[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
[February 17, 2005]
[Pages 241-251]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference
February 17, 2005

Nomination of John D. Negroponte To Be 
Director of National Intelligence

    The President. Thank you very much. I appreciate you here--coming 
here. I'm pleased to announce my decision to nominate Ambassador John 
Negroponte as Director of National Intelligence. The Director's 
responsibility is straightforward and

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demanding. John will make sure that those whose duty it is to defend 
America have the information we need to make the right decisions. John 
understands America's global intelligence needs because he spent the 
better part of his life in our Foreign Service and is now serving with 
distinction in the sensitive post of our Nation's first Ambassador to a 
free Iraq.
    John's nomination comes at an historic moment for our intelligence 
services. In the war against terrorists who target innocent civilians 
and continue to seek weapons of mass murder, intelligence is our first 
line of defense. If we're going to stop the terrorists before they 
strike, we must ensure that our intelligence agencies work as a single, 
unified enterprise. And that's why I supported and Congress passed 
reform legislation creating the job of Director of National 
Intelligence.
    As DNI, John will lead a unified intelligence community and will 
serve as the principle adviser to the President on intelligence matters. 
He will have the authority to order the collection of new intelligence, 
to ensure the sharing of information among agencies, and to establish 
common standards for the intelligence community's personnel. It will be 
John's responsibility to determine the annual budgets for all national 
intelligence agencies and offices and to direct how these funds are 
spent. Vesting these authorities in a single official who reports 
directly to me will make our intelligence efforts better coordinated, 
more efficient, and more effective.
    The Director of the CIA will report to John. The CIA will retain its 
core of responsibilities for collecting human intelligence, analyzing 
intelligence from all sources, and supporting American interests abroad 
at the direction of the President.
    The law establishing John's position preserves the existing chain of 
command and leaves all our intelligence agencies, organizations, and 
offices in their current departments. Our military commanders will 
continue to have quick access to the intelligence they need to achieve 
victory on the battlefield. And the new structure will help ensure 
greater information sharing among Federal departments and agencies and 
also with appropriate State and local authorities.
    John brings a unique set of skills to these challenges. Over the 
course of a long career, John Negroponte has served his Nation in eight 
countries spanning three continents. He's held important leadership 
posts at both the State Department and the White House. As my 
representative to the United Nations, John defended our interests 
vigorously and spoke eloquently about America's intention to spread 
freedom and peace throughout the world. And his service in Iraq during 
these past few historic months has given him something that will prove 
an incalculable advantage for an intelligence chief: an unvarnished and 
up-close look at a deadly enemy.
    Today I'm pleased as well to announce that joining John as his 
Deputy will be Lieutenant General Michael Hayden. As a career Air Force intelligence officer, General Hayden 
now serves as Director of the National Security Agency, America's 
largest intelligence service, and Chief of the Central Security Service. 
In these critical roles, Mike has already demonstrated an ability to 
adapt our intelligence services to meet the new threats of a new 
century.
    I appreciate the willingness of these men to take on these tough new 
assignments in an extraordinary moment in our Nation's history. I'd like 
to thank the thousands of men and women already serving in our 
intelligence services. These are people who go to work each day to keep 
Americans safe. We live in a dangerous world, and oftentimes, they take 
great risk to their own lives. These men and women are going to be 
pleased to have leaders such as Ambassador John Negroponte and General 
Mike Hayden.
    John, I want to thank you for being here today. Congratulations. 
Godspeed.

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[At this point, Ambassador Negroponte made brief remarks.]

    The President. I'll be glad to take some questions. Jennifer 
[Jennifer Loven, Associated Press].

