President Bush News Conference---Live Thread

FOXMSNBCCNN | April 13 2004 | Me

[Dog]

This will be tonights live thread..

[Petronski]

FROM THE TORONTO STAR:


Bush's address in full


Text of U.S. President George W. Bush's speech at Tuesday's press conference at the White House, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:

Good evening.

Before I take your questions, let me speak with the American people about the situation in Iraq.

This has been a tough week in that country. Coalition forces have encountered serious violence in some areas of Iraq. Our military commanders report that this violence is being instigated by three groups. Some remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime, along with Islamic militants, have attacked coalition forces in the city of Falluja. Terrorists from other countries have infiltrated Iraq to incite and organize attacks.

In the south of Iraq, coalition forces face riots and attacks that are being incited by a radical cleric named al-Sadr. He has assembled some of his supporters into an illegal militia and publicly supported the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

Al-Sadr's methods of violence and intimidation are widely repudiated by other Iraqi Shia. He's been indicted by Iraqi authorities for the murder of a prominent Shia cleric.

Although these instigations of violence come from different factions, they share common goals. They want to run us out of Iraq and destroy the democratic hopes of the Iraqi people.

The violence we have seen is a power grab by these extreme and ruthless elements. It's not a civil war. It's not a popular uprising. Most of Iraq is relatively stable. Most Iraqis by far reject violence and oppose dictatorship.

In forums where Iraqis have met to discuss their political future, and in all the proceedings of the Iraqi Governing Council, Iraqis have expressed clear commitments. They want strong protections for individual rights. They want their independence. And they want their freedom.

America's commitment to freedom in Iraq is consistent with our ideals and required by our interests. Iraq will either be a peaceful, democratic country or it will again be a source of violence, a haven for terror and a threat to America and to the world.

By helping secure a free Iraq, Americans serving in that country are protecting their fellow citizens. Our nation is grateful to them all and to their families that face hardship and long separation.

This weekend, at a Fort Hood hospital, I presented a Purple Heart to some of our wounded, had the honour of thanking them on behalf of all Americans.

Other men and women have paid an even greater cost. Our nation honours the memory of those who have been killed, and we pray that their families will find God's comfort in the midst of their grief.

As I have said to those who have lost loved ones, we will finish the work of the fallen.

America's armed forces are performing brilliantly, with all the skill and honour we expect of them. We're constantly reviewing their needs. Troop strength now and in the future is determined by the situation on the ground. If additional forces are needed, I will send them. If additional resources are needed, we will provide them.

The people of our country are united behind our men and women in uniform, and this government will do all that is necessary to assure the success of their historic mission.

One central commitment of that mission is the transfer of the sovereignty back to the Iraqi people. We have set a deadline of June 30th. It is important that we meet that deadline.

As a proud, independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation, and neither does America. We're not an imperial power, as nations such as Japan and Germany can attest. We're a liberating power, as nations in Europe and Asia can attest as well.

America's objective in Iraq is limited, and it is firm. We seek an independent, free and secure Iraq.

Were the coalition to step back from the June 30th pledge, many Iraqis would question our intentions and feel their hopes betrayed. And those in Iraq who trade in hatred and conspiracy theories would find a larger audience and gain a stronger hand.

We will not step back from our pledge. On June 30th, Iraqi sovereignty will be placed in Iraqi hands.

Sovereignty involves more than a date and a ceremony. It requires Iraqis to assume responsibility for their own future.

Iraqi authorities are now confronting the security challenge of the last several weeks.

In Fallujah, coalition forces have suspended offensive operations, allowing members of the Iraqi Governing Council and local leaders to work on the restoration of central authority in that city. These leaders are communicating with the insurgents to ensure an orderly turnover of that city to Iraqi forces, so that the resumption of military action does not become necessary.

They are also insisting that those who killed and mutilated four American contract workers be handed over for trial and punishment.

In addition, members of the Governing Council are seeking to resolve the situation in the south. Al-Sadr must answer the charges against him and disband his illegal militia.

Our coalition is standing with responsible Iraqi leaders as they establish growing authority in their country. The transition to sovereignty requires that we demonstrate confidence in Iraqis. And we have that confidence. Many Iraqi leaders are showing great personal courage, and their example will bring out the same quality in others.

