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Home , Karen Hughes, Laura Bush

674 Apr. 22 / Administration of George W. , 2002

at the . Major, please read the Thank you. citation. NOTE: The President spoke at 5:30 p.m. at DAR [Major McAllister read the citation, and the Constitution Hall. The transcript released by the President presented the medal.] Office of the Press Secretary also included the The President. Judith Jamison: She’s a remarks of the . master dancer, , choreographer, and arts administrator who has been a creative Remarks Following Discussions With force in the dance world for nearly four dec- King Mohamed VI of Morocco and ades. Major, please read the citation. an Exchange With Reporters [Major McAllister read the citation, and the April 23, 2002 President presented the medal.] The President. Yo-Yo Ma: World-re- President Bush. It’s my honor to welcome nowned cellist who represents the very best His Majesty the King of Morocco to the Oval in classical music. I tipped my hand a little Office. We’ve had a really good discussion earlier, but later on this great American fig- about a number of matters. No question that ure will be performing with another world- Morocco is a great friend of the renowned figure. [Laughter] Major, please of America, and for that, Your Majesty, we read the citation. are very grateful. I appreciate your steadfast support when it comes to the . [Major McAllister read the citation, and the I appreciate your leadership in the region. President presented the medal.] Today I’ve informed His Majesty that our The President. Mike Nichols: The end- Government will work to enact a free trade lessly inventive comedian, producer, and di- agreement with Morocco. It’s in our Nation’s rector of stage and screen. Major, please read interest that we do so. His Majesty believes the citation. it’s in his nation’s interest that we have a free trade agreement as well. [Major McAllister read the citation, and the To this end, it’s very important that the President presented the medal.] act on free trade, to The President. The Alvin Ailey Dance give me the trade promotion authority, as Foundation, begun by master dancer and well as to work on an extension of the Andean choreographer Alvin Ailey in 1958, today Trade Preference Act. Trade is an important ranks as one of America’s most prestigious part of good foreign policy; it’s an important dance companies. Major, please read the ci- part of making sure Americans can find jobs. tation. And the Senate needs to act, and it needs to act now. [Major McAllister read the citation, and the We will continue our discussions over President presented the medal.] lunch. I look forward to those discussions. The President. Yes. Alvin Ailey. Con- His Majesty brings a lot of knowledge, a lot gratulations. of vision, and it’s my honor to welcome him And now it is my great pleasure to intro- here to the . duce my wife—[laughter]—the First Lady of Your Majesty. the United States, . King Mohamed. Thank you. Well, as I [The First Lady congratulated the honorees told you, I will ask that—[inaudible]—to and introduced Yo-Yo Ma and Condoleezza translate me. It will be easier for me and Rice, who performed a duet on cello and safer for you. [Laughter] piano.] [At this point, King Mohamed spoke in The President. Well, thank you all for French, and his remarks were translated by coming tonight. It’s been a fantastic evening. an interpreter. The translation follows.] Again, I want to congratulate our honorees. His Majesty wishes to thank you, Mr. And may God bless them, and may God con- President, for the words you have just ex- tinue to bless America. pressed about Morocco and words which

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honor His Majesty personally, the royal fam- peace conference. And since he’s been home, ily, as well as the entire Moroccan people. the White House reaction seems to be a little We are honored for—with the relations we lukewarm. Is that something you think is a have enjoyed so far with the United States. viable idea, a foreign ministers conference, But I think it’s time that we have to shift perhaps? the gear to go on higher speed. And we have President Bush. Well, what’s first impor- also—we are determined to carry out all tant to know, that our Government means kinds of programs dealing with our coopera- what we say, and we said that the only way tion, our collaboration, all fields. for there to be lasting peace is for there to With respect to , Mr. President, be two states living side by side, at peace we are also determined to go ahead with you with each other; and secondly, that in order in fighting terrorism. And this is something to achieve that vision, all parties have respon- of concern to Morocco as much as it’s of con- sibilities. The Arab world has responsibilities, cern to the United States and all the demo- and we will work with them to delineate cratic people in the world. those responsibilities and to encourage them With respect to the free trade zone which to accept those responsibilities. Mr. Arafat you have just announced, Mr. President, I has got responsibilities, and that is not only would like to thank you and to tell you how to renounce terrorism but to fight terror. Mr. much we appreciate this initiative coming Sharon has got responsibilities, and that is from yourself, Mr. President, and from the to continue his withdrawal. United States. We will work closely with your There is a strategy in place. We’re ana- collaborators, in particular, Mr. Zoellick, who lyzing all options to help achieve this vision. I have met twice and who will be visiting And I look forward to visiting with His Maj- Morocco together with his colleagues. We esty about ideas such as a conference. The will work very closely with them in order to key is, however, for the leaders of the world bring about the concretization of this great to work toward that vision by assuming, ac- program of cooperation and friendship be- cepting, and acting on the responsibilities tween the United States and Morocco. necessary to achieve peace. His Majesty wishes, Mr. President, to Holland [Steve Holland, Reuters], are you praise the efforts you personally make, and here? your administration, to promote peace and Q. [Inaudible] understanding in the world. He wishes also President Bush. Who? Oh, there he is. to thank and to praise Mr. Secretary of State There you are, sorry. Colin Powell for what he has done so far and especially the effort he just deployed lately and the visit in the region of which we are Resignation of beginning to see the results. Q. Mr. President, are you concerned that And His Majesty wishes that the Secretary the long hours and the pressure of working of State would have recovered by now from in this building will drive away more people, the trauma he has had when he first met with like Karen Hughes? And would you be here His Majesty in Agadir. [Laughter] without her? And I would like to thank also Mrs. President Bush. Well, first of all, Your Tutwiler for the excellent work she has been Majesty, one of my close friends and adviser doing since she arrived to Morocco. has informed the White House today that she is moving back to . And the reason why Situation in the is, is because her husband and son will be President Bush. Thank you, Your Maj- happier in Texas, and she had put her family esty. We’ll answer a couple of questions, or ahead of her service to my Government. And I will. Barry [Barry Schweid, Associated I am extremely grateful for that approach and Press]. that priority. And Karen Hughes will be Q. Mr. President, on that trip, the Sec- changing her address, but she will still be retary came home with an Israeli idea, but in my inner circle. I value her judgment, and others said similar things, for an international I will have her judgment. I value her advice;

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I have her advice. And I value her friendship, fellow Americans perform at the highest level and I will have her friendship. and achieve unprecedented success. We watched a lot of our stars, a lot of our NOTE: The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. in the fellow citizens. Sarah Hughes—I was pleased Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, to see her go from shock to joy as she learned President Bush referred to Chairman Yasser she had won her first gold medal at the age Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel. King Mohamed of 16 years old. We cheered for Jim Shea, referred to Robert B. Zoellick, U.S. Trade Rep- who just weeks after his grandfather’s death resentative; and Margaret Tutwiler, U.S. Ambas- followed in his victorious footsteps by win- sador to Morocco. ning a gold medal. We shared in the pride of Vonetta Flowers, whose gold medal in bobsledding made her the first African- Remarks Honoring the American to win a gold medal in an Olympic United States Winter Olympic winter games. A lot of us had Ohno fever. and Paralympic Teams [Laughter] April 23, 2002 And then America’s Paralympics overcame great odds to excel in their sports. Sarah Will Thank you all. Please be seated. Welcome took home four gold medals in skiing, despite to the south grounds of the White House. the fact that she’s paralyzed from the waist It’s an honor to have you all here. Before down. Sarah Billmeier lost her left leg at 5 I get started, I was wondering if anybody had years old and this year skied away with a gold their cell phone so I could speak to their and two silvers. And Manuel Guerra con- mother. [Laughter] tacted polio as an infant. This disease left It is a great honor to host our Nation’s him disabled in his left leg, but he pursued Olympic and Paralympic athletes here at the his love of hockey, and this year he and his White House. I’ve really been looking for- teammates won the gold in sledge hockey. ward to this day. In February you showed All of your victories required hard work the entire world the best of the American and skill and the determination to meet your spirit. You competed with honor; you won goals. They also required great support. The with humility; and you made America proud. honors you won are a tribute to devoted On behalf of all Americans, congratulate— coaches and trainers, to loving parents who I congratulate you and thank you for inspir- sacrificed to help you realize your dreams, ing our country. to friends and supporters, and to more than It’s good to welcome back 30,000 volunteers who helped make the Salt to the White House. Mitt, you did a fabulous Lake games possible. job. I appreciate Lloyd Ward, the CEO of We’ve always supported our athletes here the U.S. Olympic Committee, for being here. in America. But this year we looked at them Thank you, Lloyd. And Sandy Baldwin, the with even greater pride and even more hope. president of the U.S. Olympic Committee— You served as symbols of unity and strength it’s good to see both of you again. I want and determination and of a peaceful com- to thank Mel Martinez, who is a member of petition and cooperation with people from my Cabinet, for coming today. Mel, thank all around the world. It was an important you for being here. time for America, and you didn’t let us down. And I’m glad to see Congressman Jim Our 2002 Olympians and Paralympians Ryun, who knows a little something about showed tremendous character. These teams Olympics, a silver medalist who participated were uniquely American. After all, we had in the ’64, ’68, and ’72 Olympics. Thank you firefighters on our team; we had members for coming. I appreciate Tristan and Manuel of the Armed Services; we’ve got community being up here with me. volunteers. And your commitment to your Americans will remember the 2002 games communities will serve you well as cham- because we had the honor of hosting them, pions. You see, you’re now more than ath- because the level of competition was so high, letes; you’re role models—role models to and because we had the thrill of seeing our children who dream of winning a gold medal

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