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Skriven 2006-12-04 23:30:58 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0612047) for Mon, 2006 Dec 4
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President Bush Meets with His Eminence Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, Leader of the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 4, 2006

President Bush Meets with His Eminence Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, Leader of the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
The Oval Office

President's Remarks view

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Renewal in Iraq

2:26 P.M. EST

PRESIDENT BUSH: Your Eminence, welcome back to the Oval Office. This is the
second opportunity I've had to meet with one of the distinguished leaders
of a free Iraq. This is a man whose family suffered unbelievable violence
at the hands of the dictator, Saddam Hussein. He lost nearly 60 family
members, and yet rather than being bitter, he's involved with helping the
new government succeed.

We talked about a lot of important issues. I appreciate so very much His
Eminence's commitment to a unity government. I assured him the United
States supports his work and the work of the Prime Minister to unify the
country. Part of unifying Iraq is for the elected leaders and society
leaders to reject the extremists that are trying to stop the advance of
this young democracy. I appreciated very much His Eminence's strong
position against the murder of innocent life.

We talked about the need to give the government of Iraq more capability, as
quickly as possible, so that the elected government of Iraq can do that
which the Iraqi people want, which is to secure their country from the
extremists and murderers. I told His Eminence that I was proud of the
courage of the Iraqi people. I told him that we're not satisfied with the
pace of progress in Iraq, and that we want to continue to work with the
sovereign government of Iraq to accomplish our mutual objectives, which is
a free country that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself; a
free country which will serve as an ally in the war against the extremists
and radicals and terrorists.

So, Your Eminence, welcome back. Thank you for the very constructive
conversation we had.

SCIRI LEADER HAKIM: In the name of God, the merciful, the passionate, and
blessing upon Prophet Mohammed and his purified family and his loyal
companions. My meeting with President Bush today emerges from our shared
commitment to continue dialogue and consultation among us and also on the
basis of our conviction that the Iraqi issue is a mutual interest. It's an
issue that requires coordination between the two sides in a way that
concerns both of us politically and from a security point of view and
economic point of view, as well.

Therefore, our conversation today focused on ways to advance the work of
the Iraqi government, the elected government, as well as to advance the
whole situation in Iraq and move it forward. Also, we have discussed ways
in order to provide all the necessities that the Iraqi armed forces will
need, in terms of armament, in terms of trainings, in order to be in a
position to assume the security file.

The Iraqi situation has been subjected to a great deal of defamation, and
the true picture is not being presented in order to show a dark side of
what's happening in Iraq. We see the attempts to defame and distort the
situation in Iraq not taking into consideration the democratic steps that
that country has taken, writing the constitution and establishing a state
that depends heavily on the constitution, that it is unified and that it is
strong. There are attempts to show the sectarian strife in an attempt to
weaken the position in Iraq.

The U.S. interests, the Iraqi interests, the regional interests, they are
all linked. Therefore, it is very important when we deal with this issue,
we look at the interests of the Iraqi people. If we don't, this whole issue
could backfire and could harm the interests of the region, the United
States, and Iraq, as well.

Therefore, we believe that the Iraqi issue should be solved by the Iraqis
with the help of friends everywhere. But we reject any attempts to have a
regional or international role in solving the Iraqi issue. We cannot bypass
the political process. Iraq should be in a position to solve Iraqi
problems. We welcome any effort that could enhance the democratic reality
in Iraq and protect the constitutional role of that state.

We have gone a long way to establish a democratic and pluralistic society
in Iraq. We have given a great deal of sacrifice to achieving the
objective. We cherish all the sacrifices that took place for the liberation
and the freedom of Iraq, sacrifices by the Iraqi people, as well as
friendly nations, and on top of that list, sacrifices by the Americans. We
have now an elected government in Iraq, a government that is so determined
to combat both violence and terror, a government that it is -- strongly
believes in the unity of that government and of that country and the
society, a government that deals and will deal with all the sources of
terrorism regardless where they come from.

We will work very hard and seek all forms of cooperation at the
international level and the regional level in order to defeat terrorism
that it is trying to use Iraq as a base in order to sabotage the future of
that nation.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, for allowing me this opportunity to
meet with you. I would like to take this opportunity also to thank the
American people and their sympathy toward Iraq, those who helped Iraq to
get rid of a brutal dictatorship and to enjoy freedom and liberties.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all.

END 2:37 P.M. EST
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