apprehend those who are
known terrorists, and over 280 have been arrested thus far.
That's why this coalition is so important,
that it remain strong, to
raise the risk for those who would
like to conduct terrorist activities. That's why we're
standing in solidarity with the Philippines, for example, that's
working hard to get rid of Abu Sayef.
In other words, this is a
global battle. There happens to be two
known fronts, two visible fronts: one,
Afghanistan; and the other, the United States of
America. And we're making good progress on both fronts.
Q Mr. President, could you tell us sir, why
the administration made the deal it did this morning in the
Microsoft case, and what you would say
to the state attorneys general, who feel
the concessions are so great they're walking away?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I think you need to talk to
the Attorney General on that, if you don't mind. Kelly.
Q Mr. President, two quick
unrelated questions. Number one, have
you made a decision, and have you
ruled out stopping or lessening the military action during
Ramadan? And, number two, if you could just comment
on how California Governor Davis handled that FBI
alert yesterday, and if you think your
administration wants to issue any guidelines for state and local
authorities to handle this in the future?
PRESIDENT BUSH:
Well, as a former governor, I didn't particularly
care when the federal government tried
to tell me how to do my business. When I was the Governor of Texas, I
was elected by the people of Texas, and I handled my state's business
the way I thought was necessary. And I think any governor
should be able to conduct their business the way they see fit.
I think what should be noticed is, is that we are
constantly in touch
with state and local authorities
as to general and/or specific threats.
Part of the homeland defense is active and strong
communications, so that
governors, and/or local authorities, can harden targets, respond to
uncorroborated evidence, and to protect their people.
First part of the question? This is the old
two question -- two-part question. It's one of the old press
tricks, Mr. President. You're allowed one question, and then
they ask two. (Laughter.)
Q
Have you made a decision, are you ruling out
stopping or lessening the military action during Ramadan?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I'll let our military speak to
that. My own personal attitude is, is that the
enemy won't rest during Ramadan, and neither will we. We're
going to pursue this war until we achieve our objective. As
to
the specific times and dates, we'll let the military
speak to that.
They're in charge of this
operation. This is not a political campaign,
this is a war. And I
respect the chain of command, I honor the chain of command, and I will
tell you, our military is doing a very good job.
Q
Sir, what would you say to
Americans who are concerned they haven't heard a
clear answer on how this anthrax got to this woman in New York, how it
killed her, and who are afraid it could happen to them?
PRESIDENT BUSH:
I would say to the American people
that we're learning a lot about anthrax, and we're doing everything we
can to find out all the facts. And when we get the facts,
we'll share it with the American people.
I will also say to the American people, I
believe that the hard work
of our public health officials has
saved lives. I believe the fact that
we've got people all around our country
working hours upon hours have
helped saved life in America.
And for that, the American people are grateful,
and so am I.