    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [July 14, 2003]
    [Pages 869-872]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations and an Exchange With Reporters
    July 14, 2003

        President Bush. I'm so honored that Kofi Annan has come back to the
    Oval Office. We've had a great discussion. I briefed him on my trip to
    Africa, his native continent, and I told him that I was most impressed
    with the possibilities of the continent. I saw the potential, and I also
    saw many of the problems. And I want to thank the Secretary-General for
    his work on hunger and HIV/AIDS. We're going to work closely with him to
    help defeat the pandemic.
        And the other thing we talked about was Liberia. I assured him that
    our Government's position is a strong position. We

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    want to enable ECOWAS to get in and help create the conditions necessary
    for the cease-fire to hold, that Mr. Taylor
    must leave, that we'll participate with the troops. We're in the
    process, still, of determining what is necessary, what ECOWAS can bring
    to the table, when they can bring it to the table, what is the
    timetable, and be able to match the necessary U.S. help to expediting
    the ECOWAS' participation.
        I told the Secretary-General that we want to help, that there must
    be a U.N. presence, quickly, into Liberia. He and I discussed how fast
    it would take to blue-helmet whatever forces arrived, other than our
    own, of course. We would not be blue-helmeted. We would be there to
    facilitate and then to leave. And we had a good discussion. And I think
    we had a meeting of minds on that subject.
        We talked about Iraq. And I told him and assured him that the United
    States would stay the course because we believe freedom is on its way to
    the Iraqi people. And by that I mean that the Iraqi people are beginning
    to assume more and more responsibility in their society. Free society
    requires a certain kind of responsible behavior. And we're seeing more
    and more of that amongst the Iraqi citizens. Our deep desire is to make
    sure that the infrastructure is repaired, that people are educated, and
    health care delivery systems are good.
        I was honest in my appraisal when I told him that I recognize
    certain elements of the former regime are interested in keeping the
    infrastructure blown up because of--for pure power reasons, and that--I
    told him, and I will continue to speak as clearly as I can that an
    attack on the Iraqi infrastructure by the Ba'athists are--is an attack
    on the Iraqi people. And it's those Iraqis who are causing the continued
    suffering, where there's suffering in Iraq.
        But we're making good progress. I'm proud of Jerry Bremer's work. And then the--we also talked
    about other issues that are on his mind and my mind. The long and short
    of it is we had a great discussion.
        Mr. Secretary-General, I'm honored you're here.
        Secretary-General Annan. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I think
    it is fair to say that it's wonderful that I should be meeting the
    President soon after the return--his return from Africa, my own
    continent. We weren't too far away. I was in Mozambique when he was in
    South Africa and Botswana.
        But I would want to thank the President for the interest in the
    continent and his determination to help defeat the AIDS pandemic. I
    think it is a tragedy that is not only taking away the future of Africa;
    it is really destroying the present.
        And it's a disease that takes parents away from children, teachers
    away from students, doctors away from hospitals. So the effort that is
    going in is absolutely worthwhile. And at the African Union Summit, this
    topic was very much on everyone's mind.
        We also discussed, as the President has indicated, the situation in
    Liberia. And I'm satisfied with the discussions we've had and the
    approach the U.S. Government is taking. And of course, there is an
    assessment team in west Africa, but we have more or less agreed to a
    general approach on the Liberian issue, and I'm very pleased with that.
        We talked about at least where the President's leadership has made a
    difference. Over the past couple of weeks, things are going in the right
    direction. We have bumps in the road, but I think, with the
    determination of the leaders and the support of the international
    community, we will make progress on this very difficult issue.
        In Iraq, we were encouraged to see the formation of the Governing
    Council yesterday. And I must say that my special representative, Sergio
    de Mello, and Mr. Bremer are working very well together.
        And on the Hill, I indicated that regardless of the differences that
    existed between nations before the war, now we have a challenge. The
    challenge is to stabilize Iraq,

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    to help Iraq to become a peaceful, stable, and prosperous state. And I
    think everyone needs to help. An Iraq that is at peace with itself and
    its neighbors is in the interest of the neighbors and the entire
    international community.

        So I would want to see the entire community, international
    community, come together to assist the Iraqi people and to help us
    stabilize a region.

        President Bush. Thank you, Kofi.

    Quality of Intelligence/Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction

        Q. Mr. President, thank you. On Iraq, what steps are being taken to
    ensure that questionable information like the Africa uranium material
    doesn't come to your desk and wind up in your speeches?

        President Bush. Well, let me first say that, you know, I think the
    intelligence I get is darn good intelligence. And the speeches I have
    given were backed by good intelligence. And I am absolutely convinced
    today, like I was convinced when I gave the speeches, that Saddam
    Hussein developed a program of weapons of
    mass destruction and that our country made the right decision.

