Text 2358, 864 rader
Skriven 2006-03-22 23:34:56 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0603223) for Wed, 2006 Mar 22
====================================================
===========================================================================
President Discusses War on Terror, Progress in Iraq in West Virginia
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 22, 2006

President Discusses War on Terror, Progress in Iraq in West Virginia
Capitol Music Hall
Wheeling, West Virginia


˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Renewal in Iraq ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: National Security

12:17 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thanks for
coming. First of all, Terry, thanks for the invitation. My purpose is to
share with you what's on my mind, and then I look forward to hearing what's
on yours.

I regret only one thing, Terry, and that's that Laura didn't come with me.
No, I know, most people generally say, you should have brought her and you
should have stayed at home. (Laughter.) They love Laura, and so do I. And
she is a fantastic First Lady. She is a great -- (applause.) And she is a
great source of comfort and strength for me, and I wish she were here.

I want to thank the Chamber and the Board of Directors of the Chamber for
allowing me to come. You know, I'm -- as Terry said, I'm the
Commander-in-Chief; I'm also the Educator-in-Chief. And I have a duty to
explain how and why I make decisions. And that's part of the reason I'm
here.

I want to thank your Governor for being here. Joe Manchin is a --
(applause.) He's a good, decent man. He showed his heart during the mine
tragedies. He asked the country -- (applause.) He represented the best of
West Virginia. He showed great compassion, great concern. He asked the
nation to pray on behalf of the families. We still must continue to pray
for those who lost their loved ones. (Applause.) Joe is a problem-solver,
see. He said, we're going to deal with this issue head on. And I appreciate
you working closely with the federal government to make sure that there are
safety regulations that work, that the inspection process works so that the
miners here in this important state are able to do their job and their
families can be secure in them doing their job.

So, Joe, thank you very much for your leadership. Thanks for bringing
Gayle. Like you, I married well, too. (Laughter and applause.)

I appreciate Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito. Thanks for being here. I
appreciate working with you. (Applause.) She's a good one, as we say in
Texas. (Laughter.) I probably shouldn't bring up Texas too much today,
given the fact -- yeah, I know -- (laughter.) Never mind. (Laughter.) I'm a
little worried for my Long Horns, though, I tell you that. I'm fully
informed -- (applause.) I'm fully informed that they're going to play a
fine team.

I want to thank the Mayor for being here. Mr. Mayor, I'm honored that you
were at the airport. I appreciate you coming. Thanks for serving your great
community. God bless you, sir. (Applause.)

Members of the statehouse greeted me. I appreciate Senator Mike Oliverio.
He's here. Mike I think did the country a great service when he worked on
behalf of Judge Sam Alito to get him approved by the United States Senate.
I appreciate your -- I want to thank you for that, Mike. (Applause.) I want
to thank -- Mike said, don't hold it against me, I'm a Democrat. I said,
Mike, what we -- first and foremost, we're all Americans. (Applause.)

I thank Chris Wakim. He also was out at the airport. It's a little chilly
for you all standing out there without your overcoats on, but it's all
right. Thanks for being here, Chris. Thanks to all the members of the
statehouse and local officials who've joined us today. Thank you for
serving your state and your community.

I want to thank John Anderson and Janis LaFont. They're from the -- Valley
National Gases employees. They presented me with a check for $100,000 for
the Katrina Relief Fund. They represent -- (applause.) I want to thank you
all for doing, and I want to thank the folks you work with for doing that.

It's an amazing country, isn't it, when you think about it, that folks
right here in this part of West Virginia care enough about folks in the
southern part of our country that they would take some of their hard-earned
money and contribute to a relief fund so people can get their lives back
together. It means a lot to the people in Louisiana and Mississippi to know
that there is love and compassion for their -- and concern for their lives
here in West Virginia.

Ours is an incredible nation. And you're going to hear me talk about our
military. And if you ask questions about the economy, you'll hear me talk
about our economy. But I want to remind everybody that the true strength of
America lies in the hearts and souls of our citizens. That's where America
is its greatest. And I appreciate you representing that. (Applause.)

I met a woman named Kristen Holloway at the airport. Kristen, where are
you? There you go. Gosh, you thought you had a better seat, but
nevertheless -- (laughter.) She came out to say hello. I had a chance to
thank her for her being the founder of Operation Troop Appreciation. She
has decided to support those who wear our uniform in any way she can.
Listen, I understand war is controversial, and I'm going to talk about the
war. But America has got to appreciate what it means to wear the uniform
today, and honor those who have volunteered to keep this country strong.
(Applause.)

It doesn't matter whether -- it doesn't matter whether you agree with my
decision, or not. But all of us should agree with the fact that we have a
remarkable country, when people who know that they're going to be sent into
harm's way raise their hand and say, I volunteer to serve. And no state has
presented -- had more people volunteering to serve than the great state of
West Virginia. (Applause.) Now, they'll say, maybe some states have more
people, but they got greater populations. But 75 percent of your National
Guard has gone into harm's way. And we appreciate that service. And I want
to thank those of you who wear the uniform for your service. I want to
thank your loved ones for supporting those who wear the uniform. And I want
you to hear loud and clear, the United States of America stands with you
and appreciates what you're doing. (Applause.)

