Text 2630, 310 rader
Skriven 2006-05-16 23:34:24 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0605161) for Tue, 2006 May 16
====================================================
===========================================================================
President Bush and Prime Minister John Howard of Australia Participate in
Joint Press Availability
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 16, 2006

President Bush and Prime Minister John Howard of Australia Participate in
Joint Press Availability
East Room

President's Remarks view

˙˙˙˙˙ Official Visit of the Prime Minister of Australia ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus:
Global Diplomacy

11:43 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, all. It's my honor to welcome the Prime Minister
of Australia here to the East Room for a press briefing. I'm going to feed
him tonight -- before I feed him tonight, I'm going to feed him to you.
(Laughter.)

We just had a really interesting discussion about a lot of issues. First, I
admire John Howard's understanding that the war on terror still goes on and
that we've got to be steadfast and firm if we intend to succeed in
defeating the terrorists.

Secondly, I appreciate very much his understanding and discussions about
the way forward in Iraq. We spent quite a bit of time talking about the new
government. I described to him as best as I could my feelings about the
Prime Minister-designee, who I believe is a firm and decisive person that
is going to make a difference in that country's future.

I thanked him very much for the commitment of Australian troops. We of
course talked about the Iraqi security forces' capacity to defend
themselves. I reported to him that we're pleased with the progress being
made, but that the United States will make decisions about our troop levels
based upon conditions on the ground.

We talked about Afghanistan. Again, I want to thank the Prime Minister for
his support there for this fledgling democracy. We talked about North
Korea. We talked about Iran. We talked about a lot. And that's what you'd
expect when you're talking to an ally and a friend and a good strategic
thinker.

The Prime Minister is capable of not only seeing the problems for today;
he's capable of looking down the road. And I appreciate his advice and his
judgment on national security matters, as well as in talking about issues
like energy and trade. We've got a good relationship with Australia and we
intend to keep it that way.

I always remind my friends who talk to me about countries around the world,
I say, I can't think of a country more like -- a place more like Texas than
Australia. And that's a compliment. (Laughter.) Except for some of these
people over here. (Laughter.) The people of Australia are
independent-minded, they're smart, they're capable, their hardworking and I
really enjoy my relationship with the Prime Minister.

So Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. Thanks for coming and the floor is yours.

PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. Again, can
I thank you very warmly for the great hospitality that you have extended to
me. It was a real privilege to sit around the Cabinet table and talk to
your Cabinet officers, which followed a very extensive discussion between
the two of us about all of those issues of which you spoke.

We remain a steadfast ally of the United States in the war against terror.
I've made that clear on every occasion I've spoken here in the United
States. The war against terror will go on for a long time; I think we have
to accept that. Progress is being made. The challenge remains very, very
strong and there needs to be a continued commitment. And we admire and
respect the leadership given by you and by the United States in that war.
And it's a war that confronts us all. Those who imagine that somehow or
other you can escape it by rolling yourself into a little ball and going
over in the corner and hoping that you're not going to be noticed are
doomed to be very, very uncomfortably disappointed.

We did have an opportunity to talk extensively about some of the challenges
in our immediate region. And I spoke about the situation in East Timor and
the Solomon Islands, and the importance of the role of Indonesia. The
symbolism and also the practical consequence of Indonesia being the largest
Islamic country in the world, and, therefore, the success and prosperity of
moderate Islamic leadership in that country is itself a very important
factor in the long-term success of the fight against terrorism, because the
fight against terrorism is not only a military and physical one, it is also
an intellectual one. And it's a question of providing within the Islamic
world a successful democratic model as an alternative to the fanaticism of
those who would have seemly invoked the sanction of Islam to justify what
they seek to do.

Can I finally say that the many ties that bind Australia and the United
States, as I said on the lawn earlier today, and none are more important,
of course, than the shared values and the beliefs that both of our
countries have that the spread of democracy around the world is an
important goal and an important responsibility. It's been a privilege for
our two peoples to enjoy democracy in an uninterrupted fashion for so long,
that we tend to take it for granted. And we forget its liberating impact on
those who taste and experience it for the first time. And both of our
societies have a responsibility in expanding the opportunities for
democracy, and that, of course, lies very much at the heart of much of what
our two societies do.

