    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [January 26, 2007]
    [Pages 67-68]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With Military Leaders and an Exchange With
    Reporters
    January 26, 2007

        The President. I just had a full briefing with General David
    Petraeus about the way forward in Iraq. I
    want to thank the Secretary and General
    Pace, National Security Adviser for joining this discussion. Congratulations.
        Gen. David H. Petraeus. Thank you,
    sir.
        The President. The Senate confirmed this good man without a dissenting vote. I appreciate the quick action
    of the United States Senate. I appreciate them giving General David
    Petraeus a fair hearing, and I appreciate the vote. My instructions to
    the general is, get over to the zone as quickly as possible and
    implement a plan that we believe will yield our goals.
        I thank the general and his family. I
    particularly want to thank your family for supporting you and supporting
    our Nation. One of the amazing things about our country is that we've
    got military folks who volunteer to go into a tough zone to protect the
    American people from future harm, and they've got families who stand by
    them. And whether you be a general or a private in the military, there
    is a U.S.--there's a family member saying, ``I love you, and I support
    you.''
        And so, General, I congratulate you,
    and I congratulate the volunteers and their families for making the hard
    decisions necessary to protect its people from a grave danger. And
    you're going into an important battle in this war on terror, and I give
    you my full support and wish you Godspeed.
        Gen. Petraeus. Thank you, Mr.
    President. If I could thank the Senate as well; thank my family; and,
    above all, thank those great soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and
    civilians who are out there on the frontlines of the global war on
    terror.
        The President. All right. I'll answer a couple of questions.
    Jennifer [Jennifer Loven, Associated Press].

    War on Terror Strategy

        Q. Thank you, sir. The other night in your State of the Union
    Address, you asked Congress to give your plan a chance. But lawmakers,
    Democrats and Republicans, didn't really miss a step in starting to turn
    out resolutions against that plan. Why do you think it's okay to go
    ahead without their support?
        The President. One of the things I've found in Congress is that most
    people recognize that failure would be a disaster for the United States.
    And in that, I'm the decisionmaker. I had to come up with a way forward
    that precluded disaster; in other words, I had to think about what's
    likely to work.
        And so I worked with our military and I worked with Secretary
    Gates to come up with a plan that is likely
    to succeed. And the implementor of that plan is going to be General
    Petraeus. And my call to the Congress is,
    is that I know there is skepticism and pessimism, and that they are--
    some are condemning a plan before it's even had a chance to work. And
    they have an obligation and a serious responsibility, therefore, to put
    up their own plan as to what would work.

    [[Page 68]]

        I've listened a lot to Members of Congress. I've listened carefully
    to their suggestions. And I have picked the plan that I think is most
    likely to succeed, because I understand, like many in Congress
    understand, success is very important for the security of the country.
        Let's see, Steven [Steve Holland, Reuters]. Yes, sir.

    Iraq/Iran

        Q. Yes, sir. This policy of going after the Iranians inside Iraq:
    Are you concerned that that could be a provocative act in the region?
        The President. I made it very clear, as did the Secretary, that our policy is going to be to protect our
    troops in Iraq. It just makes sense that if somebody is trying to harm
    our troops or stop us from achieving our goal or killing innocent
    citizens in Iraq, that we will stop them. That's an obligation we all
    have, is to protect our folks and achieve our goal.
        Now, some are trying to say that because we're enforcing--helping
    ourselves in Iraq by stopping outside influence from killing our
    soldiers or hurting Iraqi people, that we want to expand this beyond the
    borders. That's a presumption that simply is not accurate. We believe
    that we can solve our problems with Iran diplomatically and are working
    to do that. As a matter of fact, we're making pretty good progress on
    that front. As you know, the Iranians, for example, think they want to
    have a nuclear weapon. And we've convinced other nations to join us to
    send a clear message, through the United Nations, that that's
    unacceptable behavior.
         And so yes, we're going to continue to protect ourselves in Iraq
    and, at the same time, work to solve our problems with Iran
    diplomatically. And I believe we can succeed. The choice is the Iranian
    Government's choice, see. And one of the things that the Iranian
    Government has done is, they've begun to isolate their nation to the
    harm of the Iranian people. And the Iranian people are proud people, and
    they've got a great history and a great tradition.
         Our struggle is not with the Iranian people. As a matter of fact,
    we want them to flourish, and we want their economy to be strong. And we
    want their mothers to be able to raise their children in a hopeful
    society. My problem is with a government that takes actions that end up
    isolating their people and ends up denying the Iranian people their true
    place in the world. And so we'll work diplomatically, and I believe we
    can solve our problems peacefully.
         Thank you all very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:20 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. Participating in the meeting were Secretary of Defense Robert M.
    Gates; Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen.
    David H. Petraeus, incoming commanding general, Multi-National Force--
    Iraq; and National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley.