[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 24 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[Pages 985-988]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Students From the Partnerships for Learning, Youth Exchange 
and Study

June 13, 2005

    Nice and warm today, isn't it? I'm glad you're here. Almost a year 
living and studying in America--I hope you've come to realize this isn't 
my house; this is the people's house. And Laura and I are just temporary 
residents here. That's how democracy works.
    I really think you're part of an important program that is bringing 
students from Muslim countries to the United States. I think it's 
important, and I hope you think it's important too. I'm amazed by the 
number of countries represented amongst you all: Afghanistan, Iraq, 
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, 
West Bank, Gaza, Arab communities in Israel. You represent a lot of 
countries and a lot of people. Here's what I think. I think your 
generation is going to help shape one of the most exciting periods of 
history in the broader Middle East and the world. It's a period of time 
when the hope of liberty is spreading to millions.
    And I've heard your stories, and people who know your program have 
talked to me about your experiences and your attitudes. So let me make a 
prediction, that I should be able to say to the world, I have confidence 
in the spread of freedom because there's a young group of people who 
love freedom and want to do something about seeing freedom spread. 
That's what I think.
    I'm really pleased that Dina Powell is here. Dina is the--Egyptian 
American, by the

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way--she ran the Presidential personnel department. In other words, 
she's the person that brought names to me that would serve in our 
Government. It's a pretty powerful position, when you think about it. I 
nominated her to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and 
Cultural Affairs. That's a big job here in America. I'm going to miss 
her in the White House, but our country will be well-served by her 
serving in the State Department.
    I appreciate the staff of the Department of State Bureau for 
Educational and Cultural Affairs. I want to thank the representatives 
from AYUSA for being here. And I appreciate the representatives from the 
Close Up Foundation for coming. I want to thank your chaperones for 
being here as well, caring adults, people who want you to enjoy your 
experience here in America.
    The American people probably don't know this program well, so I'm 
going to say some things that's obvious to you. First, you've been here 
for 10 months, and secondly, you've attended American high schools, and 
you've stayed with American families, and you made American friends, 
which means that you have made contributions. You've contributed to 
better understanding.
    You've also done some interesting things. I've been told you 
volunteered in local charities. You found out one of the great strengths 
of this country is the fact that people volunteer to make somebody 
else's life better. We all got hearts and care deeply about a neighbor 
in need, and there's a universal call in the Good Books throughout the 
world that says, ``Love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved 
yourself.'' And I understand some of you did that, and I want to thank 
you for contributing to our country.
    I want to thank you for teaching--being teachers, just by telling 
people your life story. It really wasn't all that hard to be a good 
teacher, was it--say, ``Here's how I was raised,'' and ``Here's what I 
believe,'' and ``Here's what my culture is like,'' and ``Here's what my 
faith teaches me.'' So, thanks for being a teacher as well as a helper.
    I know there's a student here who went to Grayling High School in 
Michigan, Abdulrahma. He's from Syria. He took on a special project. He 
decided--and I'm sure maybe some of you all did the same thing during 
the holy month of Ramadan--explained to students what that means. A lot 
of kids your age here in this country really aren't sure what Ramadan 
means, and it's important for them to understand what Ramadan means. And 
so Abdul--here's what he said. He said, ``When I got to one of my 
classes on the first day of Ramadan, I was totally amazed. There were 
signs everywhere in the class saying `Happy Ramadan, Abdul.' Some 
students even tried to fast with me on the first day.''
    Getting a high school kid in America to fast is kind of hard to do. 
[Laughter] But the point there of the story is, somebody--some kids in 
that high school class have a better understanding of a different 
culture.
    Many of you have shown young Americans how Islam inspires you to 
live, to lead lives based on honesty and justice and compassion. Because 
you came to this country, thousands of Americans better understand your 
faith and your heritage, and that's really important. So I want to thank 
you. I want to thank you for reaching out. I want to thank you for 
taking a little bit of a risk. It's not easy to come to a foreign 
country, is it, to leave home. It must be kind of hard--you say, ``Well, 
I can't imagine what it's going to be like to go to school in America 
and be teamed up with a family I've never met before.'' And so you were 
risktakers for the sake of understanding and world peace, and I want to 
thank you for that.
    I suspect during your stay here, you came across Americans who hail 
from your home countries. If you didn't, it's only because you didn't 
get enough exposure, because I can assure you, for every country 
represented here, there are hundreds of Americans--at least hundreds of 
Americans from your native land, men and women who came to America 
because they know this is a land where hard work will be rewarded, where 
faith will be respected, and where cultural heritage will be valued.
    Maria--a young girl named Maria from Pakistan--I don't think she's 
here with us today--put it well in an essay she wrote about her 
experience. There's some Americans who may be watching this on TV now, 
and I want them to hear what Maria wrote. She says,

