The U.S. ‘Must Stay on Offense’

Excerpts from the question-and-answer portion of President Bush’s news conference Tuesday:

Q: Mr. President, April is turning into the deadliest month in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad, and some people are comparing Iraq to Vietnam and talking about a quagmire. Polls show that support for your policy is declining and that fewer than half of Americans now support it.

What does that say to you? And how do you answer the Vietnam comparison?

Bush: I think the analogy is false. I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops and sends the wrong message to the enemy.

Look, this is hard work. It’s hard to advance freedom in a country that has been strangled by tyranny. And yet we must stay the course because the end result is in our nation’s interest.

A secure and free Iraq is an historic opportunity to change the world and make America more secure. A free Iraq in the midst of the Middle East will have incredible change.

It’s hard. Freedom is not easy to achieve. I mean, we had a little trouble in our own country achieving freedom.

And we’ve been there a year. I know that seems like a long time. It seems like a long time to the loved ones whose troops have been overseas. But when you think about where the country has come from, it’s a relatively short period of time.

And we’re making progress. There’s no question it’s been a tough, tough series of weeks for the American people. It’s been really tough for the families. I understand that. It’s been tough on this administration. But we’re doing the right thing....

Q: Mr. President, before the war, you and members of your administration made several claims about Iraq: that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators with sweets and flowers; that Iraqi oil revenue would pay for most of the reconstruction; and that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction but, as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, we know where they are.

How do you explain to Americans how you got that so wrong? And how do you answer your opponents who say that you took this nation to war on the basis of what have turned out to be a series of false premises?

Bush: Well, let me step back and review my thinking prior to going into Iraq.

First, the lesson of September the 11th is that when this nation sees a threat, a gathering threat, we got to deal with it. We can no longer hope that oceans protect us from harm. Every threat we must take seriously.

Saddam Hussein was a threat. He was a threat because he had used weapons of mass destruction on his own people. He was a threat because he coddled terrorists. He was a threat because he funded suiciders. He was a threat to the region. He was a threat to the United States.

That’s the assessment that I made from the intelligence, the assessment that Congress made from the intelligence. That’s the exact same assessment that the United Nations Security Council made with the intelligence.

I went to the U.N., as you might recall, and said, either you take care of him, or we will. Any time an American president says, if you don’t, we will, we better be prepared to. And I was prepared to.

I thought it was important for the United Nations Security Council that when it says something, it means something for the sake of security in the world....

I thought it was very interesting that Charlie Duelfer, who just came back -- he’s the head of the Iraqi Survey Group -- reported some interesting findings from his recent tour there. And one of the things was, he was amazed at how deceptive the Iraqis had been toward UNMOVIC and UNSCOM, deceptive in hiding things.

We knew they were hiding things. A country that hides something is a country that is afraid of getting caught, and that was part of our calculation. Charlie confirmed that.

He also confirmed that Saddam had the ability to produce biological and chemical weapons. In other words, he was a danger.... And so we dealt with him.

And what else was part of the question? Oh, oil revenues.

Well, the oil revenues, they’re bigger than we thought they would be at this point in time. I mean, one year after the liberation of Iraq, the revenues of the oil stream is pretty darn significant....

Finally, the attitude of the Iraqis toward the American people -- it’s an interesting question. They’re really pleased we got rid of Saddam Hussein, and you can understand why. This guy was a torturer, a killer, a maimer. There’s mass graves.

I mean, he was a horrible individual that really shocked the country in many ways, shocked it into a kind of a fear of making decisions toward liberty. That’s what we’ve seen recently. Some citizens are fearful of stepping up.

And they were happy -- they’re not happy they’re occupied. I wouldn’t be happy if I were occupied either. They do want us there to help with security.

And that’s why this transfer of sovereignty is an important signal to send, and it’s why it’s also important for them to hear we will stand with them until they become a free country....

Q: Mr. President ... two and a half years later, do you feel any sense of personal responsibility for September 11th?

Bush: ... I feel incredibly grieved when I meet with family members, and I do quite frequently. I grieve for, you know, the incredible loss of life that they feel, the emptiness they feel.

There are some things I wish we’d have done, when I look back....

For example, a Homeland Security Department. And why -- I say that because that provides the ability for our agencies to coordinate better and to work together better than it was before.

I think the hearings will show that the Patriot Act is an important change in the law that will allow the FBI and the CIA to better share information together....

And the other thing I look back on and realize is that we weren’t on a war footing. The country was not on a war footing, and yet the enemy was at war with us. And it didn’t take me long to put us on a war footing.

And we’ve been on a war ever since.

The lessons of 9/11 -- one lesson was we must deal with gathering threats, and that’s part of the reason I dealt with Iraq the way I did.

The other lesson is, is that this country must go on the offense and stay on the offense. In order to secure the country, we must do everything in our power to find these killers and bring them to justice before they hurt us again....

Q: Two weeks ago, a former counter-terrorism official at the NSC, Richard Clarke, offered an unequivocal apology to the American people for failing them prior to 9/11. Do you believe the American people deserve a similar apology from you, and would you be prepared to give them one?

Bush: Look, I can understand why people in my administration are anguished over the fact that people lost their life. I feel the same way....

I can assure the American people that had we had any inkling that this was going to happen, we would have done everything in our power to stop the attack.

Here’s what I feel about that: The person responsible for the attacks was Osama bin Laden.... And that’s why we will stay on the offense until we bring people to justice....

Q: Mr. President, why are you and the vice president insisting on appearing together before the 9/11 commission? And, Mr. President, who will we be handing the Iraqi government over to on June 30th?

