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Ärende: Press Release (0607113) for Tue, 2006 Jul 11
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Roundtable Interview of the President by Foreign Print Media
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 11, 2006

Roundtable Interview of the President by Foreign Print Media
The Roosevelt Room



July 10, 2006

2:30 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to see Angela Merkel on
her home turf. She kindly invited me to go to her part of the country. I
always view that as a sign of generous hospitality, when somebody says,
come by my home area. And I'm looking forward to going. And I'm looking
forward to having a good discussion with her on a variety of subjects.

I've spoken frequently with the Chancellor, since she's gotten in, and
that's important, because Germany has got a very important role to play,
not only in Europe, but around the world. So I'm looking forward to that a
lot.

And then of course I'll be going to Russia, and have -- Laura and I and the
Putins will be having dinner, which is a good chance to continue our
friendship. We've got a good friendship with the Putins. We're comfortable
around them. And then of course the next day we'll have a bilateral
meeting, which will be more business than pleasure. I also am looking
forward to that. I've spoken to Vladimir Putin frequently over the last
couple of weeks on a variety of subjects. And the world is complex. There
are problems that are surfacing. I've always felt like it's best to work
with friends and allies to solve the problems. And so we'll have a variety
of topics on the agenda.

And then we've got the G8. I think the topics there are relevant -- energy
security. I view energy security, from my perspective, as how do we
diversify away from hydrocarbons. That's the definition of security from an
American perspective. I will be -- it just so happens, it's a really
interesting moment where there's the need to be -- protect our national
security and economic security comes at a time when there's great concern
about global warming, and it turns out that you can achieve economic and
national security and protect the environment at the same time. For
example, civilian nuclear power. That's going to be an important subject,
as far as I'm concerned.

If you truly are concerned about protecting the environment, then it seems
like to me that civilian nuclear power is a good way to go. Technologies
have changed, we'll discuss that. Some agree, some don't agree. But
nevertheless, it's going to be a part of the dialogue. I look forward to
talking to them about our research and development efforts into new types
of batteries that will be able to power automobiles for the first 40 miles
without using gasoline, or talk about use of ethanol, or our
experimentation and our work with hydrogen. In other words, there's a
variety of things we can talk about to help with energy -- on the energy
security issue.

We'll talk about infectious diseases. I thank the Russian President for
putting that on the agenda. That's going to be a very important topic if
there were to be a pandemic flu outbreak. It's important for us to have
discussed our individual plans and how we intend to work collectively on
the problem.

We'll talk about education matters. I intend to talk about trade. We've got
the Doha Round is out there, kind of -- people are wondering whether or not
we'll be able to move it. I'm still upbeat about it, by the way. I think we
can get something done. I just finished meeting with my trade minister, and
our team, involved on the subject. But this will be a good forum to talk
about it, not only at the first days of the G8, but when the members of the
G20 come. There will be an important discussion with the leader of Brazil,
and others.

As well, one of the things we will talk about are common values that are
important -- transparency, anti-corruption, free markets -- values that
tend to bind us and that can unite us in common purpose. So I'm looking
forward to it.

Michael.

Q Mr. President, German American relations have improved since Angela
Merkel became Chancellor. With Silvio Berlusconi being out of office and
Tony Blair's days being numbered, has Germany become America's most
important pillar in Europe, and would you even use a formula such as
partnership and leadership, as your father dubbed the relationship with
Helmut Kohl?

THE PRESIDENT: First, let me say, we had disagreements over Iraq,
obviously. But apart from that, I always felt our relationship with Germany
was vital and important. Much has been made about the differences between
Chancellor Schr der and myself, and no question, there were differences.
But I will tell you that from my perspective, and I think he would say
this, is we've tried to work beyond that. There were other issues we had to
deal with besides Iraq. So the relationship has been good since I've been
the President.

Angela Merkel comes into office now at a time where we've gotten that
behind us, and we're moving forward. Remember, one of the first decisions I
made after 9/11 was to go into Afghanistan, and the Germans supported us on
that. So there's -- we've worked together, and I do believe that -- as I
mentioned to you -- Germany has got a very important role to play in Europe
and in the world. And Angela Merkel is assuming the mantle of leadership,
for which I'm grateful.

From my perspective, I think the American President and the country must
maintain a lot of good relations with Europe, since Europe is a -- it's
vital, it's a vital center of trade and it's a vital center of exchange and
it's a vital center, I hope, of working together to kind of spread common
values. But we've got a good relationship.

