[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 50 (Monday, December 17, 2001)]
[Pages 1788-1790]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Thaksin Chinnawat of 
Thailand and an Exchange With Reporters

December 14, 2001

    The President. I want to welcome the Prime Minister of our longtime 
friend Thailand to the Oval Office.
    Mr. Prime Minister, thank you so much for being here.
    Prime Minister Thaksin. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. This is not the first time I've had a chance to have 
a meaningful discussion with the Prime Minister. We sat next to each 
other in Shanghai, and we had a couple of hours worth of very 
substantive discussions about our relationships, about our mutual 
concerns, about our desire to work closely together on a variety of 
fronts. The Prime Minister has assured me--and this visit is further 
confirmation--that our longtime friend will be a steady ally in the 
fight against terror. Mr. Prime Minister, I thank you for that.
    And secondly, today our Secretary of State and the Foreign Minister 
of his government are going to work on a framework for economic 
cooperation which will be completed. And it's further evidence that this 
relationship is a strong, strong relationship.
    And so, Mr. Prime Minister, I'm so thrilled you are here, and 
welcome to the Oval Office.
    Prime Minister Thaksin. Thank you, Mr. President.
    Thailand and the U.S. has been treaty allies since 1833. This is 
very right for me to visit and giving full support to U.S., which is our 
very long ally. And it's very right for me to discuss war against 
terrorism and also economic issues that we should further enhance the 
cooperation among our two countries.
    The President. Thank you.
    Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters]--what we're going to do is two 
questions from the

[[Page 1789]]

American press, two questions from our visitors, if there are any.
    Steve.

Videotape of Usama bin Laden

    Q. Sir, what do you expect Americans to get out of the bin Laden 
tape? And what do you say to some of the Islamic world who contend it's 
a farce or a fake?
    The President. Well, for those who contend it's a farce or a fake 
are hoping for the best about an evil man. I mean, this is bin Laden 
unedited. This is bin Laden--the bin Laden who has murdered people. This 
is the man who sent innocent people to their death by--this is a man who 
is so devious and so coldhearted that he laughs about the suicide, so-
called suicide bombers that lost their lives.
    It is preposterous for anybody to think that this tape is doctored. 
That's just a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an incredibly 
evil man.
    And you know, I had mixed emotions about this tape because there's a 
lot of people who suffered as a result of his evil. And I was hesitant 
to allow there to be a vivid reminder of their loss and tragedy 
displayed on our TVs. On the other hand, I knew that it would be--that 
the tape would be a devastating declaration of guilt for this evil 
person.
    Ron [Ron Fournier, Associated Press].

Usama bin Laden

    Q. Sir, two things. Is Usama bin Laden cornered? And when you weigh 
the pros and cons of either option, would you rather take him alive so 
you can question him or dead so you don't have to deal with him?
    The President. I don't care. Dead or alive, either way. I mean, I--
it doesn't matter to me.
    Secondly, I don't know whether we're going to get him tomorrow, or a 
month from now, or a year from now. I really don't know. But we're going 
to get him. And I--the American people must understand that I have no 
timetable in mind. There's no--I don't have a calendar that I say, 
``Well, gosh, if he's not gotten by this certain moment, then I'll be 
disappointed,'' because I am pleased with the progress that we're making 
in Afghanistan. I mean, there is no such thing as a Taliban. We have 
liberated, literally liberated village after village from incredible 
barbaric behavior toward women and children.
    I think one of the joyous parts of this war, if there is such a 
thing as a joyous part of a war, is to see the--is to see what it means 
for our country and our alliance to free people. We're achieving a lot 
of our objectives. But we're chasing a person, obviously, who is willing 
to send suicide bombers, on the one hand, and hide in a cave. Somebody 
who is--encourages young people to go kill themselves, and he, himself, 
refuses to stand and fight. And so he may hide for a while, but we'll 
get him.
    Anybody care to talk to the Prime Minister?

Situation in the Middle East

    Q. I'll ask one. Mr. President, do you see any signs of hope or 
progress in stopping the killing in the Middle East? And do you believe 
that Israel has been justified in its retaliatory actions against the 
Palestinian leadership and in the Prime Minister's decision to cut off 
contacts with Chairman Arafat?
    The President. First, let me talk about Chairman Arafat. Chairman 
Arafat has said that he intends to fight terror and to bring those to 
justice who are killing--murderers--in the Middle East, and now is his 
time to perform. The world expects Chairman Arafat to lead, and so do I. 
And I will continue to work with our friends and allies to make it--to 
talk to Mr. Arafat in very blunt terms.
    And that is, if you want to achieve the Mitchell--if you want to get 
in the Mitchell process, if you want there to be a peace, you must do 
everything in your power; you must use your security forces to bring to 
justice those who murder to keep peace from happening.
    The world has now seen that there are killers and murderers around 
the world and in the Middle East that are not interested in peace. Our 
Government strongly desires peace. We have sent emissaries throughout my 
administration to work to get a secure enough environment to get into 
the Mitchell process. We still have a man in place, General Zinni, 
working to get there to be some

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kind of security arrangements so we could possibly get into Mitchell. 
But so long as there's killers and people who would derail the peace 
process by murdering others, it's going to be very difficult to do.
    I will continue to make peace in the Middle East a priority, and it 
starts with routing out terror wherever it exists.
    Listen, thank you all very much. Have a great weekend.

Note: The President spoke at 10:50 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Minister of Foreign Affairs 
Surakiat Sathianthai of Thailand; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al 
Qaida terrorist organization; Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian 
Authority; and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Gen. Anthony Zinni, 
USMC (Ret.). The President also referred to the Mitchell report, the 
Report of the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee, issued April 30, 
2001. A reporter referred to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel.