[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 23 (Monday, June 16, 2008)]
[Pages 828-833]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of 
Italy in Rome

June 12, 2008

    Prime Minister Berlusconi. Good evening to all of you, and welcome 
to our American guests. And of course, I would like to extend my warmest 
welcome to President Bush, who is a friend--a personal friend of mine 
and also a great friend of Italy's. I also wish to thank him because 
Rome has the very great privilege of being the European capital that 
President Bush has visited more than any other capital in Europe. If I'm 
not mistaken, this is the sixth time that he's here in Rome. And we are 
certainly delighted to have always seen that he is an ally who has 
always helped our country have strong relations with the United States. 
And I must say that this has never been the case.
    I also wish to thank him for all the efforts which he has undertaken 
during his administration in order to safeguard democracy and freedom. 
We have been the first Government to support one of his initiatives 
within the U.N., i.e. the Community of Democracies, which aims at 
spreading democracy throughout the world. We are both fully convinced 
that it is only through a real democracy that we can have true freedom. 
And it is only through freedom that individuals can tap their potentials 
fully, and this is how we can all help our families overcome any 
poverty. And obviously, this is how peoples can overcome poverty and, 
therefore, become evermore prosperous. And this is what we need to aim 
for in order to establish long-lasting peace throughout the world. This, 
in fact, is one of the issues that we have worked on and which we 
continue to pursue in the future.
    We've discussed many issues this afternoon, and we've also had the 
opportunity to discuss two programs--two initiatives, which I think have 
commonalities. The university for liberal thinking, we think--or are 
thinking of establishing one of these universities here in Italy in 
fact. And I had the opportunity to show President Bush some of these 
photographs which I already have. And President Bush is thinking of 
doing something very similar in Texas, and therefore, we've decided that 
we'll perhaps have a professor exchange program. And obviously, I've 
also invited President Bush to come to act as visiting professor, and 
I've already told him that many of our colleagues, Prime Ministers and 
heads of states, in fact, have okayed that as well.
    I know that you'll all have questions. You obviously are curious 
about what we've discussed, and that's very legitimate. We've gone over 
the international situation, and we've also reported some of the 
decisions taken by our Government with regard to our presence in 
Afghanistan, Kosovo, Lebanon and also our position vis-a-vis in some 
international developments. And of course, Iran

[[Page 829]]

is a very, very sensitive issue and is one of--is among these.
    Now, we are certainly in agreement on all these issues, as we always 
have been. And I wish to wind up by thanking President Bush 
wholeheartedly. I thank America, and I, again, was able to address the 
U.S. Congress a couple of years ago, and this is something that I'll 
never forget. And the Italians, especially those who are members of my 
generation, will never forget that this is a country that has sacrificed 
many lives to save us from totalitarianism, communism, fascism, nazism, 
and this is a country that has given us back our dignity and has ensured 
freedom and well-being for all Italians. Now this is something that I 
shall never, ever forget.
    President Bush.  [Inaudible]--you're right; we're good friends, and 
I appreciate that very much. I also have enjoyed coming to Rome. I 
always leave with a little extra culture and a little fatter. Thank you 
for your hospitality. Before I----
    Prime Minister Berlusconi. President Bush doesn't know what's for 
dinner yet this evening.
    President Bush. Turning to the meeting, I want to say something 
about the severe weather that has affected so many of the citizens back 
in the United States. There's been some terrible storms and a lot of 
destruction and some death. Throughout the trip, I've been updated on 
the devastation.
    I've spoken with the Governors of three affected States, Iowa, 
Wisconsin, and Indiana. Our Government is in touch with the authorities. 
We will assist these States in any way we can to help people recover 
from the devastation. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of 
the terrible tornadoes and flooding, especially those who lost loved 
ones. We've been inspired by the stories of heroism, neighbors helping 
neighbors, and communities coming together. It's a really tough time for 
the people in the Midwestern part of the United States. And they'll have 
the prayers of the American people, and we'll help them recover.
    We did have a wide-ranging discussion. I appreciate very much the 
fact that Italy is meeting international obligations. I don't think the 
citizens at home really understand how many troops Italy has deployed to 
help troubled spots of the world, and we thank you for that, Mr. Prime 
Minister. You've got about 8,700 troops in places like Kosovo and Chad.
    You've got a very significant presence in Afghanistan. And I 
appreciate very much the fact that the Government announced to the 
Parliament, with your instructions, Mr. Prime Minister, that the caveats 
that had restricted your forces in Afghanistan are--have been removed, 
and that you've committed additional Carabinieri to help train the 
Afghan police. Your Carabinieri are excellent professionals, and they're 
needed. And I want to thank you for that commitment.
    We talked about Iraq and how Iraq is changing for the better, how 
people are beginning to realize the blessings of a free and peaceful 
society. And you're--you've been very helpful through the NATO mission 
there of training as well.
    And I want to thank you very much for our discussion on Iran. We 
discussed how we can work effectively together to solve this issue 
diplomatically. I told the Prime Minister what I said yesterday in 
Germany, that all options are on the table, but the first choice, of 
course, is to convince the Iranians that they must give up their 
ambitions to develop the capacity to make a nuclear weapon, for the 
safety--for our own safety and for the sake of peace. And I'm confident 
we can continue to work together in a constructive way.
    We did talk about the climate change issue. I talked to him about 
our strategy for the major economies meeting, which will run 
concurrently with the G-8. The United States is committed to convincing 
those of us that have got economic development and produce greenhouse 
gases to agree to a long-term goal.
    Now, I reminded the Prime Minister our objective is to get nations 
like China and India to sign up to the goal, and that we'll develop our 
own strategies that will be firm strategies within the U.N. framework.
    Over dinner, we'll talk about the Doha round, how the United States 
is committed to completing a successful round at Doha.
    And finally, today I was real proud that Laura represented us at the 
food agency--

