[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 29 (Monday, July 21, 2003)]
[Pages 914-917]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the 
United Nations and an Exchange With Reporters

July 14, 2003

    The President. I'm so honored that Kofi Annan has come back to the 
Oval Office. We've had a great discussion. I briefed him on my trip to 
Africa, his native continent, and I told him that I was most impressed 
with the possibilities of the continent. I saw the potential, and I also 
saw many of the problems. And I want to thank the Secretary-General for 
his work on hunger and HIV/AIDS. We're going to work closely with him to 
help defeat the pandemic.

[[Page 915]]

    And the other thing we talked about was Liberia. I assured him that 
our Government's position is a strong position. We want to enable ECOWAS 
to get in and help create the conditions necessary for the cease-fire to 
hold, that Mr. Taylor must leave, that we'll participate with the 
troops. We're in the process, still, of determining what is necessary, 
what ECOWAS can bring to the table, when they can bring it to the table, 
what is the timetable, and be able to match the necessary U.S. help to 
expediting the ECOWAS' participation.
    I told the Secretary-General that we want to help, that there must 
be a U.N. presence, quickly, into Liberia. He and I discussed how fast 
it would take to blue-helmet whatever forces arrived, other than our 
own, of course. We would not be blue-helmeted. We would be there to 
facilitate and then to leave.
    And we had a good discussion. And I think we had a meeting of minds 
on that subject.
    We talked about Iraq. And I told him and assured him that the United 
States would stay the course because we believe freedom is on its way to 
the Iraqi people. And by that I mean that the Iraqi people are beginning 
to assume more and more responsibility in their society. Free society 
requires a certain kind of responsible behavior. And we're seeing more 
and more of that amongst the Iraqi citizens. Our deep desire is to make 
sure that the infrastructure is repaired, that people are educated, and 
health care delivery systems are good.
    I was honest in my appraisal when I told him that I recognize 
certain elements of the former regime are interested in keeping the 
infrastructure blown up because of--for pure power reasons, and that--I 
told him, and I will continue to speak as clearly as I can that an 
attack on the Iraqi infrastructure by the Ba'athists are--is an attack 
on the Iraqi people. And it's those Iraqis who are causing the continued 
suffering, where there's suffering in Iraq.
    But we're making good progress. I'm proud of Jerry Bremer's work. 
And then the--we also talked about other issues that are on his mind and 
my mind. The long and short of it is we had a great discussion.
    Mr. Secretary-General, I'm honored you're here.
    Secretary-General Annan. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I think 
it is fair to say that it's wonderful that I should be meeting the 
President soon after the return--his return from Africa, my own 
continent. We weren't too far away. I was in Mozambique when he was in 
South Africa and Botswana.
    But I would want to thank the President for the interest in the 
continent and his determination to help defeat the AIDS pandemic. I 
think it is a tragedy that is not only taking away the future of Africa; 
it is really destroying the present.
    And it's a disease that takes parents away from children, teachers 
away from students, doctors away from hospitals. So the effort that is 
going in is absolutely worthwhile. And at the African Union Summit, this 
topic was very much on everyone's mind.
    We also discussed, as the President has indicated, the situation in 
Liberia. And I'm satisfied with the discussions we've had and the 
approach the U.S. Government is taking. And of course, there is an 
assessment team in west Africa, but we have more or less agreed to a 
general approach on the Liberian issue, and I'm very pleased with that.
    We talked about at least where the President's leadership has made a 
difference. Over the past couple of weeks, things are going in the right 
direction. We have bumps in the road, but I think, with the 
determination of the leaders and the support of the international 
community, we will make progress on this very difficult issue.
    In Iraq, we were encouraged to see the formation of the Governing 
Council yesterday. And I must say that my special representative, Sergio 
de Mello, and Mr. Bremer are working very well together.
    And on the Hill, I indicated that regardless of the differences that 
existed between nations before the war, now we have a challenge. The 
challenge is to stabilize Iraq, to help Iraq to become a peaceful, 
stable, and prosperous state. And I think everyone needs to help. An 
Iraq that is at peace with itself and its neighbors is in the interest 
of the neighbors and the entire international community.
    So I would want to see the entire community, international 
community, come together

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to assist the Iraqi people and to help us stabilize a region.
    The President. Thank you, Kofi.

