[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
[July 21, 2004]
[Pages 1391-1394]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Adrian 
Nastase of Romania and an Exchange With 
Reporters
July 21, 2004

    President Bush. There will be two opening statements, one by me, one 
by the Prime Minister. I'll call upon a member of the American press. 
The Prime Minister will call somebody from the Romanian press. And then 
we'll do that one more time.
    Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. We've just had a very good visit. It's 
the kind of visit that friends would have. We talked about our 
relationship. I complimented Romania and the Prime Minister's 
understanding that we need to work together to fight terror. We talked 
about the need to continue to work together to spread freedom and, 
therefore, peace in troubled parts of the world. And I want to thank him 
very much for his understanding and his vision.
    We talked about economic ties. He asked if it would be possible to 
spread the word that Romania is a good place to invest, and I told him 
that because the country makes the right decisions, that American 
companies will take a look at Romania. Trade is up, which is good for 
Romanian people and for the American people. There is commerce going 
back and forth, which is a positive development.
    I congratulated the Prime Minister on Romania's role at the United 
Nations. I think he handled the Presidency very well, and we appreciate 
that very much.
    So it's been a very good visit. And I'm glad you're back, and I look 
forward to further discussions with you.
    Prime Minister Nastase. Thank you very much, Mr. President. It's 
good to be back. Mr. President, thank you for your hospitality. It is, 
by the way, the first time that I've been here representing an ally of 
the

[[Page 1392]]

United States. And I am very proud to come here to confirm to the 
President our continuous support for fighting together terrorists in the 
world and also our support for the vision of President Bush, not only on 
general issues but very specifically on a very complex process of 
changes in Iraq.
    I had the honor to chair the Security Council during the Romanian 
Presidency, in New York. And, well, I briefed the President with major 
decisions, prospects, possibilities which are now offered for a wise 
political decision concerning Iraq. Reconstruction, stabilization, 
political development are the keywords for the future of Iraq. And we 
want to encourage the Iraqi people to take the ownership of their own 
choices.
    Well, I briefed the President also on regional developments. I 
briefed the President with some of the developments on the continuous 
reforms that we are making in Romania. But also, well, I wanted to 
assure him that we are interested in opening more transparent procedures 
and, well, better integrity standards for civil servants and 
politicians.
    I think this is part of the end of the transition in a country which 
suffered a lot but where there is a huge willingness to understand what 
can make us speed up the process of modernization. And we count very 
much on President Bush, on his colleagues, and also on the American 
businessman.
    It was also very important to discuss about what happens now in 
areas in, like, the Black Sea, the Balkans. And I offered the President 
a five-star location for military bases, and there will be a decision on 
that very soon.
    Mr. President, may I say also that the honor for us, being here--
it's a great privilege, a great honor. We remember with great pleasure 
your visit to Bucharest and the rainbow speech and the gathering of more 
than 200,000 people.
    Thank you very much again.
    President Bush. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.
    Okay, Scott [Scott Lindlaw, Associated Press].

Alleged Mishandling of Classified Documents by Former National Security 
Adviser Samuel R. Berger

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. President Clinton suggested that 
perhaps politics was behind the disclosure of the Sandy Berger 
investigation. Do you have anything to say about that? And also, when 
did you learn about this probe?
    President Bush. I'm not going to comment on this matter. This is a 
serious matter, and it will be fully investigated by the Justice 
Department.
    Q. When did you learn, sir, if I may?
    President Bush. I'm not going to comment on it. It's a very serious 
matter that will be fully investigated by the Justice Department.
    Prime Minister Nastase. Romanian Public Television.

Romania-U.S. Economic Relations

    Q. Mr. President, please, you said something about improving of 
economic relations between Romania and the U.S. Could you be more 
specific on that issue, please?
    President Bush. Relations improve as market conditions improve 
inside Romania. In other words, American businesses look for places to 
invest capital where they can get a reasonable rate of return. American 
businesses like environments where there's transparency and strong 
anticorruption rules, where people--where the workforce is well educated 
and hard-working.
    And the Prime Minister and I talked about those ingredients. He said 
he's had some good visits with business leaders here in America. But 
those are decisions, in our country, that are made apart from 
Government. In other words, each individual business will make that 
decision. They are investment decisions in Romania apart from the 
offices of Government. And that's what

[[Page 1393]]

the Prime Minister understands. And as he said, he had some good visits 
today. I'm sure he'll brief you on those visits later on.
    Caren [Caren Bohan, Reuters].

