[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 1 (Monday, January 14, 2008)]
[Pages 20-22]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With Hisham Bourar of Alhurra Television

January 4, 2008

President's Upcoming Visit to the Middle East

    Mr. Bourar. Thank you, Mr. President, for taking the time to do this 
interview on Alhurra TV. Big trip to the Middle East--what are your 
objectives, and why now?
    The President. Now because I believe that it's possible to advance 
the Annapolis agenda; now because I believe it's just going to be an--
that it will be a chance to be effective on my trip. I am going to 
talk--advance three things: one, the vision of two states, Palestine and 
Israel, living side by side in peace; two, to convince our friends and 
allies in the region that it is in their interest to support the peace 
process; and three is to remind people that the United States is 
committed to helping secure the region; that we have a active presence 
in the Middle East, and that presence is not going to wane; that we're 
committed to helping people realize--deal with the threats and the 
problems of the 21st century.

President's Role in the Peace Process

    Mr. Bourar. What can you do personally to press both sides, the 
Israelis and the Palestinians, to reach an agreement this year?
    The President. Yes. Well, first of all, the agreement--they must 
decide they want to reach agreement. In other words--and so the first 
thing I can do is to make sure there's a sincere desire on the parts of 
President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert to achieve an agreement. I 
believe that desire exists. The Annapolis conference was a success 
because they wanted it to be a success. And it's to give them confidence 
and to encourage them to come up with what a state will look like, the--
define that state so that people there in the region can have hope that 
this kind of a long-time conflict will finally come to an end. And the 
first step is the definition of a state.
    I can press when there needs to be pressed. I can hold hands when 
there needs to be--hold hands. And so I'm--I will go to encourage them 
to stay focused on the big picture. There's going to be all kinds of 
distractions; and people will be trying to throw up roadblocks; and 
people will be trying to cause these gentlemen to--not to--to lose sight 
of what's possible. And my job is to help them keep a vision on what is 
possible.

Palestinian State

    Mr. Bourar. Do you still believe that your vision of a Palestinian 
state can be achieved before you leave office?
    The President. I think the outlines, the definition of a state can 
be achieved. The implementation of a state will be subject to a roadmap. 
In other words, there's a lot of work that has to be done. Palestinian 
security forces have to be reformed--which we're helping with, by the 
way. The entrepreneurial class of people has to be encouraged with new 
capital. The institutions of government need to be strengthened.
     And so the state will come into being, subject to--but the first 
step is to--here's what

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a state will look like. And I believe we can get that done by the time I 
leave office.

Middle East Peace Process

    Mr. Bourar. Will you be asking Gulf countries, including Saudi 
Arabia, to normalize relations with Israel?
    The President. I'll be reminding the Gulf countries, including Saudi 
Arabia, that in order for this to be successful, in order for this 
process to work, there has to be strong support for both the 
Palestinians and the Israelis in the neighborhood. And that's why the 
Annapolis conference--another reason it was an important conference, 
because in that room were the--my friend the King of Saudi Arabia kindly 
sent his Foreign Minister to that Annapolis meeting. I thought it was a 
strong signal. And so both sides are going to need to know that they'll 
have support from the neighborhood.

Iran

    Mr. Bourar. Recently there has been some rapprochement between Gulf 
countries and Iran. Do you feel that the last NIE report makes it 
difficult for you to convince these countries that Iran still poses a 
threat to national security?
    The President. Yes. I'm sure this subject will come up, and I will 
remind them that the NIE said that, one, Iran had a military covert 
program. They suspended the program. I will also remind them that a 
regime that once had a program could easily start the program up again, 
and that the key ingredients to having a weapons program is, one, the 
capacity to enrich uranium; secondly, the ability to take that uranium 
and make a bomb; and thirdly, the ability to deliver the uranium--the 
bomb by rockets.
    Well, the rocket program still exists. As you know, they say they 
had--only for civilian purposes, they're learning to enrich. Well, if 
you can learn to enrich for civilian purposes, you can easily transfer 
that knowledge for military purposes. And therefore, Iran is a threat. 
And so that will be my message.
    And my other message will be, we've got a strategy to deal with it, 
and that is to prevent them from learning how to enrich. And I'll 
explain to them the different types of sanctions and international 
efforts we're making and how they can help as well.

Syria

    Mr. Bourar. Recent visits to Damascus by U.S. lawmakers, like a 
recent one by Senator Arlen Specter, a Republican, and Senator Kennedy: 
Do they help or undermine your position toward Syria?

    The President. That's an interesting question. I don't know. But 
President Asad must understand that if he wants better relations with 
the United States--and, frankly, better relations in the region--the 
first thing he's got to do is stop interfering in the Lebanese 
Presidential process. And I would hope that those representatives sent 
that message to President Asad.

    I don't know how he interprets these meetings, but one thing he 
can't be mistaken about is the position of the U.S. Government, the 
White House. And our position is, is that you can have better relations, 
a better way forward with the United States, but you have got to get out 
of Lebanon, in terms of the Presidential elections, and stop harboring 
Hamas, stop letting suiciders go into Iraq. And there's a better way 
forward.

Lebanon

    Mr. Bourar. Speaking of Lebanon, what could the United States do to 
break the current stalemate which left the country without a President?

    The President. Yes. We're making it awfully clear to--publicly and 
privately--that Sleiman, who was selected by the--by a lot of the 
players there inside Lebanon, is the right choice; if that's what they 
want, that's who we support--and that the obstacle to that Presidency 
going forward is Syria.
    So I'll be spending some time there in the Middle East discussing 
this very subject because a free Lebanon is in the interests of 
everybody in the region. And there's a lot of common ground with the 
U.S. position, and--like the Saudis and other nations agree that we 
ought to have a free Lebanon, free of Syrian influence.

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President's Legacy

    Mr. Bourar. Last question, Mr. President. How do you think people in 
the Middle East will remember you?
    The President. I hope they remember me as the guy who was willing to 
fight extremists who murdered the innocent to achieve political 
objectives and, at the same time, had great faith in the people, the 
average citizen of the Middle East, to self-govern; that the Middle East 
has got a fantastic future, and that I admire the great traditions of 
the Middle East and believe that the average man can succeed mightily; 
that societies are best served when they respond to the will of people, 
and that we must reject the extremists who have a different view of 
that, the people who only prey on hopelessness. That's what I would 
hope.
    I would hope that they would say, President Bush respects my 
religion and has great love for the human being and believes in human 
dignity. I know my image can be different at times. I had to make some 
tough choices on war and peace. On the other hand, I hope people are now 
beginning to see the emergence of a free Iraq, based upon a modern 
Constitution, is part of my vision for achieving peace that we all want.
    Mr. Bourar. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.

    The President. Yes, sir.

    Mr. Bourar. Thank you.

    The President. Happy New Year.

    Mr. Bourar. Happy New Year to you.

    The President. Thank you.

Note: The interview was taped at 4:22 p.m. in the Map Room at the White 
House for later broadcast. In his remarks, the President referred to 
President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) of the Palestinian Authority; Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel; King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud 
and Minister of Foreign Affairs Saud al-Faysal bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud 
of Saudi Arabia; President Bashar al-Asad of Syria; and Gen. Michel 
Sleiman, commander, Lebanese Armed Forces. The transcript was released 
by the Office of the Press Secretary on January 6.