Syria/Assassination of Rafiq Hariri

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Can you tell us if you believe that 
Syria is linked to the assassination of Mr. Hariri? And further, how far 
are you willing to go to expel Syria from Lebanon and stop its 
involvement in Iraq?
    The President. First, we support the international investigation 
that is--will be going on to determine the killers of Mr. Hariri. We've 
recalled our Ambassador, which indicates 
that the relationship is not moving forward, that Syria is out of step 
with the progress being made in a greater Middle East, that democracy is 
on the move, and this is a country that isn't moving with the democratic 
movement.
    And we've talked clearly to Syria about, one, making sure that their 
territory is not used by former Iraqi Ba'athists to spread havoc and 
kill innocent lives. We expect them to find and turn over former 
regime--Saddam regime supporters, send them back to Iraq. We've made it 
very clear from the beginning of my administration that Syria should not 
use its territory to support international terrorist groups. We expect 
them to adhere to 1559--U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which 
calls for the removal of troops from Lebanon. And we expect them to help 
free and fair elections to take place in Lebanon.
    These are very reasonable requests, the requests all aimed at making 
the world more peaceful. I look forward to working with our European 
friends on my upcoming trip to talk about how we can work together to 
convince the Syrians to make rational decisions.

Iran

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. The Europeans want more support from 
the U.S. in their negotiations with Iran. Would the U.S. consider 
joining these talks?
    The President. Well, first, a couple of points. One, we are a party 
to the talks or a party to the process, as a result of being a member of 
the IAEA. In other words, we're on the IAEA board, one of some 30-odd 
nations. So we've been very much involved with working with the Iranians 
and the world to achieve a goal that we share with the Europeans, and 
that is for Iran not to develop a nuclear weapon.
    I look forward to, again, on this trip, to discussing strategies, 
ways forward with the Europeans to make sure we continue to speak with 
one voice, and that is, Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, and how 
to work together to make sure they don't.
    Wendell [Wendell Goler, FOX News Channel].

Syria/Assassination of Rafiq Hariri

    Q. Mr. President, in your answer to Jennifer's question, I heard 
several reasons for recalling the Ambassador from Syria but not an 
indication of whether you believe Syria bears some responsibility for 
the assassination.
    The President. I can't tell you that. I don't know yet, because the 
investigation is ongoing. And so I'm going to withhold judgment until we 
find out what the facts are. Hopefully, by the time I get overseas, 
we'll have a clearer understanding of who killed Mr. Hariri, and it will 
be an opportune time to talk with our friends, to determine what to do 
about it.
    But it's important that this investigation go on in a thoughtful 
way, and I'm convinced it will. We supported the international----
    Q. Would you like it to be an international investigation, sir?
    The President. Yes, we support the international investigation.
    Yes, John [John Roberts, CBS News].

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Iran and Israel

    Q. Mr. President, I recall a conversation a small group of us had 
with a very senior administration official about a year ago, and in that 
conversation the subject of Iran and Israel came up. And I'm just 
wondering, what's your level of concern that if Iran does go down the 
road to building a nuclear weapon, that Israel will attack Iran to try 
to prevent that from happening?

    The President. Well, of course the--well, first of all, Iran has 
made it clear they don't like Israel, to put it bluntly. And the 
Israelis are concerned about whether or not Iran develops a nuclear 
weapon, as are we, as should everybody.

    And so the objective is to solve this issue diplomatically, is to 
work with friends, like we're doing with France, Europe, and--I mean, 
France, Germany, and Great Britain, to continue making it clear to the 
Iranians that developing a nuclear weapon will be unacceptable.

    But clearly, if I was the leader of Israel and I listened to some of 
the statements by the Iranian ayatollahs about--that regarded my 
security of my country, I'd be concerned about Iran having a nuclear 
weapon as well. And in that Israel is our ally and in that we've made a 
very strong commitment to support Israel, we will support Israel if--if 
there's--if their security is threatened.

    Q. Do you believe there's a real possibility Israel could attack?

    The President. Oh, I--John, I think that there's a--the need for us 
to work together to convince the Iranians not to develop a nuclear 
weapon. And we will work with Europeans and the Israelis to develop a 
strategy and a plan that is effective. And that's one of the reasons I'm 
going to Europe.