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``The very important thing I learned about America is that it's a 
melting pot where you can find the world in one place living together. I 
really appreciate this,'' she said. ``Now if someone says anything 
negative about America, I would stand up, because I love America.'' 
That's one of the lessons she learned about her trip here.
    I don't know if you--I guess you all were here during the 
Presidential election. It must have been an interesting experience for 
you. It was certainly an interesting one for me. [Laughter] You got to 
see candidates travel the country asking for the vote, working day in 
and day out, in my case, saying to the people, ``I got something to 
do,'' in my opponent's case--my opponents' cases, saying, ``I think I 
can do a better job than old George W.'' But that's what democracy is 
about. It's about understanding the boss; in our form of government, the 
people decide. And that's a form of government that's healthy and good.
    I know some of you got involved in the campaign. Cowtar from Morocco 
volunteered on election day, helping make sure Oregon voters had rides 
to the polls. And I want to thank you for participating. I was told that 
a fellow named Butan from Iraq, who's with us, actually volunteered at a 
local political headquarters in the State of Pennsylvania. I hope you 
found that an exciting experience. It's called grassroots politics. It 
probably doesn't translate very well in some of your native tongues, but 
it means getting involved at the local level to convince people to 
participate in the democratic process.
    We're seeing the democracy campaigns like the one I went through 
taking place now in other parts of the world. I mean, Afghanistan had a 
vote. It was a fantastic experience for a lot of people--folks. And I 
know some of you lived under the clutches of the Taliban. It must have 
been an incredibly refreshing experience to be able to go and express 
yourself at the polls, say, ``This is what I think. This is my opinion, 
not the opinion of tyrants, but this is my opinion.'' And it's the 
collective opinion of thousands which decided the fate of that country.
    People in Iraq voted. People in that country defied the car bombers, 
the suiciders, the killers, those who fear freedom, and said, ``I'm 
going to go to the polls, no matter what the risk is.'' Democracy is on 
the march. Freedom is on the march. And I'm convinced we're just seeing 
the beginnings of it, and the world is going to be more peaceful because 
of it.
    I know you're looking forward to going home. But when you get home, 
I hope you remind people about what you found here, that the people of 
this country care deeply about others, that we respect religion, that we 
believe in human rights and human dignity, that we believe every person 
has worth, and that we do want to have a world that's more peaceful and 
more free.
    I hope you go home and say that Americans are proud of watching the 
progress that is being made, of people assuming liberty. One of the 
lessons I hope you share with the people back home, your buddies and 
your families, is that we understand that it's hard to go from tyranny 
to freedom. We had a little trouble on our own. If you've studied 
American history, you'll realize that our path to democracy wasn't all 
that smooth. In other words, we had setbacks and hard work to try to 
achieve as good a government as we can possibly have. It's hard work. 
It's really hard work.
    I hope when you go home, you explain to people that we understand 
that the form of democracy your country takes will reflect your values 
and your history, not American values and American history. In other 
words, we love the concept of people being free. We believe democracy is 
the best form of government, but we fully understand that it's got to be 
a democracy that suits the needs of the people in the countries from 
which you're from.
    I believe freedom is universal. I don't believe freedom is America's 
gift to the world. I believe there's an Almighty God who speaks to 
different faiths, and I believe freedom is a gift from that Almighty. 
And that's why I'm so confident and optimistic that freedom will 
prevail.
    I hope you realize the impact you've made on some people. A lot of 
people--you know, there's such a thing called ``word-of-mouth.'' People 
get talking, ``I met so-and-so. I met old Abdul. He seemed like a good 
fellow to me.'' And the word gets out about the values

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that you brought to America. There's a lot of people here in this 
country, now when they start thinking about the Middle East, they're 
going to think about it differently because of the impact you've had on 
them, because you were willing to share your culture and your way of 
life.
    I hope you look at yourself as bridge builders. And as importantly, 
I hope you look at this experience as the beginning of a journey that 
will--in which you'll become leaders. You know, old guys like me will be 
moving on, but someday--I plan to live for quite a while--someday I hope 
to turn on my TV and see you standing up leading your country or talking 
about human rights and minority rights and human dignity in the 
countries where you're from. I hope you understand that you have a 
fantastic opportunity to make a difference. You've already made a 
difference here in America. And with this experience, go home and 
continue making differences.
    By the way, if you feel like going to college, come back. We've got 
some great universities here. We want people from all around the world 
coming to our universities. Tell your buddies, your friends and 
neighbors, to think about coming to America to go to university. The 
more exchanges there are of people of like age, the better off the world 
will be.
    Anyway, welcome to the Rose Garden. I hope you loved our country. I 
hope you enjoyed your experience. I hope you come back. In the meantime, 
I ask for God's blessings on you all and your families and the peoples 
of your country. Thank you for being here. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.