[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

[[Page 1560]]

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

[[Page 1561]]

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.