    Let's see here. I've got to make sure I go to the TV people. Norah 
[Norah O'Donnell, NBC News].

Social Security Reform

    Q. Mr. President, you've made clear that Social Security reform is 
your top legislative priority. The top Republican leader in the House 
has said you cannot jam change down people's throats. And in your 
interviews with the regional newspapers, you made very clear that you 
would not rule out raising the cap on payroll taxes. If you were to do 
that, why would that not be seen as going back on your pledge not to 
raise taxes?

    The President. Well, I--a couple of questions there. One, I agree, 
you can't cram an issue down people's throats. As a matter of fact, the 
best way to get this issue addressed in the Halls of Congress is for the 
American people to say, ``Why don't we come together and do something?'' 
And so the first priority of mine is to convince the people we have a 
problem. And I'm going to do that a lot. As a matter of fact, I enjoy 
traveling the country, and I hope you do too, because I'm going to be 
doing a lot of it. I fully understand, Norah, that nothing will happen 
if the Members of Congress don't believe there's a problem that needs to 
be solved, and so you'll see a lot of travel.

    And the problem is plain to me. You've got baby boomers getting 
ready to retire. They've been promised greater benefits than the current 
generation. They're living longer, and there's fewer people paying into 
the system. And the system goes negative starting in 2018 and continues 
to do so. There's the problem. Nothing will happen, I repeat, unless the 
Congress thinks there's a problem.

    Once the Congress--once the people say to Congress, ``There's a 
problem. Fix it,'' then I have a duty to say to Members of Congress, 
``Bring forth your ideas.'' And I clarified a variety of ideas that 
people should be encouraged to bring forth, without political 
retribution. It used to be, in the past, people would step up and say, 
``Well, here's an interesting idea,'' and then

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they would take that idea and clobber the person politically.
    What I'm saying to Members of Congress is that, ``We have a problem. 
Come together, and let's fix it. And bring your ideas forward, and I'm 
willing to discuss them with you.'' And so that's why I said what I said 
and will continue to say it. And it's not--I've got some ideas of my 
own. Obviously, I think personal accounts are an important part of the 
mix and want to continue working with Members of Congress to understand 
the wisdom of why personal accounts makes sense for the long term, to be 
a part of a long-term solution for Social Security.
    John [John Cochran, ABC News].

Director of National Intelligence/Budget Process for Intelligence

    Q. Sir, thank you. Regarding the Director of National Intelligence, 
in this town power is often measured in a couple of ways, by who 
controls the money and how close that person is to the President, 
sometimes physically. So let me ask you about that. You said that Mr. 
Negroponte will determine the budgets for all intelligence agencies. A 
lot of people feel the Pentagon is going to fight that, that the 
Pentagon wants to control its intelligence money. Would you address 
that? And also, where is Mr. Negroponte going to work? Will he be in the 
White House complex, close to you? Will he give you your intelligence 
briefings every day?
    The President. I think your assessment is right. People that can 
control the money, people who have got access to the President generally 
have a lot of influence. And that's why John Negroponte is going to have 
a lot of influence. He will set the budgets.
    Listen, this is going to take a while to get a new culture in place, 
a different way of approaching the budget process. That's why I selected 
John. He's a diplomat. He understands the--and he's an experienced 
person; he understands the power centers in Washington. He's been a 
consumer of intelligence in the past, and so he's got a good feel for 
how to move this process forward in a way that addresses the different 
interests.
    Now, as to where his office is, I don't know. It's not going to be 
in the White House. Remember the early debate about, should this man be 
a--or person be a member of the Cabinet. I said no, I didn't think so. I 
thought it was very important for the DNI to be apart from the White 
House. Nevertheless, he will have access on a daily basis in that he'll 
be my primary briefer. In other words, when the intelligence briefings 
start in the morning, John will be there. And John and I will work to 
determine how much exposure the CIA will have in the Oval Office. I 
would hope more rather than less. The relationship between John and the 
CIA Director is going to be a vital relationship; the relationship 
between the CIA and the White House is a vital relationship.
    John and I both know that change can be unsettling, and so 
therefore, I'm sure there's some people out there wondering right now 
what this means for their jobs and the influence of a particular agency 
into the White House. And the answer is, everybody will be given fair 
access, and everybody's ideas will be given a chance to make it to 
John's office. And if he thinks it's appropriate I see it, I'll see it. 
And if he thinks it's a waste of my time, I won't see it. And 
obviously--therefore, the conclusion is, I trust his judgment. And I'm 
looking forward to working with him. It's going to be an interesting 
opportunity.
    Yes, John [John McKinnon, Wall Street Journal].
    Q. Will you back him if he goes up against Don Rumsfeld--Rumsfeld 
wants a certain amount of money for his intelligence budget and 
Negroponte says, ``I don't think so''?
    The President. I don't think it necessarily works--I know that's how 
the press sometimes likes to play discussions inside the