[[Page 830]]

the food summit. The United States is committed to helping people who 
don't have food. Over the next--in '07 and '08, we'll have committed 
about $5 billion to help. I really think our strategy can be a lot more 
effective than just giving people food. I think we ought to be buying 
food from affected nations so they develop their own agriculture. I 
firmly believe it's in the world's interest that nations that prevent 
the export of food stop doing so.
    And we ought to let sound science make the decision about 
genetically modified crops, be really interested in helping people in 
dry areas develop agriculture so they don't have to rely upon the world. 
And we ought to look at these GMAs with science in mind so that 
agriculture, sustainable agriculture, can be developed in the places 
that are--where the people are suffering.
    And so we've had a good agenda, Mr. Prime Minister. It's great to be 
with you again. And looking forward to one of your famous meals, after 
we answer a few questions. [Laughter]
    Ready to answer some questions?
    Prime Minister Berlusconi. Thank you, yes. We've been told that 
we'll have two questions from our U.S. guests and two questions from 
Italian journalists. And I would ask the President to just go ahead and 
start with the American journalists.
    President Bush. [Inaudible]--oh, there you are, yes.

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Guantanamo Bay Detainee Rights/2008 
Presidential Election

    Q. Mr. President, also back home, the Supreme Court ruled that 
Guantanamo detainees have rights under the Constitution to challenge 
their detention in U.S. civilian courts. Doesn't this rebuke of your 
policy on detainees validate the criticism that Gitmo has gotten all 
over the world, especially here in Europe?
    President Bush. Yes.
    Q. And for the Prime Minister, sir, who do you want to come see you 
as the next U.S. President?
    President Bush. First of all, it's the Supreme Court decision. We'll 
abide by the Court's decision. That doesn't mean I have to agree with 
it. It's a deeply divided Court, and I strongly agree with those who 
dissented that. And their dissent was based upon their serious concerns 
about U.S. national security.
    Congress and the administration worked very carefully on a piece of 
legislation that set the appropriate procedures in place as to how to 
deal with the detainees. And we'll study this opinion, and we'll do so 
with this in mind, to determine whether or not additional legislation 
might be appropriate so that we can safely say--or truly say to the 
American people, we're doing everything we can to protect you.
    Prime Minister Berlusconi. As far as my question is concerned, well, 
of course, I cannot express any preference with regard to an electoral 
campaign going on in another country. However, I suppose I could express 
my own personal preference for one of the candidates, the Republican 
candidate. And this is for a very selfish reason, and that is that I 
would no longer be the oldest person at the upcoming G-8, because McCain 
is a month older than me, 29th of August, 1936--29th of September, which 
is when I was born. There you go. [Laughter]
    The second question now from the American journalist, please.
    President Bush. Let's see.
    Prime Minister Berlusconi. [Inaudible]
    President Bush. Yes, Jeff Stinson [USA Today].

Upcoming Middle East Oil Summit/Energy

    Q. First of all, for you, Mr. President, the Saudis, in about 10 
days, will be hosting a summit on oil prices and supplies. Prime 
Minister Gordon Brown has said that he will go to this. With $4 a gallon 
gasoline back home, would you go?
    President Bush. You know, I'm going to go back home and take a look 
at the intentions and purpose of the meeting. There will be a high-level 
official, for certain, from my administration. We ought to be at the 
table as producers. My call on Congress is to recognize the seriousness 
of the problem and pass law that encourages exploration for oil and gas 
in the United States so that down the road, an American President will 
go as a producer, not a consumer.

