Bush Has High Hopes for New Year

President Bush began the new year with a bang on Thursday, shooting five quail on a bird hunting trip with his father in southern Texas, an excursion he used to set the stage for the 2004 reelection year.

“2004 is going to be a great year for this country,” Bush told reporters at the Brooks County Airport before he climbed aboard Air Force One to return to his ranch outside Crawford, Texas, where he is spending the New Year’s holiday. “It’s going to be a year in which the world will become more peaceful and more people will be able to find work.”

The comments were the president’s first to the news media since Dec. 22, before the first case of mad cow disease was identified in the United States. Bush said he had confidence in the safety of the American food supply.

“As a matter of fact, I ate beef today, and will continue to eat beef,” the president said.

Bush said he traveled to this ranch town in the southern tip of Texas to spend a day with his father and get some fresh air and exercise. He said he shot five quail -- far short of the 15 birds permitted under Texas law.

“I’m not that good a shot, but it was a lot of fun,” the president said.

Bush said former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, now serving as his personal envoy on the issue of reducing Iraqi debt, joined Bush and his father for lunch after the hunt.

Baker’s next scheduled trip as envoy is to the Middle East, Bush said, although a time has not been set.

In response to questions, Bush praised the Iranian government for allowing U.S. humanitarian aid flights to land in the country to assist with the aftermath of the earthquake that has killed at least 38,000.

“It’s right to take care of people when they hurt, and we’re doing that,” Bush said.

At the same time, the president pressed Iran to increase democracy and relinquish their nuclear weapons.

“The Iranian government must listen to the voices of those who long for freedom, must turn over Al Qaeda that are in their custody and must abandon their nuclear weapons program,” Bush said.

The president tried to distance himself from the investigation of the leaking of a CIA operative’s identity, saying he was not consulted about the decision by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft this week to recuse himself from the probe.

“I’m not involved with the investigation in any way, shape or form,” Bush said.

And he expressed confidence in the ability of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to handle the terrorist threats facing his country. Musharraf has been the target of two assassination attempts in recent weeks.

“Obviously terrorists are after him,” Bush said, recalling his most recent telephone conversation with Musharraf.

“He sounded confident, and therefore I feel confident about his security situation.”

The president’s hunting excursion to El Tule Ranch was at the invitation of Nancy Brown Negley, heiress to the Brown & Root Construction Co., the engineering and construction firm that is now a subsidiary of Halliburton.

Negley is the daughter of George R. Brown, former president of Brown & Root and a friend of former President George Bush from his days in the Texas oil business.

El Tule Ranch is west of Falfurrias, a town of 5,200 about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi and 70 miles north of the Mexican border.

The flight from Waco took about 45 minutes each way in the small, corporate jet-sized version of Air Force One; the president’s usual 747 jumbo jet was too large to land at the small Brooks County airport.

Bush supports gun ownership and enjoys bird hunting. However, in comments to reporters during the summer of 2001, the president said he did not enjoy deer hunting and only hunted doves while on his ranch near Crawford.

The quail-hunting trip to Falfurrias is believed to be Bush’s first public hunting excursion as president.

In his comments to reporters at the airport, the president -- dressed in an open-necked blue shirt, black jeans and work boots -- said his New Year’s resolution was to lose a few pounds and complete a rehabilitation program for his knees so he could resume his running regimen.

“I miss running. The elliptical machine is good, but it just doesn’t have that same sense ... that running gave me,” Bush said. “So that’s one of my resolutions, which may require eating less desserts, kind of getting a little trimmer, to take the pressure off the knee.”