[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 18 (Monday, May 8, 2006)]
[Pages 829-830]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and 
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld

May 1, 2006

    I want to thank Secretary Rice and Secretary Rumsfeld. And General 
Pace, thank you for being here as well. Thank you for joining me this 
morning.
    They came by the Oval Office to brief me on their recent trip to 
Iraq. First of all, I appreciate them both going over there to send my 
best wishes to the new Government and to Prime Minister-designate 
Maliki, as well as the new Speaker and the President. I had spoken to 
them on the phone, but I thought it was very important for both 
Secretaries to go firsthand, to be there with the leadership to say, 
we're supporting them. It's very important for these two senior 
officials to sit down with these new folks and say, ``You have our 
support, and we want you to succeed.''
    And they brought back interesting impressions from the three new 
leaders. They said they were optimistic people, that they're full of 
energy, and they're very eager to succeed. And that's really important 
for the American people to know, that we've got partners in this effort 
who are dedicated to a unified Iraq and dedicated to putting a 
Government together that is one that will represent all the Iraqi 
people.
    This new Government is going to represent a new start for the Iraqi 
people. It's a Government that understands they've got serious 
challenges ahead of them. And the three leaders spoke to Secretary Rice 
and Secretary Rumsfeld about their need to deploy the growing strength 
of the Iraqi security forces in such a way as to defeat the terrorists 
and the insurgents. And we will continue to support them in that effort 
that they talked about: the need to establish control over the militias 
and other unauthorized armed groups and enforce the rule of law. And we 
will support them in these efforts to achieve that important objective. 
They talked about the need to rebuild infrastructure and strengthen 
their economy, and we agree with that assessment.
    And finally, they talked about the need to make sure that all Iraqis 
share in the benefits of this new democracy. A new Iraqi Government 
represents a strategic opportunity for America--and the whole world, for 
that matter. This Nation of ours and our coalition partners are going to 
work with the new leadership to strengthen our mutual efforts to achieve 
success, a victory in this war on terror. This is a--we believe this is 
a turning point for the Iraqi citizens, and it's a new chapter in our 
partnership.
    The Secretaries began building this new partnership during their 
trip. In other words, the Iraqi leaders saw that we are committed to 
helping them succeed. They need to know that we stand with them. And the 
Iraqi people need to know that we stand with them, that we understand 
the strategic importance of a free Iraq in the Middle East, and that we 
understand the need to deny safe haven to the terrorists who have caused 
such turmoil and havoc inside of Iraq.
    There's going to be more tough days ahead. These Secretaries know 
that. They're realistic people. They have brought an assessment of what 
they saw on the ground, and some of it's positive and, obviously, 
there's some difficult days ahead because there's still terrorists there 
who are willing to take innocent life in order to stop the progress of 
democracy. But this Government is more determined than ever to succeed, 
and we believe we've got partners to help the Iraqi people realize their 
dreams.
    Last December, the Iraqi people voted to have a free government. I 
know it seems like a long time ago for the American people, but what we 
have begun to see now is the emergence of a unity government to 
represent the wishes of the Iraqi people. Last December, millions of 
people defied the terrorists and killers and said, ``We want to be free; 
we want a unity government.'' And now what has happened is, after 
compromise and politics, the Iraqis have come together to form that 
Government. And our Secretaries went over there to tell them that we 
look forward to working with them as partners in peace.
    So I want to thank you all for going. I appreciate your dedication 
to the cause of peace. Thank you.

[[Page 830]]

Note: The President spoke at 9:36 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, Chairman, 
Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki, 
Speaker of the Parliament Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, and President Jalal 
Talabani of Iraq.