Text 2065, 94 rader
Skriven 2006-01-30 23:33:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (060130) for Mon, 2006 Jan 30
===================================================
===========================================================================
President Bush Meets with the Cabinet
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 30, 2006

President Bush Meets with the Cabinet
Cabinet Room

President's Remarks
"); //--> view

˙˙˙˙˙President's Cabinet

11:06 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank the members of my Cabinet for being here. We
just had a really good discussion about the year 2006. Tomorrow night I'm
going to be speaking to the Congress, giving the country my State of the
Union address. I can't tell you how upbeat I am about our future, so long
as we're willing to lead.

We talked about how to make sure that America continues to spread the peace
and to protect ourselves. I heard from the Secretary of Defense and Deputy
Secretary of State about very positive initiatives -- not only in the
Middle East, but in the Far East, as well. We talked about how to make sure
this economy of ours stays the strongest economy in the world, and that we
recognize we can't just sit back and hope for the best, that we've got to
lead. And so we had a good discussion about matters such as health care and
energy and education, all of which I'll address tomorrow night.

I'm looking forward to speaking to the country. We've got a lot to be proud
of. We've got a lot of work to do. One of the things I will do is call for
Congress and the executive branch to have a good, honest dialogue, but to
speak candidly with each other, but to do so in a way that brings credit to
the process. And I'll do my best to elevate the tone here in Washington,
D.C. so we can work together to achieve big things for the American people.

I'll answer a couple of questions. Nedra Pickler.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. The talks between Iran and the EU3 appear to be
making little progress. A senior British official there said that they
detect nothing new in their approach. What can be done now?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, obviously, one option is for the Perm 5 to work
together to bring Iran to the U.N. Security Council. That's an option. And
we're going to continue to work with our friends and allies to present a
united front to the Iranians. And the message is: Give up your nuclear
weapons ambitions. And the good news is most of the world recognizes that
Iran, being the non-transparent society that it is, a government that had
violated IAEA rules, is one that cannot be trusted with technology that
could enable it to develop a nuclear weapon. And so we're united in our
goal to keep the Iranians from having a weapon, and we're working on the
tactics necessary to continue putting a united front out.

The other thing is that we want the people of Iran to be able to live in a
free society. And so tomorrow night, I am going to talk about this issue
and make clear the policy of the United States.

Patsy.

Q Mr. President, Israeli officials are seeking an international boycott of
a Palestinian government that includes Hamas. Do you support this? And, if
so, isn't that punishing the Palestinian people for exercising the
democratic rights that you've called for in the region?

THE PRESIDENT: The Hamas party has made it clear that they do not support
the right of Israel to exist. And I have made it clear so long as that's
their policy, that we will not support a Palestinian government made up of
Hamas. We want to work with a government that is a partner in peace, not a
government that is -- whose declared intentions might be the destruction of
Israel.

Secondly, this new democracy that's emerging in the Palestinian Territories
must understand that you can't have a political party that also has got an
armed wing to it; that democracies yield peace. And so the second half of
our message to Hamas is get rid of your arms, disavow terrorism, work to
bring what you promised to the people of the Palestinian Territories.
Listen, these folks ran on the campaign "we're going to get rid of
corruption" and that "we're going to provide services to the people," and
that's positive. But what isn't positive is that they've got parts of their
platform that will make it impossible for them to be a peaceful partner.

Thank you all very much.

END 11:10 A.M. EST

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060130.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)