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

    Q. Your advisers were meeting today with the Chairmen of the 9/11 
Commission.
    President Bush. Yes.
    Q. In light of what you know now, do you think the attacks were 
preventable? And also, do you plan to meet personally with the 
Commissioners to discuss their findings and recommendations?
    President Bush. First of all, I haven't talked to my advisers who 
have met with the Commission yet. I will later on. Secondly, I am going 
to meet with, as I understand it, with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the 
Commission. So I haven't had a chance to fully see--read that which they 
have developed. I look forward to it. This is a--I've always said this 
is an important Commission.
    And the main reason why is, is because a President and a Congress 
must have the best possible intelligence to make good decisions about 
how to protect America and our friends and allies. We've spent a lot of 
time today talking about counterterrorism or counterproliferation. And 
the best way to succeed in counter--those efforts is to share 
intelligence. And therefore, we need to have good intelligence. And the 
main recommendations, as I understand it, from the 9/11 Commission will 
be as how best to structure the intelligence agencies.
    Again, I haven't seen the report. I hope they talk about more human 
intelligence, because human intelligence is one of the most effective 
ways for us to gather intelligence in the first place. I hope they talk 
about it--and I suspect they will--about using modern technologies to 
better listen and see events taking place so that we can protect 
ourselves. And then, of course, there needs to be a full discussion 
about how best to coordinate the different intelligence gathering 
services here in the country.
    Let me say one other thing about the 9/11. I told the Commissioners 
right here in the Oval Office that had we had any inkling whatsoever 
that terrorists were about to attack our country, we would have moved 
heaven and Earth to protect America. And I'm confident President 
Clinton would have done the same thing--
any President would have.
    So anyway, I'm looking forward to the report. I'm glad--they've done 
a lot of good work, and it's going to be very useful for the country to 
listen to what they have to say.

Upcoming Romanian and U.S. Elections

    Q. Thank you, sir. Question for President Bush. Sir, in both United 
States and Romania, you have elections this autumn. It might be four 
possibilities: Either you win and Mr. Nastase is winning; either you 
both lose; either one of you is winning, the other one is losing.
    President Bush. Right.
    Q. Sir, which one of these four possibilities represents the biggest 
disadvantage for Romania? [Laughter]
    President Bush. Well, let me answer you this way: I am going to win. 
And the Prime Minister told me he is going to win. And therefore, the 
other three possibilities you've outlined are not going to happen. The 
interesting thing is, is that here we are talking about elections in 
Romania. That's what I was thinking during this discussion, that we--a 
person standing for election in Romania and the United States President 
are now talking about what it means to campaign, a conversation which 
would not have been taking place 20 years ago.
    You know, I'll never forget my trip to Bucharest, at the rainbow 
speech. It was one of the most moving experiences of my Presidency. And 
the reason why was that

[[Page 1394]]

the rainbow itself, that appeared in the midst of a rainstorm in front 
of 200-plus-thousand people, ended right behind--from my vision, ended 
right behind the place where the tyrant Ceausescu gave his last speech. 
It was a very powerful message. It moved me deeply during the moment. 
And it still moves me to think that there was a powerful message being 
delivered by nature, to the point where I remember turning back to the 
people of Romania and said, ``God is smiling on Bucharest.'' And I meant 
that.
    And part of my beliefs, Mr. Prime Minister, is that one of the great 
universal values of the world is that men and women deserve to be free. 
And here we are talking about an election voted on, in your country and 
mine, by free people.
    Thank you for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 3:04 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Thomas H. Kean, Chairman, and Lee 
H. Hamilton, Vice Chairman, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks 
Upon the United States (9/11 Commission).