The enemy, a group of killers, struck us on September the 11th, 2001. They
declared war on the United States of America. And I want to share some
lessons about what took place on that day. First of all, I knew that the
farther we got away from September the 11th, 2001, the more likely it would
be that some would forget the lessons of that day. And that's okay. That's
okay, because the job of those of us who have been entrusted to protect you
and defend you is really to do so in such a way that you feel comfortable
about going about your life, see. And it's fine that people forget the
lessons. But one of my jobs is to constantly remind people of the lessons.

The first lesson is, is that oceans can no longer protect us. You know,
when I was coming up in the '50s in Midland, Texas, it seemed like we were
pretty safe. In the '60s it seemed like we were safe. In other words,
conflicts were happening overseas, but we were in pretty good shape here at
home. And all that was shattered on that day when cold-blooded killers
hijacked airplanes, flew them into buildings and the Pentagon, and killed
3,000 of our citizens. In other words, they declared war, and we have got
to take their declaration of war seriously. The most important
responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief and those who wear the uniform and
those who are elected to public office is to defend the citizens of this
country. That is our most vital and important responsibility. I have never
forgotten that, from September the 11th on. It's just been a part of my
daily existence.

Secondly, the best way to defend America is to stay on the offense. The
best way to protect you is to rally all the strength of national government
-- intelligence and military and law enforcement and financial strength --
to stay on the offense against an enemy that I believe wants to hurt us
again. And that means find them where they hide, and keep the pressure on,
and never relent, and understand that you can't negotiate with these folks,
there is no compromise, there is no middle ground. And so that's exactly
what we're doing.

And there's some unbelievably brave troops and intelligence officers
working around the clock to keep an enemy that would like to strike us
again on the move, and to bring them to justice. And we're making progress
about dismantling al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, after all, was the enemy that
launched the attacks.

The second part of a lesson that we must never forget is the enemy, in that
they're not a nation state -- in other words, they don't represent a nation
state like armies and navies used to do -- need safe haven. They need
places to hide so they can plan and plot. And they found safe haven, as you
all know, in Afghanistan. And they were supported by a government that
supports their point of view, which is a government that absolutely can't
stand freedom. That was the Taliban. If you were a young girl growing up
under the auspices of the Taliban, you didn't have a chance to succeed. You
couldn't go to school. If you dissented in the public square, you'd be in
trouble. If you didn't agree with their dark vision, whether it be religion
or politics, you were in trouble. In other words, they can't -- they
couldn't stand this concept of a free society -- and neither can al Qaeda.
See, we're dealing with ideologues. They have an ideology.

Now, I understand some say, well, maybe they're just isolated kind of
people that are angry and took out their anger with an attack. That's not
how I view them. I view them as people that believe in something; they have
an ideological base. They subverted a great religion to meet their needs,
and they need places to hide. And that's why I said early on in the war
that if you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorist,
understanding the nature of the enemy, and understanding they need safe
haven. In order to protect ourselves, we must deny them safe haven.

By the way, if the President says something he better mean it, for the sake
of peace. In other words, you want your President out there making sure
that his words are credible. And so I said to the Taliban, get rid of al
Qaeda, or face serious consequences. They didn't, and they faced serious
consequences, and we liberated Afghanistan. We removed the Taliban from
power. We denied al Qaeda safe haven. And that young country, that young
democracy is now beginning to grow; 25 million people are liberated as a
result of the United States defending itself. And that's important for us
to realize, that not only are we defending ourselves, but in this instance,
we've given chance to people to realize the beauties of freedom.

An interesting debate in the world is whether or not freedom is universal,
see, whether or not -- people say, there's old Bush imposing his values.
See, I believe freedom is universal. I believe liberty is a universal
thought. It's not an American thought, it is a universal thought. And if
you believe that, then you ought to take great comfort and joy in helping
others realize the benefits of liberty. The way I put it is, there is an
Almighty God. One of the greatest gifts of that Almighty God is the desire
for people to be free, is freedom. And therefore -- (applause) -- and
therefore, this country and the world ought to say, how can we help you
remain free? What can we do to help you realize the blessings of liberty?

Remember, as we debate these issues -- and it's important to have a debate
in our democracy, and I welcome the debate -- but remember, we were founded
on the natural rights of men and women. That speaks to the universality of
liberty. And we must never forget the origin of our own founding, as we
look around the world.

Afghanistan -- I went there with Laura. We had a good visit with President
Karzai. I like him -- good man. You can imagine what it's like to try to
rebuild a country that had been occupied and then traumatized by the
Taliban. They're coming around. They got elections. They had assembly
elections. He, himself, was elected. We expect them to honor the universal
principle of freedom. I'm troubled when I hear -- deeply troubled when I
hear the fact that a person who has converted away from Islam may be held
to account. That's not the universal application of the values that I
talked about. Look forward to working with the government of that country
to make sure that people are protected in their capacity to worship.

