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Skriven 2006-02-08 23:33:10 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0602081) for Wed, 2006 Feb 8
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President Bush Welcomes King Abdullah of Jordan to the White House
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 8, 2006

President Bush Welcomes King Abdullah of Jordan to the White House
The Oval Office


˙˙˙˙˙In Focus: Global Diplomacy

9:26 A.M. EST

PRESIDENT BUSH: Your Majesty, welcome back. I have had two good discussions
with His Majesty. Last night His Majesty and the Crown Prince came to have
dinner with Laura and me and some members of Congress, and we had a really
good discussion. We had a little time by ourselves to talk strategically
about the world and our deep desire for this world to be peaceful.

Of course we talked about Iraq, Iran, the Palestinian territories. I
appreciate your vision and your desire to achieve a better world for the
people in your neighborhood.

We also talked about a topic that requires a lot of discussion and a lot of
sensitive thought, and that is the reaction to the cartoons. I first want
to make it very clear to people around the world that ours is a nation that
believes in tolerance and understanding. In America we welcome people of
all faiths. One of the great attributes of our country is that you're free
to worship however you choose in the United States of America.

Secondly, we believe in a free press. We also recognize that with freedom
comes responsibilities. With freedom comes the responsibility to be
thoughtful about others. Finally, I have made it clear to His Majesty and
he made it clear to me that we reject violence as a way to express
discontent with what may be printed in a free press. I call upon the
governments around the world to stop the violence, to be respectful, to
protect property, protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving
their countries overseas.

And so, Your Majesty, thank you for coming. I'm proud to share the moment
with you.

KING ABDULLAH: Thank you very much for your kind words. And I would just
like to echo what the President said. We've had some very fruitful
discussions, and we're appreciative of the vision and the desire that the
President has for peace and stability in our part of the world. He has
always strived to make life better for all of us in the Middle East, and I
tremendously appreciate that role.

The issue of the cartoons, again, and with all respect to press freedoms,
obviously, anything that vilifies the Prophet Mohammed -- upon him or
attacks Muslim sensibilities, I believes needs to be condemned. At the same
time, those that want to protest should do it thoughtfully, articulately,
express their views peacefully. When we see protests -- when we see
destruction, when we see violence, especially if it ends up taking the
lives of innocent people, is completely unacceptable. Islam, like
Christianity and Judaism, is a religion of peace, tolerance, moderation.

And we have to continue to ask ourselves, what type of world do we want for
our children? I too often hear the word used as, tolerance. And tolerance
is such an awful word. If we are going to strive to move forward in the
future, the word that we should be talking about is acceptance. We need to
accept our common humanity and our common values. And I hope that lessons
can be learned from this dreadful issue, that we can move forward as
humanity, and truly try to strive together, as friends and as neighbors, to
bring a better world to all.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, Your Majesty. I appreciate it.

END 9:31 A.M. EST
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