    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 44 (Monday, November 5, 2001)]
    [Pages 1587-1592]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Following Discussions With President Olusegun Obasanjo of
    Nigeria and an Exchange With Reporters

    November 2, 2001

        President Bush. I'm proud to welcome President Obasanjo back to the
    White House. We just had a very good visit.
        We discussed our mutual concern, our mutual desire, and that is to
    fight and win the war against terror. The President has been a steadfast
    friend of the United States Government and the United States people,
    before and after September 11th, and for that we're most grateful.
        He has got a huge Muslim population in his country, and I assured
    him and assure those Muslims who live in his country that our war that
    we now fight is against terror

    [[Page 1588]]

    and evil. It's not against Muslims. We both understand that the Islamic
    faith teaches peace, respects human life, is nonviolent. And I want to
    thank the President's leadership in sending a--not only a message of
    tolerance and respect but also his vision, which I share, that our
    struggle is going to be long and difficult. But we will prevail. We will
    win. Good will overcome evil.
        Part of the reason why is we've got a strong coalition. And the
    President is part of that coalition. So welcome, Mr. President. Thank
    you.
        President Obasanjo. Mr. President, thank you for receiving me once
    again at the White House. Of course, we have come this time to express
    solidarity, to express support, to express condolence for the terrorist
    attack on this country, on innocent people of all faiths and of all
    races on the 11th of September.
        We have no doubt in our own mind that terrorism must be fought. And
    it must be fought to a standstill. And as you have rightly said, we must
    distinguish and we must lead people to understand that there's a
    difference between fighting terrorism. And it doesn't matter what mask
    the terrorists wears. And of course the love that we have for humanity,
    and the love that we have for men and women of all faiths.
        I want to particularly commend your effort, Mr. President, for the
    way you have built up a coalition, because the tendency and the feeling
    we need to do something quickly, that we take time to build coalition,
    and as you rightly said, we are part of that coalition, and we will
    remain steadfastly part of that coalition.
        We, as I said, we are unique in a way, because we have the highest
    population of Muslims in Africa. We are also unique in the fact that
    almost 50 percent of our commission are Muslims, and almost 50 percent
    are Christians. That has advantage and also has disadvantage. It is up
    to us to let our people, the citizens of our country, know that whatever
    faith they belong to, they are not safe as long as we allow terrorism to
    take hold of the world.
        Whatever ideal they stand for, their ideal will amount to nothing if
    terrorism rules the world. Whatever ambitions or aspirations they have,
    their ambition and aspiration will come to naught if terrorism is
    allowed to take over a ruling of the world.
        And as I said to the President, if leaders who are brought into
    power through democratic means will abandon their responsibility to
    terrorists, then they might as well go home. The President, in that case
    will have to go back to his ranch, and in that case I will have to go
    back to my chicken farm. [Laughter] But we are not going to do that,
    because that would be height of irresponsibility. We have a duty. We
    have a commitment. And we believe that the duty and the commitment we
    have is the duty and commitment given to us by our people. And we should
    not shirk that responsibility.
        I believe that the coalition--and I know you are anxious to ask
    questions--I believe that the coalition has this challenge, the
    challenge to fight terrorism. It is also a challenge to make the world
    wholesome, more equitable, fairer, and safer for all of us to live in. I
    believe that the coalition should not relax until that objective is
    achieved. And I believe that we have a leader in President Bush to
    ensure that the world achieves that objective.
        President Bush. Very eloquent. Thank you.

    President Obasanjo's Visit

        Q. Mr. President, President Bush, why did it take so long to have an
    African leader visit here, when African leaders had met such strong
    statements of sympathy and statement of condemnation of the terrorists?
    Why did it take so long?
        President Bush. One of the first phone calls I received was from
    President Obasanjo. His support has never been--has never wavered.
    There's no question about where we stood in the coalition. And I'm proud
    to have him by my side.
        Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].

    Operation Enduring Freedom

        Q. Sir, is it still your position that the bombing campaign would
    stop if the Taliban turned over bin Laden and his followers? Or has the
    war gone beyond that?
        President Bush. We still have the same objective, and that is for
    the Taliban to hand

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    over Al Qaida, the leaders, to release those who are being detained, and
    to destroy any terrorist training camps. And they've been given ample
    time to meet those demands, and now they're paying a price for not
    having met the demands.
        Sonya [Sonya Ross, Associated Press]. Wait a minute, let me get the
    ``prints'' out of the way. Thank you.