Andre.

Q Thank you, sir, for inviting us, for giving us this opportunity.

THE PRESIDENT: Any time.

Q May I congratulate you, sir, on your recent birthday. I was on the South
Lawn there, watching.

THE PRESIDENT: You were watching me turn 60? (Laughter.)

Q No, the 4th of July, the celebration.

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something, does that seem old to you, 60?

Q No, not at all, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Good, yes. (Laughter.)

Q Sir, you are --

THE PRESIDENT: The American press corps seems to -- makes it seems like
it's a very old age, people -- how old are you, Tom?

Q Sixty-one.

THE PRESIDENT: See.

Q Everybody knows your medical stats, sir. You are in good condition.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for wishing me a happy birthday. Finally ended. Go
ahead.

Q Thank you, sir, for indulging us.

I wanted to ask you about the continuing Russian integration. Will there be
--

THE PRESIDENT: Continuing Russian integration?

Q Integration into the world bodies. Will there be a deal on the WTO
negotiations with Russia in St. Petersburg? And also, when do you expect
Russia to gain a permanent seat at the financial G7?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, as far as the G8 goes, from my perspective,
Russia is an active participant. President Putin has been there, he speaks,
he talks, he acts, he interfaces, plus, he's hosting it -- is hosting this
G8.

Secondly, we talked about the WTO negotiations with Russia, and there is --
I've presented the letter to the President, which makes it very clear our
position, so that there's no ambiguity about what needs to happen in terms
of market access from both -- the perspective of both countries. And we
will continue to work, see if we can't get this done.

President Putin has got his issues at home, we've got issues here. And that
is, we've got to make sure any agreement we strike is a good one. And
there's two issues that are very important for -- a lot of issues are
important, but I would say the two areas where a lot of people will be
paying attention to it here in America is, one, on agriculture, we want to
make sure that if somebody says they're going to take our products into
their country, they'll do it. And secondly, the other is intellectual
property rights. And that's what a lot of people will be looking at from
this perspective. I'm sure Vladimir Putin has got pressures on his side,
too.

I do believe it's in our country's interest to have Russia as a member of
the WTO. It's been a difficult negotiation, because there's more than one
constituency. That's what President Putin has got to understand. One issue
-- not just satisfying what our trade negotiators think is fair, we've got
to make sure we can get it through the Congress.

But others are watching as well, other nations are watching the set of
negotiations. So hopefully we can get it done. I'm optimistic about it.

Mario, congratulations to you.

Q Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Did you watch the game?

THE PRESIDENT: I watched some of it.

Q Mr. President, the new Italian government has stated that there are, and
I quote the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr. D'Alema, "evident differences
with the U.S., certainly with respect to policies from the previous years."
And a decision about whether to stay in Afghanistan will be made in the
next few days. And a decision has been made to withdraw completely from
Iraq, contrary to what the commitment of the previous government was. Are
you disappointed by that?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I want to thank the Italian people and the
government for their contributions in Iraq. They were there during some of
the most difficult times. And the previous government made a commitment and
met its commitment. And we're very grateful for that. The current
government campaigned on not staying in Iraq, that's what they said. So
when you win elections, you're supposed to do what you say you do. So I'm
not surprised. I would hope -- and I appreciate the

commitments. I would hope they would -- toward, for example, training
through NATO or reconstruction aid. This is an historic time.

And one of the messages I'll be sending people at the G8 is, liberty is
universal; the world is better off when there's free societies. We'll worry
about our own selves, of course, but we've also got to need to worry about
others living under the -- that may live under the clutches of a tyrant, or
others who are trying to build a democracy. And we would hope that
established democracies would help young democracies grow, and there's all
kinds of ways you can do that. There's a difference of opinion, obviously,
in certain corners as to whether or not we should have gone into Iraq in
the first place. But now that we're there, the hope is that we can work
with nations to help build the new democracy. And that's not my appeal,
that's the appeal of Prime Minister Maliki and others. So I'm confident we
can work with the government, looking forward to it.

Q On Afghanistan, you hope they will stay?

THE PRESIDENT: Of course I do. It's a new democracy. We'll see. Every
country gets to make its own mind what to do, but I would hope that those
who are weighing whether or not it makes sense to stay or go look at the
consequences of failure, and realize the great benefits of liberty for the
people of Afghanistan. An elected government there, society is changing. It
takes hard work. I happen to believe the hard work it takes is necessary
for peace.

