The Prez was talking to reporters on the plane yesterday. The Press Secretary hates it when he does that. "I just can't respect anybody that would really let his people starve and shrink in size as a result of malnutrition," Bush said.
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washingtonpost.com
Bush: Pressure Is Building on N. Korea
After Indonesia Stopover, President Engages Reporters En Route to Australia
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 23, 2003; Page A22
CANBERRA, Australia, Oct. 23 -- President Bush said Wednesday that regional pressure was building on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and expressed hope that Iran would fulfill a pledge to stop enriching uranium and allow inspectors unrestricted access to its nuclear facilities.
His comments came in an unusual conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One. Bush said his decision to enlist China, Japan, Russia and South Korea for talks with North Korea had created "a different dynamic" and that "the neighborhood is now speaking." He called those countries "our partners in this effort" to restrain North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong Il.
The subject of North Korea has hung over Bush's six-nation Asian tour. His offer of some undefined security guarantees to North Korea in exchange for its abandonment of its nuclear ambitions was abruptly dismissed by Kim.
"Kim Jong Il is used to being able to deal bilaterally with the United States, but the change of policy now is, is that he must deal with other nations, most notably China," Bush said. "Now he's got his big neighbor to the right on his border, he's got a neighbor to the south, he's got Japan, he's got another neighbor, Russia, all saying the same thing."
Bush also repeated his sharp criticism of the North Korean leader. "I just can't respect anybody that would really let his people starve and shrink in size as a result of malnutrition," Bush said.
Bush said that he believed the four other partners in the nuclear talks would back an agreement with Kim like the one the administration is drafting. "He's been saying, 'I want a security guarantee,' " Bush said. "What we have now said is that in return for dismantling the programs, we're all willing to sign some kind of document -- not a treaty, but a piece of paper -- that says we won't attack you."
The president said he was also optimistic about Iran's agreement this week with three European foreign ministers to suspend uranium enrichment and open the doors to unrestricted inspections. "The Iranians, it looks like they're accepting the demands of the free world, and now it's up to them to prove that they've accepted the demands. It's a very positive development," he said.
Bush said the administration was hopeful it could reach a deal with Iran on the handful of key al Qaeda leaders who the administration believes are there. Bush said abandoning nuclear weapons and giving up the al Qaeda leaders "will help relations with Iran." His national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said last month that it was unclear whether these leaders were being detained, but she said the administration would continue to insist that Iran must "transfer these people out."
Bush spoke to reporters as he flew to Australia, the last stop of his seven-day trip. On Thursday morning, he addressed a raucous session of the Australian Parliament. On Wednesday, he visited Indonesia, making a three-hour, heavily guarded stop on the resort island of Bali. There, he met President Megawati Sukarnoputri and sought to reassure moderate Muslim leaders that the war against terrorism was not a war against their religion.
"We know that Islam is fully compatible with liberty and tolerance and progress, because we see the proof in your country and in our own," he said with Megawati at his side after a walk on the beachfront. "Terrorists who claim Islam as their inspiration defile one of the world's great faiths. Murder has no place in any religious tradition, must find no home in Indonesia."
However, Muslim leaders in a round-table discussion Bush held with Indonesian clerics told him that the United States would be a better model of democracy if it used peaceful means to resolve conflicts.
Azyumardi Azra, president of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, said the meeting was supposed to last 30 minutes but went for 55. Bush did a lot of listening and took a pad out of his pocket and took his own notes, Azra said. "We criticized him on many fronts, on his foreign policies," Azra said. "At least he was willing to listen, and we hope he would reflect on this and, hopefully, it would bring some changes in his policies."
Bush also announced that the administration would give $157 million over six years to Indonesia to improve general education in both religious and secular state schools.
Bush told reporters later that he had been asked about the recent controversy around remarks made by Army Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin. An evangelical Christian who heads a Pentagon office focused on hunting Osama bin Laden and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Boykin described the United States as "a Christian nation" and credited "our God" with the capture of a Somali warlord. In remarks that offended Muslims, he said the war on terrorism was being fought against a "spiritual enemy" represented by Satan.
"Boykin came up," Bush said. "I said he didn't reflect my opinion. Look, it just doesn't reflect what the government thinks. And I think they were pleased to hear that."
In his 34-minute session with reporters, Bush appeared relaxed and confident, wearing a blue flight jacket with his name stitched on a breast pocket, chomping noisily on butterscotch candy and pretending to play a shell game with the array of tape recorders before him. He repeatedly refused the pleas of his senior aides to cut off the interview, then lingered to speak off the record to the reporters.
In the interview, Bush suggested that he was adopting a more cautious approach on some issues.
"I've been saying all along that not every policy issue needs to be dealt with by force," he said. "You've got to have some patience in foreign policy." Even before the run-up to the Iraq war, Bush's ties with Europe had been frayed by his tendency to act in what he considered the United States' interests, without always consulting affected countries. Bush told the reporters around a large wooden conference table that "by working hard to establish good relations on a lot of fronts, when a common problem arises, we can affect the solution in a positive way."
In his meeting with the religious leaders, Bush said, the issue of the Middle East conflict came up. "They said the United States is tilted toward Israel, and I said our policy is tilted toward peace . . . and then I went through the notion of a Palestinian state, and the need for us to fight off terror in order for a state to develop," he said.
Bush was reminded by a reporter of his earlier optimism about the Middle East in a summit attended by Mahmoud Abbas, who subsequently resigned as the Palestinian prime minister. Bush said he was "disappointed" that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "shoved" Abbas "out of the way," which he called "an unfortunate decision, because it stopped good progress toward a Palestinian state."
Referring to the stalled U.S.-backed peace initiative, Bush said, "The road map is still there."
Bush said he was "the first president to have articulated" the policy favoring creation of a Palestinian state. However, in January 2001, President Bill Clinton had also called for a "viable Palestinian state."
In his speech to the Australian Parliament on Thursday morning, Bush delivered a new warning about the possible spread of nuclear weapons to terrorists. Bush, who has been accused of overstating Iraq's arsenal of unconventional weapons in making his case for war, spoke of extremists who "hide and strike within free societies."
"The terrorists hope to gain chemical, biological or nuclear weapons -- the means to match their hatred. So we're confronting outlaw regimes that aid terrorists, that pursue weapons of mass destruction, and that defy the demands of the world," Bush said.
After Britain, Australia was the biggest source of military personnel for the U.S.-led forces that attacked Afghanistan and Iraq. Prime Minister John Howard endured harsh criticism for backing Bush. The U.S. president hailed Howard as "a man of steel," which Bush said was "Texan for 'fair dinkum,' " an Australian expression for a genuine person.
Police estimated that 5,000 demonstrators, including students and trade unionists, massed outside the Parliament House during Bush's speech. Two Green Party senators interrupted Bush's address with shouts, and were ordered to leave the chamber but refused. Bush drew applause when he ad-libbed, "I love free speech."
Reaching out to his many critics in the Parliament, Bush said the United States is "committed to multilateral institutions, because global threats require a global response."
"We're committed to collective security," he added. Bush then went on to outline a defense of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Collective security requires more than solemn discussions and sternly worded pronouncements," he said. "It requires collective will."
Bush implored the lawmakers not to slacken their commitment to the U.S.-led war on terrorism. "Every milestone of liberty was considered impossible before it was achieved," he said.
Bush was scheduled to leave Australia later Thursday for a one-day visit to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He is scheduled to return to the White House on Friday morning.
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