[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 5 (Monday, February 4, 2002)]
[Pages 161-164]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With King Abdullah II of Jordan and an 
Exchange With Reporters

February 1, 2002

    President Bush. I want to welcome our close friend His Majesty, from 
the country

[[Page 162]]

of Jordan, back to the Oval Office. We have had a chance to visit 
several times during the course of my tenure as the President, and every 
visit has been very constructive and very positive.
    I appreciate so very much his support on our mutual concerns about 
making the world more peaceful, our desire to rout out terror. And Your 
Majesty, thank you for your strong support.
    I also look forward to having a good discussion with His Majesty 
about how we can work together to improve both our economies. King 
Abdullah is serious about his desire to improve the lot of his people 
and wants to make sure that whatever we do, we do together with one 
thing in mind, and that is to extend our mutual prosperity so people can 
make a living and have a better life. I appreciate so much his 
compassion for the people of Jordan. Every time I've talked to him, he's 
expressed his concern to make sure that the moms and dads of Jordan have 
got a capacity to provide for their children.
    I look forward to also discussing his desire to make sure that we 
share our strategies about how to make sure both our people are educated 
in a way that will provide a hopeful future.
    So, Your Majesty, welcome back to the Oval Office, and I'm glad to 
have you here, sir.
    King Abdullah. Thank you very much, Mr. President. As always, it's a 
tremendous honor and pleasure to be back to see you.
    As you've said, our meetings have been growing in strength and 
cooperation every time that we have met. It is really such an important 
relationship between our two countries. Not only have we been able to 
work with you on improving the economic situation in Jordan, as you've 
just mentioned, but equally as important, you've been so kind to listen 
to our views on the area and the region, and we're very grateful for 
your effort. And I know, Mr. President, where your heart is on many of 
the regional issues to try and bring peace and stability to the area. 
And we're very grateful for your vision in that and for your courage and 
determination to really bring a better world in our part of the Middle 
East.
    President Bush. Thank you. We'll answer a couple of questions.

Situation in the Middle East

    Q. Mr. President, good morning. Prime Minister Sharon spoke 
yesterday about his sorrow not to eliminate President Arafat in Lebanon, 
as if it was a mistake he would like to correct now. Do you have any 
comment on Mr. Sharon's sorrow?
    President Bush. Yes. I think the best way to peace is for us all to 
keep the focus on what derails peace, and what derails peace is terror. 
And the more quickly we eliminate terror, the more likely it is we'll 
have a peaceful resolution in the region. And that's all I want to 
comment on the situation.
    Fournier [Ron Fournier, Associated Press].

Evil Axis/Daniel Pearl

    Q. Mr. President, first, real quickly, to Your Majesty. Do you think 
there is----
    The President. You want two questions----
    Q. Only one each.
    The President. Okay, in that case----
    Q.Real quickly, sir, Your Majesty, do you think there is an evil 
axis in the world, and is Iraq part of it? And Mr. President, what are 
you doing or what can you do about the Wall Street Journal reporter who 
is hostage in Pakistan?
    King Abdullah. Well, sir, after the September 11th tragedy, I think 
it's very obvious that there are those that are on the side of good, 
those that are on the side of bad, and there's some countries in the 
middle that haven't made up their minds. I think that the policy of the 
United States and the rest of us have been to be very clear to everybody 
on which side you want to choose, and that the President has been very 
articulate from the beginning of the 11th of September that there is a 
new world, there's a new expectations of how countries are supposed to 
react, and those countries better make up their minds pretty quickly. 
And I endorse tremendously that view and that position.
    President Bush. I talked to the FBI Director this morning, Ron, 
about the American who is in Pakistan being evidently held

[[Page 163]]

against his will. We are working with the Pakistani Government to chase 
down any leads possible. For example, we're trying to follow the trail 
of the e-mails that have been sent, with the sole purpose of saving this 
man, of finding him and rescuing him.
    We've been in touch with the Wall Street Journal, and obviously 
we're deeply concerned, as is the Pakistani Government. And we will 
continue to do everything we can to rescue him.
    Q. You said you have talked to the Journal or your people have?
    President Bush. The FBI Director did.

