[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 43 (Monday, October 29, 2001)]
[Pages 1518-1521]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of 
Japan and an Exchange With Reporters in Shanghai, China

October 20, 2001

    President Bush. It's an honor to be with our--with my friend. And we 
have no stronger friend in the fight against terror than the Prime 
Minister of Japan. I have been impressed by his resolve and his 
determination.
    I'm also very impressed by his resolve and determination to make 
economic reforms within Japan. He's got a very good strategy, an 
economic strategy, and I support it. And I support the fact that he is a 
strong leader.
    I regret that I didn't have an opportunity to take advantage of the 
kind invitation to

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go to Tokyo. But Mr. Prime Minister, I assure you that when things 
settle down, if I'm still invited, I would like to come back.
    Prime Minister Koizumi. Of course.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.
    Prime Minister Koizumi. I appreciate your strong leadership to fight 
terrorism. Your determination and the patience, I appreciate.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
    I'll be glad to take--yes, Ron [Ron Fournier, Associated Press].
    Q. A question, sir?
    President Bush. Sure.

Operation Enduring Freedom Helicopter Crash

    Q. Your reaction, please, to the crash of the helicopter that cost 
the lives of two servicemen. And can you tell us what mission it was 
that they were supporting?
    President Bush. My heart goes out to the family and friends of those 
who lost their life. It is hard to express my gratitude in proper words 
for people that are willing to sacrifice for freedom. The Nation feels 
the same gratitude. And I want to assure the loved ones that the 
soldiers died in a cause that is just and right and that we will 
prevail.
    In the addresses I've given to our Nation, I have said that 
sometimes the American people and our allies will see actions we take, 
and sometimes people won't see the actions we take. But they can rest 
assured that we will use the resources of our country, all the resources 
of our country, to ferret out and find and bring to justice those who 
would harm our country and harm other countries, as well. And that's 
exactly what we're doing.

Special Forces Ground Operations

    Q. Sir, are you satisfied with the progress in the first day of the 
ground war by the Special Forces?
    President Bush. I am satisfied we're making very good progress. We 
are dismantling Taliban defenses, Taliban military. We are destroying 
terrorist hideaways. We are slowly but surely encircling the terrorists 
so that we can bring them to justice.
    Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].

Domestic Reaction to Casualties

    Q. Do you feel like you've prepared the American people adequately 
for the possibility of casualties, sir?
    President Bush. Steve, I think the American people understand that 
ours will be a long struggle against terror. And they understand there 
will be sacrifice. After all, there was no greater example of that 
sacrifice than on Flight 93, when American citizens, after having said 
the Lord's Prayer, said, ``Let's roll.'' And they stormed that airplane 
so as to save lives on the ground.
    I think the American people now fully understand that we are in an 
important struggle, a struggle that will take time, and that the 
country--there will be moments of sacrifice. We've seen two such 
examples today.
    The thing that's important for me to tell the American people, that 
these soldiers will not have died in vain. This is a just cause. It's an 
important cause. The Prime Minister of Japan understands how important 
this cause is. He's a strong friend and ally in our fight against 
terror. We must succeed, and we will succeed.

Nature of the Coalition

    Q. Mr. President, both you and Dr. Rice have talked about how much 
cooperation you're getting from other countries. Is it the case that all 
countries around the world are cooperating in this effort, or are there 
still countries that we would like to see more determination from to 
join this fight against terror?
    President Bush. Well, I fully understand that some countries will 
participate with military forces, and others won't feel comfortable 
doing that. Some countries will be very good about sharing intelligence; 
other countries may not be so good. Some countries will be much more 
efficient about cutting off money; other countries may be a little lax 
about cutting off money. But the point is, is that the coalition is 
broad and deep and strong and committed.
    And we are very pleased with not only the commitment but the 
collective contribution. And we're making great progress. We're--not 
only are we doing well militarily, but we're sharing intelligence all 
across the

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globe, in ways that people could never envision up to now.
    So I'm very pleased. And I want to commend the Secretary of State 
for not only working hard to put the coalition together but working hard 
to reinforce the coalition. And one of the reasons I came to this 
important meeting was to be able to look at my friend and thank him for 
his commitment, his support, and thank other world leaders for their 
support.
    Q. Should the American people expect more from----

Discussions With Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia

    Q. Sir, can you tell us how the meeting went with the Prime Minister 
of Malaysia, who has expressed concern about the military action?
    President Bush. Well, we had a very good visit today. He is 
concerned about the death of innocent people in Afghanistan, and I 
assured him I am, too. Our beef is not with the Afghan people. Our beef 
is with a government that houses and feeds and tries to hide terrorists. 
And I assured him that our campaign was--that we were trying to be as 
careful as we possibly could to achieve our military objective.
    Secondly, I want the American people to understand that we're a 
compassionate Government. We're spending a great deal of money to help 
the people of Afghanistan. And I'm concerned about the fact that food 
isn't getting to some Afghan citizens, and the reason why is, is because 
the Taliban is preventing food distribution. They're disrupting food; 
they're stealing food. These are people that are willing to starve their 
people, which is yet another reason why the Taliban must go.
    Q. Should the American people expect more----

Operation Enduring Freedom

    Q. [Inaudible]--to his question, were you commenting on the success 
of today's mission, or to the success of the mission in general?
    President Bush. The success of the mission in general. We're making 
great progress. We're making great progress. As you know, I'm not going 
to comment on a specific operation. I will tell you, though, that we're 
using all the resources of the country. And in general, we're making 
very good progress. We're pleased with the progress being made.
    Q. Should the American people expect more raids like today, sir?

Upcoming Discussions With President Vladimir Putin of Russia

    Q. [Inaudible]--what about Putin tomorrow----
    President Bush. Oh, I think it's a very important meeting with 
President Putin tomorrow. I'm sorry, Mr. Prime Minister. But I look 
forward to the continued progress toward our Crawford meeting.
    Somebody said, ``Well, there's great anticipation that there will be 
so-called breakthroughs.'' Well, the breakthrough occurred in our first 
meeting, where we made a determined effort to work together to find 
common ground when it comes to new strategic arrangements. But I 
wouldn't expect any startling news, except for the fact that we're 
continuing our dialog.
    The Prime Minister has got a few comments.

Baseball

[At this point, a question was asked in Japanese, and a translation was 
not provided.]

    Prime Minister Koizumi. My treasure, precious, for Ripken, world-
famous baseball player. I love baseball very much. I love baseball very 
much--American sports.
    President Bush. He's got a very nice arm, too. [Laughter] I saw his 
fastball at Camp David. [Laughter]
    Prime Minister Koizumi. Yes--quite a spirit, very strong. Reliable.
    President Bush. Plus, we've been very impressed by Ichiro. 
[Laughter]
    Prime Minister Koizumi. My name is ``Jun-Ichiro.'' [Laughter] 
``Jun'' is ``pure''--``Jun'' means pure, purity. ``Ichiro.''
    President Bush. Got you. [Laughter]

Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. at the Portman Ritz-Carlton 
Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Baltimore Orioles third baseman 
Cal Ripken, Jr., and Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.

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