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Skriven 2005-11-04 23:33:18 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0511041) for Fri, 2005 Nov 4
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President's Remarks to the Travel Pool at Summit of the Americas in
Argentina
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 4, 2005

President's Remarks to the Travel Pool at Summit of the Americas in
Argentina
Sheraton Hotel
Mar del Plata, Argentina


˙˙˙˙˙Summit of the Americas
˙˙˙˙˙

12:35 P.M. (Local)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. I'll answer a couple of questions
in a second. I do want to say how pleased I am to be here in Argentina,
advancing an agenda that is based upon my belief and our country's belief
that there are certain universal values.

One of those values is that free societies are important to the progress of
men and women; but free societies also require institutions that are solid
and sound, institutions such as the right to worship freely, the right to
write, say what you want in the press freely, the right to campaign and
express your opinions freely. It's very important that there be solid rule
of law and independent judiciary.

And so I'm pleased to be down here. It's a good place to spend Laura's
birthday, which is today. I don't know if you knew that -- no, I know you
did, okay -- but anyway, don't bring it up when you see her. (Laughter.)

But it's -- I just had a meeting earlier with the Central American
countries -- young democracies, struggling to succeed, making good progress
toward making sure institutions are well-rooted. I say Central American,
plus Dominican Republic. And we talked about how pleased we were that we
got the free trade agreement through, at least through the United States
Congress. Most of the countries have ratified it. We're looking forward to
implementing the trade agreement.

I had a good visit with President Kirchner. You know, Argentina is an
amazing country. It's a vast land, with a lot of natural resources. And
he's done a very good job of helping to -- helping this economy of theirs,
and their financial picture improve. And I congratulated him on it. We
talked -- well, you heard him, I won't repeat what we talked about. We
talked about a lot of subjects. It was a good, honest discussion.

And, finally, I just met with our friends from the Andean nations. Good,
young democracies, again struggling to fight narco-trafficking, and they
were very interested in making sure that we didn't forget them, and that we
continued to pursue a free trade agreement. That was the main topic of
discussion. All those countries recognize the importance of having a free
trade agreement with the United States, and I assured them that our
negotiators are negotiating in good faith, and will continue to negotiate
in good faith.

That's what I've done so far today. Nedra.

Q Hi, Mr. President. Thank you. Did Karl Rove tell you the truth about his
role in the CIA leak case? And do you owe the American people an apology
for your administration's assertations that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby
weren't involved?

THE PRESIDENT: We're going through a very serious investigation. And I will
-- have told you before that I'm not going to discuss the investigation
until it's completed. And we have got a -- my obligation is to set an
agenda, and I've done that. And the agenda is fighting and winning the war
on terror, and keeping the economic vitality and growth alive, dealing with
the energy problem, nominating people to the Supreme Court that adhere to
the philosophy that I can depend on -- Judge Alito being such a person. I
noticed today that they've got a date. I'm disappointed in the date, but
happy they do have a firm date for his confirmation hearing. We've got to
recover from the hurricanes. So I've got a lot to do, and will continue to
focus on the people's business.

Steve.

Q You've taken a beating in recent weeks, sir. What are you going to do for
a fresh start? Are there going to be any staff changes? Would it help if
the special prosecutor would wrap up his probe quickly?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, again, you're trying to get me to comment on the
investigation, which I'm not going to do. And I hope you understand that.
It's a serious investigation, and it's an important investigation. But it's
not yet over.

I think it's important for the American people to know that I understand my
job is to set clear goals and deal with the problems we face. Now, look,
we've got an ongoing war on terror. And my administration is working with
friends and allies to find these terrorists and bring them to justice
before they strike us again. We're fighting the terrorists in Iraq. And, as
you know, we've got a two-pronged strategy, an important strategy, that one
-- on the one hand, has a political solution to it, on the other hand has a
security solution to it. And we're working hard to achieve those
objectives. We're laying what I have called the foundation for peace,
because democratic nations don't war; democratic nations will be allies
with each other in fighting off an ideology that is dark and grim in its
vision, and is willing to use murder as its tool.

Elisabeth.

Q Okay, this is not a question about the investigation, but it's about
Karl.

THE PRESIDENT: It sounds like one, though.

Q Are there discussions in the White House about whether or not Karl will
remain in his job?

THE PRESIDENT: Elisabeth, the investigation on Karl, as you know, is not
complete. And, therefore, I will not comment upon -- about him and/or the
investigation. Again, I understand the anxiety and angst by the press corps
to talk about this. On the other hand, it is a serious investigation and we
take it seriously and we're cooperating to the extent that the special
prosecutor wants us to cooperate.

Q The American people, though -- sir, the American people, though, are
beginning to question your honesty, according to the polls, 58 percent. And
your approval rating is at an all-time low, primarily because, it seems, of
this investigation. They are wondering whether you can keep on track and
whether to believe you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, no, I understand there is a preoccupation by polls and
by some. I think this may be -- I think we've got -- this is maybe the
fourth or fifth consecutive semi-press conference -- press conference or
semi-press conference that I've been asked about polls. The way you earn
credibility with the American people is to declare an agenda that everybody
can understand, an agenda that relates to their lives, and get the job
done. And the agenda that I'm working on now is one that is important to
the American people.

First of all, it's to protect our country; it's to understand that we're at
war with a radical ideology that wants to inflict harm on America and, at
the same time, use that harm they inflict to achieve territorial ambition.
I've talked a lot recently about the Zawahiri letter to Zarqawi, which is a
clear statement of purpose by these terrorists. It should be viewed for
what it is: an open warning to the free world that this is a very vital war
and we need to win it. So I spend a lot of time talking about that -- and
more than talking about it, acting on it.

Secondly, you know, our economy has shown amazing resilience in the face of
natural disaster, as well as rising energy prices. But we've got to have
policies in place that make it possible for the economy to continue to
grow. You know, we're down here talking about trade -- it's hard to trade
with somebody if they're broke. And I've told our partners that we've got
good economic growth now. But what we need to do is to work with Congress
to make sure that we deal with the energy crisis -- what can we do to deal
with the energy crisis? Well, we can expand refinery capacity in the United
States. I mean, it should be apparent to the members of Congress that when
the Katrina hit there was massive disruptions of our own capacity to make
gasoline, which put us in a precarious position for the consumers -- which
would affect the economy, by the way.

And so we'll be talking to Congress about a further energy initiative to
make sure we've got economic growth. We've obviously got work to do with
Katrina and Rita, the damage from those hurricanes.

And I mentioned the Supreme Court. This is a very vital issue for the
United States Senate and for the country. Sam Alito, Jr., is an incredibly
intelligent, well qualified person who should be on the Court. I told the
leadership I thought it would be best to have the hearings before
Christmas. They didn't feel like they could get the job done. I talked to
Chairman Specter, and the reason why, at least he explained to me, that he
couldn't get the hearings done before Christmas is because Alito had
written so many opinions and he wanted to make sure he had time to read
them. And they made that decision. Fortunately, there is a firm date and we
look forward to working on that date.

And, finally, an issue that is of concern to the American people is the
border, is border security. I signed an appropriations bill for border
security and during that signature ceremony talked about our strategy to
use technology and border patrol and wise policies to do our job, which is
to prevent people from illegally -- not only people, but, by the way,
contraband, guns and drugs -- from coming into our country illegally. And
so that's the agenda before us, and that's the agenda that I will continue
to work on.

One more. Yes, Matt.

Q Mr. President, you're likely to cross paths with Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez at this summit. How should Americans think about this
President, who has said many hostile things about you and your
administration? Do you think of him as another Castro? And if you see him
this afternoon, do you have any words for him?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I will, of course, be polite. That's what the American
people expect their President to do, is to be a polite person. And I will
-- if I run across him, I will do just that. My attitude toward any leader
-- toward leaders, and I judge leaders based upon their willingness to
protect institutions that will -- for a viable democratic society. And to
the extent that any leader undermines the free press, we will speak out. To
the extent that any leader makes it difficult to worship freely, we will
make our positions known. To the extent that the judiciary is not an
independent organization -- in other words, to the extent that there's not
proper checks and balances, we will express our positions.

And there's ways to do so. We can do so through our embassies, we can do so
in forums -- not necessarily singling out a particular country or person,
but talking on the positive about how important it is to have checks and
balances in society, about how important it is to have these institutions
so that a single person cannot become the ruler of all people. I will
remind people today at this important summit that -- as we talk about
poverty and minority rights, which is of concern to many countries here,
that one -- such concerns are our concerns, and that if you're interested
in minority rights, the best way to allow minorities to have rights is in a
democratic society, where the people actually make the decisions for
government.

And so it's a -- I think this is a good forum and a good opportunity to
express -- for me to express our country's values. But they're not American
values, I keep telling you, these are universal values that are true.
That's why my meeting with President Kirchner was -- one of the reasons it
was so positive is because Argentina shares the same values that America
shares. They've been through some difficult experiences and making sure
that those values are rooted in their societies. Of course I've reminded
others, we went through difficult experiences in the past. And we had a
Constitution that said everybody is free, but they weren't.

And so it's a -- so what I'll search for in the world, as I think about
world leaders, is that commitment, firm commitment to values and
institutions that make democracy viable.

Thank you all very much, thanks.

END 12:47 P.M. (Local)

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