[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 24 (Monday, June 23, 2008)]
[Pages 860-868]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the 
United Kingdom in London, England

June 16, 2008

    Prime Minister Brown. I'm delighted to welcome President Bush and 
the First Lady back to London. And his visit today is an opportunity to 
celebrate the historic partnership of shared purpose that unites the 
United Kingdom and the United States of America. We both share a great 
love of history and about how we have forged the ideas of democracy and 
liberty over centuries. And the special partnership that President Bush 
and I both agree today is a partnership not just of governments but of 
peoples, is driven forward not simply by mutual interests but by our 
shared values. Both countries founded upon liberty, our histories forged 
through democracy. Our shared values expressed by a commitment to 
opportunity for all, putting into practice what Churchill called the 
joint inheritance of the English-speaking world.
    So let me thank President Bush for being a true friend of Britain 
and for the importance he attaches to enhancing our transatlantic 
partnership, from the work we do in Afghanistan and Iraq to every part 
of the world. And let me thank him for the steadfastness and the 
resolution that he has shown in rooting out terrorism in all parts of 
the world; in working for a Middle East peace settlement; in bringing 
hope to Africa; in working for a free trade world where, in spite of 
today's current difficulties with oil and food prices, there is and 
should be a wider and deeper prosperity in future for all.
    Now, in our substantive and wide-ranging talks last night and this 
morning, the President and I have discussed a number of central issues. 
We have discussed Iran's nuclear ambitions. We have discussed Iraq and 
Afghanistan, where our forces are working side by side. We have 
discussed the criminal cabal that now threatens to make a mockery of 
free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. We have discussed what we can do 
about democracy in Burma.
    We have resolved, first of all, as we did some years ago, that it is 
in the British national interest to confront the Taliban in Afghanistan, 
or Afghanistan would come to us. And so today Britain will announce 
additional troops for Afghanistan, bringing our numbers in Afghanistan 
to the highest level. And let me thank our troops and the troops of 
America and 42 other countries who are in Afghanistan as I thank our 
forces in Iraq for their courage and for their professionalism. And let 
me acknowledge the bravery of the five members of the 2d Paratroop 
Regiment, British men who have in the last few days sacrificed their 
lives for freedom.
    Eighteen months ago, the Taliban boasted that they and their paid 
foreign fighters

[[Page 861]]