Mr. President, thank you very, very much for the honor you've done me and
the courtesy and friendship that you've extended to me and all of the
traveling party. We appreciate it very, very deeply, indeed. Thank you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Two questions a side. Terry.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, you've said that the government
is not trolling through the lives of innocent Americans, but why shouldn't
ordinary people feel that their privacy is invaded by the NSA compiling a
list of their telephone calls?

PRESIDENT BUSH: What I have told the American people is, we'll protect them
against an al Qaeda attack, and we'll do so within the law. I've been very
clear about the principles and guidelines of any program that has been
designed to protect the American people.

I've also been clear about the fact that we do not listen to domestic phone
calls without court approval, and that this government will continue to
guard the privacy of the American people. But if al Qaeda is calling into
the United States, we want to know, and we want to know why.

For the Australian press friends here, we got accused of not connecting
dots prior to September the 11th, and we're going to connect dots to
protect the American people, within the law. The program he's asking about
is one that has been fully briefed to members of the United States
Congress, in both political parties. They are very aware of what is taking
place. The American people expect their government to protect them, within
the laws of this country, and I'm going to continue to do just that.

PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: Australian press. Mr. Curry.

Q Mr. President, your relationship with Mr. Howard is obviously very close,
personally. And I was wondering, first, could you just expand a little on
that chemistry? And, secondly, sir, do you think you would be able to work
effectively with a future Australian leader, be it either a successor of
Mr. Howard from his own party, or from their opposition?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I suspect he's going to outlast me, so that is a moot
point. (Laughter.) Probably a question you ought to ask him. Somebody said,
you and John Howard appear to be so close, don't you have any differences?
And I said, yes, he doesn't have any hair. (Laughter.)

Look, ours is a world in which sometimes people tell you something and they
don't mean it. In order to work together to make difficult decisions --
decisions of war and peace, decisions of security, decisions of trade --
you've got have somebody you talk to that tells you straight up what's on
their mind. You know, politics sometimes produces people that will tell you
one thing and don't mean it. It's really hard to be making rational
decisions if somebody you're talking to just doesn't level with you.

And that's what I like about John Howard. He may not be the prettiest
person on the block -- (laughter) -- but when he tells you something you
can take it to the bank. He is a reliable partner. And we don't agree on
100 percent, of course. But the interesting thing, talking to John Howard,
is that you can trust the man. And that's what is a necessary ingredient to
be working together for the common good.

And I also appreciate a person who is capable of standing by a decision. I
remember the campaign -- as a matter of fact, your campaign was right
before my campaign -- and John Howard stood strong. And I remember telling
somebody -- and the polls didn't look all that good, I guess, at one point
in time -- and I remember saying to somebody, this man is going to be
rewarded at the ballot box because the people of Australia want somebody
who is consistently strong, not somebody who tries to waffle around trying
to figure out where to end up for political expediency.

People may not agree with his position on every issue, but people have got
to agree with the fact that he's a man of conviction. And that's the
essence of leadership -- courage and conviction. And so we've got a
relationship that is based upon respect, and I respect him. I've seen him
in action. I've seen what it means to have him being pressured -- probably
by your newspaper. But I've seen him stand strong, and that's what's needed
in this world.

Holland, yes.

Q Thank you, sir. On immigration, some worry that the U.S. military is
stretched too thin. How effective can these National Guard troops be if
they're shuttling in and out of the border area every two or three weeks?
And how are you going to turn around these House members who seem to be
unswayed by your argument on the guest worker program?

PRESIDENT BUSH: The program to put Guard on the border is one that will
enable the Border Patrol to do its job better. It's very important for the
American people to know it's the Border Patrol that's going to be on the
front line of apprehending people trying to sneak into our country. And the
Guard will be doing a variety of functions, which I outlined last night.

Secondly, the Guard is -- the up to 6,000 Guard in the first year of
operation really is not going to put a strain on our capacity to fight and
win the war on terror, as well as deal with natural disasters. And, of
course, we'll be working in conjunction with governors to make sure that
that's not the case, that it doesn't put an unnecessary strain on other
functions of the Guard.

