President Bush, King Abdullah Discuss Middle East Peace
Remarks by the President and His Majesty King Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Photo Opportunity
The Oval Office
10:20 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Before I welcome His Majesty back to the Oval
Office, we will take two questions apiece after our opening
statements.
First, Your Majesty, welcome back. I look forward to a good and
fruitful discussion about our common interests. Obviously, your
neighborhood is still a dangerous place. Today in America we mourn the
loss of American lives. My prayers and sympathies go to the loved ones
of those who were killed by terrorists -- who must hate the thought
of peace, who must firmly believe that violence is the best hope for
mankind in that part of the world -- a concept I strongly reject.
It's a concept that is just foreign to peace and, therefore, the first
thing we must do is to work hard as a team to uphold our
responsibilities and fight off terrorist activities that kill innocent
life.
I look forward to talking to His Majesty about how to move the
foundations of peace, the prospects of peace forward in the Middle
East. That's going to, of course, be discussions about a security
force in the Palestinian territory that will be able to help deal with
those who want to destroy the prospects for peace.
I want to thank His Majesty for working with CIA Director Tenet to
strategize about how to best help the Palestinians have a more secure
future. We'll also be talking about the plight of the Palestinian
people, how sad it is that for too long the Palestinians have
suffered. They've been pawns in the game of foreign policy and we want
to help them.
It's going to be very important for us as we go forward to have
confidence, however, in the Palestinian government that emerges. We
want to have confidence that the money that we eventually will spend to
help the Palestinian people is spent on the people. We want to have
confidence that those who emerge to lead the Palestinian people are
-- long for peace and want to co-exist, side-by-side in peace with
Israel.
And so, Your Majesty, welcome back. I look forward to a good and
fruitful discussion.
KING ABDULLAH: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, it's a delight to
be back with you here, especially to discuss your tremendous commitment
to bring peace and stability to our region. You have really given us
the hope that once and for all we'll be able to move forward as Arabs
and Israelis to be able to move in harmony and have a tremendous
future.
We're here, obviously, to discuss how we can best move the process
forward. But, again, the President's very strong commitment to assist
alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people, which is of
tremendous importance, and we're very grateful for that. So I'm
looking forward to it.
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks.
Barry.
Q Mr. President, with American victims now -- and of course,
you've touched on this and I'm sure I know how you feel about it --
but does this raise the war on terrorism to a new level? Is there
something the U.S. must do to respond to the murder of Americans now?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Barry, we are responding to a murder of
Americans. We're responding all across the globe to murders of
Americans. And we responded in Afghanistan to murders. We responded
in the Philippines. We will -- we're responding by working with our
Arab friends and Israel, of course, to track these people down. The
war on terror is fought on many fronts. And I just -- I cannot speak
strongly enough about how we must collectively get after those who kill
in the name of -- in the name of some kind of false religion.
I just -- I grieve for all people whose lives are taken by
terrorist activities. I'm particularly sad today because of American
families who cry today and weep at the loss of a loved one, because
there's some fanatic who believes that killing innocent life is
positive. It's incredibly negative.
And so, yes, Barry, we're committed to the war on terror and to
fighting the war on terror and to winning the war on terror. And this
bombing in Israel showed how tough it's going to be, but this country
is tough and united and strong, Your Majesty.
Q Mr. President, you've recently articulated your vision for
peace in the Middle East. However, an action plan is still needed to
be crystallized --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q So, you know, is there any framework for such a plan? And
what are the guarantees that both sides would be committed to that
plan?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I'm committed to peace. That's
-- I can speak for myself. And I'm committed to a vision of two
states respecting each other, two states living side by side in peace.
Secondly, there is an action plan going forward, and that's what
I'm going to review with His Majesty. Step one is to develop a
security force that actually serves the people, not a particular
leader. The security force must be designed to fight off terror, not
designed to serve the whims and interests of a -- of one person.
Secondly, we've got to work together to develop a constitution so
that the institutions of a new state are bigger than any one person.
And that's very important.
Thirdly, that we've got to make sure that there is the capacity for
the Palestinian Authority to spend money in a way that -- and account
for money in a transparent way that will give us all confidence that
when we try to help the Palestinian people, the money goes to the
people.
At the same time, as I mentioned in my talks, I do believe that we
can get to a so-called conference within the three-year period of
time. But before -- what has to happen is we must have confidence in
a state.
Now, there are some who will say, well, you know, there's only one
person that could conceivably make this happen from the Palestinian
side. I just simply don't believe that. I believe there's all kinds
of brilliant and smart and capable Palestinians that, given the chance,
given a chance to emerge -- and by the way, people committed to
peace -- and given the chance to articulate that vision of peace will
do so.
And I look forward to working on this -- on the vision. It's the
right vision. It will lead to peace. All parties have
responsibilities, by the way, and we will continue to insist that
people uphold their responsibilities.
Yes, Patsy.
Q Mr. President, thank you. I can't see you there. Israel has
said it will respond militarily to yesterday's attacks. Do you support
this, and is it the right thing to do at this time?
THE PRESIDENT: Israel must defend herself. But as I say to all
parties involved, we must keep the vision of peace in mind. We must be
committed to peace. We must understand that the consequences we take
to make the area more secure also must be -- these decisions to make
the area more secure must be made in the context of peace for the long
run.
And I'm just as angry as Israel is right now. I'm furious that
innocent life is lost. However, through my fury, even though I am mad,
I still believe peace is possible. And I will -- and I know that
we can improve the conditions of everybody in the region by working
toward a vision that is hopeful and optimistic -- and not letting the
terrorists destroy the possibility for peace.
KING ABDULLAH: Mr. President, I have to support the President's
vision that he does understand that the suffering that Israelis and
Palestinians and Arabs are going through in the Middle East. And what
has been so reassuring to me is that the President has the commitment
to work very hard with his government to give the hope for Arabs and
Israelis to be able to move to the future.
And we have always been working very closely with the President and
he does have the kind of conviction to stand up for the hope that we've
all had in him and his government to bring peace and prosperity to the
Middle East. And we're very grateful for your position on that.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you got a final question?
Q Mr. President, you seem to -- the two of you seem to
disagree on Iraq. Are you going to discuss those disagreements? And
could you maybe elucidate on those disagreements?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate that, John. The policy of my
government, our government, of this administration is regime change.
For a reason. Saddam Hussein is a man who poisons his own people, who
threatens his neighbors, who develops weapons of mass destruction. And
I will assure His Majesty, like I have in the past, we're looking at
all options, the use of all tools. I'm a patient man. But I haven't
changed my opinion since the last time he was in the Oval Office. And
one of the things we will do is consult with our friends. But he just
needs to know how I feel. He knows how I feel, I had the opportunity
and the honor of explaining that to him before and he'll find out I
haven't changed my mind.
KING ABDULLAH: All I'd like to say is that, again, what I found
from day one with the President is he understands the bigger picture
and that at the end of the day, peace and stability for the Middle East
has been at the forefront of his mind. And so we have many areas where
we find common base to be able to move the region forward.