WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--Office of the Press Secretary
Map Room
January 4, 2008
4:05 P.M. EST
Q Mr. President, firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to
talk to us.
THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to Washington.
Q Thank you very much. You're just about to come to the Middle
East. And in Annapolis you said that the parties will make every
effort to reach an agreement, until the end of 2008. And I -- you
know, I don't want to sound skeptic, but I'm an Israeli and it's in
our nature.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. (Laughter.)
Q Why do you believe that you can reach peace in 12 months, when
it hasn't been attainable in the seven years of your presidency -- and
long before that?
THE PRESIDENT: I think we can reach a vision of what a Palestinian
state would look like. But I have made it abundantly clear that the
existence of a state will be subject to the obligations in the road
map. And so the goal is to have something other than just verbs --
words. In other words, here's what a state will look like. And what's
important for that is that the Palestinians need to have something to
hope for, something to be for. There needs -- Abbas, who has agreed
that Israel has the right to exist, must be able to say to his people:
be for me, support me, and this is what can happen; if you follow the
way of the terrorists and the killers, this will never happen.
And so I'm optimistic that we can have the outlines of a state
defined. In other words, negotiations on borders and right of return
and these different issues can be settled. I'm optimistic because I
believe Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas want to achieve that
objective. I know I'm willing to help. But I believe we can get that
done, and I think it's in Israel's interest to get it done.
One reason why it was impossible to get a two-state solution
moving forward previous to this is, one, when we first came into
office there was an intifada. Secondly, a lot of people didn't
necessarily agree with the two-state solution as being in Israel's
interest. Ariel Sharon changed that point of view. Prime Minister
Olmert campaigned on that. And so we have a good chance.
I do want to emphasize, however, that the state won't come into
being just because we defined a state. It will come into being subject
to the road map, and that's important for the Israeli people to
understand.
Q So there won't necessarily be a complete, ratified signed
agreement by the end of your --
THE PRESIDENT: There will be an agreement on what a state would
look like, in my judgment. I think it'll happen. I also believe that
the leaders know me, and I know them, and that there's a -- you know,
they say, well, are you going to have a time table? One time table is
the departure of President George W. Bush from the White House -- not
that that I'm any great, heroic figure, but they know me and they're
comfortable with me and I am a known quantity. And therefore the
question is will they decide to make the efforts necessary to get the
deal done while I'm President, as opposed to maybe the next person
won't agree with a two-state, or maybe the next person will take a
while to get moving.
So there's a -- I am not going to try to force the issue because
of my own time table. On the other hand, I do believe Prime Minister
Olmert and President Abbas want to see this done. And therefore I'm
optimistic it will get done by 2008.
Q So I am moving on to Iran, and I think the question on every
Israeli's mind -- and you're the best man to answer it -- is, is Iran
an immediate threat to the existence of Israel?
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, if I were an Israeli, I would take
the words of the Iranian President seriously. And as President of the
United States, I take him seriously. And I've spoken very bluntly
about what that would mean, what an attack on Israel would mean if
Iran were to do that.
Q You said World War III, if I --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I did. I said that we will defend our ally --
no ands, ifs or buts. And so -- now, I am -- one of the concerns I'm
sure amongst the Israeli population is whether this intelligence
estimate that came out, what does it mean. It means to me that Iran
was a threat and Iran is a threat. In other words, just because they
had a military covert program that it suspended doesn't mean, one,
they could restart it. And two, doesn't mean that their capacity to
enrich couldn't -- you know, so-called civilian program -- couldn't be
transferred to a military. So I see it as a threat.
Whether there's an imminent attack coming, I don't think so. The
Iranians, I'm confident, know there would be a significant
retaliation. The key, however, is to make sure that they don't end up
with a weapon. And one of the things I will talk to the Prime Minister
about again is our strategy to solve this issue diplomatically.
Q You say "diplomatically," but is a military strike still an
option --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the U.S. always maintains a military option.
I have told the American people that I believe we can solve this issue
diplomatically. Diplomacy works best when all options are on the
table. And we're making some progress. The Russians and the Chinese,
as well as the other members of the U.N. Security Council supported
two Security Council resolutions -- which some might say aren't very
effective; I think they are.
I think they're effective in the sense that it creates a sense of
isolation amongst the Iranians. And I constantly speak to the Iranian
people when I say, you can do better than a government which is
causing you to be isolated; your economy can do better than it's
doing; because of your government's decision not to be honest with the
world, not to be transparent, not to listen to the IAEA, there will be
continued economic sanctions, some of them unilaterally, some of them
bilaterally. Sanctions on their financial institutions, for example,
can be very effective.
And so the United States -- we've spent a lot of time on this
issue, keeping the pressure on the Iranians.
Q So we're looking to something a lot nicer -- the upcoming U.S.
elections. And I seem to recall you liked to be on the campaign trail.
You were there twice and you won. Are you a little bit, you know,
envious of the candidates?
