10 September 2002
Bush Continues to Discuss Iraq with World Leaders
(Meets at White House with Portugal's Prime Minister) (840) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- President Bush, in advance of September 11 ceremonies commemorating the terrorist attacks on the United States, and his September 12 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, is continuing to consult with world leaders about the threat posed by Iraq's Saddam Hussein. In the morning of September 10, Bush phoned President Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, and President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, and was later in the day scheduled to call President Vicente Fox of Mexico, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer reported at his midday briefing. "In many of the calls that the President makes, as he talks about his speech on Thursday, foreign leaders offer on their own their thoughts and their sympathies for the American people as the one-year anniversary approaches. These messages are in many ways heartening, to hear these leaders express their solidarity with the United States," Fleischer said. The Press Secretary reported also on what he referred to as the "very good meeting" President Bush had the morning of September 10 with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso in the Oval Office, where NATO expansion, the war on terrorism, and Iraq were discussed. On Iraq, Bush "talked about his concerns about the threat that Saddam Hussein poses," and said that he is looking forward to giving his speech on September 12 at the General Assembly, Fleischer said, adding that "people around the world will have a very full and clear sense of what the President thinks after the speech is given." Asked to comment on the speech on Iraq given in England September 10 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Fleischer would only say that President Bush "welcomes Prime Minister Blair's strong leadership in the war on terror. Prime Minister Blair represents the thoughts of many who were concerned about liberty and freedom." In the afternoon, Bush spoke with Arab-American and Moslem-American leaders at the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington. In his remarks, the President stressed the importance of tolerance and respect by fellow Americans for Americans of Moslem faith, especially at this time on the eve of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. In a question and answer session following his remarks, Bush said September 11 "is going to be a hard day for a lot of Americans. It's going to be a day of tears and a day of prayer, a day of national resolve. This also needs to be a day in which we confirm the values which make us unique and great." Bush, on September 11, is scheduled to take part in ceremonies at the three locations where the terrorist-controlled airliners ended their flights -- the Pentagon, a field in Pennsylvania, and Ground Zero in New York -- where the World Trade Center was located -- and to deliver a nationwide address from New York that evening. Asked about the September 10 decision by the U.S. government to raise its threat warning level from guarded (code yellow) to high (code orange), Bush responded that "the threats that we have heard recently remind us of the pattern of threats we heard prior to September the 11th." Bush said "we have no specific threat to America, but we're taking everything seriously, obviously. And so therefore, we have gone to a different level of concern, different threat level, which means our government will be providing extra security at key facilities and that we'll be increasing surveillance." Bush added that "the thing I take most seriously is my job to protect innocent life, here on the homeland. And I will respond to this threat starting Thursday. And I look forward to the chance to do so," Bush said. Asked what he plans to say in his speech Thursday to the United Nations, Bush refused to discuss its contents ahead of time, saying only that he would make the case of "how I think we ought to proceed and how we work together to keep the peace. I'm going to the United Nations to give this speech for a reason, because I believe this is an international problem and that we must work together to deal with the problem. "And I am also very mindful of my job as the American president to do everything we can to protect the American people from future attack. And I'm deeply concerned about a leader who has ignored the United Nations for all these years, has refused to conform to resolution after resolution after resolution, who has weapons of mass destruction. And the battlefield has now shifted to America, so there's a different dynamic than we've ever faced before," Bush said. In a related development, Fleischer confirmed to reporters that Vice President Dick Cheney "last night spent the night at a secure, undisclosed location. And, as was the case last year, based on an ongoing review of information that is received, as well as out of precaution, the combinations of the two are what makes these determinations necessary." Any further announcements about his schedule, would come from the Vice President's office, Fleischer said. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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