[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
[September 7, 2002]
[Pages 1559-1561]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and an Exchange With Reporters at
Camp David, Maryland
September 7, 2002
President Bush. It's my honor to welcome the Prime Minister back to
Camp David. I look forward to spending a good 3 hours talking to our
friend about how to keep the peace. This world faces some serious
threat--and threats--and we're going to talk about it. We're going to
talk about how to promote freedom around the world. We're going to talk
about our shared values of--recognizes the worth of every individual.
And I'm looking forward to this time. It's awfully thoughtful of
Tony to come over here. It's an important meeting, because he's an
important ally, an important friend.
Welcome.
Prime Minister Blair. Thanks.
I'm looking very much forward, obviously, to discussing the issues
that are preoccupying us at the moment with the President. And I thank
him for his kind invitation to come here and his welcome.
The point that I would emphasize to you is that the threat from
Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction--chemical, biological,
potentially nuclear weapons capability--that threat is real. We only
need to look at the report from the International Atomic Energy Agency
this morning showing what has been going on at the former nuclear
weapons sites to realize that. And the policy of inaction is not a
policy we can responsibly subscribe to. So the purpose of our discussion
today is to work out the right strategy for dealing with this, because
deal with it we must.
President Bush. AP lady [Jennifer Loven, Associated Press].
Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction
Q. Mr. President, can you tell us what conclusive evidence of any
nuclear--new evidence you have of nuclear weapons capabilities of Saddam
Hussein?
President Bush. We just heard the Prime Minister talk about the new
report. I would remind you that when the inspectors first went into Iraq
and were denied--finally denied access, a report came out of the
Atomic--the IAEA that they were 6 months away from developing a weapon.
I don't know what more evidence we need.
Prime Minister Blair. Absolutely right. And what we--what we know
from what has been going on there for a long period of time is not just
the chemical, biological weapons capability, but we know that they were
trying to develop nuclear weapons capability. And the importance of this
morning's report is, it yet again shows that there is a real issue that
has to be tackled here.
I mean, I was just reading, coming over here, the catalog of
attempts by Iraq to conceal its weapons of mass destruction, not to tell
the truth about it over--not just over a period of months but over a
period of years. Now, that's why the issue is important. And of course,
it's an issue not just for America, not just for Britain; it's
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an issue for the whole of the international community. But it is an
issue we have to deal with. And that's why I say to you that the policy
of inaction, doing nothing about it, is not something we can responsibly
adhere to.
President Bush. Do you want to call on somebody? You don't have to
if you don't want to. [Laughter]
United Nations Resolution on Iraq
Q. A question for the President and the Prime Minister: Will you,
Mr. President, seek a U.N. resolution prior to any action against Iraq?
And for the Prime Minister, would you sanction any action against Iraq
before--without a U.N. resolution?
President Bush. Well, first, I'm going to give a speech next
Thursday, and I'd like you to tune in.
Prime Minister Blair. As I said to you, I think at the press
conference we gave earlier in the week, this is an issue for the whole
of the international community. But the U.N. has got to be the way of
dealing with this issue, not the way of avoiding dealing with it. Now,
of course, as we showed before in relation to Afghanistan, we want the
broadest possible international support, but it's got to be on the basis
of actually making sure that the threat that we've outlined is properly
adhered to.
Because the point that I would emphasize to you is it's not us--it's
not Britain or America that's in breach of United Nations resolutions.
It's Saddam Hussein and Iraq. And therefore, this issue is there for the
international community to deal with. And we've got to make sure that it
is a way of dealing with it.
President Bush. Patsy [Patricia Wilson, Reuters].
Regime Change in Iraq
Q. Mr. President----
President Bush. Yes.
Q. ----what is your actual target in Iraq? Is it weapons of mass
destruction or Saddam Hussein? And if the Prime Minister could answer
too.
President Bush. Well, as you know, our Government in 1998--action
that my administration has embraced--decided that this regime was not
going to honor its commitments to get rid of weapons of mass
destruction. The Clinton administration supported regime change. Many
members of the current United States Senate supported regime change. My
administration still supports regime change. There's all kinds of ways
to change regimes.
This man is a man who said he was going
to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. And for 11 long years, he has
not fulfilled his promise. And we're going to talk about what to do
about it. We owe it to future generations to deal with this problem, and
that's what these discussions are all about.
Final question.
Call on somebody. [Laughter]
Prime Minister Blair. Yes, sure.
President Bush. Yes?
Q. Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, do you have any support from
any----
President Bush. Pardon me?
Q. Do you have any support from any other countries in the world,
apart from Britain? And Mr. Blair too.
President Bush. Yes. A lot of people understand that this
man has defied every U.N. resolution--16 U.S.
resolutions he's ignored. A lot of people understand he holds weapons of
mass destruction. A lot of people understand he has invaded two
countries. A lot of people understand he's gassed his own people. A lot
of people understand he is unstable. So we've got a lot of support. A
lot of people understand the danger.
Prime Minister Blair. Yes, and I can tell you from the discussions
I've had with people--of course, there are people asking perfectly
reasonable questions about this, but the one thing that no one can deny
is that Saddam Hussein is in breach of the United
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Nations resolutions on weapons of mass destruction--that is, chemical,
biological, nuclear weapons--that that poses a threat not just to the
region, because there is no way, if those weapons were used, that the
threat would simply stay in the region.
People understand that. Now, we've got to make sure that we work out
a way forward that, of course, mobilizes the maximum support but does so
on the basis of removing a threat that the United Nations itself has
determined is a threat to the whole of the world.
President Bush. Thank you all for coming. I appreciate you. Thanks.
Q. Mr. President----
President Bush. Pardon me?
President's Reaction to September 11
Q. Will you take one on 9/11, sir?
President Bush. Yes, go ahead.
Q. Let me ask you, sir, when you asked the American people for
support----
President Bush. The only reason why is, he's a fine fellow.
Go ahead.
Q. When you asked the American people for support 2 years ago, there
was no way, sir, anyone could have imagined the grim nature of the job
you would take on. Had you known then what the job would entail, would
you still have asked for it, sir? And would you have had any compunction
about----
President Bush. There's no way that I could have possibly known what
we were going to have to deal with. I'm a citizen of a country that has
had these two vast oceans protecting us. For all these years we were
safe. People couldn't come and attack us--so we thought. Of course,
Hawaii got attacked, but that's not a part of our mainland. We felt
secure here in the country.
There's no way we could have possibly envisioned that the
battlefield would change. And it has, and that's why we've got to deal
with all the threats. That's why Americans must understand that when a
tyrant like Saddam Hussein possesses weapons
of mass destruction, it not only threatens the neighborhood in which he
lives--it not only threatens the region--it can threaten the United
States of America or Great Britain, for that matter. The battlefield has
changed. We are in a new kind of war, and we've got to recognize that.
There's no way I could have possibly predicted that future. I'm
honored to be the President. And so long as I am the President, I'm
going to work hard to make America safe and the world more peaceful.
Thank you all.
Note: The President spoke at 3:51 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.