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White House--X versus Y and butting of heads and sharp elbows. 
Generally, it works a little more civilly than that. People make their 
case; there's a discussion; but ultimately John will make the decisions 
on the budget.
    ``Backing'' means it's kind of zero-sum. That's not the way our team 
works. It's not a zero-sum attitude in the White House. It is--people 
have strong opinions, by the way, around here, which is--I would hope 
you'd want your President to have people around who have got strong 
opinions, people who are willing to stand up for what they believe, 
people who say, ``Here's what I think is right, and it may not be what 
so-and-so thinks is right.'' Then the question is, do I have the 
capacity to pick the right answer, to be able to make a decision? I 
think people have seen that I'm capable of making decisions. And one 
reason why I feel comfortable making them is because I get good advice. 
And John is going to be a great adviser.
    Suzanne [Suzanne Malveaux, Cable News Network].

U.S. Relations With European Allies/Environment

    Q. A top European Union official said that Dr. Rice's trip, 
Secretary Rice's trip to Europe was very positive. He described it as 
``romance blossoms once two are determined to get married.'' [Laughter] 
He also said that he did not expect that there would be any kind of 
substantive differences in U.S. policy on your own trip to Europe, but 
he hoped that it would help increase the sense of trust between the 
United States and European allies. What do you have to offer or say to 
European allies to help restore that trust, particularly the trust in 
U.S. intelligence?
    The President. Yes, you know, my first goal is to remind both 
Americans and Europeans that the transatlantic relationship is very 
important for our mutual security and for peace, and that we have 
differences sometimes but we don't differ on values, that we share this 
great love and respect for freedom.
    September the 11th was an interesting phenomenon in terms of our 
relations. For some in Europe, it was just a passing terrible moment. 
And for us, it was a change of--it caused us to change our foreign 
policy--in other words, a permanent part of our foreign policy. And 
that--those differences, at times, frankly, caused us to talk past each 
other. And I recognize that, and I want to make sure the Europeans 
understand I know that and that, as we move beyond the differences of 
the past, that we can work a lot together to achieve big objectives.
    There's also a concern in Europe, I suspect, that the only thing I 
care about is our national security. And clearly, since we have been 
attacked--and I fear there's a terrorist group out there thinking about 
attacking us again or would like to--that national security is at the 
top of my agenda. That's what you'd expect from the President of the 
United States. But we also care deeply about hunger and disease, and I 
look forward to working with the Europeans on hunger and disease.
    We care about the climate. Obviously, the Kyoto Protocol had been a 
problem in the past. They thought the treaty made sense. I didn't, and 
neither did the United States Senate when it rejected the Kyoto concept, 
95 to nothing. And so there's an opportunity now to work together to 
talk about new technologies that will help us both achieve a common 
objective, which is a better environment for generations to come.
    And the Methanes to Markets project is an interesting opportunity. I 
spoke to my friend Tony Blair the other day, and 
I reminded him that here at home, we're spending billions on clean coal 
technology where we could have--it's conceivable and hopeful we'll have 
a zero-emissions coal plan, which will be not only good for the United 
States but it would be good for