would drive our forces out of southern Helmand. Now most agree that 
security is on the way to being transformed. Last week in Paris, a total 
of 80 countries pledged 20 billions, with nearly a billion from the 
United Kingdom, to support the Afghan National Development Strategy.
    Our aim is to generate progress where the fourth poorest country in 
the world, laid low by decades of conflict, can as a democracy enjoy 
peaceful social and economic development, with our forces, over time, 
moving from a direct combat role to train and support Afghanistan's own 
Army and police.
    In Iraq, there is still work to be done, and Britain is playing and 
will continue to play its part. Where we have over 4,000 troops in 
Basra, we will continue the shared policy of Iraqis taking more control 
over their own affairs, moving from combat to overwatch in Basra. Our 
policy is showing success as we continue the task we have set ourselves: 
strong and well-trained Iraqi forces capable of securing the peace; firm 
commitments to new local government elections soon; and speeding up the 
social and economic development of Iraq so that people have a stake in 
the future.
    Our message today to the Iranian people is that you do not have to 
choose the path of confrontation. The latest rounds of talks with the 
Iranians took place over the weekend. Once again, we put our enhanced 
offer on the table, including political and economic partnership and 
help with nuclear technology for civilian use. We await the Iranian 
response, and we'll do everything possible to maintain the dialog. But 
we are also clear that if Iran continues to ignore united resolutions, 
to ignore our offers of partnership, we have no choice but to intensify 
sanctions. And so today Britain will urge Europe and Europe will agree 
to take further sanctions against Iran.
    First of all, we will take action today that will freeze the 
overseas assets of the biggest bank in Iran, the Bank Melli.
    And second, action will start today for a new phase of sanctions on 
oil and gas. And I will repeat that we will take any necessary actions 
so that Iran is aware of the choice it has to make: to start to play its 
part as a full and respected member of the international community or 
face further isolation.
    We discussed the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe. In recent 
weeks, under Robert Mugabe's increasingly desperate and criminal regime, 
Zimbabwe has seen 53 killings, 2,000 beatings, the displacement of 
30,000 people, the arrest and detention of opposition leaders, including 
Morgan Tsvangirai, and this is wholly unacceptable. Mugabe must not be 
allowed to steal the election that is now less than 2 weeks away. And 
that is why we call for Zimbabwe to accept a United Nations human rights 
envoy to visit Zimbabwe now and to accept the international monitors 
from all parts of the world who are available to ensure that this is a 
free and fair election.
    We agreed that at the G-8 in Japan, the United Kingdom and the 
U.S.A. would propose a plan to recruit and train health workers for the 
poorest countries. To save the lives of mothers who needlessly die in 
childbirth, we are developing proposals to tackle the diseases that 
bring needless death and suffering, including malaria, AIDS, and 
neglected tropical diseases. And we agreed also to work together to 
ensure G-8 commitment to scale up funding on education and get the 
remaining 72 million children who do not go to school today into school.
    The world oil prices trebled in recent months. In the right of this, 
I welcome Saudi Arabia's initiative to host a producer-consumer summit 
in Jeddah on the 22d of June. And we will all work together to ensure an 
enhanced dialog between oil producers and consumers.
    And the President and I also agreed that over the next few weeks, we 
need to press hard to achieve a world trade deal. Both of us are ensured 
that this could unlock new opportunities for the world economy. It would 
also help reduce high global food prices.
    Finally, we go from here to Northern Ireland. The United States has 
played an essential role in securing peace in Northern Ireland and 
helping the people of Northern Ireland move away from conflict to, 
potentially, a new prosperity. And I want to thank President Bush for 
his personal efforts to speed up the Northern Ireland peace process and

[[Page 862]]

to make sure that there is investment in Northern Ireland, not just from 
the rest of the United Kingdom but from America.
    And I thank him for his work to ensure that the recent investment 
conference in Northern Ireland was a huge success. And there will be 
further announcements of jobs in Northern Ireland today. America has 
played a huge role in this peace process, and President Bush is to be 
thanked by all the people of the United Kingdom for what he has done.
    So, Mr. President, I thank you again for your friendship, for your 
leadership, for your commitment to us continuing to work together to 
solve the challenges facing the world. I'm pleased you're here. I value 
the gains we've made together, and I look forward to our continued 
friendship.
    President Bush. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. And I thank you very 
much for your friendship. Thank you for your hospitality. This is--this 
has been a good trip. By the way, some are speculating this is my last 
trip. Let them speculate. Who knows? [Laughter] But it's been a--we had 
a great dinner last night. I want to thank you and Sarah. And thanks for 
calling together the historians. It's a--you know, Great Britain has 
produced great historians. And I am--I love reading a lot of their 
works, and it was so kind of you to have them over. And the food was 
good too. [Laughter]
    And also, we had a great visit yesterday. Laura and I went to see 
Her Majesty the Queen. And I thank her for her hospitality. And then 
yesterday at the Embassy, thanks to our Ambassador, I had the 
opportunity to speak to some of your soldiers. And I was--listened to 
their stories of courage and bravery and sacrifice, and it was so--
really touching. And I really appreciate the British people supporting 
the people who wear the uniform. And I am looking forward to going to 
Northern Ireland this evening. You've taken the lead. We're just pleased 
to help. And hopefully this visit will help keep the process moving.
    First thing about Gordon Brown, he's tough on terror. And I 
appreciate it, and so should the people of Great Britain and the world. 
He fully understands that while some want to say that the terrorist 
threat is gone or there's nothing to worry about, it is something to 
worry about. And he was--you were tested early in your Prime 
Ministership. You dealt with the challenge. And I appreciate your 
continued focus and your understanding that we've got to work together 
to protect our people and your understanding that freedom is 
transformative, and the ultimate way to succeed against these extremists 
who use murder as a way to achieve their political objectives is to 
marginalize them through the advance of liberty.
    And that's what we're doing in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. And 
it is tough work. It's hard to take a society that had been ravished by 
brutality and convince people to take the risk necessary to work for 
civil society and freedom for women and to educate their children. But I 
believe it's necessary work for the sake of peace and for our security. 
And I believe it's in the moral interests of comfortable nations to help 
others realize the blessings of liberty. Oh, for some that sounds like 
hopeless idealism. For those of us involved with making public policy 
necessary to protect our people, it is the only realistic way to 
guarantee the peace for our people.
    And so you've been strong on Afghanistan and Iraq, and I appreciate 
it. But more importantly, the people of Afghanistan and Iraq appreciate 
it. The march to democracy is never smooth. We've had our own history. 
America is viewed as a great democracy. Just remember, many of our 
citizens were enslaved for a long period of time before we finally got 
it right.
    But it's in our interests to help these folks. It's in our interests 
little girls go to school in Afghanistan. It's in our interests that 
there be free elections in Iraq. And it's in our interests that we help 
these governments survive. And it's taken sacrifice from our people; I 
understand that. The fundamental question history is going to look back 
on is, did we understand the duty that we've been called to do to 
protect ourselves and help others? And this Prime Minister has 
understood the duty.
    No, I know there's a lot of discussion here in the British press 
about, well, you know, is there going to be enough troops or not enough 
troops and all that business. Is he

[[Page 863]]

trying to distance this, that, and the other? It's just typical. But I 
just want to remind you that he has left more troops in Iraq than 
initially anticipated. And, like me--we'll be making our decisions based 
upon the conditions on the ground, the recommendation of our commanders, 
without an artificial timetable set by politics.
    I thank you for your troop announcement today in Afghanistan as 
well. Then you issued a strong statement on Iran. It was a clear 
statement, and it was a strong statement, and it was a necessary 
statement, because the free world has an obligation to work together in 
concert to prevent the Iranians from having the know-how to develop a 
nuclear weapon. And now is the time to work together to get it done, and 
I appreciate your statement.
    Hopefully the Iranian leadership will take a different position than 
the one they've taken in the past, which is basically, who cares what 
the free world says; we're going to--we'll go our own way. And now has 
faced--they face serious isolation, and the people who are suffering are 
the Iranian people. We have no qualms with the Iranian people. As a 
matter of fact, we want the Iranian people to thrive. It's in our 
interests that there be a hopeful society. It's their Government who has 
denied them their rightful place in the world.
    And so I want to thank you very much for working hard to, you know, 
to help keep this coalition together to provide pressure necessary so we 
can solve the problem diplomatically. That's my first choice. Iranians 
must understand all options are on the table, however.
    Thank you for your strong words on Zimbabwe. And I--you know, you 
obviously are emotional on the subject. And I don't blame you, because 
the people of Zimbabwe have suffered under Mugabe leadership. And we 
will work with you to ensure these good folks have free and fair 
elections to the extent--best extent possible, which obviously Mr. 
Mugabe does not want to have.
    We talked about Darfur. We talked about Burma. I strongly support 
your health care worker initiative. I'm looking forward to going to the 
G-8 to articulate that. And we expect the people of the G-8--the leaders 
of the G-8 countries to fulfill their obligations, because last year we 
met, and we had a--we discussed a lot of issues, including HIV/AIDS and 
malaria on the continent of Africa. And they all came forth and said, 
``We'll match the United States.'' Except most nations haven't matched 
the United States to date except for Great Britain. You know, they 
haven't done their part in matching the United States.
    And so my message at the G-8 is: Looking forward to working with 
you; thanks for coming to the meeting; just remember, there are people 
needlessly dying on the continent of Africa today. And we expect you to 
be more than pledge-makers; we expect you to be checkwriters for 
humanitarian reasons.
    We did talk about energy and Doha. I'm concerned about Doha. I'm 
concerned that while we're making some progress on the agricultural 
side, that nations such as Brazil and India and China are not making 
corresponding openings on manufacturing and service--and the service 
sector on their part. And in order to have a successful round, which I 
believe is essential, and so does Gordon--to fight off protectionism and 
to help poor nations develop, that now is the time to get a Doha round 
completed. And in order to do so, there has to be more movement on the 
manufacturing and service sector so there can be a fair and equitable 
deal.
    Finally, we talked about global climate change. And I briefed Gordon 
on our strategy for the major economies meeting to hopefully reach an 
international goal for 2050 that will have intermediate strategies that 
are binding on each nation within the U.N. framework. And the reason why 
I believe this is the right approach to take--that unless China and 
India are a part of a binding international agreement--and the United 
States--then we will not have effective policy in dealing with climate 
change. It might make us all feel good, but the results won't be 
satisfactory. And so hopefully in Seoul, South Korea, coming up, there 
will be a major economy meeting agreement on a long-term goal with 
binding commitments.
    Mr. Prime Minister, all in all, it's been a great meeting. Thank you 
for the conversation, and thank you for your friendship.
    Prime Minister Brown. Thank you. Questions.

