25 June 2003
Bush Says Mideast Terrorist Groups "Must Be Dismantled"
(White House Report, June 25: Palestinian truce, Iraq, Africa) (1040)
Asked at a press availability with European Union leaders in the East
Room about news reports that three Palestinian terrorist groups --
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah -- have agreed to a cease-fire lasting
three months, President Bush responded:
"As I was walking in, somebody told me about the report. I'll believe
it when I see it, knowing the history of the terrorists in the Middle
East. But the true test for Hamas and terrorist organizations is the
complete dismantlement of their terrorist networks, their capacity to
blow up the peace process. That's the true test."
The president said "it's one thing to make a verbal agreement. But in
order for there to be peace in the Middle East, we must see
organizations such as Hamas dismantled, and then we'll have peace.
Then we'll have a chance for peace. I like to remind people that there
are three parties involved directly in the territories there. There's
the Israeli government. I believe the Israeli people want peace, and I
believe their government when they say they want a peaceful state,
living side by side Israel.
"Secondly, there are the people of the Palestinian world who are tired
of failed leadership, tired of terrorism destroying their hopes, tired
of living in poverty, and they, too, want a peaceful state. And then
there are the terrorists, like Hamas, who do not want a peaceful
state, and they're willing to use terrorist means to destroy it. In
order for there to be peace, Hamas must be dismantled."
Earlier June 25, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told
reporters "we in the United States government have not yet received
any official information" about the reported truce agreement.
But Fleischer said "anything that reduces the level of violence is a
step in the right direction, but it's only a step. What's important is
the dismantlement of organizations that engage in terror, because
otherwise there is always the possibility that some of these
organizations, they get breathing space, they reserve time or save
their energy for more combat later and more terrorist operations
later."
BUSH STILL CONFIDENT WMD WILL BE FOUND IN IRAQ
President Bush continues to be confident that weapons of mass
destruction will be found in Iraq, Fleischer told reporters.
Fleischer discounted remarks made earlier in the day by Senator Joseph
Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
who said he believes that the Bush administration exaggerated the
evidence on weapons of mass destruction to create a sense of urgency
to deal with Iraq.
"[T]here's no truth to that," Fleischer said. "[A]ll you need to do is
take a look at the consistency of what this administration, previous
administrations, numerous Democrat and Republican senators, including
House members -- Democrat, Republican alike -- have said for now a
decade. You need to take a look at the debate that the senators
themselves got into in 1998 when they passed the regime change
legislation, if you want to see what the senators themselves said
about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and weapons of
mass destruction programs.
"And so what the administration has said is exactly what the best
analysts in the intelligence agencies have reported for a considerable
period of time, and that is that Iraq had biological and chemical
weapons and the means to produce them. That is what we said. We said
it for good reasons, for accurate reasons. ... And we stand by it."
Fleischer said the fact that weapons of mass destruction have not been
found "suggests that they [members of the former Saddam Hussein
regime] have hidden them and that they will ultimately be discovered."
President Bush "is still patient and still confident" that the United
States and coalition forces "will indeed be successful" in their
search for weapons of mass destruction, the press secretary said.
"Now, the war just ended a little while ago when it came to major
operations. And this president is going to continue to be steadfast
and patient. He understands that people are going to be critics. It
won't stop him from continuing to complete the mission in Iraq," he
said.
Asked about the ongoing attacks on U.S. and British forces in Iraq,
and whether Bush declared the war over too soon, Fleischer said:
"No, I think if you take a look at what the president has said -- the
president, in his remarks on the Abraham Lincoln [aircraft carrier],
warned the American people that Iraq remains a dangerous place. And
it's dangerous because there are still elements that are loyal to
Saddam Hussein, that are still members of the Baath Party, who want to
do today what they've done for decades, which is kill and torture and
bring harm to the people of Iraq. And the United States is there to
help the people of Iraq and, therefore, they're attacking the United
States and, in this case, British forces."
BUSH AFRICA TRIP TO FOCUS ON TRADE
President Bush "is very much looking forward" to his visit to five
countries in Africa, Fleischer told reporters.
The president will visit Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and
Nigeria July 7-12.
"This was a trip that was originally scheduled in January; the
president had to postpone it. And he said he would carry out the trip
later this year, and he, indeed, is," Fleischer said.
"[T]he focus of the trip is going to be on trade. It's going to be on
promoting democracy. Indeed, there are several success stories in
Africa that the president is going to put on the world's map for all
the world to see, that, indeed, democracy can be a part of the African
story."
The president will also talk about his initiative to help fight
HIV/AIDS in Africa, Fleischer said.
And Bush will visit Goree Island, off the coast of Senegal, used as a
slave trading center for hundreds of years.
"[Y]ou're going to hear from the president on the topic of slavery and
about democracy and about how to help people forward in life and how
people progress, thanks to democracy and freedom," Fleischer said.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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