There's still a Taliban element trying to come and hurt people. But the
good news is, not only do we have great U.S. troops there, but NATO is now
involved. One of my jobs is to continue to make sure that people understand
the benefits of a free society emerging in a neighborhood that needs
freedom. And so I'm pleased with the progress, but I fully understand
there's a lot more work to be done.

Another lesson of September the 11th, and an important lesson that really
does relate to the topic I want to discuss, which is Iraq, is that when you
see a threat now, you got to take it seriously. That's the lesson of
September the 11th -- another lesson of September the 11th. When you see a
threat emerging, you just can't hope it goes away. If the job of the
President is to protect the American people, my job then is to see threats
and deal with them before they fully materialize, before they come to hurt
us, before they come and strike America again.

And I saw a threat in Iraq. I'll tell you why I saw a threat. And by the
way, it just wasn't me. Members of the United States Congress in both
political parties saw a threat. My predecessor saw a threat. I mean, my
predecessor saw a threat and got the Congress actually to vote a resolution
that said, we're for regime change. That's prior to my arrival. The world
saw a threat. You might remember I went to the United Nations Security
Council; on the 15-to-nothing vote, we passed Resolution 1441 that said to
Saddam Hussein, disclose, disarm or face serious consequences. We saw a
threat.

I'll tell you why I saw a threat. I saw a threat because, one, he'd been on
the state -- he was a state sponsor of terror. In other words, our
government -- not when I was President, prior to my presidency -- declared
Saddam Hussein to be a state sponsor of terror. Secondly, I know for a fact
he had used weapons of mass destruction. Now, I thought he had weapons of
mass destruction; members of Congress thought he had weapons of mass
destruction; the world thought he had weapons of mass destruction. That's
why those nations voted in the Security Council. I'm finding out what went
wrong. In other words, one of the things you better make sure of when
you're the President, you're getting good intelligence, and, obviously, the
intelligence broke down. But he had that capacity to make weapons of mass
destruction, as well. He had not only murdered his own people, but he had
used weapons of mass destruction on his own people.

That's what we knew prior to the decision I made. He also was firing on our
aircraft. They were enforcing a no-fly zone, United Nations no-fly zone,
the world had spoken, and he had taken shots at British and U.S. pilots.
He'd invaded his neighborhood. This guy was a threat. And so the world
spoke. And the way I viewed it was that it was Saddam Hussein's choice to
disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. And he made the choice, and
then I was confronted with a choice. And I made my choice. And the world is
better off without Saddam Hussein in power. (Applause.)

The biggest threat America faces is that moment when terror and weapons of
mass destruction come together. And if we ever suspect that's happening, we
got to deal with that threat seriously. Committing our troops into harm's
way is the most difficult decision a President can make. I'm going to meet
with some -- two families of those who lost a loved one. It's my duty to do
so. I'm looking forward to being able to hug them, weep with them. And so
for anybody out there in West Virginia who thinks it's easy to commit
troops -- it's hard. It's the last option of the President, not the first
option. The first option is to deal with things diplomatically; is to rally
the world, to send a clear message that the behavior, in this case, of
Saddam Hussein was intolerable. And we did that.

Now the fundamental question is: Can we win in Iraq? And that's what I want
to talk about. First of all, you got to understand that I fully understand
there is deep concern among the American people about whether or not we can
win. And I can understand why people are concerned. And they're concerned
because the enemy has got the capacity to affect our thinking. This is an
enemy who will kill innocent people in order to achieve an objective. And
Americans are decent, honorable people, they care. We care about human
life. We care about human dignity. We value life. We value the life of our
own citizens, and we value the life of other citizens. And so it's easy for
an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people to affect us.

The enemy has told us their objectives in Iraq. And I think it's important
for the Commander-in-Chief to take the words of the enemy very seriously.
They have said that they want to spread their philosophy to other parts of
the Middle East. They have said that. They have said they want to attack us
again. They believe that democracies are soft, that it's just a matter of
time for the United States to lose our will and create a vacuum in Iraq so
they can use their terror techniques and their willingness to kill to
develop a safe haven from which to launch attacks. That's what the enemy
has said. This is -- I hope the citizens of this country understand that we
have intercepted documents and we put them out for people to see. I take
the words very seriously.

Iraq is a part of the global war on terror. In other words, it's a global
war. We're dealing with a group of folks that want to spread an ideology,
and they see a problem developing in Iraq, and so they're heading into Iraq
to fight us, because they can't stand the thought of democracy. Democracy
trumps their ideology every time. Freedom and democracy represent hope;
their point of view represents despair. Freedom represents life and the
chance for people to realize their dreams; their philosophy says, you do it
my way or else. And so they're trying to fight us in Iraq.