Massomi. Did I say it right?

Q Masaomi.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, pretty close. (Laughter.)

Q Thank you very much. I have a question on North Korea. Security Council
is about to adopt North Korea resolution. The U.S. had vowed to continue
diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue. But what kind of measures will you
take to get North Korea back to the six-party talks?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I want to thank the Japanese contribution in
the Security Council. Secondly, I think there's an interesting new
development, that the Japanese have decided to delay tabling the resolution
to give the Chinese a chance to go to Pyongyang to have a discussion with
the leader in North Korea, with the desire of having them come back to the
table. So that's where we are -- them being the North Koreans come back to
the table.

And that's where we are. And so the Security Council option is always
there. But to answer your question, the strategy at this point in time is
for the Chinese to travel and to make the claim that it would be in North
Korea's interests that they come back to the table, and remind them they've
already been at the table, and they agreed to a Korean Peninsula that is
nuclear-weapons free. That's what they've agreed to -- they being the North
Koreans, along with the United States, the Russians, the South Koreans, the
Japanese and the Chinese. So that's where we are.

Michael.

Q Mr. President, energy security. Twenty-five percent of Europe's natural
gas consumption is satisfied by Russia. In the case of Germany, it's more
than one-third. Is Europe, is Germany too energy-dependent on Russia, and
do you see the ensuing danger, that Russia has the means to potentially
blackmail Europe?

THE PRESIDENT: I think each nation or each group of nations has to make
their own national security calculations. I can just give you my
perspective where the United States is, and you can draw whatever
conclusions you want from that.

I think -- we are dependent on oil from, in some cases, unstable parts of
the world. And while you may be able to manage your way through the
short-term, in the long-term eventually I think that will be a problem for
national security purposes here. And therefore, when you talk about energy
security, it is part -- people say, well, security is how you guarantee
supply. That's one view of security. It's just that supplies can get
disrupted sometimes. I view security as diversification away from a
particular source of energy that may be the cause of the worry about
insecurity in the first place.

And so the German government is going to have to make its decision as to
whether or not it makes sense to have a supply -- one-third of its supply
from a single source. I can tell you this, I've told the American people we
will spend billions to put technology in place or achieve technological
breakthroughs that will enable future Presidents to say, I no longer have
to worry about a single source of supply, I no longer have to worry about
disruption, I no longer have to worry about politics. And I think the world
needs to go there, in my own judgment. I think the whole world would be
better off if we're less reliant upon forms of hydrocarbon.

Is it possible? Yes, it's possible. We're spending over a billion dollars
on hydrogen technologies and research to determine whether or not you can
actually drive your automobiles with hydrogen, a byproduct of which is
nothing, water. The issue with hydrogen, however, is, one, obviously, the
technologies. But it takes a fair amount of power to create the hydrogen.
And therefore, the question is, will nations such as ours, and others, be
willing to use nuclear power to be able to provide the power to create the
hydrogen in the first place. It's a policy choice countries are going to
have to make.

We are working with India and China, for example, on nuclear power. I think
it's in everybody's interest that these new, growing economies have -- that
the appetite for hydrocarbons in these growing economies is lessened with
the advent of nuclear power. I know it's in -- it really is in everybody's
interest, because of the globalization of energy demand. In other words,
India demands more, it causes your prices to go up.

And so our contribution to trying to deal with energy security is to not
only spend money here at home, but also to work with developing countries
to reduce their appetite for hydrocarbons. And to this end, we're working
with Japan, and Russia, France, and Great Britain to spend money to come up
with a fast breeder reactor program, so that we can reprocess, burn and
reduce the amount of waste, which will hopefully then make the idea of
additional civilian nuclear power in other countries more palatable
politically.

Q And Russia's potential blackmailing power?

THE PRESIDENT: That's going to be up to the Europeans to make that
decision. That's not an issue we worry about here at home. That's an issue
that the European leaders are going to have to work through, particularly
at the EU, to make sure that they're not in a position where somebody can
change the equation. Obviously, there was -- some of my friends who were
the leaders in Europe were somewhat concerned about the Ukrainian issue. We
expressed our opinion on that very clearly. But the decision makers, your
leaders, are going to have to make the decision as to whether or not they
view the current status as something that they need to diversify away from.
And I just laid out some ideas as to how, at least, we're trying to do
that.

