[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 9 (Monday, March 3, 2003)]
[Pages 250-252]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan 
and an Exchange With Reporters

February 27, 2003

    President Bush. A couple of opening statements; we'll answer 
questions today.
    Mr. President, welcome back to the Oval Office.
    The President has just brought me and members of my administration 
up to date on the progress being made in Afghanistan. I guess the best 
way to summarize the discussion is that I'm welcoming a courageous 
leader, who's got a clear vision about the future of a country he loves, 
back to the Oval Office.
    I was deeply impressed by some of the statistics that he talked 
about. Over 2 million refugees have returned back to Afghanistan since 
he was last here in the Oval Office. As the President pointed out, those 
are people who are expressing their opinion about the future of 
Afghanistan by making a decision to return home.
    He also told me that there are now 3 million children going to 
school in Afghanistan. Right after and during the period of the Taliban 
and right after the war, the number of children going to school was 
negligible.
    This is tremendous progress, and I want the American people to know 
that we're proud of the progress which is being made. I want to continue 
to thank the American people for their support of the--of Afghanistan 
and our desire for the--human life to improve there.
    And Mr. President, we appreciate your leadership, your 
determination. And we continue to look forward to working with you to 
bring not only peace to that part of the world but a hopeful future for 
the citizens. So welcome back to the Oval Office.
    President Karzai. Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. It's an 
honor for me to be here with you in the White House. The

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United States and yourself have helped tremendously in the past year to 
rebuild Afghanistan, to help us in all aspects of life, including the 3 
million children that now go to school have been receiving help from the 
United States. You have helped us with the roads, with the building of 
the National Army of Afghanistan.
    I'm here to thank you and the American people. And I'm also here to 
ask you to do more for us in making the life of the Afghan people 
better, more stable, more peaceful. I'm also here to tell you that the 
war against terrorism is going on. We have defeated them, but some 
elements are still there. And we should go on strong and tough to get 
them all and free the world from that menace.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.
    President Karzai. Thank you.
    President Bush. Ron [Ron Fournier, Associated Press].

Disarmament of Iraq

    Q. Mr. President, following up on your speech last night, if the 
United States had expanded its mission beyond the liberation of Kuwait 
and removed Saddam Hussein from power in the 1990s, would the Middle 
East be more peaceful now?
    President Bush. The mission in early 1990s was to liberate Kuwait, 
and the United States achieved that mission. The mission now is to 
disarm Saddam Hussein, in the name of peace. And we will disarm Saddam 
Hussein.
    I noticed today there is some talk about the illegal rockets in 
Iraq. He--this is part of his--the discussion about these rockets is 
part of his campaign of deception. See, he'll say, ``I'm not going to 
destroy the rockets,'' and then he'll have a change of mind this weekend 
and destroy the rockets and say, ``I've disarmed.'' The rockets are just 
the tip of the iceberg. The only question at hand is total, complete 
disarmament, which he is refusing to do.
    Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].

Regime Change in Iraq

    Q. If I could just follow up, though, on your rationale from 
yesterday. If we could have peace in the Middle East by removing Saddam 
now, couldn't we have had it if we had removed him 10 years ago? Or is 
that a----
    President Bush. The mission--just remember what the mission was. 
When you commit troops to war, you must have a clear mission. Should we 
be forced to commit our troops because of his failure to disarm, the 
mission will be complete disarmament, which will mean regime change. 
That was not the mission in 1991.

Situation in the Middle East

    Q. You talked last night about the Middle East roadmap. What's 
holding that up? When can we see that?
    President Bush. We have been working on the Middle East every day. 
We will continue to work to bring peace to the Middle East. And my 
fervent desire is for the--is to achieve peace and to improve the plight 
of the Palestinian citizen and, at the same time, improve the security 
for not only the Palestinians but the Israelis. We work the peace issue 
constantly.

National Economy

    Q. Mr. President, consumer confidence numbers hit their lowest 
levels in, I think, 9 years yesterday. And many of those surveyed say 
that they're more concerned about the economy than they are about Iraq. 
Money managers on Wall Street say that even when the uncertainty over 
what is happening in Iraq is resolved, there remain many obstacles of a 
purely business nature that leave them less than confident looking 
forward. Are you frustrated by the sense that perhaps perception could 
become reality here, that the lack of confidence seems to be becoming 
more entrenched?
    President Bush. I've got confidence in the future of our economy. 
There's strong signals that this economy will improve. But I understand 
we need to have a stimulus package to make sure that the forecasts and 
the predictions become true. A lot of the experts are projecting growth 
at 3.3 percent. Inherent in their projections is that Congress pass a 
stimulus package, fiscal stimulus package. I proposed the one that I 
think will work.
    And so that is one of the reasons why you're seeing this 
administration on a regular basis pursue a stimulus package that will 
have

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a positive effect for job creation, a stimulus package directed to 
small-business owners in America, a stimulus package which will 
encourage investment, a stimulus package which will ultimately help 
seniors because their dividends might be taxed twice. So this is a 
stimulus package that is very positive.
    But I'm very optimistic about the future of this country--the 
economic future, and I'm optimistic about our chances to achieve peace.
    Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 11:51 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. 
The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of these remarks.