The transition to sovereignty also requires an atmosphere of security, and our coalition is working to provide that security.

We will continue taking the greatest care to prevent harm to innocent civilians, yet we will not permit the spread of chaos and violence. I have directed our military commanders to make every preparation to use decisive force if necessary to maintain order and to protect our troops.

The nation of Iraq is moving toward self-rule, and Iraqis and Americans will see evidence in the months to come. On June 30th, when the flag of a free Iraq is raised, Iraqi officials will assume full responsibility for the ministries of government.

On that day, the transitional administrative law, including a bill of rights that is unprecedented in the Arab world, will take full effect.

The United States and all the nations of our coalition will establish normal diplomatic relations with the Iraqi government. An American embassy will open, and an American ambassador will be posted.

According to the schedule already approved by the Governing Council, Iraq will hold elections for a national assembly no later than next January. That assembly will draft a new permanent constitution, which will be presented to the Iraqi people in a national referendum held in October of next year.

Iraqis will then elect a permanent government by December 15, 2005 - an event that will mark the completion of Iraq's transition from dictatorship to freedom.

Other nations and international institutions are stepping up to their responsibilities in building a free and secure Iraq. We're working closely with the United Nations envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, and with Iraqis to determine the exact form of the government that will receive sovereignty on June 30th.

The United Nations Election Assistance Team, headed by Karina Perelli, is in Iraq developing plans for next January's election. NATO is providing support for the Polish-led, multinational division in Iraq. And 17 of NATO's 26 members are contributing forces to maintain security.

Secretary of State Powell and Secretary of State Rumsfeld and a number of NATO defence and foreign ministers are exploring a more formal role for NATO, such as turning the Polish-led division into a NATO operation and giving NATO specific responsibilities for border control.

Iraqis' neighbours also have responsibilities to make their region more stable. So I'm sending Deputy Secretary of State Armitage to the Middle East to discuss with these nations our common interest in a free and independent Iraq, and how they can help achieve this goal.

As we've made clear all along, our commitment to the success and security of Iraq will not end on June 30th. On July 1st and beyond, our reconstruction assistance will continue and our military commitment will continue.

Having helped Iraqis establish a new government, coalition military forces will help Iraqis to protect their government from external aggression and internal subversion.

The success of free government in Iraq is vital for many reasons:

A free Iraq is vital because 25 million Iraqis have as much right to live in freedom as we do.

A free Iraq will stand as an example to reformers across the Middle East.

A free Iraq will show that America is on the side of Muslims who wish to live in peace, as we've already shown in Kuwait and Kosovo, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

A free Iraq will confirm to a watching world that America's word, once given, can be relied upon, even in the toughest times.

Above all, the defeat of violence and terror in Iraq is vital to the defeat of violence and terror elsewhere and vital, therefore, to the safety of the American people.

Now is the time, and Iraq is the place, in which the enemies of the civilized world are testing the will of the civilized world. We must not waver.

The violence we are seeing in Iraq is familiar. The terrorists who take hostages or plants a roadside bomb near Baghdad is serving the same ideology of murder that kills innocent people on trains in Madrid, and murders children on buses in Jerusalem, and blows up a nightclub in Bali and cuts the throat of a young reporter for being a Jew.

We've seen the same ideology of murder in the killing of 241 marines in Beirut, the first attack on the World Trade Center, in the destruction of two embassies in Africa, in the attack on the USS Cole, and in the merciless horror inflicted upon thousands of innocent men and women and children on September the 11th, 2001.

None of these acts is the work of a religion. All are the work of a fanatical political ideology. The servants of this ideology seek tyranny in the Middle East and beyond. They seek to oppress and persecute women.

They seek the death of Jews and Christians and every Muslim who desires peace over theocratic terror. They seek to intimidate America into panic and retreat, and to set free nations against each other. And they seek weapons of mass destruction, to blackmail and murder on a massive scale.

Over the last several decades, we've seen that any concession or retreat on our part will only embolden this enemy and invite more bloodshed. And the enemy has seen, over the last 31 months, that we will no longer live in denial or seek to appease them.

