[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 5 (Monday, February 6, 2006)]
[Pages 142-143]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Cabinet Meeting and an Exchange With Reporters

January 30, 2006

    The President. I want to thank the members of my Cabinet for being 
here. We just had a really good discussion about the year 2006. Tomorrow 
night I'm going to be speaking to the Congress, giving the country my 
State of the Union Address. I can't tell you how upbeat I am about our 
future, so long as we're willing to lead.
    We talked about how to make sure that America continues to spread 
the peace and to protect ourselves. I heard from the Secretary of 
Defense and Deputy Secretary of State about very positive initiatives--
not only in the Middle East but in the Far East as well. We talked about 
how to make sure this economy of ours stays the strongest economy in the 
world and that we recognize we can't just sit back and hope for the 
best, that we've got to lead. And so we had a good discussion about 
matters such as health care and energy and education, all of which I'll 
address tomorrow night.
    I'm looking forward to speaking to the country. We've got a lot to 
be proud of. We've got a lot of work to do. One of the things I will do 
is call for Congress and the executive branch to have a good, honest 
dialog but to speak candidly with each other, but to do so in a way that 
brings credit to the process. And I'll do my best to elevate the tone 
here in Washington, DC, so we can work together to achieve big things 
for the American people.
    I'll answer a couple of questions. Nedra Pickler [Associated Press].

[[Page 143]]

Iran

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. The talks between Iran and the EU-3 
appear to be making little progress. A senior British official there 
said that they detect nothing new in their approach. What can be done 
now?
    The President. Well, obviously, one option is for the Perm 5 to work 
together to bring Iran to the U.N. Security Council. That's an option. 
And we're going to continue to work with our friends and allies to 
present a united front to the Iranians. And the message is: Give up your 
nuclear weapons ambitions. And the good news is, most of the world 
recognizes that Iran, being the nontransparent society that it is, a 
Government that had violated IAEA rules, is one that cannot be trusted 
with technology that could enable it to develop a nuclear weapon. And so 
we're united in our goal to keep the Iranians from having a weapon, and 
we're working on the tactics necessary to continue putting a united 
front out.
    The other thing is that we want the people of Iran to be able to 
live in a free society. And so tomorrow night, I am going to talk about 
this issue and make clear the policy of the United States.
    Patsy [Patricia Wilson, Reuters].

Palestinian Elections/Hamas

    Q. Mr. President, Israeli officials are seeking an international 
boycott of a Palestinian Government that includes Hamas. Do you support 
this? And if so, isn't that punishing the Palestinian people for 
exercising the democratic rights that you've called for in the region?
    The President. The Hamas party has made it clear that they do not 
support the right of Israel to exist. And I have made it clear, so long 
as that's their policy, that we will not support a Palestinian 
Government made up of Hamas. We want to work with a Government that is a 
partner in peace, not a Government that is--whose declared intentions 
might be the destruction of Israel.
    Secondly, this new democracy that's emerging in the Palestinian 
Territories must understand that you can't have a political party that 
also has got an armed wing to it; that democracies yield peace. And so 
the second half of our message to Hamas is: Get rid of your arms; 
disavow terrorism; work to bring what you promised to the people of the 
Palestinian Territories. Listen, these folks ran on the campaign, 
``We're going to get rid of corruption,'' and that ``We're going to 
provide services to the people,'' and that's positive. But what isn't 
positive is that they've got parts of their platform that will make it 
impossible for them to be a peaceful partner.
    Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11:06 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House.