[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 47 (Monday, November 24, 2003)]
[Pages 1639-1641]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With Members of the Governing Council of 
Iraq and Members of the Baghdad Advisory Council and an Exchange With 
Reporters

November 17, 2003

    The President. It's been my honor to host one of the most 
extraordinary meetings I've had as the President of the United States. 
I'm seated here with five courageous, brave Iraqi women who believe in 
the people of Iraq, believe in the future of Iraq, who love their 
freedoms, who look forward to working to see that their nation is a free 
and peaceful country.
    The stories of these five courageous leaders is a story of human 
tragedy on the one hand and human hope on the other. And I am so honored 
that they're here. Two members of the Governing Council are with us. 
I'll ask each member to say a couple of words, and then I'll be glad to 
answer a couple of questions.
    Would you like to start? The leader of the delegation. And by the 
way, there is an extensive group of Iraqi women in the room next door 
that I will go talk to here in a minute with these--along with these 
other five leaders here.
    Raja Habib Khuzai. I lead the delegation of the 17 women, Iraqi 
women, and we represent Iraq. And all of us are different ethnic and 
religious groups, but we are from Iraq. And we are all Iraqis, and Iraq 
is just one nation. And we are looking forward to see the new, 
democratic Iraq, and everyone will live in peace. We don't like wars 
anymore, and we suffered a lot.

[[Page 1640]]

    Songul Chapouk. Yes. I'm also from the Governing Council. I'm also 
leading these women. And I am from the Turkoman community, and it's a 
pleasure for me to be in America. And I work for my people. I'd like to 
see Iraq have a new Government, and I'd like to see my people--more 
security. And I'd like to say that my people in Iraq, all of them, 
Kurdish, Turkoman, Arab, they're all working together. And the Sunni 
Triangle, there is no Sunni Triangle; they're all Iraqi.
    We all like Iraq. We all like America, and we don't want them let--
we don't want them to leave us. We need them because we have open 
borders and we don't have army and we don't have trained policemen, so 
we need them at this time. And we ask them to not leave us, please, at 
this time, because this is a very, very difficult condition for us. Our 
children like you, our children want you to stay, and all Iraqi people 
like your forces.
    Thank you very much.
    The President. I assured these five women that America wasn't 
leaving. When they hear me say, ``We're staying,'' that means we're 
staying. And that's precisely what the terrorists want to do, is to try 
to drive us out of Iraq before these leaders and other leaders are able 
to put their Government together and live in peace. And we will 
succeed--we will succeed.
    Let me answer a couple of questions. Hunt [Terence Hunt, Associated 
Press].

Iraqi Transition/U.S. Cooperation

    Q. Sir, I'd like to pick up there on what you just said about 
``America isn't leaving'' and what this woman said about they want us to 
stay. Is it fair to think of this provisional Government that's going to 
be established as any part of an exit strategy? Or----
    The President. No. The politics will go forward. The political 
process is moving on. The Iraqi people are plenty capable of governing 
themselves. We're in the process now of working with the Governing 
Council to put in place the necessary laws so that people feel 
comfortable about the evolution of the Government. The Governing Council 
itself is going to be making these decisions, and it's full of capable 
people.
    On the other hand, we will continue to work with the Iraqi people to 
secure its country. We fully recognize that Iraq has become a new front 
on the war on terror and that there are disgruntled Ba'athists as well 
as Fedayeen fighters and mujahideen types and Al Qaida types that want 
to test the will of the civilized world there. And we will work with 
Iraqis to bring people to justice. We talked about the high price the 
Iraqi citizens are paying. There's a lot of brave and courageous Iraqi 
soldiers and police who are chasing down these terrorists, and they're 
paying a price for it.
    And the reason I bring that up is, the Iraqi people want to be free. 
And we will continue to work with them to develop a free society. And a 
free Iraq is not only in the interests of these five courageous women; a 
free Iraq is in our interests. A free Iraq in a part of the world is 
troublesome and dangerous will set such a good example. We're talking 
about an historic opportunity to change parts of the world, and Iraq 
will be the leader of that change.
    It's important for American citizens to know that what is taking 
place in Iraq will be in the long-term security interests for their 
children and their grandchildren. And I want to thank these five 
pioneers for freedom who are sitting here with me today.
    Last question, Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].

Al Qaida and Terrorist Attacks

    Q. Al Qaida appears to be taking responsibility for bombings in 
Istanbul, Riyadh, Baghdad. Are we seeing a reconstitution of Al Qaida?
    The President. We're seeing the nature of Al Qaida. They'll kill 
innocent people anywhere, anytime. That's just the way they are. They 
have no regard for human life. They claim they're religious people, but 
they're not. Religious people do not murder innocent citizens. Religious 
people don't just indiscriminately bomb.
    The bombing in Istanbul, I was told today, may have taken more 
Muslim lives than any other religion. They just kill, and they're trying 
to create fear and chaos.
    I had a good talk with Prime Minister Erdogan, who assured me that, 
one, he understood his responsibilities to protect people from all 
religions within his country and,

[[Page 1641]]

two, that he would chase these killers down and bring them to justice. 
There's only one way to deal with Al Qaida: find them and bring them to 
justice. And that's exactly what the United States and a lot of other 
nations, including a free Iraq, will do. We do this in the name of 
humanity. We do this in the name of freedom, and we do it in the name of 
peace.
    Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:57 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 
Erdogan of Turkey.