[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 37 (Monday, September 19, 2005)]
[Pages 1388-1393]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With President Jalal Talabani of the 
Iraqi Transitional Government

September 13, 2005

    President Bush. Thank you all. It's an honor to welcome the first 
democratically elected President of Iraq to the White House.
    President Talabani. Thank you.
    President Bush. I'm proud to stand with a brave leader of the Iraqi 
people, a friend of the United States, and a testament to the power of 
human freedom.
    Mr. President, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your 
courage.
    President Talabani has dedicated his life to the cause of liberty in 
Iraq. As a lawyer, a journalist, and a political leader in northern 
Iraq, he stood up to a brutal dictator, because he believes that every 
Iraqi deserves to be free. The dictator destroyed Kurdish villages, 
ordered poison gas attacks on a Kurdish city, and violently repressed 
other religious and ethnic groups. For President Talabani and his fellow 
citizens, the day Saddam was removed from power was a day of 
deliverance. And America will always be proud that we led the armies of 
liberation.
    In the past 2 years, the Iraqi people have made their vision of 
their future clear. This past January, more than 8 million Iraqis defied 
the car bombers and the assassins and voted in free elections. It is an 
inspiring act of unity when 80 percent of the elected National Assembly 
chose the President, a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority, to lead the 
free nation.
    In our meeting today, I congratulated the President on his election, 
and I thanked him for his leadership on Iraq's draft constitution. The 
draft constitution is an historic milestone. It protects fundamental 
freedoms, including religion, assembly, conscience, and expression. It 
calls for a federal system of government, which is essential to 
preserving the unity of a diverse nation like Iraq. It declares that all 
Iraqis are equal before the law, without regard to gender, ethnicity, 
and religion.
    The Iraqi people can be proud of the draft constitution, and when an 
election to ratify that constitution is held next month, they will have 
a chance to vote their conscience at the polls.
    As the Iraqi people continue on the path to democracy, the enemies 
of freedom remain brutal and determined. The killers in Iraq are the 
followers of the same ideology as those who attacked America 4 years 
ago. Their vision is for an Iraq that looks like Afghanistan under the 
Taliban, a society where freedom is crushed, girls are denied schooling, 
and terrorists have a safe haven to plot attacks on America and other 
free people.
    To impose their hateful vision, our enemies know they must drive 
America out of Iraq before the Iraqi people can secure their own 
freedom. They believe we will retreat in the face of violence, so 
they're committing acts of staggering brutality, murdering Iraqi 
children receiving candy or hospital workers treating the wounded. We 
have no doubt that our enemies will continue to kill. Yet we also know 
they cannot achieve their aims unless we lose our resolve.
    Today, Mr. President, I pledge that we will not waver, and I 
appreciate your same pledge. Iraq will take its place among the world's 
democracies. The enemies of freedom will be defeated.
    President Talabani and I discussed our strategy for the months 
ahead. America will stand with the Iraqi people as they move forward 
with the democratic process. We're seeing hopeful developments in places 
like Fallujah and Ramadi and Mosul, where Iraqis are registering to 
vote, many for the first time--well, obviously, for the first time.
    At the same time, American troops will stay on the offensive, 
alongside Iraqi security forces, to hunt down our common enemies. At 
this hour, American and Iraqi forces are conducting joint operations to 
rout out terrorists and insurgents in Tall `Afar. Our objective is to 
defeat the enemies of a free Iraq, and we're working to prepare more 
Iraqi forces to join the fight. As Iraqis stand up, Americans will stand 
down. And when the mission is complete, our troops will come home with 
the honor they have earned.

[[Page 1389]]

