    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [October 20, 2001]
    [Pages 1271-1273]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Junichiro
    Koizumi of Japan and an Exchange With
    Reporters in Shanghai, China
    October 20, 2001

        President Bush. It's an honor to be with our--with my friend. And we
    have no stronger friend in the fight against terror than the Prime
    Minister of Japan. I have been impressed by his resolve and his
    determination.
        I'm also very impressed by his resolve and determination to make
    economic reforms within Japan. He's got a very good strategy, an
    economic strategy, and I support it. And I support the fact that he is a
    strong leader.
        I regret that I didn't have an opportunity to take advantage of the
    kind invitation to go to Tokyo. But Mr. Prime Minister, I assure you
    that when things settle down, if I'm still invited, I would like to come
    back.
        Prime Minister Koizumi. Of course.
        President Bush. Thank you, sir.
        Prime Minister Koizumi. I appreciate your strong leadership to fight
    terrorism. Your determination and the patience, I appreciate.
        President Bush. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
        I'll be glad to take--yes, Ron [Ron Fournier, Associated Press].
        Q. A question, sir?
        President Bush. Sure.

    Operation Enduring Freedom

        Q. Your reaction, please, to the crash of the helicopter that cost
    the lives of two servicemen. And can you tell us what mission it was
    that they were supporting?
        President Bush. My heart goes out to the family and friends of those
    who lost their life. It is hard to express my gratitude in proper words
    for people that are willing to sacrifice for freedom. The Nation feels
    the same gratitude. And I want to assure the loved ones that the
    soldiers died in a cause that is just and right and that we will
    prevail.
        In the addresses I've given to our Nation, I have said that
    sometimes the American people and our allies will see actions we take,
    and sometimes people won't see the actions we take. But they can rest
    assured that we will use the resources of our country, all the resources
    of our country, to ferret out and find and bring to justice those who
    would harm our country and harm other countries, as well. And that's
    exactly what we're doing.
        Q. Sir, are you satisfied with the progress in the first day of the
    ground war by the Special Forces?
        President Bush. I am satisfied we're making very good progress. We
    are dismantling Taliban defenses, Taliban military. We are destroying
    terrorist hideaways. We are slowly but surely encircling the terrorists
    so that we can bring them to justice.
        Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].
        Q. Do you feel like you've prepared the American people adequately
    for the possibility of casualties, sir?
        President Bush. Steve, I think the American people understand that
    ours will be a long struggle against terror. And they understand there
    will be sacrifice. After all, there was no greater example of that
    sacrifice than on Flight 93, when American citizens, after having said
    the Lord's Prayer,

    [[Page 1272]]

    said, ``Let's roll.'' And they stormed that airplane so as to save lives
    on the ground.
        I think the American people now fully understand that we are in an
    important struggle, a struggle that will take time, and that the
    country--there will be moments of sacrifice. We've seen two such
    examples today.
        The thing that's important for me to tell the American people, that
    these soldiers will not have died in vain. This is a just cause. It's an
    important cause. The Prime Minister of Japan understands how important
    this cause is. He's a strong friend and ally in our fight against
    terror. We must succeed, and we will succeed.

    Nature of the Coalition

        Q. Mr. President, both you and Dr. Rice have talked about how much
    cooperation you're getting from other countries. Is it the case that all
    countries around the world are cooperating in this effort, or are there
    still countries that we would like to see more determination from to
    join this fight against terror?
        President Bush. Well, I fully understand that some countries will
    participate with military forces, and others won't feel comfortable
    doing that. Some countries will be very good about sharing intelligence;
    other countries may not be so good. Some countries will be much more
    efficient about cutting off money; other countries may be a little lax
    about cutting off money. But the point is, is that the coalition is
    broad and deep and strong and committed.
        And we are very pleased with not only the commitment but the
    collective contribution. And we're making great progress. We're--not
    only are we doing well militarily, but we're sharing intelligence all
    across the globe, in ways that people could never envision up to now.
        So I'm very pleased. And I want to commend the Secretary of
    State for not only working hard to put the
    coalition together but working hard to reinforce the coalition. And one
    of the reasons I came to this important meeting was to be able to look
    at my friend and thank him for his commitment, his support, and thank
    other world leaders for their support.
        Q. Should the American people expect more from----

    Discussions With Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia

        Q. Sir, can you tell us how the meeting went with the Prime Minister
    of Malaysia, who has expressed concern about the military action?
        President Bush. Well, we had a very good visit today. He is
    concerned about the death of innocent people in Afghanistan, and I
    assured him I am, too. Our beef is not with the Afghan people. Our beef
    is with a government that houses and feeds and tries to hide terrorists.
    And I assured him that our campaign was--that we were trying to be as
    careful as we possibly could to achieve our military objective.
        Secondly, I want the American people to understand that we're a
    compassionate Government. We're spending a great deal of money to help
    the people of Afghanistan. And I'm concerned about the fact that food
    isn't getting to some Afghan citizens, and the reason why is, is because
    the Taliban is preventing food distribution. They're disrupting food;
    they're stealing food. These are people that are willing to starve their
    people, which is yet another reason why the Taliban must go.
        Q. Should the American people expect more----

    Operation Enduring Freedom

        Q. [Inaudible]--to his question, were you commenting on the success
    of today's mission, or to the success of the mission in general?
        President Bush. The success of the mission in general. We're making
    great progress. We're making great progress. As you know, I'm not going
    to comment on a specific operation. I will tell you, though, that we're
    using all the resources of the

    [[Page 1273]]

    country. And in general, we're making very good progress. We're pleased
    with the progress being made.
        Q. Should the American people expect more raids like today, sir?

    Upcoming Discussions With President Vladimir Putin of Russia

        Q. [Inaudible]--what about Putin tomorrow----
        President Bush. Oh, I think it's a very important meeting with
    President Putin tomorrow. I'm sorry, Mr. Prime Minister. But I look
    forward to the continued progress toward our Crawford meeting.
        Somebody said, ``Well, there's great anticipation that there will be
    so-called breakthroughs.'' Well, the breakthrough occurred in our first
    meeting, where we made a determined effort to work together to find
    common ground when it comes to new strategic arrangements. But I
    wouldn't expect any startling news, except for the fact that we're
    continuing our dialog.
        The Prime Minister has got a few comments.

    Baseball

    [At this point, a question was asked in Japanese, and a translation was
    not provided.]

        Prime Minister Koizumi. My treasure, precious, for Ripken, world-
    famous baseball player. I love baseball very much. I love baseball very
    much--American sports.
        President Bush. He's got a very nice
    arm, too. [Laughter] I saw his fastball at Camp David. [Laughter]
        Prime Minister Koizumi. Yes--quite a spirit, very strong. Reliable.
        President Bush. Plus, we've been very impressed by Ichiro. [Laughter]
        Prime Minister Koizumi. My name is ``Jun-Ichiro.'' [Laughter]
    ``Jun'' is ``pure''--``Jun'' means ``pure,'' ``purity''--``Ichiro.''
        President Bush. Got you. [Laughter]

    Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. at the Portman Ritz-Carlton
    Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Baltimore Orioles third baseman
    Cal Ripken, Jr., and Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.