[[Page 831]]

    And our policies, frankly, have been--are now coming home to roost. 
For 8 years, I have been saying to the Congress, we ought to be 
exploring in ANWR; we ought to be drilling on the Outer Continental 
Shelf. And the Democratically led Congress has prevented that from 
happening. And now the prices of gasoline are high, and the American 
people don't like it. And I can understand why they don't like it. In 
the interim term, we'll--we need to be finding more oil and gas. In the 
longer term, we ought be diversifying away from our reliance upon oil.
    And so, yes, I'm interested in the meeting. I said it's an 
interesting idea. And I'm going to get home and take a look, and we'll 
send somebody high-level there.
    Thank you.
    Prime Minister Berlusconi. Thank you very much. And now to the 
Italian journalists. Firstly, we have a journalist from Channel One 
news, our Susanna Petruni.

Iran/Italy's Role in the War on Terror and the Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Two very quick questions, one for President Bush and the other 
for Prime Minister Berlusconi. Now, we know that you are in sound 
agreement. And, President Bush, I think that you were recently 
interviewed by my newscast, and you said that you were in favor of Italy 
being part of the 5-plus-1 group, which is handling the Iranian crisis 
issue.
    Now, Stephen Hadley said today that your position is that of waiting 
to see what might happen. Now, the White House was backing Italy's 
participation in the 5-plus-1 group. So, an answer on that.
    And, Prime Minister Berlusconi, will there be changes in Italy's 
presence in Afghanistan and other trouble spots after your talks with 
President Bush this afternoon?
    President Bush. [Inaudible]--the P-5-plus-1. And I told Silvio I'd 
seriously consider it. I also made it clear, however, that all of us, P-
5-plus-1 or not, need to be sending the same message to the Iranians, 
which is, verifiably suspend your enrichment program or else you will 
face further sanctions and further isolation. And the sad thing about 
this issue is that the Iranian people are suffering. They could be doing 
a lot better. Their lives could be much more hopeful, except their 
Government has made the decision to defy the demands of the free world, 
has made the decision to ignore the IAEA, and has continued to enrich in 
a way that we think is dangerous.
    And so the choice is theirs to make. Foreign Minister Solana is 
going to see the Iranian here very shortly, and his message is one 
that--is the one I just delivered. And it's--I hope for the sake of the 
Iranian people that their Government changes course. There is a better 
way forward.
    I want to remind you something about this Iranian issue. Vladimir 
Putin, our mutual friend, went to the Iranians and said, you have a 
right to have civilian nuclear power. I have said the same thing 
publicly as well. I mean, I'm a big believer in nuclear power. I think 
the best way to deal with climate change is the spread of nuclear power. 
The best way to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy is 
nuclear power. And I believe Iran should have a civilian nuclear power. 
I don't believe they can be entrusted to enrich.
    And therefore, Vladimir Putin went and said--and he believes that--
and he said, we'll provide the fuel for you, and we'll not only provide 
the fuel, we'll gather the spent fuel, so you don't need to enrich. So 
the argument of the Iranian Government that ``we have a right to have 
civilian nuclear power'' has been undermined by the Russian proposal.
    And so it will be interesting to see their decision. But what they 
need to hear is, is that we are firm in our resolve to prevent them from 
having the capacity to make a nuclear weapon.
    Prime Minister Berlusconi. And with regard to the question addressed 
to me, we've offered to join the other European countries, plus China, 
plus Russia, in order to make our contribution to the negotiations which 
are underway with the Iranian Government. Now, our offer is based on the 
fact that we know Iran very well from the inside. We have some leading 
companies that are operating in these countries, and therefore, we think 
that this would be very useful in helping President Bush and Vladimir 
Putin to pursue

[[Page 832]]

the strategy that they've determined for that country.
    Now, we obviously need to make sure that nuclear energy is being 
used for only peaceful reasons. With regard to the sanctions proposed by 
the United Nations, we have always abided by those. And the presence of 
our businesses have to do with agreements and contracts which date back 
several years.
    Now, with regard to our willingness to remove or lift any caveats 
with regard to Afghanistan, we discussed that. And we also said that we 
are willing to keep our troops in other fronts, as it were, in other 
areas--in Kosovo and Lebanon and wherever it is that our Italian 
soldiers are today.
    And I thank President Bush for his appreciation and acknowledgment 
of the Italian commitment in these international fronts. And, in fact, 
there are 40,000 troops that are currently operating in our foreign 
missions. And we--there--we obviously have a turnover, and we always 
manage to keep that very large number of troops there. And we will 
continue, therefore, to pursue this, because we are fully convinced that 
it is extremely important to be able to establish democracy in Iraq. 
This is a very important country in that region, and we'll obviously 
continue to pursue our other efforts. And we obviously back any 
agreement that will help us to overcome any divisions in Lebanon.
    And we're also working on the agreements--on the negotiations for an 
agreement in Israel and the Middle East. And we are hoping that in all 
these countries it will be possible to establish peace and that they 
will certainly be able to become fully established democracies.
    The second Italian journalist is from ANSA, the leading news agency.

