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Skriven 2005-05-20 23:33:00 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0505201) for Fri, 2005 May 20
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President Bush Meets with Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 20, 2005

President Bush Meets with Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen
The Oval Office



10:48 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: The Prime Minister and I will be glad to answer two
questions per side.

First, Mr. Prime Minister, welcome back. It is so wonderful to see you.
He's a good friend of mine. Denmark is a good friend of America. I
appreciate your contributions to transatlantic ties. The Prime Minister has
made very constructive and helpful comments to make sure that the
transatlantic ties between the United States and Europe are strong. And I
want to thank you for your leadership role.

I also appreciate your clear understanding about the historic times in
which we live, times in which more and more people are becoming free. I
appreciate your strong support for those who desire to live in a democracy
in Iraq. I thank you for your contributions to a new democracy called
Afghanistan. I thank you for your very constructive work in helping the
Palestinians develop a democratic state that can live side-by-side with
Israel in peace.

So welcome back. It's good to see you, sir.

PRIME MINISTER RASMUSSEN: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'm delighted
to be back in Washington. It's my fourth visit as Prime Minister, which
underlines that the United States and Denmark are close friends and allies.
We share the same fundamental values. We are allied in our efforts to
promote freedom and democracy worldwide.

And I'm happy to say, in addition to this, that I appreciate very much your
straightforward style. I consider you a friend and I know that with you,
I'll always have a very frank discussion and exchange of views. So I'm
happy to be back.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Fortunately, he's not that good a friend that I would go
running with him. (Laughter.) He's one of the best runners in the world,
amongst the world leaders. He's a good one.

Deb.

Q Mr. President, on stem cells, specifically, would you veto legislation
that loosened the requirement on federal funding for stem cell research?
And secondly --

PRESIDENT BUSH: Deb --

Q -- what is your reaction to the news about the South Koreans on embryonic
--

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm -- first, I'm very concerned about cloning. I worry
about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable. Secondly, I made my
position very clear on embryonic stem cells. I'm a strong supporter of
adult stem cell research, of course. But I made it very clear to the
Congress that the use of federal money, taxpayers' money to promote science
which destroys life in order to save life is -- I'm against that. And
therefore, if the bill does that, I will veto it.

Q Mr. President, how do you react to the continuing reports about
mistreatment of prisoners held by American military around the world, and
also the perception abroad that the ones that are paying for it are
low-ranking soldiers, but that nobody higher up is taking any
responsibility?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I think the world ought to be -- pay attention to the
contrast between a society which was run by a brutal tyrant in which there
was no transparency and a society in which the whole world watches a
government find the facts, lay the facts out for the citizens to see, and
that punishment, when appropriate, be delivered.

If I'm not mistaken, I think about over 20 percent of the people thus far
that have been held to account as a result of the Abu Ghraib issue have
been officers. There have been over, I think, nine investigations, eight or
nine investigations by independent investigators that have made the reports
very public. I'm comfortable that we're getting to the bottom of the
situation and I know we're doing so in a transparent way. Obviously, ours
is a country that respects human rights and human dignity, and if those
rights and dignity have been denied, we will hold people to account.

Steve.

Q Sir, are you worried that the publication of the Saddam photo, along with
the Newsweek story, will further inflame tensions and inspire the Iraq
insurgency and anti-Americanism in the Middle East?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I think the Iraq insurgency is inspired by their desire to
stop the march of freedom. Remember, these are ideologues of -- that murder
innocent people in order to spread their dark vision of hate. And,
therefore, when light begins to show up in the form of democracy, it
frightens them. There is no future for these haters in a free world. And so
they're inspired by the fact that they see democracy emerging in Iraq.
That's what causes them to want to kill. They're frightened by the fact --
and inspired the wrong way, by the way -- by the fact that Afghanistan is
free. They're seeing the people in Lebanon demand free and fair elections.
And their ideology cannot survive in a democratic society. See, the only
way they can survive is to -- is to try to shake our will by killing
innocent life.

And that's why our strategy in Iraq is to train the Iraqis so that they,
themselves, can fight off these terrorists. Listen, eight-and-a-half
million people went to the polls, in spite of the fact that the -- people
had been killed and there was incredible intimidation. And they defied the
bombers. These people want to be free, and the killers don't want them to
be free. And so our strategy is to help the Iraqis realize the dream of a
free society. And when the Iraqi troops are properly trained -- and we're
headed in that direction -- of course, it will take less of a coalition
effort to help this new democracy get started.

Yes, Steve.

Q What about the Saddam photo? Does that have any --

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you asked me whether or not that would inspire people.
You know, I don't think a photo inspires murderers. I think they're
inspired by an ideology that is so barbaric and backwards that it's hard
for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think. But I would
just remind people, if you want to know how ideologically grim their vision
of the world is, just remember the Taliban. They said, if you don't agree
with our religious views you'll be prosecuted; if you're a woman who seeks
freedom, you'll be beaten. So these people are motivated by a vision of the
world that is backward and barbaric.

Q Mr. President, while the Danish people might support the war and
appreciate the progress in Iraq, they're also curious when our soldiers
will come back home. Can you elaborate on that?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate that question a lot and, of course, I get
asked that in our own country a lot. And my answer is, it makes no sense to
set a timetable. And the reason why is, is because it will allow an enemy
to adjust.

On the other hand, as I tell our folks, is that we would like to get our
troops out as quickly as possible. And the definition of that will be how
soon our commanders on the ground think that the Iraqis are able to take
the fight to the enemy.

I just got off of a video -- which I'm looking to briefing the Prime
Minister on -- with General Casey, who is our general on the ground, he's
the commander of the coalition forces. And he was describing to us the
Iraqi training and the quality of training. And some units are in really
good shape and other units need additional work. But one of the things
that's important to understand is the Iraqi government understands that as
civilian governments change, there needs to be stability in the military
and a chain of command that links top to bottom. And General Casey knows
we're making progress toward establishing that chain of command.

My answer to the Danish people is, as soon as we can possibly get it done.
We've got to complete the mission. A free Iraq in the midst of the Middle
East is going to be a powerful -- a powerful agent for peace.

Listen, thank you all for coming.

Q One more?

PRESIDENT BUSH: We don't want to break precedent. Was that you, Mark, who
asked that?

Q It was.

PRESIDENT BUSH: No. (Laughter.) You know better than that.

END 10:56 A.M. EDT

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