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The President's News Conference June 1, 2004

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The President's News Conference June 1, 2004 Administration of George W. Bush, 2004 / June 1 May God bless you and your works, and founder, Prison Fellowship Ministries. The may God continue to bless the United related Executive order of June 1 on respon- States of America. Thank you all. sibilities of the Departments of Commerce and Veterans Affairs and the Small Business NOTE: The President spoke at 10:22 a.m. at Administration with respect to faith-based the Washington Hilton and Towers. In his and community initiatives is listed in Appen- remarks, he referred to Charles W. Colson, dix D at the end of this volume. The President’s News Conference June 1, 2004 Iraqi Interim Government regional officials, six are women, and the The President. Good morning. Today in vast majority of government ministries will Baghdad, U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar have new ministers. The foremost tasks of Brahimi and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad this new interim government will be to pre- Allawi announced the members of Iraq’s pare Iraq for a national election no later new interim government. Consulting with than January of next year and to work with hundreds of Iraqis from a variety of back- our coalition to provide the security that grounds, Mr. Brahimi has recommended a will make that election possible. That elec- team that possesses the talent, commit- tion will choose a transitional national as- ment, and resolve to guide Iraq through sembly, the first freely elected, truly rep- the challenges that lie ahead. resentative national governing body in On June 30th, this interim government Iraq’s history. will assume full sovereignty and will over- Earlier today I spoke to Secretary-Gen- see all ministries and all functions of the eral Kofi Annan. I congratulated him on Iraqi state. Those ministries will report to the U.N.’s role in forming this new govern- Prime Minister Allawi, who will be respon- ment. We also discussed the preparation sible for the day-to-day operations of Iraq’s for national elections and our common interim government. Dr. Allawi is a strong work on a new Security Council resolution leader. He endured exile for decades and that will express international support for survived assassination attempts by Saddam’s Iraq’s interim government, reaffirm the regime. He was trained as a physician, has world’s security commitment to the Iraqi worked as a businessman, and has always people and encourage other U.N. members been an Iraqi patriot. to join in the effort of building a free Iraq. Prime Minister Allawi and Mr. Brahimi Last week, I outlined the five steps to announced Iraq’s interim President, Ghazi helping Iraq achieve democracy and free- al-Yawr, an engineer from northern Iraq. dom. We will hand over authority to a sov- They also announced two Deputy Presi- ereign Iraqi government, help establish se- dents, Dr. Ibrahim Jafari, who is a physi- curity, continue rebuilding Iraq’s infrastruc- cian born in Karbala, and Dr. Rowsch ture, encourage more international support, Shaways, a prominent political and military and move toward a national election that leader who also has been a longtime oppo- will bring forward new leaders empowered nent of Saddam’s tyranny. by the Iraqi people. The naming of the The new 33-member cabinet announced new interim government brings us one step today reflects new leadership, drawn from closer to realizing the dream of millions a broad cross section of Iraqis. Five are of Iraqis, a fully sovereign nation with a 955 ug 31 2005 11:38 Dec 19 2006 Jkt 201942 PO 00000 Frm 00955 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 E:\HR\OC\201942A 023 201942A June 1 / Administration of George W. Bush, 2004 representative government that protects people inside Iraq. That’s what they want their rights and serves their needs. to do, and they’re not going to shake our Many challenges remain. Today’s vio- will. lence underscores that freedom in Iraq is In terms of whether or not there would opposed by violent men who seek the fail- be a major—you said major commitment ure not only of this interim government of new troops? Is that the adjective you but of all progress toward liberty. We will used, ‘‘major’’? stand with the Iraqi people in defeating Q. Yes, sir. the enemies of freedom and those who op- The President. I don’t know if there will pose democracy in Iraq. The killers know be a major commitment of new troops, but that Iraq is the central front in the war I think there will be a major focus on help- on terror. The return of tyranny to Iraq ing Iraq to become a free country. And would embolden the terrorists, leading to the next step in this process is to get a more bombings, more beheadings, and United Nations Security Council resolution. more murders of the innocent around the And to this end, I have been speaking with world. a variety of world leaders to encourage The rise of a free and self-governing Iraq them to—by telling them we’re willing to will deny terrorists a base of operation, dis- work with them to achieve language we credit their narrow ideology, and give mo- can live with but, more importantly, lan- mentum to reformers across the region. A guage that the Iraqi government can live free Iraq will be a decisive blow to ter- with. rorism at the heart of its power and a vic- And Kofi and I talked today, and he tory for the civilized world and for the se- wants to hear from the new Iraqi govern- curity of America. The will of Iraqis and ment, and I don’t blame him. And we our coalition is firm. We will not be de- heard from the new Iraqi government, by terred by violence and terror. We will stand the way, today, and the new Prime Minister together and ensure that the future of Iraq who stood up and thanked the American is a future of freedom. people, for which I was grateful. He was I’ll take some questions. Hunt [Terence speaking to the mothers and dads and wives Hunt, Associated Press]. and husbands of our brave troops who have helped them become a free country, and Terrorism in Iraq/International Support for I appreciated his strong statement. Iraqi Transition Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters]. Q. Mr. President, you just spoke about more international support. With the new Iraqi Governing Council’s Role in Selection government and the expected Security Process Council resolution, do you expect—what do Q. Sir, were you surprised at the way you expect in the way of other countries the Governing Council took command of to come forward with major pledges of the selection process? And are you con- troops for Iraq? And do you think there’s cerned that the new President has had going to be more violence as the turnover some criticisms of the United States? occurs? The President. No, I don’t—from my The President. I think, on the second perspective, Mr. Brahimi made the deci- half of that question, yes, I believe there sions and brought their names to the Gov- will be more violence, because there are erning Council. As I understand it, the still violent people who want to stop Governing Council simply opined about progress. Listen, their strategy is—hasn’t names. It was Mr. Brahimi’s selections, and changed. They want to kill innocent lives Ambassador Bremer and Ambassador to shake our will and to discourage the Blackwill were instructed by me to work 956 1 2005 11:38 Dec 19 2006 Jkt 201942 PO 00000 Frm 00956 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 E:\HR\OC\201942A 023 201942A Administration of George W. Bush, 2004 / June 1 with Mr. Brahimi. As we say in American The President. Right. sports parlance, he was the quarterback. Q. Well, as you go to Europe now, in And it seemed like a good group to me. the next couple of days, what are you pre- I mean, they’re diverse; as I mentioned, pared to do to bridge that gap, to give a number of women are now involved in this new independent government the sort the government, which is a positive step of independence it’s really asking for while for the citizens of Iraq. retaining this essential role that you have Go ahead. to have in, you know, securing Iraq? The President. No, I think—listen, the Iraqi Interim Government American people need to be assured that Q. The new President has had some if our troops are in harm’s way, they will criticisms of the United States. Are be able to defend themselves without hav- you—— ing to check with anybody else, other than The President. The new President has their commander. At the same time, I can had some criticisms? assure the Iraqi citizens as well as our Q. ——concerned about that? friends in Europe that we have done these The President. Well, Mr. Brahimi put to- kind of security arrangements before. Wit- gether a government that’s going to be, first ness Afghanistan. There is a sovereign gov- and foremost, loyal to the Iraqi people. And ernment in Afghanistan. There are U.S. that’s important. It’s a government with troops and coalition troops there, and which I believe we can work. Mr. Allawi they’re working very well together. said some strong statements today about The Iraqis will have their own chain of security matters on the ground, about how command. And that’s going to be very im- he wants to work with the coalition forces portant.
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