Andre.

Q You just gave me an opening there.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm trying to, Andre. I'm Mr. Thoughtful, as you know.
(Laughter.)

Q By referring to Ukraine, sir. Russia, for years, has been subsidizing its
neighbors with energy supplies. President Putin recently suggested that it
was to the tune of $3 billion to $5 billion a year. Basically he said, if
any new friends of those countries want them to have cheap energy, are they
willing to pay? So is this country willing to pay the same amount for cheap
gas for Ukraine and Georgia?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, there's a pretty good market. I mean, there's a
marketplace. And the definition of price, you can judge whether or not it's
fair, given kind of comparable situations elsewhere. Michael's point is, if
you've got a sole source of supply, or a significant sole source of supply,
sometimes that source of supply can set the market. And I would think that
what most consumers would want was fair, transparent pricing.

One way to make sure you've got fair pricing is to have alternative sources
of energy, so that you're able to make different choices, and that's very
difficult, particularly when it comes to natural gas. Gas is a hard product
to transport. Gas requires enormous capital investment. Oil can be
transferred by cart, by trucks; gas has to be transferred by pipeline, more
or less. Now there's a whole new technology coming, which is liquefied
natural gas, so it can be transported by fleet. And so all I would ask is
that there be transparency, that there be -- that people know fully what
the rules are, and that the contracts be open, easy to understand and
honored.

Q And if I may stay with the neighborhood for a second there. You recently
hosted the President of Georgia. Why do you think it's in NATO's interest
to admit a country with two internal conflicts on its territory?

THE PRESIDENT: I think it's in the world's interest that there be peaceful
resolution of those two internal issues. I also think it's in NATO's
interest to welcome countries which adhere to rule of law and marketplace
economics, a country that is a democracy, a country which allows for public
dissent and free press. I think those are all wonderful values that ought
to be incorporated -- that NATO -- that will benefit NATO with the
incorporation of a country like Georgia. It's not a given that Georgia
enters. All I said was that Georgia ought to be -- that the way forward
into NATO for Georgia ought to be clear and the road ought to be clearly
delineated so that they can then do the things necessary to earn NATO
membership.

There's some question as to whether or not the United States was committed
to this Georgian ascension, at least to be a part of the MAP Program. I
think I cleared that up. I think people pretty understand -- pretty well
understand my position on that now.

Q That's good. Thanks.

THE PRESIDENT: Mario.

Q Yes, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: So let me ask you something, Mario. Was your face painted
yesterday? (Laughter.)

Q Mine wasn't. But one of a friend of mine was, but my dog had an Italian
flag.

THE PRESIDENT: Very good. (Laughter.)

Q So that created quite an impression. Mr. President, two senior officials
of SISMI, the Italian counter-intelligence service, have been arrested just
recently.

THE PRESIDENT: Mario, I'm going to give you a chance to ask another
question because I'm not going to talk about ongoing cases. If you'd like
to come up with another question --

Q It's an open case. It's open in the sense that today, there has been a
request from the magistrate for the extradition of 26 CIA --

THE PRESIDENT: Mario -- Mario --

Q In principle, you would --

THE PRESIDENT: Mario, no, I'm not going to talk about the case. You can ask
another question, since I cut you off before you were able to ask your full
question.

Q You confuse me with the soccer. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: This is just in fairness.

Q Okay.

THE PRESIDENT: Gone from Mr. Thoughtful to Mr. Open Minded here.
(Laughter.)

Q Well, Mr. President, you've known Mr. Prodi for a long time, and you've
known Mr. Berlusconi -- you've known both of them. And how would you assess
the personal relationship that you had with Mr. Prodi and with Mr.
Berlusconi? Is there a difference how comfortable would you feel with one
or the other?

THE PRESIDENT: I feel very comfortable with both. The first thing that's
important is I feel comfortable with the people of Italy. We've got very
close ties.

And let me just take a step back. What's interesting about our country is
that we've got -- we've had close ties with a lot of countries. My ranch
was settled by Germans.

Q Really?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. There's a huge number of Italian Americans. A lot of
Russian Americans. You know, Norm Mineta in my Cabinet is a Japanese
American. In other words, so when you talk about relations with an American
President, you've got to understand that there's a -- at least I have, I
know my predecessors have, connections, close connections with people who
have fond -- either fond memories and/or great pride in their motherland.

