White House Reports Middle East Acceptance of Iraqi Debt Reduction

 

Thursday  January 22, 2004

White House Report, Jan. 22: Iraqi debt reduction, Bush speech in New Mexico

James Baker, President Bush's special envoy for Iraqi debt reduction, held "very productive" discussions with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters January 22.

Baker returned to the United States January 21.

"[T]he president appreciates the positive response of all four countries and their continued commitment to the successful reconstruction on Iraq," McClellan said.

All four countries, McClellan said, agreed on the need for Iraqi debt reduction and agreed that it should occur this year. "They also pledged to begin negotiations on specific amounts quickly and agreed that Iraqi debt reduction is key in helping the Iraqi people build a free and peaceful and prosperous future," the White House Press Secretary said.

While in the Middle East, Baker also met with representatives from Iraq, including its finance minister and central bank governor.

The purpose of that meeting was to brief the Iraqis on his recent trips to Europe and Asia on the debt reduction issue, "and the commitments that other countries are making," McClellan said.

"Most countries now agree that debt reduction is key to the successful reconstruction of Iraq for the Iraqi people, and it should be substantial and that it should happen this year," he said, adding that Baker's "work continues. He is the president's special envoy on debt reduction. Now we're entering a period where we'll be discussing specific amounts of what constitutes substantial debt reduction," McClellan said.


UNITED STATES WILL PREVAIL AGAINST TERRORISTS, BUSH SAYS

The best way to protect the United States is to go on the offensive, stay on the offensive, and bring terrorists to justice, President Bush said January 22 in a speech in Roswell, New Mexico, that emphasized many of the themes he had discussed in his State of the Union address to Congress the evening of January 20.

"My job as your president is to be realistic, be open-eyed, to understand the lessons of September the 11th, 2001; to understand there's terrorists who still plot against us," Bush told some 1,600 emergency workers, law enforcement officials and cadets from the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell.

"By our will, by our steadfast determination, by our courage, we will prevail in the first war of the 21st century," Bush said, as he announced that he was going to submit to Congress in February a fiscal year 2005 budget that will include more than $30 billion for homeland security, almost three times the amount that the United States spent on such programs in the fiscal year prior to the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

"[F]or the sake of fighting the war on terror," Congress also needs to renew the Patriot Act before it expires, Bush said. The Patriot Act, which Bush signed into law in October 2001, strengthens the powers of U.S. law enforcement agencies.

"We're in a different era. We need to view law differently. We'll always protect our Constitution and safeguard individual rights, but our law enforcement, those who collect information and share information and [are] expected to act on information, must be able to talk together," he said, noting that many of the tools in the Patriot Act have been used before by law enforcement to chase down embezzlers and criminals.

"It is essential that those same tools be used in fighting against terrorists," he said.

On Iraq, Bush said he was pleased with the "vision" and "understanding of freedom" expressed by the acting President of the Iraqi Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi, whom Bush met with in the Oval Office prior to his State of the Union address.

"The Oval Office is an interesting place to meet, particularly, people who are beginning to struggle with democracy and freedom because it's a reminder that the institutions, at least in this country, are always bigger than the people," Bush said.

"Sometime we've got an all-right president, sometimes not all right. But the presidency itself exists. It's a reminder of the power of institutions in a free society, that institutions in a free society are always bigger than the people. And he understood that.

"And they're working hard. The Iraqi people are taking the brunt of most of these killings that are taking place. They also understand it's their responsibility to secure the country, so we've increased in large number the number of police and people who are willing to help secure the country."

"Freedom is happening in Iraq. And you've got to understand why it's important. ... A free Iraq will help change the world. A free Iraq will help change a neighborhood that needs to change. A free Iraq will make it easier for our children to grow up in a peaceful society," Bush said.

The president also discussed his plan for immigration reform in the United States, urging Congress to approve legislation that would permit undocumented workers in the United States, and interested workers overseas, to apply for a temporary work permit.

"We've got people doing jobs in America that Americans won't do. And that's helpful to our economy. It's helpful that there are some people that are willing to the do the work that others won't do. And I think we need to be honest about what's taking place in America. After all, we're a country of the rule of law. And we've got people breaking law. And the question is how best to bring what's happening to light in an honest and legal way," Bush said.

"My attitude is, so long as there is a willing worker and an employer looking to hire somebody, we ought to have a system that allows for temporary work in America, in an honest, open way; in a way that talks to the values of our country."

 

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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