THE PRESIDENT: It's an interesting question. I know exactly what
they're going through. Laura and I -- well, Laura and I were talking
about what it was like the day before, like, the Iowa caucuses. You
know, I've been through three Iowa caucuses: one, when my dad beat
Ronald Reagan in 1980, and then lost; two, that when my dad came in
third in Iowa in 1988 and won; and, of course, our own caucus, which
then -- you know, we win Iowa, go immediately to New Hampshire, lose,
and eventually win.
And so there's a -- it's just the beginning of a long process. And
it's an important process for American politicians because it does two
things: one, it lets the electorate see how people handle stress, and
equally importantly, it lets the candidate, the person running
determine whether or not they have the inner fortitude necessary to be
the President of the United States. Because if things were okay and
everything is, you know, smooth, the job is kind of -- it's
interesting. It's always interesting, don't get me wrong, but when
times are tough is when you're really tested; when you have to make
the tough decisions of war and peace. And it requires an inner
fortitude that I think you begin to develop when you're out there in
those primaries.
So this is the beginning of a fairly long process, although it's
been -- to answer your question, I don't wish for things that are
impossible to wish for. And so I'm an observer, but with a pretty
intimate knowledge of the sentiments that these candidates are going
through.
Q I imagine so. You are, you know, reaching the end of your
presidency in a year, and it's sort of the season to summarize. Can
you tell me what your -- you consider as your biggest achievement, and
what, if anything, do you regret?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. First of all, I'm going to get a lot done next
year.
Q Of course.
THE PRESIDENT: I really am. You know, there's this great myth
about how the President, because there's an election, or because it's
the last year of his presidency, not much is going to get done. Quite
the contrary. We'll get a lot done.
I would think that -- first of all, I don't believe there's such a
thing as an accurate short-term history. I'm still -- I read a lot of
history these days. I like to read a lot about Abraham Lincoln, for
example. And if they're still analyzing the 16th -- the history of the
16th President, see, then I -- the 43rd guy just doesn't need to worry
about it. I'll be long gone. (Laughter.) But I do believe that --
Q Isn't that kind of sad, that you won't be appreciated enough
until after you're --
THE PRESIDENT: No, what really matters in life is do you have a
set of principles, and are you willing to live your life based upon
those principles. That's what matters most to me. My priorities are
really my faith and my family. And we're blessed with a lot of
friends. I just don't -- I'm not the kind of person that -- I don't
spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, I guess is the best way to
say it. But I do believe that -- I can predict that the historians
will say that George W. Bush recognized the threats of the 21st
century, clearly defined them, and had great faith in the capacity of
liberty to transform hopelessness to hope, and laid the foundation for
peace by making some awfully difficult decisions.
Q And finally, can I ask you, when you do leave the White House,
you're still fairly young, you know, what's next for you after you're
the leader of the free world?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I don't know. I do know where I'm going
to live, and that's in Texas.
Q Texas.
THE PRESIDENT: I tell my friends from Texas, I left the state with
a state of principles, and I'm returning with the same set of
principles. And I didn't compromise my beliefs in order to be the
popular guy, or the hip guy, or the guy that every -- you know, the
cultural elite likes. But I don't know. I'm going to build a library
with a freedom institute attached to it.
And it's not just freedom from tyranny, it's freedom from disease.
One of the great initiatives of my administration has been the
HIV/AIDS initiative on the continent of Africa. Laura and I are very
much involved in an initiative to end malaria. And thanks to the
taxpayers of our country, we've dedicated about $1.6 billion to help
save babies' lives. It's the tyranny of hunger, the tyranny of
ignorance. I mean, there's all kinds of ways that I think I can help
others realize the great blessings of life.
But I haven't gotten there yet. I've got too much to do. I mean,
I've been thinking about this trip to the Middle East today, and I'm
excited to go, I really am. You know, my first trip to Israel, and
only trip to Israel, was in 1998. And I remember being in a hotel room
and opened the curtain over the Old City, and the sun was just coming
up, and it just glowed. It was golden. And I told Laura, I can't
believe what I'm looking at. And after she got her contacts on --
(laughter) -- she came and looked.
And, you know, one of the great ironies of that trip was that I
was on a helicopter tour of the West Bank with Ariel Sharon. You know,
life works in funny ways. I had just finished a reelection campaign in
Texas, and there was a lot of pressure and a lot of talk about me
running for President. But I don't think either of us would have
guessed that both of us would have been serving in our respective
offices in a defining moment in history. And that defining moment is
the willingness of free nations to confront the ideology of hate;
those who use murder to achieve political objectives. And yet there we
were. I'm saddened by the fact that he's in the state he's in. But
nevertheless, it was -- the beginning of a relationship started in a
helicopter flying over the West Bank in 1998, and I'm glad -- I'm
really glad to be coming back. I'm looking forward to being with my
friend, Prime Minister Olmert, and other leaders.
Q Mr. President, thank you so much again for taking the time to
talk to us. Thank you so much.
THE PRESIDENT: You bet, thank you.
Q And have a safe trip, and best of luck. We're all keeping our
fingers crossed for you.
THE PRESIDENT: We'll be fine.
Q Thank you.
END 4:18 P.M. EST
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