For the first time, the civilized world has provided a concerted response to the ideology of terror - a series of powerful, effective blows.

The terrorists have lost the shelter of the Taliban and the training camps in Afghanistan. They have lost safe havens in Pakistan. They lost an ally in Baghdad. And Libya has turned its back on terror.

They've lost many leaders in an unrelenting international manhunt. And perhaps more frightening to these men and their movement, the terrorists are seeing the advance of freedom and reform in the greater Middle East.

A desperate enemy is also a dangerous enemy. And our work may become more difficult before it is finished. No one can predict all the hazards that lie ahead or the cost that they will bring.

Yet, in this conflict, there is no safe alternative to resolute action. The consequences of failure in Iraq would be unthinkable.

Every friend of America in Iraq would be betrayed to prison and murder, as a new tyranny arose. Every enemy of America in the world would celebrate, proclaiming our weakness and decadence, and using that victory to recruit a new generation of killers.

We will succeed in Iraq. We're carrying out a decision that has already been made and will not change. Iraq will be a free, independent country, and America and the Middle East will be safer because of it.

Our coalition has the means and the will to prevail. We serve the cause of liberty, and that is always and everywhere a cause worth serving.

[deport]

IT MAY HELP IF YOU WOULD GO TO THEIR SITE AND LOOK AT THEIR SCHEDULE.......

BUT IF YOU WON't THEN TRY THIS

01:04 am
1:01	Speech Presidential News Conference White House, East Room George W. Bush , United States
Programming & air times are subject to change. * Please note all times are Eastern

[dawn53]

IMHO, a terror attack will definitely get GWB elected and that is the main reason I believe the terrorists will not attack the US near the election.

They know we don't respond to terror like the Europeans. We aren't intimidated, it makes us mad!!!!

[LizardQueen]

I guess content doesn't matter to them, it's ALL ABOUT DELIVERY....

Like it or not, delivery DOES count when Bush is speaking to the entire country and not just to his fan club. Too bad you don't understand that. A confused and stumbling man with a good message will not make the same kind of impact that a crisp and concise man with a good message will.

LQ

[BigSkyFreeper]

I would have to agree with their decision. It's only April, and if they keep shelling out the ads one after another every week, they'll be short on cash come 2 weeks before Election night. Kerry's sinking in the polls, thanks to the barrage of ads. The truth is getting out there. It didn't cost him a thing to grab an hour of primetime television to lay out his message, thereby, shoving Kerry off the media stage. For 16 months it's been nothing but Democrats this and Democrats that on TV. Bush is stratergizing wisely, cutting down Kerry at every chance.

Kerry's biggest worry is Clinton sucking the oxygen out of the room come Convention time when his memoirs gets released.

Kerry can't stand on his own two feet, and Clinton isn't the kind of guy that would go out there and help Kerry keep Clinton's spotlight off of Clinton.

[Two-Bits]

Please call the White House and let him know what you thought of his speech.

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461


E-Mail
President George W. Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Richard Cheney: vice.president@whitehouse.gov

[quantim]

As I send more money to the President's Gala RNC fund...
Go for it buckaroo, feel good for being insulting?

Of your 30+ posts on this thread half had negative connotations criticizing the President and are not becoming on this forum, to me at least.  Your glass is apparently half empty, not half full, and is tiresome at best.

[nopardons]

I have lots of friends here,who don't mind in the least that I made one wee comment about being home and on FR now. That had NOTHING whatsoever to do with my life story.And yes, it was an appropriate remark;one made in passing, whilst thanking someone for pinging me to this live thread.

Terminal illness ( not to mention crying in one's beer and blaming the government for life's horrors )is NOT appropriate for a live thread.Perhaps you need to finally learn just exactly what FR is all about and how it works,pet.;^)

[Carolinamom]

Your story of the Marples is one of stamina and true grit. My son's company last fall went belly up, but his boss asked him to stay on w/him in starting up another software company. That company is taking off w/new business, and my son is now its VP. Another true gritter IMO.