Thirdly, the Pentagon is briefing today how the program is going to work.
There are Guard troops in Arizona and New Mexico and Texas that can be used
by the governors down there to work with the Border Patrol, that they'll be
reimbursed for. And there's also training missions that can be used to help
complement the Border Patrol. We're going to have double the Border Patrol
agents since 2001 by 2008. And what the Guard is doing, the Guard is
providing an interim service until those Border Patrol agents get stood up.

I made it clear to the country last night that we're not going to
militarize our border. Mexico is a friend. But what we are going to do is
use assets necessary to make sure that we can assure the American people
that the border is secure.

Now in order to secure the border, it's important for people up here in
Washington to understand that there's got to be a temporary worker program.
Border security and a temporary worker program are really important because
-- let me say, a temporary worker program is really important to border
security because we don't want people trying to sneak into the country. It
seems rational to me to say if you're coming to work, come to work in a
legal way on a temporary basis so you're not trying to sneak across. So the
temporary worker program goes hand in hand with border security. In order
for there to be a -- in order for us to solve the problem of an immigration
system that's not working, it's really important for Congress to understand
that there needs a -- that the elements I described all go hand-in-hand.

And so I'll continue to work with them. Look, this is a hard issue for many
people.

Q Would you go along with border protection only and a guest worker program
--

PRESIDENT BUSH: I said I want a comprehensive bill because I understand
there needs to be a comprehensive bill in order to make -- in order for us
to achieve the objective.

And the objective is, on the one hand, protect our borders, and on the
other hand, never lose sight of the thing that makes America unique, which
is we're a land of immigrants, and that we -- we're not going to
discriminate against people, that we don't think there ought to be an
automatic path to citizenship. That's called amnesty. Amnesty would be
wrong. Amnesty wouldn't say that somebody that stood in line legally is --
is mistreated, as far as I'm concerned. Amnesty would mean that more people
would try to come and sneak into our country in the hopes that they would
be granted automatic citizenship.

But there ought to be a way for somebody to pay a fine or learn English or
prove that they've been here for a long time working and be able to get in
line -- not the head of the line, but the back of the line -- in order to
become a citizen.

You know, there are some in our country who say, let's just deport
everybody. It's unrealistic. It may sound attractive to some. You can't
deport people who have been in this country for a long period of time --
millions of people that have been here.

And so we've got to be rational about how we move forward. And part of my
appeal last night was to say to people, let's don't get so emotional that
we forget who we are. We're a land of immigrants, and when we welcome
somebody to our country who is here legally, willing to work and willing to
realize a dream, it helps restore our soul.

So this is a difficult debate for members. I'm going to continue working
with them. Part of my job is to lead, and I did last night. I said, here's
how we get to where we need to be.

Q Mr. President, American wheat growers are angry that hundreds of millions
of dollars in bribes were paid to Saddam's Iraq to protect Australia's
wheat market. Do you share their anger, and do you sympathize with the push
on Capitol Hill to investigate this further in America? And Mr. Prime
Minister, I'd be interested in your comments on a possible Capitol Hill
inquiry into this.

PRESIDENT BUSH: My own judgment is, is that the Howard administration is
pretty capable of investigating what took place, and I look forward to
seeing the results of the investigation.

PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: For my part, you are aware of what the Australian
government has done. Australia is the only country in the world that has
responded to the bulk of findings with a public inquiry with the powers of
a royal commission. And you are aware that the commission has probably
completed its public hearings, and we're likely to have a report by the
30th of June.

What the United States Congress does in relation to this is a matter for
the United States Congress. And, clearly, if it decides to do something,
then we will respond in the appropriate fashion. But for our part, in
Australia, we have been open, transparent that we do not approve in any
way, shape or form of the payment of bribes, and if a finding is to that
effect, then the full processes of Australian law should be brought to
bear. You can't be more transparent than that and I think that is
understood in the United States.

But, obviously, just as we have responsibilities within Australia, the
legislators of this country, where I'm a guest, have responsibilities in
this country. And if it discharges those in a particular fashion the way it
thinks it will, that's its right, and we will respond in what is also the
appropriate fashion. I don't think I can add anything more to that, and we
have been patently transparent and open. And let me just repeat again,
Australia is the only country in the world that has established a public
inquiry with the powers of the royal commission.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.

END 12:02 P.M. EDT

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060516-1.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)