And we have a strategy for victory in Iraq. It's a three-pronged strategy,
starting with -- it's politics, it is a -- it's security, and it's economy.
On politics, was to get the people to the polls to see if they even cared
about democracy, give them a chance to vote, see what the people thought.
And you might remember the elections -- it probably seems like an eternity.
It was just a year ago that they started voting -- a little more than a
year, in January of last year. And the first election round came off okay,
but the Sunnis didn't participate. They were a little disgruntled with life
there. They liked their privileged status and they were boycotting the
elections. Then they wrote a constitution, which is a good constitution.
It's a progressive constitution for that part of the world. More people
came out to vote then last December. About 75 percent of the eligible
voters said, I want to be free; I want democracy; I don't care what Mr.
Zarqawi and his al Qaeda killers are trying to do to me, I'm going to defy
them, and go to the polls.

And the people have spoken. And now it's time for a government to get stood
up. There's time for the elected representatives -- or those who represent
the voters, the political parties, to come together and form a unity
government. That's what the people want; otherwise they wouldn't have gone
to the polls, would they have?

I spoke to our Ambassador today, and General Casey, via video conferencing,
and we talked about the need to make it clear to the Iraqis, it's time;
it's time to get a government in place that can start leading this nation
and listening to the will of the people. It's a little hard. You can
imagine what it's like coming out of the -- having been ruled by a tyrant.
People are -- when you spoke out before, no telling what was going to
happen to you. It generally wasn't good. And now people are beginning to
realize democracy has taken hold.

By the way, if you look at our own history, it was a little bumpy on our
road, too. You might remember the Articles of Confederation. They didn't
work too well. It took us a while from the moment of our revolution to get
our Constitution written, the one that we now live by.

The second part is to help people with their economy. And we had to change
our strategy there. We first went in there and said, let's build some big
plants. The problem was the big plants served as big targets for those who
are disgruntled, the terrorists who are going into Iraq to use it as a safe
haven, plus some of their allies, the Saddamists. These were Saddam's
inner-circle buddies and stuff like that that had received special
privileges. They weren't happy that they were no longer in privileged
status. And so they were destroying some of the infrastructure we were
building. So we changed our strategy and said, look, why don't we go with
smaller projects, particularly in the provinces, so people can begin to see
the benefits of what it means to have a democracy unfold.

And the third aspect is security. When we got in there, it became apparent
to our troops on the ground that we had a lot of training to do. We had to
really rebuild an army to make sure that people had the skills necessary to
be able to fight off those who want to stop the march of democracy. First
we trained the army for threats from outside the country. But we realized
the true threats were inside the country, whether it be the Saddamists,
some Sunni rejectionists, or al Qaeda that was in there torturing and
killing and maiming in order to get their way.

And we're making progress when it comes to training the troops. More and
more Iraqis are taking the fight. Right after the bombing of the Golden
Mosque, for example, is an interesting indication as to whether or not the
Iraqi troops are getting better.

The enemy can't defeat us militarily, by the way. They can't beat us on the
field of battle. But the only thing they can do is they can either try to
stop democracy from moving -- they failed on that. Last year, they failed.
Their stated objective was just not to let democracy get going, and they
flunked the test. Now they're trying to foment a civil war. See, that's the
only way they can win. And they blew up the mosque. And there was some
awful violence, some reprisals taking place. And I can understand people
saying, man, it's all going to -- it's not working out. But the security
forces did a pretty good job of keeping people apart.

In other words, it was a test. It was a test for the security forces, and
it was a test for the Iraqi government. The way I like to put it is they
looked into the abyss as to whether or not they want a civil war or not,
and chose not to. That's not to say we don't have more work to do, and we
do -- (applause.) But it's important for me to continue -- look, I'm an
optimistic guy. I believe we'll succeed. Let me tell you this -- put it to
you this way: If I didn't think we'd succeed, I'd pull out troops out. I
cannot look mothers and dads in the eye -- (applause) -- I can't ask this
good Marine to go into harm's way if I didn't believe, one, we're going to
succeed; and, two, it's necessary for the security of the United States.
(Applause.)

And it's tough fighting. It's tough fighting, because we got an enemy
that's just cold-blooded. They can't beat us militarily, but they can try
to shake our will. See, remember, I told you, they have said that it's just
a matter of time, just a matter of time before the United States loses its
nerve. I believe we're doing the right thing, and we're not going to
retreat in the face of thugs and assassins. (Applause.) Thank you.

It's the Iraqis' fight. Ultimately, the Iraqis are going to have to
determine their future. They made their decision politically; they voted.
And these troops that we're training are going to have to stand up and
defend their democracy. We got work, by the way, in '06 to make sure the
police are trained as adequately as the military, the army. It's their
choice to make. And I like to put it this way: As they stand up, we'll
stand down.

But I want to say something to you about troop levels, and I know that's
something that people are talking about in Washington a lot. I'm going to
make up my mind based upon the advice of the United States military that's
in Iraq. I'll be making up my mind about the troop levels based upon
recommendations of those who are on the ground. I'm going to make up my
mind based upon achieving a victory, not based upon polls, focus groups or
election-year politics. (Applause.)

