[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
[March 20, 2002]
[Pages 458-459]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters in Alexandria, Virginia
March 20, 2002

Military Tribunals

    Q. Mr. President?
    The President. Yes.
    Q. What are you hoping to achieve by holding the military tribunals? 
And at this point, do we have any people eligible to face those 
tribunals?
    The President. Well, the tribunals are just an option for us. And 
we'll be using the tribunals if in the course of bringing somebody to 
justice it may jeopardize or compromise national security interests. So 
they're a tool; they're an option. As you know, we're discussing rules 
about how they can function well. The Defense Department asked a lot of 
opinions from respected scholars, and the world's now beginning to see 
what we meant by a fair system that will enable us to bring people to 
justice but at the same time protect national security. I have no plans 
right now to use anybody--nobody in mind yet. But the option is 
available.
    Q. Are many of those people otherwise going to be sent back to their 
home countries, and have you decided which ones would be----
    The President. Well, we're still in the process of getting as much 
information from the detainees as possible. Remember, these are--the 
ones in Guantanamo Bay are killers. They don't share the same values we 
share. They would like nothing more than to come after Americans or our 
friends and allies. And so, therefore, it's in our national interest to 
make sure we know enough about them before we decide what to do with 
them. So there's a process--ongoing process to get as much information 
as we can from the prisoners, the detainees. Some talk; some don't talk.
    Q. But let me follow, if I could----
    The President. There will only be three questions.
    Q. Okay, sorry. But if you say they're killers----
    The President. They said they're killers.
    Q. ----what makes them eligible to go to the tribunal?
    The President. I told you, if any evidence that is required to 
convict them jeopardizes the national security interests of the country, 
we'll use the tribunal.

Situation in the Middle East

    Q. Mr. President, are you frustrated by the continuing violence in 
the Middle East, that looks--one day it looks good, the next day it's--
--
    The President. Of course I am. I am frustrated by the violence in 
the Middle East, and so are a lot of people who live in the Middle East. 
I know there are some people who do not want us to achieve any kind of 
peaceful settlement of a longstanding dispute. And they're willing to 
use terrorist means to disrupt any progress that's being made. And that 
frustrates me. It frustrates mothers and dads who happen to be 
Palestinians and Israelis, because they want to raise their children in 
a secure environment.
    Nevertheless, we'll continue to work the issue and work it hard. 
Zinni is over there; he's making some 
progress. He's saying to both parties, ``Stay the course. Work hard to 
get into Tenet.'' And hopefully we can achieve what we all want to 
achieve, which is eventually a political settlement. But first and 
foremost, we've got to come up with a security agreement. We made some 
progress, and I want to thank Zinni for his job that he's doing there. 
And I'm looking forward to being briefed by the Vice President tomorrow morning when he gets back from--he's getting 
back this afternoon, but he's going to come in tomorrow morning. We'll 
have breakfast first thing

[[Page 459]]

in the morning, prior to me leaving for Mexico.
    Q. Mr. President, just yesterday the Vice President was suggesting 
that he could meet with Chairman Arafat if there was a cease-fire. Does 
a cease-fire mean an end to all suicide bombings?
    The President. Well, what he said was, was 
that there are certain conditions under which he would meet with Mr. 
Arafat, and that is getting into the Tenet 
agreement and meeting the conditions. And we've also said that we expect 
there to be a 100-percent effort by Chairman Arafat. We expect him to be 
reining in those people with whom he's got influence. Clearly, he's not 
going to have influence with every single suicide bomber. I understand 
that. But we expect him to be diligent and firm and consistent in his 
efforts to rein in those who would like to disrupt any progress toward 
peace and rein in those who would harm our friends the Israelis.
    And as I've said in the past, I didn't think he has done a very good job of doing that up to now, and I 
believe he can do a better job. And that's exactly the message the Vice 
President is delivering in his statement.
    Listen, thank you all very much. I don't want to hold two press 
conferences in one week.

Note: The exchange began at 1:25 p.m. in the mini-auditorium at Samuel 
W. Tucker Elementary School. In his remarks, the President referred to 
U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Gen. Anthony Zinni, USMC (Ret.); 
and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority. The President 
also referred to the Tenet plan, the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire and 
security plan of June 13, 2001, negotiated by Director of Central 
Intelligence George J. Tenet. The transcript released by the Office of 
the Press Secretary also included Mrs. Bush's closing remarks.