[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 22 (Monday, June 2, 2003)]
[Pages 675-676]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With TV3 of France

May 29, 2003

France-U.S. Relations

    Q. Mr. President, are you going to forgive the French attitude on 
Iraq? What are you going to tell President Chirac when you're going to 
see him face to face?
    The President. Sure.
    Q. Are you still mad at him? Are you going to take sanctions against 
France?
    The President. No, no. No sanctions. I'm not mad. I mean, I'm 
disappointed, and the American people are disappointed. But now is the 
time to move forward, and there's a lot of issues that we can work 
together on. I know that Jacques Chirac feels strongly about Africa, and 
so do I. And therefore, we can work together, for example, on the AIDS 
pandemic in Africa. I laid out a bit initiative here for the American 
people, and the Congress passed a $15 billion, 5-year plan to work on 
HIV/AIDS in Africa. And there would be an opportunity, for example, for 
America and the French to work together to solve some big problems.
    And I'm going to remind him, just like I'm going to remind a lot of 
people, that we can do a heck of a lot more together than we can arguing 
with each other. And I can understand why some didn't agree with our 
policy in Iraq, but it's now time to move forward.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Considering the roadmap, peace in Middle East, you are going to 
meet most of the protagonists next week, how do you plan concretely to 
succeed where your predecessors failed?
    The President. Yes. Well, first of all, I appreciate the 
understanding of Jacques Chirac and the administration about me leaving 
a little early from Evian to go to the Middle East, where I will first 
meet with our Arab friends, some of the leaders in the neighborhood, and 
remind them they have a responsibility to the process. In other words, 
if they're interested in the achievement of peace, that they must cut 
off funding, for example, or work to cut off the financing of money to 
terrorist groups that would like to destroy the process.
    Secondly, I believe that the Palestinian Authority--the new Prime 
Minister is firmly committed to the defeat of terror and the advancement 
of a state and the institutions necessary to make a state viable. And so 
I'm very encouraged by his emergence.
    And thirdly, I believe Israel recognizes it's in their self-interest 
to support the notion of two states living side by side in peace. I'm 
the first President to have ever proposed that. I did so at the United 
Nations, and I take that vision into the Middle East knowing that the 
process is going to be difficult. But I believe that people now see the 
necessity of achieving that end result.

Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction

    Q. Mr. President, what do you answer to the American press that are 
trying to say that you have not released yet the proof of the existence 
of arms of massive destructions in Iraq? What do you answer to them?
    The President. Well, they must not be paying attention, is what I 
answer, because we've discovered mobile biological laboratories, the 
very same laboratories that Colin Powell talked about at the United 
Nations, the very same laboratories that were banned by the resolutions 
of the United Nations.

Iraq

    Q. The situation in Iraq is far from being stabilized. We have seen 
some American soldiers killed. Do you fear the rise of Muslim 
fundamentalism in this region against the occidental world, against 
United States? And do you fear at the same time the risk of creation of 
an Islamic republic backed by neighboring Iran?
    The President. No, I don't fear that. I think the Iraqi people want 
to run their own state. They don't need to have an Iranian-backed 
regime. I think the Iraqi people are plenty capable of managing their 
own affairs.
    Secondly, I fully recognize that democracy didn't flourish 
overnight. But I didn't expect it to. This is a country which has been 
ravished by a brutal dictator who murdered and tortured to stay in 
power. And it wasn't all that long ago that they were liberated from 
Saddam Hussein. So it's going to take a while.

[[Page 676]]

    And therefore, I've told Jerry Bremer that our Government, my 
Government, will be patient, as he makes progress toward improving the 
lives of the Iraqi people. And I say ``he,'' it's not only Jerry Bremer 
and the United States; there's a lot of people that are involved with 
the reconstruction of Iraq. And as life returns back to normal and as we 
get a hold of the situation--particularly in Baghdad--of the killers and 
people that are wreaking havoc--in other words, as we bring security to 
the neighborhoods, you'll see a good, democratic government emerge.

Iran

    Q. Is Iran a preoccupation for you--the ayatollahs with Al Qaida, 
which might be in that country attacking the United States?
    The President. Well, we are concerned--we are concerned that there's 
Al Qaida inside of Iran and have made our concerns very clearly. And 
this will give me a chance to do so again. To the extent that they have 
got Al Qaida in their country, we expect them to detain them and 
eventually hand them over to their countries of origin. There's no 
preoccupation. Our main focus right now is to find Al Qaida wherever 
they exist and bring them to justice, and we will do that. We'll 
continue to do that, and we expect others to join us.
    And I want to compliment the French for joining in this fight 
against Al Qaida. The French intelligence service have been very good to 
work with, and we've shared intelligence which has made France more 
secure and America more secure. And for that I'm grateful.
    Q. Mr. President, I want to thank you very much, and I definitely 
wish you all the best and great success for the future.
    The President. Thank you, sir. Thanks for coming.

Note: The interview was taped at 2:43 p.m. in the Library at the White 
House for later broadcast and was embargoed for release by the Office of 
the Press Secretary until 4:30 p.m. In his remarks, the President 
referred to President Jacques Chirac of France; Prime Minister Mahmoud 
Abbas (Abu Mazen) of the Palestinian Authority; former President Saddam 
Hussein of Iraq; and L. Paul Bremer III, Presidential Envoy to Iraq. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
interview.