[[Page 864]]

British and U.S. Troop Levels in Iraq/Afghanistan

    Q. Nick Robinson, BBC News.
    President Bush. Who? Can you say his name again, please? [Laughter]
    Q. Good to have you here.
    President Bush. Yes. Missed the hat. [Laughter]
    Q. Prime Minister, isn't it time to withdraw British troops from 
Iraq in order to send them where the military really needs them, to 
Afghanistan, or are you too worried about his reaction if you do?
    Mr. President, are you prepared----
    President Bush. We miss you, Nick. We miss you, buddy.
    Q. Are you prepared to see British troops withdrawn from Iraq while 
you're still in office, or are you concerned about the symbolic 
significance of that?
    Prime Minister Brown. Can I just say that in Iraq, there is a job to 
be done, and we will continue to do the job. And there's going to be no 
artificial timetable. And the reason is that we are making progress--
making progress in the Iraqis themselves being trained up to run their 
own armed forces and, of course, to be the police men and women in their 
areas. And we're making progress also because we hope local government 
elections will happen later this year. We hope to return the airport 
that we are responsible for in Basra to civilian use as well. And most 
of all, in the next stage, we want to see the economic and social 
development of Basra and the southern part of Iraq proceed so that 
people have a stake in the future.
    So, yes, we are moving from what we call combat to overwatch, and 
that's been announced many months ago. Yes, as a result of what happened 
in Basra a few months ago, we have kept higher the level of troops that 
are necessary, but, yes, also, we have a job that's still to be done. 
And that job is to train up the forces; that job is to speed up economic 
and social development; and that job is to have local government 
elections so that Iraqis can take control of their own democracy. And 
I'm determined that we continue to do that job.
    And that will happen not at the cost of lesser troops for 
Afghanistan, but with more troops going to Afghanistan. The Defense 
Secretary will announce later this afternoon that we will send more 
troops to Afghanistan. The reason is that we want to help the Afghans 
train up their own Army and their own police forces. And the reason is, 
we want to have better equipment in Iraq--in Afghanistan in future. And 
therefore, there's going to be a reconfiguration of our troops. There 
will be some coming out and some more going in, and that--an overall 
increase in the numbers so that we will have the highest level of troops 
in Afghanistan. You cannot trade numbers between the two countries.

    There is a job to do in Iraq, and I've described it. And there is a 
job to do in Afghanistan, and we will continue to do it. And the fact 
that 43 countries are helping us in Afghanistan and 80 countries are 
supporting the economic and social development of Afghanistan shows how 
in this country, which is one of the poorest in the world, we are trying 
to make progress more quickly. So the announcement will come later today 
from the Defense Secretary.