Bush: We’ll find that out soon. That’s what Mr. Brahimi is doing. He’s figuring out the nature of the entity we’ll be handing sovereignty over.

And, secondly, because the 9/11 commission wants to ask us questions, that’s why we’re meeting....

Q: I was asking why you’re appearing together, rather than separately, which was their request.

Bush: Because it’s a good chance for both of us to answer questions that the 9/11 commission is looking forward to asking us. And I’m looking forward to answering them....

Q: In the last campaign, you were asked a question about the biggest mistake you’d made in your life, and you used to like to joke that it was trading Sammy Sosa.

You’ve looked back before 9/11 for what mistakes might have been made. After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?

Bush: I wish you’d have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it.

John, I’m sure historians will look back and say, gosh, he could’ve done it better this way or that way.... .

I would’ve gone into Afghanistan the way we went into Afghanistan. Even knowing what I know today ... I still would’ve called upon the world to deal with Saddam Hussein.

See, I’m of the belief that we’ll find out the truth on the weapons. That’s why we sent up the independent commission. I look forward to hearing the truth as to exactly where they are. They could still be there. They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm.

One of the things that Charlie Duelfer talked about was that he was surprised of the level of intimidation he found amongst people who should know about weapons and their fear of talking about them because they don’t want to be killed.

You know, there’s this kind of -- there’s a terror still in the soul of some of the people in Iraq.

They’re worried about getting killed, and therefore they’re not going to talk. But ... we’ll find out the truth about the weapons at some point in time.

However, the fact that he had the capacity to make them bothers me today just like it would have bothered me then. He’s a dangerous man. He’s a man who actually not only had weapons of mass destruction -- the reason I can say that with certainty is because he used them.

And I have no doubt in my mind that he would like to have inflicted harm ... on America, because he hated us.

I hope -- I don’t want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I’m confident I have. I just haven’t -- you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I’m not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.

Q: Looking forward, about keeping the United States safe, a group representing about several thousand FBI agents today wrote to your administration begging you not to split up the law enforcement and the counter-terrorism ...

Bush: Yes.

Q: ... because they say it ties their hands, it gives them blinders, that they’re partners.

Yet you mentioned yesterday that you think perhaps the time has come for some real intelligence reforms. That can’t happen without real leadership from the White House.

Will you? And how will you?

Bush: Well, you’re talking about one aspect of possible -- I think you’re referring to what they call the MI5. And I heard a summary of that from Director Mueller, who feels strongly that we -- and he’ll testify to that effect, I guess tomorrow. I shouldn’t be prejudging his testimony.

But my point was that I’m open for suggestions. I look forward to seeing what the 9/11 commission comes up with. I look forward to seeing what the Silberman-Robb commission comes up with. I’m confident Congress will have some suggestions....

One of the interesting things people ask me, now that we’re asking questions, is, can you ever win the war on terror? Of course you can.

That’s why it’s important for us to spread freedom throughout the Middle East. Free societies are hopeful societies. A hopeful society is one more likely to be able to deal with the frustrations of those who are willing to commit suicide in order to represent a false ideology.

A free society is a society in which somebody is more likely to be able to make a living. A free society is a society in which someone is more likely to be able to raise their child in a comfortable environment and see to it that that child gets an education.

That’s why I’m pressing the Greater Middle East Reform Initiative to work to spread freedom, and we will continue on that. So long as I’m the president, I will press for freedom. I believe so strongly in the power of freedom....

And as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom. We have an obligation to help feed the hungry....

We have an obligation to lead the fight on AIDS, on Africa. And we have an obligation to work toward a more free world....

Q: Following on both Judy and John’s questions, and it comes out of what you just said in some ways, with public support for your policies in Iraq falling off the way they have, quite significantly over the past couple of months, I guess I’d like to know if you feel, in any way, that you have failed as a communicator on this topic.

Bush: Gosh, I don’t know. I mean....

Q: Well, you deliver a lot of speeches, and a lot of them contain similar phrases and may vary very little from one to the next. And they often include a pretty upbeat assessment of how things are going, with the exception of tonight. It’s pretty somber.

Bush: A pretty somber assessment today, Don, yes.

Q: But I guess I just wonder if you feel that you have failed in any way. You don’t have many of these press conferences where you engage in this kind of exchange. Have you failed in any way to really make the case to the American public?

Bush: You know, that’s, I guess, if you put it into a political context, that’s the kind of thing the voters will decide next November. That’s what elections are about. They’ll take a look at me and my opponent and say, let’s see, which one of them can better win the war on terror? Who best can see to it that Iraq emerges a free society?

And, Don, you know, if I tried to fine-tune my messages based upon polls, I think I’d be pretty ineffective. I know I would be disappointed in myself.

I hope today you’ve got a sense of my conviction about what we’re doing. If you don’t, maybe I need to learn to communicate better.

I feel strongly about what we’re doing. I feel strongly it’s the course this administration is taking will make America more secure and the world more free and, therefore, the world more peaceful. It’s a conviction that’s deep in my soul. And, you know, I will say it as best I possibly can to the American people.

I look forward to the debate in the campaign. I look forward to helping -- for the American people to hear, you know, what is the proper use of American power. Do we have an obligation to lead, or should we shirk responsibility? That’s how I view this debate.

And I look forward to making it. Don, I’ll do it the best I possibly can.... I’ll speak as plainly as I can.

One thing is for certain, though, about me, and the world has learned this: When I say something, I mean it. And the credibility of the United States is incredibly important for keeping world peace and freedom.

Thank you all very much.