[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 7 (Monday, February 21, 2005)]
[Pages 256-258]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With TV3-France

February 18, 2005

France-U.S. Relations

    Q. Mr. President, thank you very much to welcome Francois. You and 
President Chirac want to improve your relationship after bitter 
divisions on Iraq. How do you plan, yourself, to take concrete steps 
with France, with the allies, and restore credible cooperation on the 
hardest issues, like Middle East for instance?
    The President. Sure. No, I think that's a great question because 
inherent in your

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question is the understanding that there--we share a lot of values. Both 
our nations value human rights and human dignity and rule of law and 
transparency. And we value our friendship from years gone by. And I look 
forward to working with President Chirac. We've have our differences, 
and now is the time to set those aside and focus on peace in the Middle 
East. I'll work with the French on--to help the Lebanese have a free and 
fair election and a burgeoning democracy. And I'll work with the French 
to continue to help with the Middle Eastern pace process. There's a lot 
of areas where we need to work together. And we need to continue to work 
together on HIV/AIDS in Africa and hunger around the world. And I'm 
looking forward to the meeting.

Syria

    Q. You and President Chirac keep telling the Syrians that they have 
to withdraw immediately their troops.
    The President. Yes.
    Q. What will you do if they refuse----
    The President. Well, that's----
    Q. ----in the coming weeks?
    The President. That's a--my attitude is, is that when we speak 
together and convince others to speak with us, that the Syrians will get 
the message. And I'm a hopeful person. I'm hopeful that the President of 
Syria will hear the world speak. And the French have got a lot of 
influence in Syria, and we've got some influence as well. And the fact 
that we're talking together should send a clear signal to President Asad 
that we're very serious about this.

Iran

    Q. Let's come to Iran ----
    The President. Sure.
    Q. ----which is backing terrorism and all that. If Iran refuses to 
stop its nuclear program, or the kind of same question, what will you 
do, Mr. President, with the allies or whatever?
    The President. Well, I think the key is there for the Iraqis 
[Iranians] * to hear Europe and the United States speak with one voice. 
And I appreciate President Chirac and his Government and as well as the 
Germans and the Brits working together to say to the Iranians, ``We 
don't want you to have a weapon.'' In other words, we--the--we share a 
goal, and that is for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon. And 
we want to work with our friends to not only speak with one voice, 
clearly with one voice, but also to help others realize--like Russia 
realize. And I think President Putin understands that the Iranians 
shouldn't have weapon. I'm convinced, again, if the Iranians hear us 
loud and clear, without any wavering, that they will make the rational 
decision.
    * White House correction.
    Q. But do you trust the Iranians, this regime?
    The President. Well, it's hard to trust a regime that doesn't trust 
their own people. And so part of our belief is that the Iranians ought 
to listen to the reformers in their country, those who believe in 
democracy and then--and give them a say in government. After all, the 
French model and the U.S. model believes in--people ought to be able to 
express themselves in a free society.
    Q. Two quick last questions, Mr. President.
    The President. Sure.

Iraq

    Q. Iraq is having explosions, terrorist attacks every day. Do you 
fear about not having a national reconciliation? There might be a civil 
war. Do you fear also that the Shiite leaders might decide to build up 
the sort of theocracy like in Iran?
    The President. Yes. No, of course, I'm heartened by the fact that 
the leadership of the Shi'a election parties, the political parties that 
took their message to the people, campaigned on the notion of minority 
rights and a unified country. There are still terrorists there. But the 
terrorists suffered a major defeat when over 8 million people went to 
the polls and said, ``You will not intimidate us. You can't stop us from 
expressing our desire.'' I'm very optimistic and very encouraged about a 
free Iraq becoming a stable partner in peace, an ally in the war on 
terror, and a clear example to others in the greater Middle East that 
freedom is possible.

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Palestinian Authority/Israel

    Q. Last question, Mr. President. Near East, don't you fear that if 
sooner than later, Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon don't reach a global 
peace agreement based on land for peace, that all this bunch of Islamic 
group terrorists, Hamas, Jihad, Hezbollah, might try to get rid of 
Mahmoud Abbas and get in total war with Israel?
    The President. No, that's a concern, of course. And I'm impressed by 
President Abbas' leadership. We want to support him as he moves forward 
to develop a Palestinian state based upon democratic institutions. And I 
think we're making great progress. The good news is, is that Europe and 
Russia and the United Nations, the United States all understands that 
we've got to make progress to head off these terrorists so that they 
don't--so they can't capture the imaginations of the Palestinian people 
anymore. In other words, terrorism is not the path to peace and security 
and freedom and hope, and that's democracy. And we're making great 
progress.
    And I look forward to talking to President Chirac about the progress 
we're making and remind him, as well as the people of France, that we'll 
stay engaged. The United States of America sees a settlement within 
reach, like I said in my State of the Union, and therefore if you can 
see it in reach, it means all the more reason to stay fully engaged in 
the peace process.
    Q. I wish you all the very best, Mr. President.
    The President. Thank you, sir. Looking forward to it. Thank you, 
sir.

Note: The interview was taped at 10:34 a.m. in the Map Room at the White 
House for later broadcast. In his remarks, the President referred to 
President Jacques Chirac of France; President Bashar al-Asad of Syria; 
President Vladimir Putin of Russia; and President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu 
Mazen) of the Palestinian Authority. The interviewer referred to Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this interview.