    President Bush. We're withdrawing troops. We anticipate the 30,000 
surge troops will be coming home by July--more or less 30,000. And so 
the plan is, bring them home based upon success. That's what we expect 
the British Prime Minister to do. That's what I'm doing--that as the 
Iraqis are trained up, as they're taking more responsibility, as the 
security situations decline, as the economy is improved, as political 
reconciliation is taking place, we can bring more troops home. That's 
the whole purpose of the strategy. And so, give the Iraqis more 
responsibility. Let them take more--be in more charge of their own 
security and their own Government, and that's what's happening.

    And so, yes, I mean--look, the key thing for me is that I have--you 
know, is that Gordon shares with me his plans. He listens to--and he 
talks to his commanders, and he picks up the phone and says, ``Here's 
what we're thinking.'' So there's no surprises. And as I said yesterday 
on TV here, I have no problem with how Gordon Brown is dealing with 
Iraq. He's been a good partner and--but, as I told you, we're bringing 
ours home too.

[[Page 865]]

War on Terror in Afghanistan/Oil Supply

    Q. Mr. President, I'd like to ask you about recent events along the 
Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Do you back President Karzai when he says 
he may send his troops into Pakistan to take care of some of the 
militants who are launching attacks on his territory? And do you think 
that the agreements that the new Government of Pakistan is pursuing with 
some of the militant tribes in that area amount to the sort of 
appeasement that you talked about in your speech last month?
    And, Mr. Prime Minister, I'd like to ask you about the meeting--
upcoming meeting in Saudi Arabia. What do you expect to come out of that 
meeting? And do you think it would be helpful if your friend there, 
standing there, Mr. Bush, were to see you in Jeddah at that meeting?
    President Bush. Our strategy is to deny safe haven to extremists who 
would do harm to innocent people. And that's the strategy of 
Afghanistan. It needs to be the strategy of Pakistan. It's in all our 
interests to prevent those who murder innocent people to achieve 
political objectives to gain safe haven.
    And so we'd look forward to working--I mean, one thing that can 
happen is, there can be, you know, more dialog between the Pak 
Government and the Afghan Government. Now, there was--in the past, they 
had a jirga amongst tribal leaders in the region on both--from both 
sides of the border that made a difference. And I think that would be a 
good idea to restart the jirga process.
    I know there needs to be dialog between the intel services between 
the respective countries. And I know there needs to be better 
cooperation, and there needs to be trilateral cooperation on the 
border--trilateral being Pak, Afghan, and coalition border patrols--to 
prevent people from coming back and forth across the border.
    And there's a lot of common ground. I repeat: It is in no one's 
interest that extremists have a safe haven from which to operate. And 
I'm, you know--I mean--and obviously, it's a testy situation there. And 
if I'm the President of a country and people are coming from one country 
to another--allegedly coming from one country to another--to kill 
innocent civilians on my side, I'd be concerned about it. But we can 
help. We can help calm the situation down and develop a strategy that 
will prevent these extremists from, you know, from developing safe haven 
and having freedom of movement.
    Prime Minister Brown. Can I say, I'm traveling to Jeddah next Sunday 
at the invitation of the King of Saudi Arabia. And I want a long-term 
dialog, and this is part of a process, not an event, between oil 
producers and oil consumers. I think there is a view developing that the 
price of oil is increasingly dependent not just on today's demand and 
supply factors but on what people perceive as demand outstripping supply 
next year, in the medium term, and in the long term.
    And I want to tell the King of Saudi Arabia and others who are there 
that the world will build more nuclear power. And I have suggested that 
on present trends, it would be about 1,000 nuclear power stations over 
the next 30 years. The world will increase its use of renewables. The 
world will increase its use of coal. It will lessen its dependence on 
oil, and that the world is determined to make a more efficient use of 
oil.
    And I think this dialog between producers and consumers is 
absolutely essential. President Bush has just been in Saudi Arabia. I 
have not been there recently. I want to go and talk to the King and talk 
to others there about what I believe should be a process whereby we 
understand what are the pressures on demand in future years, as well as 
we understand the pressures on supply. And I believe that that long-term 
debate about the future can have an effect on today's markets.
    Now, that's what the debate is about. And that is part of a process 
that I hope will continue, if necessary, with a meeting in London later 
and with further meetings, so that there is a genuine dialog between 
producers and consumers about what is the most worrying situation in the 
world at the moment, and that is the trebling of the price of oil.