Quality of Intelligence/Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction

    Q. Mr. President, thank you. On Iraq, what steps are being taken to 
ensure that questionable information like the Africa uranium material 
doesn't come to your desk and wind up in your speeches?
    The President. Well, let me first say that, you know, I think the 
intelligence I get is darn good intelligence. And the speeches I have 
given were backed by good intelligence. And I am absolutely convinced 
today, like I was convinced when I gave the speeches, that Saddam 
Hussein developed a program of weapons of mass destruction and that our 
country made the right decision.
    We worked with the United Nations--as Kofi mentioned, not all 
nations agreed with the decision, but we worked with the United Nations. 
And Saddam Hussein did not comply. And it's the same intelligence, by 
the way, that my predecessor used to make the decision he made in 1998.
    We are in the process now of interrogating people inside of Iraq 
to--and looking at documents, exploring documents to determine the 
extent that--what we can find as quickly as possible. And I believe, 
firmly believe, that when it's all said and done, the people of the 
United States and the world will realize that Saddam Hussein had a 
weapons program.
    Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].

Liberia

    Q. On Liberia, are you now telling us that you will send U.S. troops 
to Liberia, and how many, and when will this happen?
    The President. Yes, see, that's--what I'm telling you is that we 
want to help ECOWAS. It may require troops, but we don't know how many 
yet. And therefore, it's hard for me to make a determination until I've 
seen all the facts. And as Kofi mentioned, there's still--or the 
Secretary-General mentioned, excuse me--[laughter]--there's still--a 
little informal here. They are still--our teams, our military is 
assessing ECOWAS' strength, how soon, how quick, what kind of troops, 
who they are, to determine what is necessary from our side to fulfill 
the commitment I have made that we will help maintain the cease-fire.
    By the way, this is conditional upon Mr. Taylor leaving. He's got to 
leave. I think everybody understands that. We discussed that, by the 
way, in Nigeria, with President Obasanjo, who clearly understands that 
as well. But we're still, Steve, determining the facts. It is very 
difficult for me to make a decision until I see the facts.
    Q. Well, when do you think----
    The President. Well, I don't know. That's an interesting question. 
We asked that question today at a national security briefing. And as 
soon as we can get it, there is--the Secretary-General has been very 
helpful in urging nations to move forward with those plans. We hear 
numbers all the time as to--you know, Nigeria may be able to contribute 
this, or so and so may be able to contribute that. Maybe you'd like to 
answer the question--I mean, as soon as possible is the answer. We'd 
like to get the assessment teams. There has been two such teams out and 
about, and we'd like to get the information as soon as possible.
    Secretary-General Annan. And Jacques Klein is going to be the 
special representative--the gentleman with the red tie--in Liberia. So 
you'll be seeing a lot of him, and you can talk to him.
    Q. No long-term commitments----
    The President. Correct. I think everybody understands, any 
commitment we had would be limited in size and limited in tenure. Our 
job would be to help facilitate an ECOWAS presence which would then be 
converted into a U.N. peacekeeping mission.
    Secretary-General Annan. Maybe I should add something here. The 
understanding which is emerging now is for the ECOWAS forces to send in 
a vanguard of about 1,000 to 1,500 troops. And I think this is something 
that they have worked out amongst themselves and now discussing in Accra 
with the--also with the U.S. team. After that, from what I gather, 
Taylor--President Taylor will leave Liberia, and then the force will be 
strengthened, hopefully with U.S. participation and additional troops 
from the west African region. And eventually, the

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U.N. blue helmets will be set up to stabilize the situation, along the 
lines that we've done in Sierra Leone, and once the situation is calmer 
and stabilized, the U.S. would leave and the U.N. peacekeepers would 
carry on the operation.
    The President. Yes, Dana [Dana Bash, CNN], one last question.

State of the Union Address

    Q. Mr. President, back on the question of Iraq and that specific 
line that has been in question----
    The President. Can you cite the line? [Laughter]

    Q. Really? I could, if you gave me time.
    The President. When I gave the speech, the line was relevant.

    Q. So even though there has been some question about the 
intelligence--the intelligence community knowing beforehand that perhaps 
it wasn't, you still believe that when you gave it----
    The President. Well, the speech that I gave was cleared by the CIA. 
And look, I mean, the thing that's important to realize is that we're 
constantly gathering data. Subsequent to the speech, the CIA had some 
doubts. But when I gave the--when they talked about the speech and when 
they looked at the speech, it was cleared. Otherwise, I wouldn't have 
put it in the speech. I'm not interested in talking about intelligence 
unless it's cleared by the CIA. And as Director Tenet said, it was 
cleared by the CIA.
    The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam 
Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is: Absolutely. And we 
gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them 
in. And therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him 
from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a 
threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region. I 
firmly believe the decisions we made will make America more secure and 
the world more peaceful.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:11 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to President Charles Taylor of 
Liberia; L. Paul Bremer III, Presidential Envoy to Iraq; former 
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and President Olusegun Obasanjo of 
Nigeria. Secretary-General Annan referred to Sergio Vieira de Mello, 
U.N. Special Representative for Iraq; and Ambassador Jacques Klein, U.N. 
Special Representative for Liberia.