U.S. Troop Levels in Iraq/Italy's Foreign Policy

    Q. Good evening to all of you. I also have a couple of questions, 
one for President Bush--good evening, sir--and it is about Iraq. You've 
spoken about a change in the country. Do you think it might be at all 
possible to have a withdrawal, maybe a partial withdrawal, of U.S. 
troops? And if so, when do you think that might be?
    My second question is for you, Prime Minister Berlusconi. Today the 
President talked about the fact that Italian foreign policy might change 
pace, as it were, thanks to the dialog that has been established among 
the political forces in Italy. Do you think that is so, and if you do, 
how do you think you can uphold the dialog with the opposition in Italy?
    President Bush. The progress is such on the security front that 
we're--are bringing troops home. We anticipate having the troops that 
went in for this--what's called the surge back home by July. General 
Petraeus will come back; he'll assess the situation--come back to the 
United States--and make further recommendations. I don't know what those 
recommendations will be. I have told the American people, though, that 
conditions on the ground, the situation in Iraq, should determine our 
troop levels.
    And so we are in the process of what's called return on success. And 
I had the honor of going to see the 82d Airborne that had been in Iraq, 
and they came home. And it was--I was--I am constantly amazed at the 
courage and the commitment of our troops. And I'm also pleased with the 
courage and commitment of the Iraqi Government and the people of Iraq. 
The situation is dramatically different than what it was a year ago. And 
United States and our allies must send a clear message to the Iraqis: 
We'll stand with them as their democracy continues to evolve and their 
economy continues to grow.
    Prime Minister Berlusconi. And now my question--I'm very happy to 
acknowledge the forecast made by the President of Italy with regard to 
the attitude being shown by the opposition. And we are happy to think 
that the opposition might like to support our foreign policy, and our 
foreign policy will go along the same lines that we pursued in our 
previous Government for those 5 years.
    And this is a pro-European integration foreign policy. It is a 
foreign policy which is based on the idea that we don't have two Western 
worlds, we don't have Europe on one side and the U.S. and Canada on the 
other. When we talk about the West, we mean only one West. And our 
foreign policy aims at being based on cordial relations with

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an important country such as the Russian Federation.
    So our policy is going to require our effort to strengthen the ties 
and the cooperation between the European Union and the Russian 
Federation. And it is a policy that will consider NATO to be the vehicle 
which will help to maintain and uphold peace throughout the world, as it 
has done over the past decades.
    Now, what about the wounds in the world, at--where we know that 
they're going to need our generosity? Democracies are going to have to 
help those people who cannot establish freedom on their own. And as I 
said earlier, we think that this is the only way that we can possibly 
pursue in order to enable and ensure peace throughout the world after 
having fully eliminated terrorism.
    Now let me also acknowledge your vision, Mr. President, your policy, 
and the courage that you have shown throughout all the years, of hard 
work on behalf--on the part of your administration. You've always 
expressed your ideas with great courage, your ideals for the future, 
your vision for the future. I have gotten to know President Bush very 
well. I consider him to be a very close friend, a very unique person. 
And when he says no, he means no; when he says yes, it means yes. And 
he's always known--he's always shown that he has been able to be very 
close to those friends of his who have shared his ideals.
    I thank you very much, Mr. President, for your friendship between 
the two of us, on a personal level, your friendship shown to our 
country. And I thank you for the very courageous role that you have 
always taken as the leader of the most important country in the world, 
which is able to determine peace and freedom throughout the world.
    Thank you once again. Thank you for being here this evening. And 
thank you to all our American friends who are accompanying the 
President.

Note: The President's news conference began at 7:39 p.m. in the Salla 
della Loggia at the Villa Madama. In his remarks, the President referred 
to Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa; Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin; Gov. Mitchell 
E. Daniels, Jr., of Indiana; European Union Foreign Minister Javier 
Solana Madariaga; Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuchehr Motaki of Iran; 
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia; and Gen. David H. Petraeus, 
USA, commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq. Prime Minister 
Berlusconi referred to Republican Presidential candidate John McCain; 
and President Giorgio Napolitano of Italy. A reporter referred to Prime 
Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Berlusconi 
and some reporters spoke in Italian, and their remarks were translated 
by an interpreter.