President's Decisionmaking/Freedom Agenda/Lisbon Treaty

    Q. Mr. President, in his last major speech, Tony Blair said on Iraq, 
``Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right. But if I got it wrong, 
I'm sorry.'' Is it possible you got

[[Page 866]]

it wrong? Would you share, at this point, those slightly more reflective 
sentiments? And in particular, should you, in retrospect, perhaps have 
concentrated a little more on Afghanistan?
    And could I ask the Prime Minister, is the Lisbon Treaty dead in the 
water now? And if so, what happens next for Europe?
    President Bush. History will judge the tactics. History will judge 
whether or not, you know, more troops were needed earlier, troops could 
have been positioned here better or not. Removing Saddam Hussein was not 
wrong. It was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do for 
our security, right thing to do for peace, and the right thing to do for 
25 million Iraqis.
    And now the fundamental question is, will we have the willpower and 
the patience to help the Iraqis develop a democracy in the heart of the 
Middle East? It's a democracy that's not going to look like America. 
It's not going to look like Great Britain. But it's a democracy that 
will have government responsive to the people. People say, ``Was that 
worth it? Is it necessary?'' Absolutely, it's necessary, if you believe 
we're in an ideological war being--the theaters of which right now--the 
most notable theaters are Afghanistan and Iraq.
    The strategic implications of a free Iraq are significant for our 
future. For example, a free Iraq will make it easier to deal with the 
Iranian issue. A free Iraq will send a clear signal to reformers and 
dissidents, would-be journalists throughout the Middle East that a free 
society is available for you as well. And the question facing the 
Western World is, will we fall prey to the argument that stability is 
more important than forms of government, that what appears to be stable 
and peaceful--is that more important than how people live their lives, 
what kind of government? You just heard the Prime Minister speak 
eloquently about Zimbabwe. The lesson there is, forms of government 
matter.
    Freedom has had a transformative effect in Europe, in the Far East. 
And the fundamental question is, will we work to see it have a 
transformative effect in the Middle East? Now, there are many doubters. 
I understand that, because there is some who say that perhaps freedom is 
not universal. Maybe it's only Western people that can self-govern. 
Maybe it's only, you know, white-guy Methodists who are capable of self-
government. I reject that notion. I think that's the ultimate form of 
political elitism, and I believe an accurate reading of history says 
that freedom can bring peace we want. And it'll bring peace to the 
Middle East, unless of course we become isolationist, unless of course 
we lose our confidence, unless of course we quit.
    And so, yes, I'm sure there's--people will say, they could have done 
things better here and there. But I'm absolutely confident that the 
decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision.
    Prime Minister Brown. And can I just emphasize, the passion for 
freedom, I think, is a universal value, and I believe that Iraq is a 
democracy today because of the action that we have taken. And our next 
task is to make sure that all Iraqis feel that they have an economic 
stake as well as a democratic stake in the future of the country. And 
that's why the work continues.
    On Europe, I'll meet Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach of Ireland, when I'm 
in Belfast later today. The legal position on the European treaty is 
very clear, that all 27 members must sign and, therefore, ratify the 
treaty before it comes into force. It is for each member to decide its 
own process for doing so. And we will continue our process of debating 
this in the House of Lords and then royal assent during the course of 
this week.
    I think a short period of reflection is necessary for the Irish to 
put forward their proposals about how they will deal with this, and we 
look forward to the Irish coming to the European Council on Thursday 
with a view of what should be done. I believe that when David Miliband 
makes a statement to the House this afternoon following a meeting of the 
European foreign ministers, he will be able to say that all the European 
Union members believe that Ireland should be given this time to reflect 
on what they need to do and then make their proposals about how the 
situation can be resolved.

