President Bush, Swedish PM Share Vision for Freedom
Remarks by President Bush and Swedish Prime Minister Persson in Photo Opportunity
The Oval Office
11:45 A.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: Okay, listen. There will be two opening
statements. We'll answer a couple of questions. We'll alternate
Americans. Not yet, a couple of opening statements. Thank you.
Welcome. Mr. Prime Minister, thanks for coming. We just had a
really good discussion about common opportunities. The Prime Minister
has got a clear vision about freedom and opportunity. And he's an
optimistic person. He's optimistic that by working together we can
achieve great things in the 21st century. We had a good discussion
about bilateral relations. I reminded him there's a lot of Swedish
Americans who are really proud of their heritage, proud of their home
country.
So Mr. Prime Minister, welcome back. Thanks for your time. Thanks
for your consideration.
PRIME MINISTER PERSSON: Thank you, sir. And let me also underline
that we have had a very fruitful discussion, not least with the
backdrop to improve strength for the transatlantic relations between
U.S. and Europe. It's not only about security and foreign policy, it's
also about economic relations and international cooperations, not least
inside multilateral structures like United Nations. With that as a
framework, we have covered a discussion about Iraq, Palestinian-Israel
conflict, the situation in Afghanistan, also North Korea and European
matters.
And thank you, Mr. President, for receiving me. As always, frank
and friendly discussion.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Frank and friendly. Deb.
Q Mr. President, is it going to take an all out military
offensive to put down the insurgency in Fallujah? And can you really
have a successful transfer of power in 60 days if Iraq is wracked by
violence?
PRESIDENT BUSH: First, we will have a successful transfer of
power. I assured the Prime Minister that the June 30th date is a solid
date. And I appreciate so very much the work by the United Nations and
Mr. Brahimi to lay the groundwork for the transfer of sovereignty.
Secondly, I have laid out a broad strategy that says that Iraq will
be as secure as possible; that we will deal with those who want to stop
the march to freedom. And that's exactly what's happening in
Fallujah. Our commanders on the ground have got the authorities
necessary to take action to help the Iraqi people realize a free and
peaceful society. And what you must realize is happening in a place
like Fallujah is, the closer we come to passing sovereignty, the more
likely it is that foreign fighters, disgruntled Baathists or friends of
the Shia cleric will try to stop progress. That's what's happening.
They want to kill innocent life to try to get us to quit. And we're
not going to. And our military commanders will take whatever action is
necessary to secure Fallujah on behalf of the Iraqi people.
I'm pleased to -- I had a meeting with General Abizaid today. He's
the commander in charge of the theater. He was reporting that there
will be joint patrols with Iraqi police in Fallujah. Most of Fallujah
is returning to normal. There are pockets of resistance, and we will
-- our military, along with Iraqis, will make sure it's secure.
Q Mr. President, what will happen to the Swedish prisoner at
Guantanamo Bay?
PRESIDENT BUSH: The Prime Minister -- the first matter he brought
up was the Swedish prisoner. He was very forthright, very frank and
very concerned about the prisoner. I told him we want to work closely
with our friends. We have done so with other countries and we will do
so with Sweden. There is a delegation coming over so that we can fully
understand the facts and the consequences. But the Prime Minister made
it clear he expects this to be resolved. I made it clear to him we
want to work with him.
I think that's an accurate statement.
PRIME MINISTER PERSSON: It is.
Q How do you comment on that, -- Persson?
PRIME MINISTER PERSSON: I think it's necessary to have that time
to reply, because he has been there for two years. He should be
released or brought to trial. That is the two alternatives, and we
need to come to an end with this discussion. And I've expressed it
clearly and had good response from the President.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Adam.
Q Yes, thank you, Mr. President. What does Vice President
Cheney bring to your 9/11 testimony that you couldn't provide alone?
And don't you owe history and the 9/11 families a transcript or a
recording?
PRESIDENT BUSH: What he's asking about is a meeting I'm going to
have tomorrow morning, talking with this 9/11 Commission about -- my
attitude and the attitude of the Vice President about our country, our
security, what happened on that particular date, what happened leading
up to that. And I look forward to the discussion. I look forward to
giving the commissioners a chance to question both of us. And it's a
-- it will be an ample -- it will be a good opportunity for people to
help write a report that hopefully will help future Presidents deal
with terrorist threats to the country.
PRIME MINISTER PERSSON: The Evening Star.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Evening Star? (Laughter.) I've never heard a
leader call a reporter a "star." (Laughter.)
Q Mr. President, you're a Republican and our PM is Social
Democrat. What do you have in common, what do you not have in common?
PRESIDENT BUSH: First of all, we have the ability to not talk
politics, but talk policy. We've been given great responsibilities and
we spend a lot of time talking about our mutual desire for the world to
be peaceful. And we understand that free societies are peaceful
societies.
One of the great things about the Prime Minister is -- I don't want
to put words in his mouth, he can correct me if I'm wrong, but
nevertheless -- he has this great sense of optimism that people want to
be free and that people have the ability to self-govern. And to me,
it's a wonderful spirit and it gives us a chance to share our
strategies about how to spread freedom.
We talked about a lot of issues. We talked about the plight of the
people in North Korea and the danger of a dictator in North Korea. We
talked about the Palestinian/Israeli issue. I reminded him that I was
the first President ever to articulate the vision of a Palestinian
state. No other President has ever done that. I was pleased to do so
because I believe that is the best hope for the Palestinian people and
the best way to promote peace.
But, no, our discussions -- we don't spend any time on politics,
you'll be happy to hear. We spend time on what's best for our
respective countries and how we can work together.
PRIME MINISTER PRESSON: We talked about all people's freedom and
peace in the whole world, and then we touched upon some specific issues
that is of mutual interest to us. We can discuss them because we are
both democrats and we are both strongly in favor of freedom and
building democratic institutions. That what's -- is what we have in
common. And then, also, we realize that Europe -- and Sweden is a part
of Europe -- and U.S. are interdependent and we need each other for the
future good development of the world.