I talked about a city named Tal Afar the other day in a speech I gave in
Cleveland. Just real quick, it's an important place. It's a place where --
close to the Syrian border, where al Qaeda was moving the terrorists from
outside the country inside the country, trying to achieve their objective.
And right after we removed Saddam Hussein, they started moving in. And I
cannot describe to you how awful these people treat the citizens there. I
mean, they are -- I told a story about a young boy who was maimed, taken to
a hospital, was pulled out of the hospital, was killed by the terrorists.
His dad went to retrieve him on the side of the road and they put a bomb
underneath him and blew up the family. I mean, Americans cannot understand
the nature -- how brutal these people are. It's shocking what they will do
to try to achieve their objectives.

But it really shouldn't shock us when you think about what they did on
September the 11th. It's the same folks, same attitude, same frame of mind.
But they're able to lock down cities, particularly those that are worried
about their security, and so they basically took control of Tal Afar. So
our troops went in with Iraqis and cleaned it out. The problem -- oh, not
through yet. (Laughter.) A little early on the clap. (Laughter.) The
problem was, we continued to pursue the enemy, and they moved back in,
these killers and murderers moved back in, and just created a mess. I mean,
they -- I said in my speech, they mortared children in a playground, they
recruited young kids, abused them, violated them. There's one boy in
particular who told our guys, once the city eventually got liberated, his
dream was to behead somebody with a -- anyway, we started working with the
local folks again. This time, though, we had trained more Iraqi army ready
to go.

And the difference in the story between the first time we liberated Tal
Afar from them and the recent liberation was that the Iraqis were in the
lead. And not only were they in the lead, they stayed behind after we left.
So our troops are chasing high-value targets and training, and capable
Iraqi forces are providing security. And so the day of terror began to
change when they saw capable forces and a new mayor and police forces.

I mean, this is -- it's hard to put ourselves in the shoes of the folks in
this town that had been traumatized. But the strategy of clear, hold and
build, began to create a sense of confidence. And what's interesting is, I
can say that -- I got one datapoint that I can share with you -- the vote
in the January '05 election was the second-lowest vote in the -- as
percentage of voting population, in the country, and the last vote, 85
percent of the eligible voters voted. In other words, people had a sense of
security and hope.

A free Iraq is important for the United States of America. It was important
to remove a threat; it was important to deal with threats before they fully
materialized; but a free Iraq also does some other things. One, it serves
as an amazing example -- it will serve as an amazing example for people who
are desperate for freedom.

You know, this is, I guess, quite a controversial subject, I readily
concede, as to whether or not the United States ought to try to promote
freedom in the broader Middle East. Our foreign policy before was just kind
of, if the waters look calm, great. Problem is, beneath the surface was
resentment brewing, and people were able to take advantage of that, these
totalitarians, like al Qaeda. So I changed our foreign policy. I said,
freedom is universal; history has proven democracies do not fight each
other, democracies can yield peace we want, so let's advance freedom. And
that's what's happening. (Applause.)

It's a big idea, but it's an old idea. It's worked in the past. I strongly
believe that by promoting liberty we're not only protecting ourselves, but
we're laying the foundation of peace for a generation to come. And I'll
tell you why I believe that -- and then I'll answer questions. Thank
goodness Laura isn't here, she'd be giving me the hook.

Two examples that I use that are obviously -- well, I'm living one example,
and that is my relationship with the Prime Minister of Japan. He is one of
my best buddies -- I don't know if you're supposed to call them "buddies"
in diplomacy -- one of my best buddies in working to keep the peace. I find
that a really interesting statement to say to you, knowing my own family's
history -- 18-year-old -- my dad, when he was 18, went to fight the
Japanese. I think it's really one of the interesting twists of history that
I stand here in West Virginia saying to you that Prime Minister Koizumi and
I talk about ways to keep the peace, ways to deal with North Korea, he's
helping in Iraq, ways to deal with other issues. And 60 years prior to
that, when the country called, George H. W. said, I want to go, just like,
I'm sure, relatives of you all. And Japan was a sworn enemy. And there was
a lot of bloodshed in order to -- remember, they attacked us, too. And yet,
today, the President says, we're working to keep the peace. And what
happened? It's an interesting lesson that I hope people remember. Something
happened. What happened was, Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy.

I believe freedom and liberty can change enemies into allies. I believe
freedom has the power to transform societies. It's not easy work, it's
difficult work. But we've seen history before. I know you've got relatives
who were in World War II. On that continent, hundreds of thousands of
Americans lost their lives in two world wars during the 1900s. And yet
today, Europe is whole, free and at peace. What happened? Democracies don't
war. And so part of my decision-making that I'm trying to explain to you
today about war, about what you're seeing on your TV screens, about the
anxiety that a lot of our citizens feel, is based upon, one, the need to
protect the American people, and my deep reservoir of commitment to doing
what it takes -- to look at the world realistically, to understand we're in
a global war against a serious enemy.

