12 March 2003
Bush Continues Diplomacy on Iraq by Telephone
(White House Report) (840) BUSH CONTINUES DIPLOMACY ON IRAQ BY PHONE President Bush March 12 made a series of phone calls to world leaders on the Iraq situation. He spoke with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, with United Arab Emirates President Nuhayyan bin Sultan Al Zayid, and with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer reported. Bush was expected to make more phone calls before the day was over, Fleischer said. Bush thanked the president of the United Arab Emirates for his "strong support" and noted "his courage in raising at the recent Arab League summit the topic of Saddam Hussein stepping down and leaving Iraq," Fleischer said. Bush and the president "agreed that action should be taken for the benefit of peace and to help the people of Iraq," Fleischer said. In his conversation with the president of the Philippines, Bush discussed both Iraq and the security situation in the Philippines, Fleischer said. Bush "appreciated President Arroyo's strong, consistent moral leadership in demanding immediate and complete disarmament by Iraq. The two leaders said they look forward to President Arroyo's state visit later this spring. The president looks forward to celebrating our excellent bilateral relationships with the Republic of the Philippines on that occasion. "The two presidents also discussed the security situation in the Philippines. President Bush expressed strong support for President Arroyo's efforts to defeat terror and bring prosperity to the Philippines and to the south of the Philippines. The two leaders agreed to continue to consult closely on how the United States can support the Philippines further in the war against terror," Fleischer said. Fleischer told reporters the president will continue to make calls to leaders of nations both in and outside of the U.N. Security Council in the short time that remains before the council will be asked to vote, and that these phone calls take up "several hours a day" of the president's schedule. "We are in the end stages of a very serious diplomatic process," Fleischer said. The president is going "the extra mile." BUSH "APPRECIATIVE" OF BRITISH EFFORTS Asked about the six benchmarks that Britain has publicly said it would like to see in a new amendment to the U.S.-U.K.-Spanish draft resolution pending before the U.N. Security Council, Fleischer said: "The president very much appreciates the United Kingdom's benchmarks and their approach to this. We are working very closely with the United Kingdom, as well as other nations on the Security Council, discussing the United Kingdom's and other nation's various ideas. This is all part of these final stages in diplomacy. And I'm not going to comment on any of the specific benchmarks offered by any one nation or another nation. But the president is very appreciative of the efforts the United Kingdom is making, and we are continuing to pursue it here through the diplomatic course." Fleischer said, "There's always in these instances a case of working diligently, working privately, because the best diplomacy often results from the ability to have private discussions, and because one nation has a suggestion, a different nation has a twist or a change to one nation's suggestion. And that's how the diplomacy gets worked. That's why you're seeing so many phone calls being made by the president and being made by the secretary of state and other presidents around the world. This is a multi-party process. And the president's judgment is, the best way to handle this from an effective diplomatic point of view is to maintain the privacy of the specific discussions and to see what the outcome is." BUSH MESSAGE TO PEOPLE OF IRAQ If President Bush decides he has no choice but to use force to disarm the Saddam Hussein regime, the U.S. president's message to the people of Iraq is that "freedom is coming," Fleischer said. "That's the president's message. The president also knows that the (U.S.) military takes great care to minimize any potential harm or damage to civilians. The president will regret any action that is taken that does lead to loss of innocent life. And, of course, in any military action, there is never a guarantee; innocent life will be lost. But that's the president's message." WHITE HOUSE OFFERS CONDOLENCES ON SERBIAN ASSASSINATION Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, a reformer who played a central role in the downfall of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, was shot to death March 12 outside the main government building in Belgrade. Press Secretary Fleischer read the following statement to reporters: "The president expresses his condolences to the people of Serbia on the assassination of Zoran Djindjic. Prime Minister Djindjic will be remembered for his role in bringing democracy to Serbia, and for his role in bringing Slobodan Milosevic to justice. The president expresses his prayers and condolences to the people of Serbia." (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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