    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [October 12, 2005]
    [Pages 1543-1547]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With President Aleksander
    Kwasniewski of Poland and an Exchange
    With Reporters
    October 12, 2005

        President Bush. Thank you all for coming. I'll have a statement;
    Aleksander will have a statement. We'll be glad to answer two questions
    per side.

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        Welcome back. This is a happy moment, because I get to see my friend
    again. It's a sad moment, because he is leaving office. He has done an
    extraordinary job. We have built a strong personal relationship, but
    more importantly, we have a strong strategic relationship with Poland,
    thanks to your leadership.
        Aleksander has helped advance the cause of peace by advancing the
    cause of freedom. He has served as a mentor for new democracies in the
    neighborhood. He has proven that you can be a friend to the United
    States and a loyal member of the EU at the same time. We have worked
    hard together to improve the lots of both our peoples.
        And, Mr. President, you can leave with your--your office with your
    head held high because of the fine job you have done. I am glad you came
    back, and it's an honor to be able to praise you to the people of your
    country for a job--a fine job.
        President Kwasniewski. Thank you, sir.
        President Bush. Hold on, we're going to a little----
        President Kwasniewski. Yes. Thank you for----
        President Bush. Do want to do an interpretation?
        President Kwasniewski. Yes, I think interpretation is better.
        President Bush. Especially after what I just said. [Laughter]
        President Kwasniewski. I want to thank you very much, Mr. President.
    I want to thank you very much for those nice words. It is true that this
    visit is both a farewell visit and a visit that is a recapitulation of
    10 years of my Presidency and 10 years of Polish-American relations
    between our two countries.
        I started my Presidency in a different world, and now I'm leaving
    the office when the world is different and the world now is better, I
    believe. We are together in NATO. We are in NATO together with other
    Central and Eastern European countries. We are in NATO, together with
    the Baltic States, and we are also together in a group, in fact, family.
    Together we are building peace and stability in different parts of the
    world. We are fighting together against terrorism. We are fulfilling our
    task with joy and satisfaction, and we do it effectively. And together
    we are bringing more peace and more democracy to the world. We are also
    creating more values for the humanity. We are fighting for human rights
    and for the dignity of human beings.
        And we have been cooperating together with President Bush, and we
    have made together very hard and very difficult and very important
    decisions. Today we talked about what we have done together, and we have
    also talked about the fact that we will be continuing the policy of
    cooperation between the two countries and that the new Polish government
    and my successor in the Presidential office will continue this policy in
    the years to come.
        I want to say that I'm very happy that we are enjoying and following
    the values between Polish and American cooperation and that we are
    developing our contacts. We have summed up our bilateral cooperation.
    There is still very much ahead of us, and here, as you can see here on
    the table next to President Bush, there is a document that I have
    presented to him, and this document is the recapitulation of our
    achievement, and it is also the information about our future
    cooperation. It's also the encouragement to cooperate in the future.
        President Bush. Thank you.
        We'll take a couple of questions. Diedra [Nedra Pickler, Associated
    Press].

    Associate Justice-Designate Harriet E. Miers

        Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Why do people in this White House feel
    it's necessary to tell your supporters that Harriet Miers attends a very
    conservative Christian church? Is that your strategy to repair the
    divide that has developed among conservatives over her nomination?

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        President Bush. People ask me why I picked Harriet Miers. They want
    to know Harriet Miers's background. They want to know as much as they
    possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers's life
    is her religion. Part of it has to do with the fact that she was a
    pioneer woman and a trailblazer in the law in Texas. I remind people
    that Harriet Miers is one of the--has been rated consistently one of the
    top 50 women lawyers in the United States. She's eminently qualified for
    the job. And she has got a judicial philosophy that I appreciate.
    Otherwise I wouldn't have named her to the bench, which is--or nominated
    her to the bench--which is that she will not legislate from the bench
    but strictly interpret the Constitution.
        So our outreach program has been just to explain the facts to
    people. But more importantly, Harriet is going to be able to explain the
    facts to the people when she testifies. And people are going to see why
    I named her--nominated her to the bench, and she's going to make a great
    Supreme Court judge.

    Poland-U.S. Relations

        Q. Mr. President, President Bush, there is a significant change of
    power underway in Poland right now. Some have already said that they
    would ask for more from the United States in return for Polish support
    and continued engagement in Iraq. Are you aware of these positions, and
    do you expect any changes in Polish-American relations, any tougher
    talk, maybe?
        President Bush. Well, we had a talk about who might succeed
    Aleksander and their opinions. My advice would be for whoever succeeds
    the President to come and visit and to exchange visits with foreign
    ministers, such as our foreign minister as well as our minister of
    defense and to strategize. That's what friends do. They share concerns
    and share goals, and then work together to satisfy concerns and achieve
    goals. And I'm confident that's going to happen.
        President Kwasniewski. I would like to add a few words for the
    Polish media here. We have talked about this, and I think that this is
    information important for the Polish media. Poland wants the
    stabilization mission in Iraq to be a success and to complete with
    success. We want to be a serious partner, and we want to be a steadfast
    and loyal partner in the coalition. Our troops are in Iraq, and they
    will stay in Iraq until the end of January, and the decision has been
    made and nothing changes here. But we have to think about the future,
    and we have to respect the right of the new government and the right of
    the new President to make their decisions about it.
        It was the right suggestion of President George W. Bush, and the
    decision will be forwarded by me to our authorities and people in Poland
    when I come back, that after the new government is established, the new
    Polish Defense Minister and the Foreign Minister should come here to
    Washington to talk about the future, because the future goes far beyond
    January next year. And we have to talk about what we shall do together
    to continue this cause.
        President Bush. Caren [Caren Bohan, Reuters].

    Syria

        Q. Thank you, sir. The Syrian Interior Minister has committed
    suicide. What are the consequences for Syria if they are implicated in
    the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister?
        President Bush. I don't want to prejudge the report that's coming
    out, the Mehlis report. I think it's very
    important for Syria to understand that the free world respects Lebanese
    democracy and expects Syria to honor that democracy. It's one thing to
    have been asked to remove troops and all intelligence services. Now the
    world wants for--expects Syria to honor the democracy in the country of
    Lebanon.

    [[Page 1546]]

        Secondly, we expect Syria to do everything in her power to shut down
    the trans-shipment of suiciders and killers into Iraq. We expect Syria
    to be a good neighbor to Iraq. We expect Syria not to agitate killers in
    the Palestinian Territory. We're making good progress toward peace in
    the Holy Land, but one of the areas of concern is that foreign
    countries, such as Syria, might try to disrupt the peace process through
    encouraging terrorist activities.
        So we have a lot of expectations for Syria beyond just the Mehlis
    report. But let's see how the Mehlis report--what it says. In the
    meantime, we'll continue to work with friends and allies to send a clear
    message to the Asad Government, there are
    expectations involved for countries that want to be accepted in the
    international community.
        Go ahead.

    Russia

        Q. It's a question for President Bush. Mr. President, we thought
    that your last summit between America and Russian leaders, American
    diplomacy was stepping up the pressure on Moscow in reference to causes
    of democratic reforms in that country and the situation in Chechnya. And
    right now we have a long list of problems between Poland and Russia. So
    what's your point of view and what would be your advice for a new Polish
    government, how we should handle that situation?
        President Bush. We've got--I've got good relations with President
    Putin; America has got a working relationship
    with Russia. And always, as a part of our discussions with Russia is my
    personal--when I have personal discussions with him, I remind him of my
    deep faith in democracy, and the people that interrelate with Russia
    from my Government remind their Russian counterparts about democracy and
    its importance.
        The reason I believe in democracy so strongly is because I believe
    in freedom, and democracy is a manifestation of free societies. I
    believe there's a desire for everybody to be free. I also know that free
    societies are peaceful societies. One of the goals of this
    administration is to promote peace, and the more democracy and the more
    freedom there is, the more likely it is the world will be peaceful.
        So we've got a consistent message to Russia, and that is that one
    should not fear democracy; one should embrace democracy. Now, having
    said that, I recognize that Russian democracy will be different from the
    United States. We don't expect every country to look like us. We just
    expect people to embrace some universal truths, the right of people to
    worship freely, the right of women to be able to equally participate in
    society--which is the case in Russia, of course--the rule of law, the
    respect for private property. These are fundamental, basic principles
    that we believe should be inherent in all societies. People need to make
    those choices themselves, but one of the roles of the United States is
    to remind people about how beneficial a democratic society can be to its
    people. And so we're consistent in our message.
        Thank you all very much.
        President Kwasniewski. Thank you. You see, this is the difference
    between the President in power--you have many questions--and the
    President who has finished his job--no questions. [Laughter] Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:54 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Bashar al-Asad of Syria;
    Detlev Mehlis, head, United Nations International Independent
    Investigation Commission into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime
    Minister Rafiq Hariri; and President Vladimir Putin of Russia. President
    Kwasniewski spoke in Polish, and his remarks were translated by an
    interpreter.

    [[Page 1547]]