But also my thinking is based upon some universal values and my belief that
history can repeat itself, and that freedom and liberty has a chance to lay
a foundation of peace so that maybe 40 years from now, somebody is speaking
here in West Virginia saying, you know, a bunch of folks were given a
challenge and a task, and that generation didn't lose faith in the capacity
of freedom to change, and today, I'm able to sit down with the duly elected
leaders of democracy in the Middle East, keeping the peace for the next
generation to come. (Applause.)

That's what I've come to talk to you about, and that's what's on my mind.
And now I'll be glad to answer any questions you got.

Yes, sir. First man up.

Q -- (inaudible) --

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sir. (Applause.) I'll be glad to answer any
question on any subject, but always appreciate a good editorial.
(Laughter.)

Yes, sir. Hold on for a second. We're going to do it little more orderly
here. Right here. Right there. Yes, there you go. Get moving on the mike,
please. (Laughter.) Generally what happens if they don't have a mike, the
guy yells the question, and I just answer whatever I want to answer.
(Laughter.)

Q Mr. President, I have a son that's special forces in Iraq. And I have
another son -- (applause.) I have another son that's in the Army. He left
college to join the Army. He's out in Hawaii. He's got the good duty right
now. (Laughter.) But I thank God that you're our Commander-in-Chief. And I
wouldn't want my boys -- (applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thanks.

Q Again, I thank God you're our Commander-in-Chief. You're a man for our
times. And I'm supporter of yours. And I think it's good that you come out
and tell your story. And I think you need to keep doing more of it, and
tell the story and the history of all this. And God bless you. And I thank
you for your service.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate you saying that. (Applause.) A couple of
points. First, you tell your kids thanks. The good news is, for moms and
dads and husbands and wives and children, that, in spite of the debate
you're seeing in Washington, that there is a commitment to support our
troops when we -- when they're in harm's way. There may be an argument
about tactics and whether or not we should have done it in the first place;
I understand that. But the Congress has stood up, and that's what the
Congress should do. And take comfort, please, sir, in knowing that the
debates that you're seeing will not lessen our government's support for
making sure the people are well-trained, well-paid, well-equipped,
well-housed. We owe that. And I'm pleased with the congressional response
to supporting troops.

Second, you can email them. It's an interesting war we have where moms and
dads and wives and husbands are in touch with their loved ones by email.
It's really interesting.

And I want to thank you very much for saying what you said. I am -- as I
said, I'm Educator-in-Chief, and I'm going to spend a lot of time answering
questions and just explaining -- explaining to people as clearly as I can
about why I made decisions I made and why it is important for us to
succeed.

And, again, I understand debate. I understand there's differences of
opinion, and we should welcome that in America. People should never fear a
difference of opinion, particularly on big matters. And war is a big
matter, war and peace. And it's healthy for our country for people to be
debating, so long as we don't send the wrong signals to our troops; so long
as they don't think that we're not behind them; and so long as we don't
send mixed signals to the enemy. The enemy believes that we will weaken and
lose our nerve. And I just got to tell you, I'm not weak and I'm not going
to lose my nerve. I strongly believe that we're doing the right thing.
(Applause.)

Do you want to say something, Joe? How about the Governor? Make it easy.

GOVERNOR MANCHIN: -- (inaudible) --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I appreciate it.

Joe talked to me about how do we use the natural resources of the state of
West Virginia in such ways to become less dependent on oil. (Applause.)
Now, let me talk about that, starting with coal gasification leading to
coal liquification. I appreciate the subject.

I know it shocked some of you, I know it shocked some of you when I stood
up in the State of the Union and said, we got a problem, we're addicted to
oil. Texas, you know, the whole thing. (Laughter.) I'll tell you why I said
it. I'll tell you why I said it. One, because when the demand for fossil
fuels goes up, for non-renewable resources goes up in other parts of the
world, it affects the gasoline price here at home. When somebody else's
economy starts to boom and they start using more fossil fuel, it affects
your price, too. It's important for people to understand. And there are
some new economies emerging that are growing -- and that need and use --
that are using a lot of hydrocarbons.

Secondly, we get oil from parts of the world that don't like us, is the
best way to put it, which creates a national security issue. And,
therefore, it is in our economic interest and national interest that we get
off of our addiction to oil. We import about 60-something percent of our
oil from overseas. What Joe is talking about is a different use of
resources to help us achieve that objective.

First thing is, we got a lot of coal, a 250-year supply of coal, which
helps us on our electricity. And we're spending a lot of money on clean
coal technology. The whole idea is to use taxpayers' money to develop a
technology that will enable us to have zero-emission plants, which will
help us achieve an environmental objective, as well as an energy
independence objective.

Joe is talking about spending research money on the gasification of coal,
which then will lead to the liquification -- in other words, we're able to
develop a product that way. And I believe we ought to attack this issue on
all fronts, on a variety of fronts. I know we ought to use nuclear power.
It is a renewable source of energy that has got zero greenhouse gas effect.