    Tomorrow President Talabani and I will take our seats at the United 
Nations in New York. The session will mark the first time in a half-
century that Iraq is represented by a freely elected government.
    Securing freedom in Iraq has required great sacrifice, Mr. 
President. You know that better than anybody. And there's going to be 
difficult days ahead. Yet I have no doubt about the impact of a 
democratic Iraq on the rest of the world. If Iraq becomes a federal, 
unified democracy, people throughout the broader Middle East will demand 
their own liberty. The Middle East will become more peaceful, and 
America and the world become more secure.
    We're proud to call you friend, Mr. President, and proud to have you 
as an ally in the war on terror. On behalf of the American people, I 
want to thank you for Iraq's generous pledge of aid to the victims of 
Hurricane Katrina. Welcome to the United States.
    President Talabani. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President, for your 
kind remarks. It is an honor for me to stand here today as a 
representative of free Iraq. It is an honor to present the world's 
youngest democracy.
    In the name of Iraqi people, I say to you, Mr. President, and to the 
glorious American people, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, because you 
liberated us from the worst kind of dictatorship. Our people suffered 
too much from this worst kind of dictatorship. The signal is mass graves 
with hundred thousand of Iraqi innocent children and women, young and 
old men. Thank you and thanks to the United States, there are now 15 
million Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq liberated by your courageous 
leadership and decision to liberate us, Mr. President.
    We agree with Mr. President Bush that democracy is the solution to 
the problems of the Middle East. Mr. President, you are a visionary, 
great statesman. We salute you. We are grateful to you. We will never 
forget what you have done for our people.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.
    President Talabani. We have had a good discussion with Mr. 
President. We are partners. We are proud to say openly and to repeat it, 
that we are partners of the United States of America in fighting against 
tyranny, terrorism, and for democracy. It is something we are not shy to 
say and will repeat it everywhere, here and in Iraq and the United 
Nations and everywhere.
    Iraq is America's ally in the war against terrorism. Our soldiers 
are now fighting side by side with your brave soldiers, now and every 
day. We have captured many senior elements of Al Qaida. We killed many 
of them, and we have also many of them in our prisons.
    With your support, we could create a society enjoying democracy for 
the first time, obviously. Now Iraq is a free country. We have all kinds 
of democracy, all kinds of freedom of expression of parties, groups, 
civil society organizations--that we can say that our democracy is 
unique in the Middle East.
    Our strategy is sound. We build democracy and defend democracy. We 
talk about how we could improve our tactics. There is progress in 
security in our country. The number of the bomb cars reduced. The places 
which were under the full control of the terrorists are now liberated. 
And they're now registering their names for the new election.
    In the areas which was known that there was the area of Al Qaida now 
it became the area of Iraq. And two signals, important signals appeared 
there in that area--the people started to hate and to fight terrorism. 
Now we have Iraqi Arab tribes, Sunni tribes fighting terrorism and Al 
Qaida. We have also people who are in--[inaudible]--who are cooperating 
with Iraqi forces, with American forces against terrorism. It is a good 
signal that our people start to understand that terrorism is the enemy 
of Iraqi people before becoming the enemy of Americans. They are killing 
our civilians, our innocent children, students. They are destroying our 
mosques--church, everywhere, regardless of what may happen to the 
people.
    And we are now progressing gradually. Last year, for example, 
Fallujah was their capital. Now it is as Iraqi city. A year ago, Najaf 
was a battlefield. Najaf is a holy city of Shiites, the Vatican of the 
Shiites. Now Najaf is being rebuilt, is free, and ruled by the elected 
committee, elected government.
    There are still important security challenges we are not neglecting. 
But we are fighting Al Qaida. Now our fight in Tall `Afar

[[Page 1390]]

proved that the enemy is going to be weakened and low morale. The 
fighting in Tall 'Afar was easy to defeat the terrorists and to liberate 
the town.
    The so-called jihadists want to impose oppression and dictatorship 
and worst kind of society on our people. For that, they are not only--so 
they are not only the enemy of Iraq, but they are the enemy of humanity, 
the enemy of real Islam, and the enemy of all Middle East peoples. 
Together with our American friends and partners, we will defeat them.
    Today, American and international presence in Iraq is vital. The 
American and international presence in Iraq is vital for democracy in 
Iraq and in the Middle East and also for prevent foreign interference in 
the internal affairs of Iraq.
    We will set no timetable for withdrawal, Mr. President. A timetable 
will help the terrorists, will encourage them that they could defeat 
superpower of the world and the Iraqi people. We hope that by the end of 
2006, our security forces are up to the level of taking responsibility 
from many American troops with complete agreement with Americans. We 
don't want to do anything without the agreement with the Americans 
because we don't want to give any signal to the terrorists that our will 
to defeat them is weakened, or they can defeat us.
    We are proud that one day will come--as soon as possible, of course, 
we hope--that American troops can proudly return home, and we tell them, 
``Thank you, dear friends,'' and you are faithful to friendship. Of 
course, we are sorry for the sacrifices of American people in Iraq, but 
I think a great people like America has a mission in the history. They 
have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of his sons in the war, First 
World War, Second World War, and in liberating people in--[inaudible]--
in Afghanistan, Kurdistan. And the great leader, Mr. George W. Bush, is 
continuing the same mission of the American people. We are grateful. We 
are grateful for American generosity, and we honor--we honor--sacrifices 
of America in Iraq--and everywhere, not only in Iraq.
    We also need our neighbors, at least some of them, to stop attacking 
Iraqi democracy. We want them to join us in fighting against terrorism. 
We want our Arab brothers stopping media, at least the official media, 
to support terrorism. We want them to stand with us against terrorism, 
because terrorism is the enemy of all Arab and Muslim countries in the 
world.
    But we will proceed, and we will remember those who helped us in our 
struggle to establish a democratic Iraq. And you are first, those people 
who supported us for this noble mission.
    There is, in Iraq, political progress. We are taking the gun out of 
Iraqi politics for the first time. Iraqis are--speaking to each other in 
peaceful dialog, not with arms. The majority of Iraqis are committed to 
political process. Iraq is a diverse country. They are mostly settling 
their differences peacefully.
    We have agreed a draft constitution. Of course, it is not perfect 
document, but I think it is one of the best constitutions in the Middle 
East. Of course, we didn't solve all problems; we have some problems. We 
are still suffering from many problems. But we are achieving progress on 
all fields, economic, trade, education, political life. And we hope that 
we will remain having the support of the United States, and yourself, 
Mr. President, and other friends in Arab world and in Europe.
    It is clear that we are a young democracy, but our draft 
constitution has a bill of rights, ensures the equality of all Iraqis 
before the law regardless of their gender, creed, religion, or 
ethnicity. It enshrines separation of powers and involves many checks 
and balances on the exercise of power. It is the best constitution in 
the entire region, as we claim. We hope it will be correct.
    We are reaching out to some other Iraqi citizens who were not able 
to participate in the election. I mean our Arab Sunni brothers. We tried 
and we involved with them in the process. When the results of the 
election was announced, the two main lists of alliance, the Kurdistan 
Alliance and the United Front of Iraq Shiite Alliance, we got 238 votes, 
and the Assembly was 275. But nevertheless, we tried to bring our Sunni 
Arabs to the Government to participate. We elected a Vice President, an 
Arab Sunni; two Deputy Prime Ministers; the Speaker of the House is a 
Sunni; and six ministers, among them, two main