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the world. This isn't a question on environment, but I was hoping 
somebody would ask it. I asked myself.
    Anyway, let me--so I'm looking forward--[laughter]--thank you, 
Dickerson [John Dickerson, Time]--I'm looking forward to discussing 
issues that not only relate to our security, that not only relate to how 
we work together to spread freedom, how we continue to embrace the 
values we believe in, but also how we deal with hunger and disease and 
environmental concerns.
    Let's see, have I gone through all the TV personalities yet?
    Q. Yes. [Laughter]

Syria

    The President. Herman [Ken Herman, Austin American-Statesman].
    Q. Mr. President, good morning.
    The President. A face made for radio, I might add.
    Q. Thank you. My mother appreciates it. [Laughter] You offer a long 
list of things you expect Syrian leaders to do. What are the 
consequences if they don't do those things?
    The President. The idea is to continue to work with the world to 
remind Syria it's not in their interest to be isolated.
    Mark [Mark Knoller, CBS Radio].

Social Security Reform

    Q. Mr. President, if I could go back to Social Security.
    The President. Sure.
    Q. You spoke about your desire to have a plan that includes private 
retirement accounts. Chairman Greenspan yesterday, although supportive 
of those accounts, expressed two concerns, that he was worried about 
rushing something into print, if you will, and also about the borrowing, 
the transition costs that would be required, trillions. He was 
especially worried about the latter. What is your response to that?
    The President. Well, I presume the reason he was talking about Social Security at all is because he 
understands that we've got about $11 trillion of debt owed to future 
generations of Americans. Therefore, we've got to do something about it 
now. And the longer we wait, the more difficult the solution becomes.
    The--you asked about the transition cost, and what was the other?
    Q. And that he wanted to do it slowly.
    The President. Oh, slowly. Well, as you might remember in my State 
of the Union, when I expressed my desire that Congress ought to think 
about personal accounts, I did say they ought to be phased in.
    And so--and that's part of the transition cost issue. And we look 
forward to working with Congress to come up with ways to make sure that 
the personal accounts, if Congress so chooses, and I hope they do, can 
be financed. And that's part of the issue. And that's part of the dialog 
that is going to be needed once Congress understands we have a problem.
    Let me repeat what I said before--and I fully understand this--that 
this idea is going nowhere if the Congress does not believe there is a 
problem. Why should somebody take the hard path if they don't believe 
there's a problem? And so I'm going to spend a lot of time reminding 
people there is a problem.
    Once the people figure out there's a problem--and I think they're 
beginning to understand that--then the question to ask to those of us 
who have been elected is, ``What are you going to do about it?'' And 
that's an important question. And when people start answering that 
question, I have said, ``Bring your ideas forward.'' We welcome any 
idea--except running up the payroll tax rate, which I've been consistent 
on. And so bring them up. And I look forward to hearing their ideas.
    And part of the ideas is going to be to, one, understand the 
benefits of personal accounts as well as how to pay for the transition 
costs. We've started that process, Mark, by talking about a phase-in 
program. And one of the reasons we do is because

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we wanted to indicate to the Congress, ``We understand there's an issue. 
We want to work with you on it.''
    Let's see here--let's see here, John.
    Q. Sir, can you talk a little bit----
    The President. If you don't raise your hand, does that mean you 
don't have a question?
    Q. Not necessarily, sir.
    The President. Okay, good, because you didn't raise your hand.