        We worked with the United Nations--as Kofi mentioned, not all
    nations agreed with the decision, but we worked with the United Nations.
    And Saddam Hussein did not comply. And it's
    the same intelligence, by the way, that my predecessor used to make the
    decision he made in 1998.

        We are in the process now of interrogating people inside of Iraq
    to--and looking at documents, exploring documents to determine the
    extent that--what we can find as quickly as possible. And I believe,
    firmly believe, that when it's all said and done, the people of the
    United States and the world will realize that Saddam Hussein had a weapons program.

        Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].

    Liberia

        Q. On Liberia, are you now telling us that you will send U.S. troops
    to Liberia, and how many, and when will this happen?
        President Bush. Yes, see, that's--what I'm telling you is that we
    want to help ECOWAS. It may require troops, but we don't know how many
    yet. And therefore, it's hard for me to make a determination until I've
    seen all the facts. And as Kofi mentioned, there's still--or the
    Secretary-General mentioned, excuse me--[laughter]--there's still--a
    little informal here. They are still--our teams, our military is
    assessing ECOWAS' strength, how soon, how quick, what kind of troops,
    who they are, to determine what is necessary from our side to fulfill
    the commitment I have made that we will help maintain the cease-fire.
        By the way, this is conditional upon Mr. Taylor leaving. He's got to leave. I think everybody
    understands that. We discussed that, by the way, in Nigeria, with
    President Obasanjo, who clearly understands that as well. But we're
    still, Steve, determining the facts. It is very difficult for me to make
    a decision until I see the facts.
        Q. Well, when do you think----
        President Bush. Well, I don't know. That's an interesting question.
    We asked that question today at a national security briefing. And as
    soon as we can get it, there is--the Secretary-General has been very
    helpful in urging nations to move forward with those plans. We hear
    numbers all the time as to--you know, Nigeria may be able to contribute
    this, or so and so may be able to contribute that. Maybe you'd like to
    answer the question--I mean, as soon as possible is the answer. We'd
    like to get the assessment teams. There has been two such teams out and
    about, and we'd like to get the information as soon as possible.
        Secretary-General Annan. And Jacques Klein is going to be the
    special representative--the gentleman with the red tie--in

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    Liberia. So you'll be seeing a lot of him, and you can talk to him.
        Q. No long-term commitments----
        President Bush. Correct. I think everybody understands any
    commitment we had would be limited in size and limited in tenure. Our
    job would be to help facilitate an ECOWAS presence which would then be
    converted into a U.N. peacekeeping mission.
        Secretary-General Annan. Maybe I should add something here. The
    understanding which is emerging now is for the ECOWAS forces to send in
    a vanguard of about 1,000 to 1,500 troops. And I think this is something
    that they have worked out amongst themselves and now discussing in Accra
    with the--also with the U.S. team. After that, from what I gather,
    Taylor--President Taylor will leave Liberia, and then the force will be
    strengthened, hopefully with U.S. participation and additional troops
    from the west African region. And eventually, the U.N. blue helmets will
    be set up to stabilize the situation, along the lines that we've done in
    Sierra Leone, and once the situation is calmer and stabilized, the U.S.
    would leave and the U.N. peacekeepers would carry on the operation.
        President Bush. Yes, Dana [Dana Bash, CNN], one last question.

    State of the Union Address

        Q. Mr. President, back on the question of Iraq and that specific
    line that has been in question----
        President Bush. Can you cite the line? [Laughter]
        Q. Really? I could, if you gave me time.
        President Bush. When I gave the speech, the line was relevant.
        Q. So even though there has been some question about the
    intelligence--the intelligence community knowing beforehand that perhaps
    it wasn't, you still believe that when you gave it----
        President Bush. Well, the speech that I gave was cleared by the CIA.
    And look, I mean, the thing that's important to realize is that we're
    constantly gathering data. Subsequent to the speech, the CIA had some
    doubts. But when I gave the--when they talked about the speech and when
    they looked at the speech, it was cleared. Otherwise, I wouldn't have
    put it in the speech. I'm not interested in talking about intelligence
    unless it's cleared by the CIA. And as Director Tenet said, it was cleared by the CIA.
        The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam
    Hussein have a weapons program? And the
    answer is: Absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors
    in, and he wouldn't let them in. And therefore, after a reasonable
    request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations,
    so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our
    friends and allies in the region. I firmly believe the decisions we made
    will make America more secure and the world more peaceful.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:11 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Charles Taylor of
    Liberia; L. Paul Bremer III, Presidential Envoy to Iraq; former
    President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and President Olusegun Obasanjo of
    Nigeria. Secretary-General Annan referred to Sergio Vieira de Mello,
    U.N. Special Representative for Iraq; and Ambassador Jacques Klein, U.N.
    Special Representative for Liberia.