Iran and North Korea

    Q. Mr. President, have you abandoned efforts of pursuing a peaceful 
dialog with Iran and North Korea?
    President Bush. No, of course not. My hope is--I said in my speech, 
I hope nations hear our call and make right decisions. A wrong decision 
will be to continue to export weapons of mass destruction. And I 
certainly hope that North Korea, for example, listens to what we 
suggested, and that is, they pull back some conventional weaponry to 
make a clear declaration of their peaceful intentions on the Peninsula 
and that they not export weapons. We would be more than happy to enter a 
dialog with them if that would be the case.
    All the three countries I mentioned now are on--are now on notice 
that we intend to take their development of weapons of mass destruction 
very seriously. It's not just ``we''; I'm talking about other nations 
that respect the rule of law and freedom. And I look forward to having 
this discussion with our friend King Abdullah. He has obviously made a 
very clear statement about his understanding of what it takes to bring 
peace and order to the world.
    But having said that, all options are on the table as to how to make 
America and our allies more secure.

Situation in the Middle East

    Q. Mr. President, what are the future plans that--steps that the 
United States is planning to take to restore calm and enhance peace in 
the Middle East?
    President Bush. Well, the first thing is, Mr. Arafat has to make a--
has to show the world that he is willing to join our fight against 
terror. I felt like we were making pretty good progress, up until the 
time when we discovered, the world discovered that there had been a 
significant shipment of arms ordered from Iran for only--it seemed like 
to us, only one purpose, and that is to prevent--is for terrorist 
purposes. And we can't let that stand. And frankly, that's in total 
contrast to what he assured us, not only through his decisions at Oslo 
but verbally, that he would help us fight against terror. Mr. Arafat 
must lead.
    Q. Mr. President, what kind of help do you expect from Mr. Arafat if 
he's actually under house arrest? And second, what do you think of Mr. 
Sharon's policy of destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian 
Authority and possibly the removal of Mr. Arafat from office? Do you 
really think of the post-Arafat era?
    President Bush. I think what we need to do is to fight terror on all 
fronts in the Middle East, so that at some point we can get into the 
Tenet and then Mitchell accords. There is a plan for peace, but it 
starts with a full-focused effort to fight terror. And Mr. Arafat must 
do a better job. We believe he can do a better job, and he must do a 
better job of doing so.
    Little Stretch [David Gregory, NBC News].

Daniel Pearl

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Just to follow up on the situation with 
the Wall Street Journal reporter. Do the Pakistanis--are they familiar 
with the group holding him?
    President Bush. No, according to the press, they're not; according 
to my information, they're not necessarily familiar with the group. On 
the other hand, we have some leads, for example, the e-mail--e-mails 
could provide a lead--and we're chasing them down. We're very concerned 
about the Wall Street Journal reporter. We are in touch with the 
Pakistani Government. We're in touch with the Wall Street Journal, and 
we've got both the--you know, our agencies in the area actively involved 
in trying to rescue him.

[[Page 164]]

Federal Reserve/Stimulus Package

    Q. Can I just follow on another point? Given the Fed's decision not 
to act----
    The President. Given the----
    Q. I'm sorry, the Fed's decision not to act on interest rates here a 
couple of days ago----
    President Bush. Oh, the Fed--a new subject, okay, go. [Laughter] I'm 
kind of ``the Feds,'' and we're acting--in terms of Pakistan. I got you. 
[Laughter]
    Q. I'm trying a Fournier.
    President Bush. But it's not quite as subtle as Fournier. See, 
Fournier is good about it because he actually addresses the two 
questions to two people. You're now going with the--it's a sole two-
question, and it's a very--it's brazen, but go ahead. [Laughter]
    Q. It is a stretch----
    President Bush. I'm very impressed. It is a stretch--Little Stretch. 
[Laughter]
    Q. If I could remember what I was going to ask--[laughter]--given 
what the Fed said and the growth numbers for the fourth quarter, are you 
as convinced that a stimulus package is still needed?
    President Bush. One thing I'm--I believe we're still not out of our 
economic problems. We've still got problems. The economy is still soft. 
Too many people aren't working. There's not enough job creation. And I 
believe, like I said in the State of the Union, we need a stimulus 
package. Until Americans can find steady work, I am going to be 
relentless in my desire to enhance economic growth, and that means jobs. 
And we've got to work with Congress to figure out how to enhance 
economic vitality. There are some positive numbers, but not enough 
positive numbers to satisfy me.

Note: The President spoke at 8:05 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of 
Israel; Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; and Wall 
Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped January 23 in 
Karachi, Pakistan. The President also referred to the Report of the 
Sharm al-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee, and the June 13, 2001, Israeli-
Palestinian ceasefire and security plan negotiated by CIA Director 
George J. Tenet.