White House Report, Feb. 7: Bush/Hemisphere Travel, Cheney to Mideast(Bush travel to Latin America, Bush/Sharon talks on the Mideast,
Cheney to travel to the Mideast) (1040)
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed at early morning and
midday sessions with reporters.
BUSH WILL TRAVEL TO MEXICO, PERU, EL SALVADOR MARCH 22-24
Fleischer announced that President Bush will travel to Peru and El
Salvador on March 23-24 following his already announced meeting with
Mexico's President Vicente Fox in Monterrey on March 22.
"Peruvians, over the last year," Fleischer said, "have reaffirmed
strongly their commitment to democratic principles and have shown
leadership in promising these principles throughout the Inter-American
region.
"In Peru," he said, "the President will meet with President Toledo to
discuss our mutual efforts to strengthen hemispheric democracy, free
trade and the rule of law. They will also discuss our common fight
against narcotics trafficking and terrorism."
The Press Secretary said that in El Salvador, "the President will
discuss with President Flores the proposed initiative on a Central
American Free Trade Agreement. The two leaders will also discuss U.S.
support for El Salvador's ongoing efforts to strengthen democratic
institutions and to modernize its economy. They'll also review U.S.
assistance programs for earthquake reconstruction."
BUSH, SHARON DISCUSS TERRORISM AND THE MIDEAST LATE FEBRUARY 7
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that
President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would "discuss
the campaign against terror and developments in the Middle East,"
including efforts to "achieve peace" in the region, during their Oval
Office meeting at the White House later in the day.
"As to the Middle East," said Fleischer, "the President believes that
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat knows what he needs to
do, and that's to fight terror, and the President is still waiting for
Chairman Arafat to take stronger actions to do it."
The Press Secretary said that Bush "will express to Prime Minister
Sharon his deep concern about the plight of the Palestinian people --
and he'll also discuss what steps might be taken to ease the situation
for the people."
Asked what concrete steps would be recommended that Arafat could take
that might end terrorism or at least reduce it, Fleischer responded:
"The Palestinian Authority has many police at their disposal who are
capable of cracking down on people who engage in terror and violence,
if they so choose. It's preventive action to stop any attacks from
taking place. It's action to arrest and detain those who commit acts
of terror -- not to arrest and release them, but to arrest and detain
them and keep them detained. Those are a couple of examples."
The Press Secretary also said that "the President has made it clear
and will continue to make clear that Chairman Arafat has got to do
more, that he has not done enough. The President will also make clear
that the United States will remain engaged in the region and engaged
with the Palestinian Authority.
Asked about the number of meetings the President has had with Sharon
compared with Arafat, Fleischer responded, "the President thinks that
when it comes to stopping the terror in the Middle East, one side
needs to do more."
BUSH SENDING CHENEY TO THE MIDDLE EAST
The Press Secretary said that President Bush has asked Vice President
Cheney "to go to the Middle East and a couple of other nations that
are just outside -- one just outside the Middle East, another --
Britain, of course -- because the Vice President has great knowledge
of officials in the region, the issues in the region.
"The Vice President is going to travel to the Middle East and to other
nations from March 10th to March 20th, at the President's request,"
Fleischer said. "He'll visit U.S. forces, as well as he'll have
meetings with heads of states and governments and foreign ministers in
Kuwait, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Saudi
Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey, Oman, Jordan and Israel."
He characterized the Vice President's visit to the region "as part of
the ongoing efforts by the administration on a host of issues, to talk
about regional stability, to talk about the war against terrorism. I
don't think you should look at it as if he is going to be going there
with any one specific grand plan. It doesn't work that way."
Asked if part of Cheney's trip would be to shore up the coalition for
the next steps in the war on terrorism, Fleischer said, "he's going
there to discuss a wide range of issues, and certainly the war on
terrorism is one of those issues, but there are no plans at this point
for what people have referred to as phase two. This is an ongoing
effort that's evolving."
In response to a question about whether the White House thinks the
international coalition in the war is holding, the Press Secretary
said, "Yes, the coalition is holding. And the coalition, as we've said
from day one, will be different coalition partners on different
missions, and not everybody will be part of the same coalition."
Fleischer reiterated that Cheney is going to the region "to represent
the President on a wide variety of issues," but, on the question of
Iraq, added that "the President has not made any determination to go
into Iraq. He'll discuss a lot of regional issues, so I'm sure that
will be one" of them.
Asked if there would be a phase two in the war against terrorism, the
Press Secretary responded, "Well, the President has made clear to the
American people that the first phase was focused on Afghanistan but,
as the President said in his State of the Union address, clearly more
needs to be done outside the Afghan theater when it comes to combating
terrorism on multiple fronts, including, as you know, diplomatic,
political, military, financial, et cetera."
On the issue of regime change in Iraq, the Press Secretary replied,
"Secretary Powell testified about regime change" before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee this week. "It is long-standing American
policy on Iraq, properly so. The Iraqi people will be much better off
without Saddam Hussein."
Fleischer told questioners that he does not think "it's a question of
going it alone. The President has made clear that he will lead the
world in fighting terrorism, and this is part of the ongoing
diplomatic
efforts."
|