And the way I like to define relations is that we've got -- that I've got
good relations and great respect for the country of Italy. Obviously,
people are so different that you've just got to gauge your relationship to
meet certain objectives. And our objective with our European friends is to
have a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace and is in close concert
with the United States.

And so I think in this case, Prodi and Berlusconi share that objective.
Both share the same objective. Same in Germany. And so I deal with them
differently. They're just different types of people with different
backgrounds. But I've known Romano Prodi, particularly since he was the
head of the EU. I've worked with him quite a bit. Ask him about the time
when I was riding my mountain bike on the beaches of Sea Island, Georgia. I
came roaring by as fast as I could. There was Prodi with his head down. I
made some kind of noise, or something startled him out of his walking
shoes, you know. (Laughter.) My point is, there he was. He's a guy who I
felt comfortable enough roaring by on a mountain bike, three Secret Service
agents spewing up sand. (Laughter.)

I know him. I feel comfortable talking to him. I may -- he may not agree
with me. But the fundamental question I think you're searching for is, can
you still have a good relationship even though you disagree on issues? And
the answer is, yes. That's part of life. There's a -- look, I'm the kind of
person, I make decisions, I deal with problems, I want to solve them, and
sometimes -- and, you know, I make it clear where I stand. And that creates
-- in the world, people say, wow, that creates tension. But privately, it
doesn't. That's what you've got to know. That there's a -- and I work hard
to make sure that I've got good personal relationships with these leaders
so we can solve problems. And I'm confident that --

Q Will you see him in --

THE PRESIDENT: Prodi?

Q -- in St. Petersburg, in a bilateral --

THE PRESIDENT: I don't even know. I'm not the scheduler, Mario. But I will
see him.

Q In a bilateral?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'll take him aside, just the two of us, if that's --
I'll take your recommendation for it. When I see him, I'll take him aside
and congratulate him. I don't know whether or not we're having bilaterals
or not? Are we?

MR. HADLEY: We're still looking at it.

THE PRESIDENT: Mario, you want me focused on the big picture. I don't know
my schedule. (Laughter.)

Q Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: All right. Masaomi.

Q Mr. President, U.S.-Japan relations are enjoying a golden age, a
so-called golden age, which can be credited to, close friendship that you
and Prime Minister Koizumi share. On the other hand, Japanese relations
with China and South Korea have chilled on Koizumi's watch. So how will you
build the U.S.-Japan alliance with the next Prime Minister? And what do you
hope to see in his approach to diplomacy towards Asia?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, our relations are good. I'm not sure any
President and Prime Minister are going to be able to duplicate our trip to
Graceland. (Laughter.) It's an unbelievable experience, if you think about
it. It's really one of the interesting lessons of history, isn't it? And
what I -- I'm told these guys are sick of hearing me say this, but I'm
going to say it anyway -- what the President referred to by "these guys"
are the American people sitting behind -- so my dad fought the Japanese.
And that is startling to me that his son takes the Prime Minister to
Graceland. Something happened. We fought the Germans, now we're very close
friends.

And what happened was there's a -- liberty took hold, a Japanese-style
democracy. That's what we're working on in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those are
the stakes, as far as I'm concerned.

And so we've got a great relationship. And I intend to keep it that way.
It's in American interests that we work closely with Japan. It's also in
our interests that Japan have got better relations with China and South
Korea. And that's going to be up to the Japanese leaders to make the
determination of how to do that. I, of course, have said that to Prime
Minister Koizumi. We would hope that you would be able to improve
relations. It's in our nation's interest that our friends have good
relations with other friends and acquaintances.

And so that's going to be an interesting issue as to whether or not that's
the case, whether that's a campaign issue in your democracy, whether or not
it even matters to the people of Japan. But that's why you have elections.
That's why you have decision-making in the democratic process, to determine
whether that's an important issue.

And that's -- you know what's interesting about the world in which we live,
if the Chinese are able to get the North Koreans back to the table, think
about a negotiating arrangement where you've actually got the Japanese and
the Chinese and the South Koreans and the Americans and the Russians all
sitting down, trying to convince Kim Jong-il to give up his nuclear weapons
program. It's pretty remarkable, when you think about it.

And it's -- and so I happen to believe -- and the same thing is remarkable
in some ways that we're still working very closely together on Iran.
Germany has been great on Iran, by the way. Appreciate the Chancellor's
strong position.