[[Page 1391]]

posts, the Minister of Defense and Minister of Industry.
    It means that we are anxious to have all Iraqis united and to solve 
all our problems through dialog. We are calling all Iraqis to come to 
participate in the democratic process and to say what they want, and 
they are free to decide the Government--decide the President of Iraq, 
the Prime Minister, the ministers, and they are able to say what they 
want through democratic process. They can say their slogans and demands.
    This, of course, constitution is not perfect, but it can be amended 
in the future, if the Iraqi people--[inaudible]--want this. But now, 
compared with others, we are proud to have such a kind of constitution. 
Some of our brothers, Sunni Arabs, are under the threat of terrorism. We 
will try our best to liberate them from terrorism and from the violence.
    To those in America, in other countries, still ask of war of 
liberation in Iraq, if it was right--the right decision, I say, 
``Please, please come to Iraq to visit the mass graves, to see what 
happened to the Iraqi people and to see what now going on in Iraq.'' To 
those who talk of stability, I say, ``Saddam imposed the stability of 
the mass graves.'' To the terrorists, I say, ``You will never win. 
Freedom will win in Iraq.''
    Thank you, Mr. President.
    President Bush. Good Job. Thank you.
    A couple of questions. Two a side. Nedra [Nedra Pickler, Associated 
Press].

U.S. Response to Disasters and Terrorist Attacks

    Q. Mr. President, given what happened with Katrina, shouldn't 
Americans be concerned if their Government isn't prepared to respond to 
another disaster or even a terrorist attack?
    President Bush. Katrina exposed serious problems in our response 
capability at all levels of government. And to the extent that the 
Federal Government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. 
I want to know what went right and what went wrong. I want to know how 
to better cooperate with State and local government, to be able to 
answer that very question that you asked: Are we capable of dealing with 
a severe attack or another severe storm? And that's a very important 
question. And it's in our national interest that we find out exactly 
what went on and--so that we can better respond.
    One thing for certain, having been down there three times and have 
seen how hard people are working, I'm not going to defend the process 
going in, but I am going to defend the people who are on the frontline 
of saving lives. Those Coast Guard kids pulling people out of the--out 
of the floods are--did heroic work. The first-responders on the ground, 
whether they be State folks or local folks, did everything they could. 
There's a lot of people that are--have done a lot of hard work to save 
lives.
    And so I want to know what went right and what went wrong, to 
address those. But I also want people in America to understand how hard 
people are working to save lives down there in--not only New Orleans but 
surrounding parishes and along the gulf coast.
    Mr. President, you want to call on somebody?

Syria

[At this point, a question was asked and answered in Arabic, and no 
translation was provided. The reporter then continued in English.]

    Q. If I may, Mr. President, it's been a scathing attack from top 
officials of your administration on Syria yesterday for allowing foreign 
fighters to cross the border. We heard yesterday from Ambassador 
Khalilzad. Is this an escalation on the pressure that you're putting on 
Syria? And what more can you do when you say that all options are open?
    President Bush. Thank you.
    President Talabani. May I answer?
    President Bush. Please, yes. You might want to try it English. 
[Laughter]
    President Talabani. Well, I say it in Arabic because the question 
was in Arabic.

[President Talabani began in Arabic, and no translation was provided.]

    President Bush. Oops. [Laughter]

[President Talabani finished his answer in Arabic, and no translation 
was provided.]

[[Page 1392]]

    President Bush. I'm not sure if I agree or not, but--[laughter]--
Ambassador did speak strongly about Syria because he understands that 
the Syrian Government can do a lot more to prevent the flow of foreign 
fighters into Iraq. These people are coming from Syria into Iraq and 
killing a lot of innocent people. They're killing--they're trying to 
kill our folks as well. And so, of course, he's speaking strongly about 
that.
    And the Syrian leader must understand, we take his lack of action 
seriously. And the Government is going to become more and more isolated 
as a result of two things, one, not being cooperative with the Iraqi 
Government in terms of securing Iraq, and two, not being fully 
transparent about what they did in Lebanon.
    And so we're going to work with our friends. And this is a subject 
of conversation, of course, I'll have with allies in places like New 
York and other times I communicate with our allies, that Syria must be a 
focus of getting them to change their behavior, particularly as it 
regards to democracy and trying to prevent democracies from emerging.
    Toby [Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters].

Iran's Nuclear Program

    Q. Mr. President, do you believe at this point that Iran will be 
referred to the U.N. Security Council to face possible sanctions over 
its nuclear program? And how will you convince reluctant members like 
China that this is the way forward?
    President Bush. There is still an IAEA process to go forward. And we 
will work with our Ambassador at the IAEA, Ambassador Schulte, to 
continue to press forward with a full disclosure about Iranian 
intentions so that then the Security Council can make a--determine the 
right policy to go forward.
    I will bring the subject up with leaders whom I'll be meeting with 
today and tomorrow and later on this week. I will be speaking candidly 
about Iran with the--Hu Jintao, as well as with President Putin, for 
example. Just had a conversation with Tony Blair, and the subject came 
up.
    It is very important for the world to understand that Iran with a 
nuclear weapon will be incredibly destabilizing. And therefore, we must 
work together to prevent them from having the wherewithal to develop a 
nuclear weapon. It should be a warning to all of us that they have--in 
the past, didn't fully disclose their programs, their programs aimed at 
helping them develop a weapon. They have insisted that they have a 
civilian nuclear program, and I thought a rational approach to that 
would be to allow them to receive enriched uranium from a third party 
under the guise of international inspections--that will enable them to 
have civilian nuclear power without learning how to make a bomb.
    Some of us are wondering why they need civilian nuclear power 
anyway. They're awash with hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, it's a right of a 
government to want to have a civilian nuclear program. And--but there 
ought to be guidelines in which they be allowed to have that civilian 
nuclear program. And one such guideline would be in such a way that they 
don't gain the expertise necessary to be able to enrich.
    This is a subject of grave concern, and it's something that we're 
spending a lot of time on in this administration. I want to applaud the 
Germans and the French and the British for sticking together in 
developing a common message to the Iranians. And now we'll see how the 
Iranians respond, here on their visit to the United States.
    Final question, Mr. President.
    Q. Mr. President, I hope you will excuse me, since you've never had 
Kurdish--spoken Kurdish, I put my question in Kurdish.

[The question was asked in Kurdish, and no translation was provided.]

    President Talabani. With your permission, Mr. President, he's from 
America and his voice, American voice in Kurdish--I must answer in 
Kurdish.
    President Bush. Yes. Answer his question--perfect.

[President Talabani answered in Kurdish, and no translation was 
provided.]

    President Bush. On that cheery note, the press conference is over. 
[Laughter]
    Thank you, Mr. President. Good job.

Note: The President's news conference began at 11:35 a.m. in the East 
Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to former President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Ambassador to Iraq

[[Page 1393]]

Zalmay Khalilzad; President Bashar al-Asad of Syria; Ambassador to the 
International Atomic Energy Agency Gregory Schulte; President Hu Jintao 
of China; President Vladimir Putin of Russia; and Prime Minister Tony 
Blair of the United Kingdom. President Talabani referred to Deputy 
President Ghazi al-Ujayl al-Yawr, Deputy Prime Minister Abid Mutlaq 
Hamud al-Jabburi, Minister of Defense Sadun al-Dulaymi, and Minister of 
Industry and Minerals Usama al-Najafi of the Iraqi Transitional 
Government; and Speaker of the Transitional National Assembly Hajim al-
Hassani.