Iran/North Korea/Six-Party Talks

    Q. Good morning, Mr. President, Prime Minister. I'd like to ask you 
both about Iran. President Bush, you've talked about it at

[[Page 867]]

every stop. A similar process, it seems, that is deterring North Korea 
from its nuclear ambitions has basically allowed North Korea to make 
progress toward nuclear weapons. At what point are you willing to draw a 
line here with Iran, and isn't Iran seemingly learning a lesson from the 
North Korea experience?
    President Bush. Ed [Ed Chen, Bloomberg News], I just strongly 
disagree with your premise that the six-party talks has encouraged Iran 
to develop nuclear weapons. I don't know why you have even come to that 
conclusion because the facts are, the six-party talks is the only way to 
send a message to the North Koreans that the world isn't going to 
tolerate them having a weapon.
    I mean, in other words, they are--we'll see what they disclose, but 
we hopefully are in the process of disabling and dismantling their 
plutonium manufacturing. We're hopefully in the process of getting them 
to disclose what they have manufactured and eventually turning it over. 
We're hopefully in the process of disclosing their proliferation 
activities, and it's a six-party process. I mean, the only way, in my 
judgment, to diplomatically solve these kinds of problems with nations 
like Iran and North Korea, nontransparent nations, is through a 
multilateral process where there's more than one nation sending the same 
message to the leaders of these respective countries.
    And so I disagree with your premise. As a matter of fact, the 
Iranians must understand that when we come together and speak with one 
voice, we're serious. That's why the Prime Minister's statement was so 
powerful, and that's the lesson that the North Koreans are hearing. And 
so it's--I said the other day that, you know, one of the things that I 
will leave behind is a multilateralism to deal with tyrants, so problems 
can be solved diplomatically.
    And the difficulty, of course, is that sometimes economics and money 
trumps national security interests. So you go around asking nations--by 
the way, it's not a problem for Great Britain--so you say to your 
partners, don't sell goods; you know, let's send a focused message, all 
aiming to create the conditions so that somebody rational shows up. In 
other words, people hopefully are sick of isolation in their respective 
countries, and they show up and say, we're tired of this; there's a 
better way forward.
    And in order for that to be effective, Ed, there has to be more than 
one voice. So if I were the North Koreans and I were looking at Iran, or 
the Iranians looking at North Korea, I'd say, uh-oh, there are 
coalitions coming together that are bound tightly--more tightly than 
ever in order to send us a focused message.
    And, you know, let me just say one thing about the Iranian demand 
for civilian nuclear power. It's a justifiable demand. You just heard 
the Prime Minister talk about the spread of civilian nuclear power, 
which I support--starting in my own country, by the way. We need to be 
building civilian nuclear powerplants.
    And so when the Iranians say, ``We have a sovereign right to have 
one,'' the answer is, you bet. You have a sovereign right; absolutely. 
But you don't have the trust of those of us who have watched you 
carefully when it comes to enriching uranium because you have declared 
that you want to destroy democracies in the neighborhood, for example. 
Therefore--and this is the Russian proposal, by the way--therefore, 
we'll provide fuel for you, and we'll collect the fuel after you've used 
it so you can have your nuclear--civilian nuclear power, which 
undermines what the Iranians are saying, and that is, we must enrich in 
order to have civilian nuclear power. You don't need to enrich to have 
civilian nuclear power. The Russian proposal is what we support. This 
proposal wouldn't have happened had there not been a multilateral 
process.
    And so what these nations need to see is, we're serious about 
solving these problems. And the United States spends a lot of time 
working with our partners to get them solved.
    Thank you very much.
    Prime Minister Brown. Thank you all very much.

Note: The President's news conference began at 11 a.m. in the Locarno 
Treaty Room of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Building. In his 
remarks, he referred to Sarah Brown, wife of Prime Minister Brown; Queen 
Elizabeth II of


the United Kingdom; and President Robert

[[Page 868]]

Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Brown referred to Secretary of State 
for Defense Desmond Browne and Secretary of State for Foreign and 
Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband of the United Kingdom; King Abdallah 
bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia; and Prime Minister Brian Cowen 
of Ireland. Reporters referred to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan; 
and former Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom.