[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
[August 23, 2005]
[Pages 1342-1345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters in Donnelly, Idaho
August 23, 2005

    The President. I want to thank the Governor for the invitation to come to Idaho. He's been asking me 
to come here for 5 years, and I finally made it. I'm going to tell the 
people tomorrow in Boise that I made a mistake not coming here earlier. 
It's a beautiful State. We're out spending a little time hiking the 
trails here. This is a spectacular part of the world. I want to thank 
the people of Idaho for a warm welcome.
    I'm looking forward to my speech tomorrow, to thank the Idaho 
National Guard and those who are on active duty for their selfless 
dedication to working to make this world a more secure place for those 
of us who love freedom. I'll remind the people that we're making 
progress on two fronts--a political front. The Iraqi people are working 
hard to reach a consensus on their constitution. It's an amazing process 
to work. First of all, the fact that they're even writing a constitution 
is vastly different from living under the iron hand of a 
dictator.
    As Americans watch the constitutional process unfold, as we watch 
people work to achieve compromise and unity, we've got to remember our 
own history. We had trouble at our own conventions writing a 
constitution. It took a lot of work and a lot of interest and 
willingness of people to work for the common good. That's what we're 
seeing in Iraq, and that's a positive development. The fact that Iraq 
will have a democratic constitution that honors women's rights, the 
rights of minorities, is going to be an important change in the broader 
Middle East.
    And on the security front, we'll remain on the hunt. We have an 
obligation and a duty to protect this country. And one way to do so is 
to not only firm up the homeland but to stay on the offense against the 
terrorists, and we'll do so. We'll defeat the terrorists. We'll train 
Iraqi forces to defeat the terrorists. In the long run, we'll defeat the 
terrorists through the spread of freedom and democracy.
    Anyway, thanks for the invitation. The Idaho National Guard has done 
good, strong work, and I look forward to thanking them in person. I'll 
take a couple of questions. AP.

Meeting With Antiwar Protesters

    Q. Mr. President, we know you met with Cindy Sheehan a year ago, but 
she says a lot has changed since then. She has more to say to you, and 
even some Republicans have said that you should meet with her. Why not 
do that when you get back to the ranch?
    The President. Well, I did meet with Cindy Sheehan. I strongly support her right to protest. There's a lot 
of people protesting, and there's a lot of points of view about the Iraq 
war. As you know, in Crawford last weekend, there were people from both 
sides of the issue, or from all sides of the issue, there to express 
their opinions.
    I sent Deputy Chief of Staff Hagin and 
National Security Adviser Hadley to meet 
with Ms. Sheehan early on. She expressed her 
opinion. I disagree with it. I think immediate withdrawal from Iraq 
would be a mistake. I think those who advocate immediate withdrawal from 
not only Iraq but the Middle East would be--are advocating a policy that 
would weaken the United States. So I appreciate her right to protest. I 
understand her anguish. I met with a lot of families. She doesn't 
represent the view of a lot of the families I have met with. And I'll 
continue to meet with families.
    Toby [Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters].

[[Page 1343]]

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Hi, how are you doing?
    The President. I got you this time.
    Q. Mr. President, Israel has withdrawn from the final settlement. 
What does the Palestinian leader Abbas need to do next? And are there 
any specific plans for restarting negotiations based on the roadmap?
    The President. First of all, I want to congratulate Prime Minister 
Sharon for having made a very tough decision. 
As I said in my remarks yesterday in Salt Lake City, the Prime Minister 
made a courageous decision to withdraw from the Gaza. We have got Jim 
Wolfensohn, the former head of the World 
Bank, on the ground, helping President Abbas develop a government that responds to the will of the 
folks in Gaza. In other words, this is step one in the development of a 
democracy.
    And so to answer your question, what must take place next is the 
establishment of a working government in Gaza, a government that 
responds to the people. President Abbas has made a commitment to fight off the violence, 
because he understands a democracy can't exist with terrorist groups 
trying to take the law into their own hands.
    Along these lines, we've also got General Ward on the ground, helping the Palestinians consolidate 
their security forces. It turns out that the post-Arafat regime is one 
of different factions and different security forces that were really in 
place to kind of maintain his power but not necessarily to protect the 
overall security of the Palestinian people. It's in the interest to 
consolidate the security forces so that there is a--the government has 
got a vehicle and a group of folks by which to help enforce order.
    You asked about the roadmap. Of course you want to get back to the 
roadmap. But I understand that in order for this process to go forward, 
there must be confidence, confidence that the Palestinian people will 
have in their own government to perform, confidence with the Israelis 
that they'll see a peaceful state emerging. And therefore it's very 
important for the world to stay focused on Gaza and helping Gaza--
helping the Gaza economy get going, helping rebuild the settlements for 
Gaza--for the people of Gaza.
    This is a very hopeful period. Again, I applaud Prime Minister 
Sharon for making a decision that has really 
changed the dynamics on the ground and has really provided hope for the 
Palestinian people. My vision, my hope is that one day we'll see two 
states--two democratic states living side by side in peace.
    Who else we got? Bloomberg.

Drafting a Constitution in Iraq/Possible Sunni Insurgency

    Q. Mr. President, the Sunni negotiator, yesterday, for the 
constitution said that if they do pass the constitution tomorrow, that 
it would cause an insurgency amongst the Sunnis. What would America do 
if the Sunnis did rise up and have an insurgency?
    The President. Well, I think--you know, you're speaking about one 
voice. There is more than one Sunni 
involved in the process. Reaching an accord on a constitution, after 
years of dictatorship, is not easy. And so you're seeing people express 
their opinion. I don't know if this is a negotiating position by the 
fellow or not. I'm not on the ground; I didn't hear him.
    But I will tell you I spoke with Secretary Rice twice this morning, who has been in touch with 
our Ambassador on the ground, and she is 
hopeful that more and more Sunnis will accept the constitution. Again, I 
repeat to you that we're watching an amazing event unfold, and that is 
the writing of a constitution which guarantees minority rights, women's 
rights, freedom to worship, in a part of the world that had only--in a 
country that had only known dictatorship. And so you're seeing people 
express their opinions and talking about a political process.
    And the way forward in Iraq is for there to be a two-track strategy. 
One, on the

[[Page 1344]]

one hand, there's politics. It wasn't all that long ago, but it seems 
like a long time ago, I guess, for some, that the Iraqi people expressed 
their interest in democracy. Eight million people voted. They said, ``We 
want to be free.'' They went to the polls, said, ``Give us a chance to 
vote, and we will.'' And they did. In other words, they have made their 
intentions known that they want to have a free society. And now they're 
writing a constitution.
    The next step after the constitution will be the ratification of the 
constitution, and then the election of a permanent Government. In other 
words, democracy is unfolding. And the reason why that's important is, 
is that we've had a--we had a policy that just said, ``Let the dictator 
stay there, don't worry about it.'' And as a result of dictatorship and 
as a result of tyranny, resentment, hopelessness began to develop in 
that part of the world, which became the--gave the terrorists capacity 
to recruit. We just cannot tolerate the status quo. We're at war. And so 
this is a hopeful moment.
    And you talk about Sunnis rising up. I mean, the Sunnis have got to 
make a choice. Do they want to live in a society that's free, or do they 
want to live in violence? And I suspect most mothers, no matter what 
their religion may be, will choose a free society so that their children 
can grow up in a peaceful world.
    Anyway, I'm optimistic about what's taking place. I'm also 
optimistic about the fact that more and more Iraqis are able to take the 
fight to the enemy. And as I'll remind the good folks of Idaho, our 
strategy can be summed up this way: As the Iraqis stand up, Americans 
will stand down. And what that means is, as more and more Iraqis take 
the fight to the few who want to disrupt the dreams of the many, that 
the American troops will be able to pull back. We're still going to be 
training Iraqis. We'll still be working with Iraqis, but more and more 
Iraqis will be in the fight.

Iraqi Constitution

    We've got somebody from FOX here, somebody told me?
    Q. Yes, Mr. President, thank you.
    The President. There you are, kind of blending in.
    Q. Sorry about that. Does the administration's goal--I'll ask you 
about the Iraqi constitution. You said you're confident that it will 
honor the rights of women.
    The President. Yes.
    Q. If it's rooted in Islam, as it seems it will be, is that still--
is there still the possibility of honoring the rights of women?
    The President. I talked to Condi, and 
there is not--as I understand it, the way the constitution is written is 
that women have got rights, inherent rights recognized in the 
constitution, and that the constitution talks about not ``the religion'' 
but ``a religion.'' Twenty-five percent of the assembly is going to be 
women, which is a--is embedded in the constitution.
    Okay. It's been a pleasure.

President's Vacation

    Q. What else are you going to do? Are you going to be bike today?
    The President. I may bike today. I've been on the phone all morning. 
I spent a little time with the CIA man this morning, catching up on the 
events of the world. And as I said, I talked to Condi a couple of times. Tonight I'm going to be dining 
with the Governor and the delegation from 
Idaho; spend a little quality time with the First Lady, here in this beautiful part of the world. I may go for 
a bike ride.
    Q. Any fishing?
    The President. I don't know yet. I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm 
kind of hanging loose, as they say. [Laughter]
    All right, I've got to go. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 8:50 a.m. at the Tamarack Resort. In his 
remarks, he referred to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho; Cindy Sheehan, 
whose son Spc. Casey Sheehan, USA, died in Iraq on April 4, 2004;

[[Page 1345]]

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel; former World Bank President James 
D. Wolfensohn, Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement; President Mahmoud 
Abbas (Abu Mazen) of the Palestinian Authority; Lt. Gen. William E. 
Ward, USA, Senior U.S. Security Coordinator, Department of State; and 
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.