President's Goals in the Middle East

    Q. Could you talk a little bit about how you would like to see the 
landscape of the Middle East change over the next year? Can you talk 
about the specific changes you'd like to see across the region?
    The President. Yes. You know, a year is a really short period of 
time when it comes to working on--working with nations to encourage 
democracy, so there's not a kind of a universal answer. But let me try 
to answer it this way, because it's not--in other words, you can't apply 
the same standard for every country as they move toward democracy, I 
guess is what I'm saying. In other words, there's kind of not a blanket 
answer.
    I'll give you kind of a general thought. I would like to see the 
following things happen. We make progress on the development of a 
Palestinian state, so there can be peace with Israel. And notice I put 
it that way: There needs to be progress for democracy to take--firmly 
take hold in the Palestinian Territory. It is my belief that that--when 
that happens, that we've got a very good chance for peace. That's why I 
said in my State of the Union, it's within reach. What's in reach is to 
work with leadership that appears committed to fighting terror to 
develop the institutions necessary for democracy.
    That's why the conference Tony Blair has 
called is an important conference. It's a conference that we'll be 
working with the world--with countries from around the world to say, 
``How can we help you develop a democracy?'' And so I'd like to see that 
move forward.
    Obviously, I'd like to see the Iraqi Government continue to make the 
progress it is making toward providing its own security as well as begin 
the process of writing the constitution. We will continue to work with 
the international community to make it clear that some of the behavior 
in the Middle East is unacceptable. The development of a nuclear weapon 
is unacceptable. Harboring terrorists or providing safe haven for 
terrorists is unacceptable. And so there's a lot of progress that can be 
made.
    I was pleased to see that Saudi had municipal elections. And I think 
Crown Prince Abdullah's vision of 
moving toward reform is coming to be. Every speech I've given on 
democracy is--I fully recognize that democracy will advance at a pace 
that may be different from our own expectations and obviously reflect 
the cultures of the countries in which democracy is moving. But there's 
progress being made, and so it's kind of hard to have a summary because 
there's different countries, different places. But if I try to come up 
with one, I'd like to see more advance toward a free and--free and 
democratic states.
    What's interesting--and surely hasn't crept into your writing or 
reporting--but for a while there was a period that people said, ``It's 
an impossible mission to have freedom take hold. I mean, what was he 
doing? How can he possibly think that these people can possibly accept 
democracy?'' I don't know if you remember that period of reporting or 
not. I vaguely do. And then look what's happening. And that's why I can 
say, John, that I'd like to see more progress because progress is being 
made.
    Afghanistan elections were a remarkable achievement in the march of 
history. The elections that John was involved in in Iraq, and was--it 
must have been fantastic to be there. It was--to think of the millions 
who defied the terrorists. And you remember the reporting that went on--
first of

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all, democracy may not be the kind of system that people agree to in 
Iraq. It's kind of a foreign concept to them, and coupled with the fact 
there's a lot of terrorists there who are getting ready to blow anybody 
up who goes and votes. And yet millions--I think it's over 8 million 
now, I think we've calculated, went to the polls.
    And what's interesting to me in Iraq is to see the posturing that's 
going on, kind of the positioning. It's not exactly like the Social 
Security debate, but it's posturing. It's politics. People are jockeying 
for position. And I say it's not like the Social Security debate because 
their, obviously, democracy isn't as advanced as ours. But nevertheless, 
there's--people are making moves here and there. And you hear about the 
conferences and the discussions. To me, that's healthy. It's inspiring 
to see a fledgling democracy begin to take wing, right here in the 21st 
century in a part of the world where people didn't think there could be 
progress. I think there can be progress, and we'll continue to work that 
progress.
    Part of my reason I'm going to Europe is to share my sense of 
optimism and enthusiasm about what's taking place and remind people that 
that's--that those values of human rights, human dignity, and freedom 
are the core of our very being as nations. And it's going to be a great 
experience to go there.
    Let's see, yes, Hillman [G. Robert Hillman, Dallas Morning News].
    Q. Yes----
    The President. I had to call on Hillman, because--to balance the 
thing here with the competing Texas newspapers.

Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States 
Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction

    Q. Yes, Mr. President, have you, by any chance, received any sort of 
interim or preliminary report from the Robb Commission that's 
investigating intelligence failures? And did you seek the Commission's 
counsel on the scope of the duties for the new Intelligence Director?
    The President. I haven't--that's--no, I have not had an interim 
report. Maybe the national security people have--or not. Hadley said he hasn't either. We have--our people have 
gone to talk to the Robb-Silberman Commission when asked. But I've got 
great confidence in both those leaders to bring forth a very solid 
report. And so we haven't been involved in the process other than when 
asked to share opinion.
    Q. When might they report back?
    The President. Don't know yet. Do we have any idea?
    National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley. Sometime next month.
    The President. Yes, Hadley said, ``Try 
to work me in the press conference,'' and I did. [Laughter] 
Congratulations. ``Sometime next month,'' he said.
    It's an important report. And it's a relevant question today because 
of the announcement of Ambassador Negroponte. He will take and I will 
take the findings of the Robb-Silberman Commission very seriously. And I 
look forward to their conclusions and look forward to working with the 
leaders and the Commission members to not only deal with the conclusions 
but to address whatever conclusions they have in concrete action. And I 
appreciate the work.
    But in terms--no, and then I did not consult with either person and/
or members as to whether or not--the nature of the pick. I did it 
independently from the Commission.
    Yes, sir. Mark [Mark Silva, Chicago Tribune].

 Iran and North Korea

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. If, as you say, the development of 
nuclear weapons is unacceptable and if the administration's concern for 
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which proved out to be unfounded, 
drove an invasion to seek regime change,

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how concerned should Americans and, for that matter, the world be that 
the true identification of weapons in Iran or North Korea might not lead 
to the same sort of attack?
    The President. Well, first, Iran is different from Iraq--very 
different. The international community was convinced that Saddam 
Hussein had weapons of mass destruction--not 
just the United States but the international community--and had passed 
some 16 resolutions. In other words, diplomacy had--they tried diplomacy 
over and over and over and over again. John was at the United Nations 
during this period. And finally, the world, in 1441--U.N. Resolution 
1441--said, ``Disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences.'' This was 
not a declaration by the United States of America; it was a declaration 
by the United Nations Security Council--and a 15-to-nothing vote, as I 
recall. And we took that resolution very seriously.
    As you know, the Iranian issue hasn't even gone up to the Security 
Council yet. And so there's more diplomacy, in my judgment, to be done. 
And we'll work very closely with our European friends and other nations. 
As I mentioned before, we're an active member of the IAEA board, which 
will give us an opportunity to continue to say to the Iranians, ``You've 
got to be transparent with your program and adhere to protocols that you 
have signed.''
    Remember, this all started when they--we found them enriching 
uranium in an undeclared fashion. And it happened because somebody told 
on them. There was an Iranian group that brought forth the information, 
and it was clear that they were enriching. And yet they hadn't told 
anybody, which leads you to wonder why they hadn't told anybody. And so 
you can understand our suspicions.
    And we'll work with nations. And in terms of Korea--North Korea, 
again, it's not Iraq. It's a different situation. But I'm--I remember 
being with Jiang Zemin in Crawford, and as a 
result of that meeting, we issued a joint declaration that said that the 
Korean Peninsula should be nuclear-weapons-free. Since then I've--that 
policy has been confirmed by President Hu Jintao. 
And the other day the leader of North Korea declared they had a nuclear 
weapon, which obviously means that if he is--if he's correct, that the 
peninsula is not nuclear-weapons-free. So now is the time for us to work 
with friends and allies who have agreed to be a part of the process to 
determine what we're jointly going to do about it. And that's where we 
are in the process right now.
    Thank you all very much for your attention and questions. Appreciate 
it.

Note: The President spoke at 10 a.m. in Room 450 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri of Lebanon, who was assassinated on 
February 14 in Beirut; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Prime 
Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; Crown Prince Abdullah of 
Saudi Arabia; former President Jiang Zemin and President Hu Jintao of 
China; and Chairman Kim Chong-il of North Korea. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.

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