    Relations With the Muslim World

        Q. Could you tell us a little bit more about what you discussed, in
    terms of reaching out to young people in Muslim countries and addressing
    the poverty and the despair that they feel, so that they do not become
    foot soldiers for terrorist networks?
        And for President Obasanjo, could you tell us how you plan to deal
    with the military action in east central Nigeria last week, where some
    civilians were killed?
        President Bush. We did spend time talking about the totality of a
    war against terror not only require strong military action, strong
    diplomatic action, strong financial action, but it also recognizes that
    we need to share a message that our respective governments respect
    tolerance, respect other points of view. We don't share the point of
    view that evil is religious. We don't appreciate the fact that somebody
    has tried to hijack a religion in order to justify terror activities.
        And we also recognize that economic prosperity throughout the world
    is more likely to make people appreciate rule of law, appreciate other
    people's points of view. That's one reason why I've been such a strong
    supporter of AGOA, which is the African Trade Act. That's why I believe
    we ought to start a new round at Qatar, a new round for world trade. I
    mean, I believe prosperity can best be enhanced by a world that trades
    in freedom. And I think that's a significant part of making sure people
    are able to rise out of poverty.
        But on the other hand, I don't accept the excuse that poverty
    promotes evil. That's like saying poor people are evil people. I
    disagree with that. Usama bin Laden is an evil man. His heart has been
    so corrupted that he's willing to take innocent life. And we are
    fighting evil, and we will continue to fight evil, and we will not stop
    until we defeat evil.
        Anyway, you've got a question for the President?

    Military Action in Nigeria

        Q. On the actions in east central Nigeria by the Nigerian military,
    in which some civilians were killed?
        President Obasanjo. Maybe you don't know what happened. Let me just
    put you into exactly what happened. That is an area where there have
    been some clashes between two or three groups, the Tiv, the Jukun, and
    the Fulanis. And this has been going on for, oh, maybe 15, 10 years. At
    times it goes down; at times it goes up.
        And this time when it went up, the Governors of the two States where
    this happened, Taraba State and Benue State, separately invited to the
    military, through me, to take care of the--what I call the lawlessness
    of young men who put illegal roadblock on either side of the State
    boundary, and if you do not belong to their ethnic group, they take you
    and kill you.
        And then we sent soldiers there to clear the roadblock and keep this
    menace out of the way. And they did that. And the last roadblock, the
    last roadblock, in a place called Vaase, the soldiers were ambushed and
    taken, disarmed, and killed and their bodies were dismembered, chopped
    up.
        And then I got in touch with the Governor, and I said, ``Do
    everything to apprehend those who committed this heinous crime, and hand
    them over to us.'' After 3 days, they called on me and said that, ``I
    have failed. I will ask you to send soldiers to help me in apprehending
    these people.'' And that's what we did.
        Q. Mr. President, thank you very much.
        President Bush. Good morning.
        Q. James Rosen, Fox News.
        President Bush. If that's the case, then I'll call on somebody else.
    [Laughter]

    Presidential Records Act Executive Order

        Q. Now that you're a wartime President, sir, interest in your
    decisionmaking processes, and those that you involve your staff in, is
    going to be greater than even normal times. And yet, the Executive order
    that you signed yesterday makes it harder for journalists, scholars,
    historians to write anything

    [[Page 1590]]

    about what decisions you're going to be making and have made, even
    sympathetically. And I wonder why you took that action?
        President Bush. We responded to a new law written by Congress that
    lays out a procedure that I think is fair for past Presidents. And it is
    a process that I think will enable historians to do their job and at the
    same time protect state secrets. That's why I did what I did.
        Q. [Inaudible]--be able to get their hands on documents for many
    years?
        President Bush. There are some documents that are privileged,
    protected. And this is just to make sure those documents remain
    protected and privileged. I don't see this as anything other than
    setting a set of procedures that I believe is fair and reasonable.

    Terrorist Threat Alerts

        Q. Mr. President, the Director of Homeland Security, Governor Ridge,
    has just said that the state of alert, which was introduced last Monday,
    the high state of alert is now indefinite. A lot of Americans are
    rattled by what they see as a mixed message, being told to go about
    their business on the one hand and, yet, having to look for some
    unspecified threat on the other.
        What's your message?
        President Bush. Well, I wasn't rattled when I went out and threw out
    the ball at Yankee Stadium. Right after, I had instructed the Justice
    Department to inform 17,000 law enforcement agencies to be aware, to
    harden targets, to harden assets. Most Americans, Bill [Bill Plante, CBS
    News], understand that there is a new day here in America. They
    appreciate the efforts the Government is making, and they're going to
    fight terrorism by going about their daily lives.
        But what Governor Ridge is saying, and what I've been saying all
    along, is we're in a new day here in America. We're fighting a two-front
    war, and I believe most Americans understand that now. And I appreciate
    the courage of most Americans, but we have a responsibility at the
    government to protect the people. When we see something that we think is
    credible, we hear something that might be real, we're going to notify
    the respective authorities to help harden targets.

    Nature of the Conflict

        Q. Mr. President, given these terror alerts--given that these terror
    alerts are indefinite, should the American people conclude that despite
    the bombing campaign that Usama bin Laden and the Al Qaida network are
    no less potent or able to conduct a terror campaign than they were
    before the 9-11 attack?
        President Bush. Oh, no. As a matter of fact, I think that the
    American people ought to conclude that our enemy is fighting an army not
    only overseas but at home, that the enemy is being hunted down abroad
    and at home. We've detained over a thousand people here in America.
    We're running down every single lead, We're hardening assets. We're on
    the hunt. We're going to chase them down.
        And the American people fully understand that we're in for a long
    struggle. And I appreciate the patience of the American people. We are
    making progress overseas in Afghanistan. We're slowly but surely
    tightening the net on the enemy. We're making it harder for the enemy to
    communicate. We're making it harder for the enemy to protect himself.
    We're making it harder for the enemy to hide. And we're going to get
    him--and them.
        There are some that say, ``Well, shouldn't this have happened
    yesterday?'' This is not an instant gratification war. This is a
    struggle for freedom and liberty. This is a struggle for the ability for
    America and America's children to live in peace. This is a struggle for
    the people of this good man's country to be able to live in peace.
        And that's why I can assure our allies, assure the American people,
    for so long as I'm the President, this will be my focus. And we're
    making very good progress.
        Q. Mr. President, were you surprised, even if you weren't looking
    for instant gratification, at the resilience of the Taliban regime under
    these attacks? And are you concerned, sir, about the future, about the
    disarray among the people who may take over Afghanistan if the Taliban
    should fall?
        President Bush. Terry [Terry Moran, ABC News], we've been at this
    part of the battle for a couple of weeks. And as I explained to the
    American people, this is going

    [[Page 1591]]

    to be a long struggle. And I am very satisfied, and the American people
    should be satisfied, with the progress we're making on the ground.
        The Taliban's air defenses have been completely demolished. Their
    assets, whatever assets they had, have been demolished, and we're slowly
    but surely tightening the net to achieve our objective. This is a
    different kind of war. The country has been used to Desert Storm, or
    have been used to Kosovo, where we were able to have massive formations
    marching across the desert and/or simply an air campaign that eventually
    brought a country to its knees. This is a different type of struggle,
    and our strategy reflects that. And I believe the American people
    understand that and are very patient, as am I.
        I am mindful of the objective; the military is mindful of the
    objective in Afghanistan. But the objective goes beyond just
    Afghanistan. That's why we're working on the financial front to cut off
    money. That's why I have encouraged nations all around the world to
    apprehend those who are known terrorists, and over 280 have been
    arrested thus far.
        That's why this coalition is so important, that it remain strong, to
    raise the risk for those who would like to conduct terrorist activities.
    That's why we're standing in solidarity with the Philippines, for
    example, that's working hard to get rid of Abu Sayyaf.
        In other words, this is a global battle. There happens to be two
    known fronts, two visible fronts: one, Afghanistan; and the other, the
    United States of America. And we're making good progress on both fronts.

    Microsoft Antitrust Case

        Q. Mr. President, could you tell us, sir, why the administration
    made the deal it did this morning in the Microsoft case and what you
    would say to the State attorneys general, who feel the concessions are
    so great they're walking away?
        President Bush. I think you need to talk to the Attorney General on
    that, if you don't mind. Kelly [Kelly Wallace, Cable News Network].

    Gov. Gray Davis of California

        Q. Mr. President, two quick unrelated questions. Number one, have
    you made a decision, and have you ruled out stopping or lessening the
    military action during Ramadan? And number two, if you could just
    comment on how California Governor Davis handled that FBI alert
    yesterday, and if you think your administration wants to issue any
    guidelines for State and local authorities to handle this in the future?
        President Bush. Well, as a former Governor, I didn't particularly
    care when the Federal Government tried to tell me how to do my business.
    When I was the Governor of Texas, I was elected by the people of Texas,
    and I handled my State's business the way I thought was necessary. And I
    think any Governor should be able to conduct their business the way they
    see fit.
        I think what should be noticed is, is that we are constantly in
    touch with State and local authorities as to general and/or specific
    threats. Part of the homeland defense is active and strong
    communications, so that Governors and/or local authorities can harden
    targets, respond to uncorroborated evidence, and to protect their
    people.
        First part of the question? This is the old two question--two-part
    question. It's one of the old press tricks, Mr. President. You're
    allowed one question, and then they ask two. [Laughter]

    Bombing During Ramadan

        Q. Have you made a decision, are you ruling out stopping or
    lessening the military action during Ramadan?
        President Bush. I'll let our military speak to that. My own personal
    attitude is, is that the enemy won't rest during Ramadan and neither
    will we. We're going to pursue this war until we achieve our objective.
    As to the specific times and dates, we'll let the military speak to
    that. They're in charge of this operation. This is not a political
    campaign; this is a war. And I respect the chain of command. I honor the
    chain of command, and I will tell you, our military is doing a very good
    job.

    Anthrax

        Q. Sir, what would you say to Americans who are concerned they
    haven't heard a clear answer on how this anthrax got to this woman

    [[Page 1592]]

    in New York, how it killed her, and who are afraid it could happen to
    them?
        President Bush. I would say to the American people that we're
    learning a lot about anthrax, and we're doing everything we can to find
    out all the facts. And when we get the facts, we'll share it with the
    American people.
        I will also say to the American people, I believe that the hard work
    of our public health officials has saved lives. I believe the fact that
    we've got people all around our country working hours upon hours have
    helped saved life in America. And for that, the American people are
    grateful, and so am I.
        Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim separatist
    group operating in the southern Philippines. A portion of these remarks
    could not be verified because the tape was incomplete.