And the reason I bring this up, these are issues which we will solve, and
we're more likely to solve them more quickly when we work together to solve
them. And it's -- to me, it's a very positive development. It's a new
framework. It's kind of an interesting -- it's an interesting data point in
history to know that nations with different backgrounds and at times
warring with each other are now working together to deal the common -- with
the common threats. And it's a threat if the Iranians have a nuclear
weapon. It's a threat to world peace. It's a threat to all of us. It's a
threat for North Korea to develop a nuclear weapon. It's a very
destabilizing event in the Far East. So we're working very closely with
each other to get it done.

Q Do you have any worry about the relations between Japan and China?

THE PRESIDENT: Do I worry about it?

Q Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I would hope it would improve, is the best way to put
it -- hope it would improve. I think it's an important relationship. And I
can't make it improve. That's up to the parties to make it improve. I can
say, I hope it improves to both parties, which I'm more than willing to do.

Anyway, looking forward to going. Who's going? You're going, Steve? Tom.
Stretch, you going? You're going to be there.

Q Mr. President --

THE PRESIDENT: No, more questions.

Q That's it?

Q One more?

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, yes.

Q Great. (Laughter.) Mr. President, you were mentioning Germany's role,
vis- -vis Iran. Provided that there is no positive Iranian response before
the G8 summit --

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not sure I accept that yet.

Q Yes, well, let's just give it a try.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it's hypothetical, Michael.

Q Okay, let's give it a try. What measures --

THE PRESIDENT: You can try it. Give me a head's up. (Laughter.)

Q What measures -- what kind of sanctions will the administration strive
for? And how do you want to convince Russia and China to come aboard?

THE PRESIDENT: We spent a lot of time talking about these -- more than one
issue now, obviously, Russia and China. But part of diplomacy is just
constant work, constant dialogue and constant discussion, and remind people
that we have declared common goals. The goal on the Korean Peninsula is a
nuclear weapons-free peninsula. The goal of the Iranians is no nuclear
program.

And everybody has got different interests. And so everybody has got
different pressures. So diplomacy takes awhile. And what you're watching --
what the world watches now is diplomacy in action. And we will work very
quietly with our friends to work toward a resolution of the issue with the
goal of achieving this thing diplomatically, of achieving this issue --
success diplomatically, but also with the goal of saying, you know, with
common voice, to, in this case, the Iranians, no weapons program.

I'm not sure I necessarily accept your hypothesis that something positive
isn't going to happen. I don't know. But what I'm going to tell you is,
we'll react to it if it doesn't, if something positive doesn't happen.

Q So far, nothing has happened. On the Iranian side, it's been going on for
a long time.

THE PRESIDENT: Right, but there's a meeting here pretty soon. Wednesday.

Q So you're trusting the Iranians?

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no. You're asking me to -- you're asking me --
you're predicting the outcome of the meeting, and I'm saying I'm not
predicting the outcome of the meeting. And either way, we'll be prepared to
react.

Q So there is --

THE PRESIDENT: Good try, though, on the hypothetical question,

Q Very briefly.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Andre.

Q The Russians got their Osama bin Laden, Shamil Basayev, who was
responsible for killing the children in Beslan. What do you have to say to
the Russians about that? And also, will you be discussing with President
Putin his new idea about the new binding treaty to replace the old START I
that expires?

THE PRESIDENT: I'll be talking to him about a variety of subjects. Yes,
looking forward to hearing from that. And I -- I guess we're gathering the
details on the death of the guy, to find out more about it, you know. But
if he's, in fact, the person that ordered the killing of children in
Beslan, he deserved it.

Q Mr. President, on the U.N. -- United Nations, after Kofi Annan --

THE PRESIDENT: It's an interesting thing about terrorists, by the way,
they'll kill children like that. They don't care.

Q The name surfaced recently of Prince Zeid who is a member of the royal
family of Jordan, was the representative of Jordan to the U.N. And he would
be the first Muslim in case he would run for it.

THE PRESIDENT: You're trying to rope me in to the --

Q No, I'm saying, would you be against a moderate Muslim?

THE PRESIDENT: You're trying to get me to commit a name, actually talk
about names --

Q No, no, no. In general. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: As I understand it, the -- traditionally, there's kind of a
-- regions rotate, and we're really looking in the Far East right now to be
the Secretary General. Secretary General, there Holland.