And by the way, I went to a plant that's making solar panels, photovoltaic
cells -- not bad for a history major. (Laughter.) Technologies are coming.
And to me, it makes sense to work with Congress to spend money on new
technologies aiming for a national objective.

The place where we're really going to effect reliance upon oil is changing
our automobile -- how automobiles are powered. One is battery --
technologies are coming around. One of these days, I am told, that if we
continue stay focused in research, you're going to be able to have a pretty
good-sized vehicle, plug it in, and will be able to drive 40 miles before
you need to use any gasoline in your engine. Now, that's not going to help
some of you rural folks in West Virginia or Texas, but it's going to help
urban people who generally tend not to drive more than 40 miles a day. But
imagine if we're able to have battery power where you plug your battery
into -- when the electricity is down, low usage at night, and they drive 40
miles. That will save -- that will reduce demand for gasoline, which
reduces demand for crude oil.

Secondly, we're going to be able to drive our cars based upon -- with a
sugar base, or a corn base, or sawgrass. I said that one day -- what the
heck is sawgrass? It's just grass. It just grows out there, and you bulk it
for them. And the idea is to develop technology so that we're using more
ethanol. It's happening in the Midwest, by the way. They've got what they
call E85, that's 85 percent ethanol that's powering automobiles now. A
whole new industry is beginning to grow. And the more we use alternative
sources of energy, the less dependent we are on oil.

So Joe has been -- Joe is always thinking, and he's a practical fellow,
which is sometimes not the case in government. (Laughter.) But what he's
saying is, can't we use our resources here, in a way, Mr. President, that
helps you achieve a grand national objective, which is getting off Middle
Eastern oil? And the answer is, yes, we can. (Applause.)

Yes, you got a question? Are you in school?

Q Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Did you use me as an excuse to skip school?

Q Of course. (Laughter.) Mr. President, I was wondering actually how you
felt about America's double standard on nuclear energy, as far as countries
like Iran, India, and Israel go?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I appreciate that. I may ask you to clarify your
question of "double standard."

Q Well, how we don't allow Iran to have nuclear energy, yet we're
supporting India.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, no, I got it, good, good, good.

Q And Israel's nuclear weapons --

THE PRESIDENT: I wouldn't -- I wouldn't necessarily -- well, first of all,
let me explain the policy and then you can draw whatever conclusion you
want. First of all, it's in our interests that India use nuclear power to
power their economic growth because, as I told you, there is a global
connection between demand for fossil fuels elsewhere and price here. And so
I went to India and I said -- actually, it's a very sophisticated question,
by the way -- but I said, we ought to encourage you to use nuclear power.

Now, the difficulty with that issue, and that Congress is going to have to
deal with, is that India has heretofore been denied technologies from the
United States because of previous decisions they made about nuclear
weaponry. My attitude is that over 30 years they have proven themselves to
be a nonproliferator, that they're a transparent democracy; it's in our
interest that they develop nuclear power for -- to help their economy grow
-- they need power and they need energy to do so -- and they're willing to
go under the safeguards of the IAEA, which is an international forum to
make sure that there are certain safeguards.

Iran -- the Iranians are a nontransparent society. They're certainly not a
democracy. They are sponsors of terrorism. They have joined the IAEA, and
yet we caught them cheating. In other words, they weren't upholding the
agreements, and they started to try to enrich uranium in order to develop a
weapons program. India is heading to the IAEA; the Iranians are ignoring
IAEA.

And so to answer your question about potential conflict of civilian energy
power, I have said that I support the Russian proposal that says the
Iranians should have a civilian nuclear industry, however Russia and other
suppliers would give them the enriched -- the product necessarily to power
their industry and collect the spent fuel, but not enable the Iranians to
learn how to enrich in order to develop a weapons programs. That's I think
how -- hold on for a second -- oop, oop, oop. (Laughter.) That's how we
addressed the inconsistency on the power side, apparent inconsistency.

However, in that the Iranians are nontransparent, in that they are hostile
to the United States and hostile to allies, we've got to be very careful
about not letting them develop a weapon. And so we're now dealing with this
issue diplomatically by having the Germans and the French and the British
send a clear message to the Iranians, with our strong backing, that you
will not have the capacity to make a weapon, the know-how to make a weapon.
Iran with a nuclear weapon is a threat, and it's dangerous, and we must not
let them have a weapon. (Applause.)

Yes.

Q Sir, thank you for being in West Virginia. I'm the recruiting commander
of the West Virginia Army National Guard. And there are a lot of National
Guardsmen here with you in Wheeling today. West Virginians are a proud and
very patriotic people. I'd like for you to share with us what you would say
to a young person today who would like to join the National Guard, and
maybe give some encouraging words in that respect.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thanks -- kind of doing your job for you. All right.
(Laughter and applause.) My statement to all Americans is serve your
country one way or another. I -- and service can be done by wearing the
uniform. Wearing the uniform is a fantastic way to say, I want to serve my
country. A lot of people have chosen that way, and it's a rewarding
experience to wear the uniform. If you want to go to college, it's a good
way to gain some skills to help you in your education.

There are also other ways to serve. You can mentor a child and you're
serving America. You can help the Katrina victims and you're serving
America. You can be a Boy Scout troop leader and you're serving America.

What's really interesting about our country -- and I said this early on --
is the notion of people coming together to serve a concept greater than
themselves. It is -- I know it's not unique to America, but it certainly
helps define our spirit. De Tocqueville, who's a French guy, came in 1832,
and recognized -- and wrote back -- wrote a treatise about what it means to
go to a country where people associate voluntarily to serve their
communities. And he recognized that this -- one of the great strengths of
America -- this is the 1830s -- it is still the strength of America. It is
a vital part of our society and our communities, the idea of people
volunteering to help a neighbor in need.

And one of my jobs is to honor people who are serving our country that way,
and to call other people to service, as well. As you know, one of the
interesting and at times controversial proposals was whether or not
government should open up grant money for competitive bidding for
faith-based organizations. I'm a big believer in providing grant money
available for faith-based organizations, so long as the money doesn't go --
to be used to proselytize, but is used to help serve a purpose, like if
your mother or dad is in prison, that it would help to go find a mentor for
that child. Or if you're a drug addict, or got hooked on alcohol, that you
could redeem the government help at a faith-based institution.

In other words, we in government ought to be asking the question, does the
program work? And a lot of times, programs based upon faith do work, that
it is -- there's nothing better than a faith-based program which exists to
love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. (Applause.) And
therefore, one of my jobs is to not only help recruit for the Guard, which
-- put a plug in there for you, there you go -- but also to call other --
to call people to serve, to help change our society one person at a time.
And it's happening. It's a remarkable part, I'm confident, of this
community, just like it is all around the United States. And thanks for
your question.

All right, yes, sir. Yes, the guy in the yellow hat. Give it to the guy on
the aisle. Well, no, you're not a guy. (Laughter.) Right behind you, there
you go.

Q President Bush, I'm a professional firefighter here in Wheeling, West
Virginia.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sir. (Applause.)

Q And back during 9/11, I lost over 300 of my brothers in New York. And I
was glad that you were our President at that time and took the fight to the
terrorists. But as I see you, I said earlier about the guy in Afghanistan
that is going to convert to Christianity, he may get killed over there for
doing that. Do you have an army of sociologists to go over there and change
that country, or are you hoping that in a couple decades that we can change
the mind-set over there?

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate the question. It's a very legitimate question.
We have got influence in Afghanistan and we are going to use it to remind
them that there are universal values. It is deeply troubling that a country
we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a
particular religion over another. And so we are -- we will make -- part of
the messaging just happened here in Wheeling. I want to thank you for that
question.

No, I think it's -- we can solve this problem by working closely with the
government that we've got contacts with -- and will. We'll deal with this
issue diplomatically and remind people that there is something as universal
as being able to choose religion.

So thank you for the question. I understand your concerns. I share the same
concerns.

I had a little guy back here. Yes, sir.

Q Do you like living in the White House?

THE PRESIDENT: Do I like living in the White House? (Applause.) Yes. That's
a good, fair question. Your brother has got one, too. Do you want to
back-to-back them?

Q -- (inaudible) --

THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Well, I've been the President for five and a half
years. I do like living in the White House. It's an interesting question --
for some practical reasons. I've got a 45-second commute to my office.
(Laughter.) The food is pretty good. (Laughter.) It is a -- I've enjoyed
every second of the presidency. That's probably hard -- like my buddies
come up from Texas; one of the things that Laura and I are most proud of --
we're proud of a lot -- we're most proud of our girls, but we're also very
proud of the fact that we had friends prior to being in politics from Texas
that will be our friends after we're in politics. (Applause.)

And they come up from Texas, and they're kind of looking at you like, man,
are you okay? Yes -- you know. (Laughter.) And I tell them, I say, you
know, I can't tell you want an honor it is to do this job. They often ask,
what's the job description? I say, making decisions. And I make a lot.
Obviously, I'm trying to share with you -- you may not agree with the
decision, but at the very minimum, I want you to understand that I make my
decisions based upon some principles I hold dear. In order to make
decisions, you have to be enthusiastic about your job, you have to be
optimistic about the future, and you have to stand for something. You can't
be a President trying to search for what you believe in the midst of all
the noise in Washington. (Applause.)

Yes, ma'am. Yes. No, right here. There you go.

Q Good afternoon, Mr. President. It is an honor to be here today. Thank you
for coming. Greetings from Columbus, Ohio.

THE PRESIDENT: There you go. (Applause.)

Q My husband, who is sitting right here with me --

THE PRESIDENT: Actually, my grandfather was raised in Columbus, Ohio -- not
to change subjects, but --

Q That's okay, you can do whatever you want to do.

THE PRESIDENT: Prescott S. Bush. (Laughter.)

Q I have a comment, first of all, and then just a real quick question. I
want to let you know that every service at our church you are, by name,
lifted up in prayer, and you and your staff and all of our lea