[teeman8r]

i agree.

i believe he did a fine job, the press continued asking the same questions trying to get him to admit errors...

he was right to say he would have done everything the same way, even with the information on iraq...

he wasn't polished or suave but that is gwbush... his hair needs cutting and it is getting very gray...

teeman

[Petronski]

I have about a dozen of those soft, nerf footballs that I pitch at the TV. LOL.

Plastic golf balls work well. Chasing them after their bounce burns off some frustration.

[bitt]

I missed this - are these the words of the sister who was interviewed on LK??????????

If so, I am delighted with her!!!

[Proud Legions]

Hmmm,

I notice how he does stumble a bit on some phrases and in answering some questions. I suppose on pure form a speech teacher would give him average marks. I imagine that same speech teacher would give Clinton straight "A's" for delivery.

BUT, it was obvious as well that he was speaking from the heart and from convictions, that he believes in how he is leading this country, and that he has no intention of backing down on the War on Terror, nor is he about to give into the spineless Democrats and leftist media who would like him to say everything is his fault, including Bin Laden sending airplanes into buildings on 9/11.

The FOX crowd said it best...they should let him do more of these because he stays on message when he does, even if his delivery is never perfect...the message comes through loud and clear.

Savage is interesting but a bit out there at times. Need to take much of what he says with a grain of salt, even if he is on "our side."

[Jorge]

However, I am confident that I'm not the only one that saw President Bush as a little unfocused, distracted, unprepared, and drifting on several occasions. It seemed kinda obvious to me. Of course, I'm just giving my honest opinion.

Your opinion is right on the mark. It was obvious.
He did have some powerful moments though where he really came across good...and I think his message, which was one of conviction and committment was very clear.
But the moments of "drifting" were really bad and unbecoming for someone who is trying to reassure the nation that we are on the right track.

[TexKat]

Upon David Gregory's birth his momma grabbed a wad of toilet paper and wiped her ass

Oooooooooooh, how ugly.

[txdoda]

I caught that too. Comments such as these are at least, disturbing.

"Disturbing".....describes it mildly......;o)

500K per year sneaking in, thru just 75 miles of our southern border, should outrage every US citizen/taxpayer.

Wonder when DC will find the money to protect US citizens in the US ?? While we fight this long "War on Terror".

[MEG33]

One of his reasons for giving this press conference is to let Iraqis and the world know that we are not leaving,that these deaths are not in vain,and that we will give the military what it asks for in Iraq.

He reiterated that the 6/30 deadline was firm and we would be there to protect the Iraqis.

[Havoc]

For "MY" employment problems? I didn't have a *problem* till his policy made it ok for 50 cent a day labor in China and 1/3 my wage rate in Mexico to compete with me and be called "fair". Know what a leveraged desk that earns top marks consistantly and never fails or falls down on the job is? We all got a break when Delphi split their support desk from GM's. I've had two good raises in 4 years to get to 30k after entering the position at the bottom of entry level rate and didn't pursue either of them - they were given to me from recognition of my work.

Delphi was so happy with our work they wouldn't consider getting rid of us because of how important we were to their operations until they found that they could get people to do it in another country for a third of my rate and no benefits and no constitutional protections. Ya'll shout supply and demand in defense of profits; but, when it comes to working in this country, you can't live with supply and demand in our market and want to run and get a new set of rules. One standard for ya'll and another for us.

Do I blame this president - sure do - it's his policy that did it. The bottom feeders that are running off to profit from the new slave labor are just reacting to what his policy allows. He's responsible. He can wear it. I'm putting the responsibility for it squarely and directly where it belongs. It makes all the sense in the world, unless you're trying to make excuses and duck. I have a lot of personal respect for the man. I've been one of his biggest cheerleaders and don't regret it for when it was done. This is beyond the pale. And to be consistent, instead of a hypocrit, blame goes where blame is due.

[Havoc]

Can you read?

[Fitzcarraldo]

he was right to say he would have done everything the same way, even with the information on iraq...

the 'mistake question' is a damned if you did damned if you didn't proposition...'Yes - it was a mistake I didn't develop my mental telepathy skills while in high school'...

Bush put on the table what he did (Afghanistan, Iraq) and said he'd do it again - there was no mistake, once I had the information.