Q Oh, sorry. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's kind of where the current -- that's kind of
where the current -- he's over 60. No he's not -- 53?

Q Fifty-one.

THE PRESIDENT: Fifty-one. That's kind of -- his birthday was recently.
That's kind of -- so the discussions mainly, at least the ones I've heard
about this, somebody from the eastern -- Far East --

Q Asia.

THE PRESIDENT: Asia, yes. So this is the first I've heard of this
suggestion. And you'll find that we will work closely with friends and
allies to come up with the best candidate, but we won't be committing
publicly, like you're trying to get me to do.

Q But with general principle, will you be against a Muslim, in Indonesia,
for example, who is up for the position?

THE PRESIDENT: Not at all, would not be against a Muslim. The criterion I'm
for is somebody who wants to spread liberty and enhance the peace, do
difficult things like confront tyranny, worry about the human condition,
blow the whistle on human rights violations.

Yes, sir. Final question now, for certain. Michael roped me into another
round there. (Laughter.)

Q Going back to North Korea, do you still think U.S. can deal with Kim
Jong-il in resolving the crisis, or do you have sort of regime change in
mind?

THE PRESIDENT: What we want is for the North Korean leader to give up his
weapons programs. And the United States tried to deal with him bilaterally
in the past and it didn't work. So I changed the policy. I said it's not
going to be just the United States dealing with the North Korean leader.
We're also going to have other partners, like Japan and South Korea and
Russia and China.

See, in the past, negotiators from the United States sat down and said,
this, that, and the other, and the North Koreans didn't honor the
agreement. So I'm trying a different approach. My last approach didn't
work, so hopefully this approach will work. And I think it's more likely to
work because you've got more than just one person saying it -- you know,
get rid of your weapons programs. Now we've got neighbors saying the same
thing. And so that's where we are right now.

What's interesting, I thought, was that, you know, the Chinese, the United
States, Japan, and South Korea, Russia all said, don't fire your weapon,
don't fire your rockets. And he fired his rockets.

And that ought to be an interesting lesson to all of us involved in this
relationship, that we've got to stay very close together and speak with one
voice, because it's very -- he must hear clearly that that kind of behavior
is unacceptable. People have asked me, what do I think he's trying to
achieve? I don't know. It's a non-transparent society. It's hard to tell.
Like, if I were to make a decision, you'd be reading about it. People,
reporters all over the place trying to -- why did he do this, why did he do
that? And that's good. That's what an open society does. I don't know what
objective he was trying to achieve.

But from my perspective, it sent a signal that he really was not afraid of
isolating himself even further. My attitude is, is that the people of North
Korea can have a much better life than they've -- than their leader has
chosen for them. There's tremendous starvation in North Korea. There's huge
concentration camps. It's unacceptable behavior, as far as I'm concerned.

And I would hope that the North Korean leader would choose a different path
forward. And the way to do that is to get rid of your weapons programs in a
verifiable fashion. There's a better way forward for the Iranian leadership
than isolation, and that is to get rid of the weapons programs in a
verifiable fashion. It's their choice to make. We've made our -- the United
States has made its choice, Germany has made its choice, Russia has made
her choice, Japan has made its choice. We've made our choice. The choice is
theirs. And I would hope that these leaders would recognize that there is
-- there's benefits for their people. They truly care about their people.
There's benefits for their people.

You know, one of the most moving moments of my presidency came when the
young -- when the mother of -- young daughter was kidnapped by the North
Koreans. Imagine. Anybody got children here? Imagine if some foreign nation
ordered your child to be kidnapped, just removed. And never -- they never
heard from the girl again. They went -- she was telling me, she was
wondering whether she was murdered, and they searched everywhere. It's
unbelievable, isn't it? It turns out that they believe that she was in
North Korea, a regime that just felt like there was no accountability and
no regard for human rights, and just took this young child.

So the mother was sitting there in the Oval Office with me. It was
incredibly emotional. After all these years, she still felt this pain in
her heart. And my point is, is that there's a better way forward than that,
to live in a society like that. And the choice is his to make, in North
Korea's case. I hope he makes the right choice. It's important for all of
us to continue to make that very clear. If he chooses the other way, he'll
be isolated and his people won't benefit.

Okay. Thank you all. I enjoyed it.

END 3:12 P.M. EDT
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