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25 May 2006
Bush, British Prime Minister Pledge Support for Iraq's Government

By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington -- President Bush said Iraq’s new permanent, democratically elected government "represents a new beginning" for Iraq, as well as a new relationship for Iraq with the U.S. and others in the international community.

Speaking May 25 with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House, Bush said the United States and the United Kingdom will “work together to help this new democracy succeed,” and will “take advantage of this moment of opportunity and work with Iraq's new government to strengthen this young democracy and achieve victory over our common enemies.”

The president acknowledged that the “violence and bloodshed” that has targeted coalition troops, Iraqi government and security personnel and innocent civilians “has been difficult for the civilized world to comprehend,” and also that the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power has been “controversial.”

However, Bush said, “I strongly believe we did and are doing the right thing.”

“If Saddam Hussein were in power today, his regime would be richer, more dangerous, and a bigger threat to the region and the civilized world,” he said.

Bush also said that despite the violence, the Iraqi people have demonstrated through several elections their choice for freedom. “Because of their courage, the Iraqis now have a government of their choosing, elected under the most modern and democratic constitution in the Arab world,” he said.

Prime Minister Blair, who recently met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials, said the challenge in Iraq “is still immense, but I also came away more certain than ever that we should rise to it.”

Blair said it is “utterly inspiring” to see democratically elected leaders from all of Iraq’s various religious and ethnic communities “sitting down together … and choosing to come together as a government of national unity, and completely determined to run their country in a different way for the future.”

The British leader said that every act of terror in Iraq, rather than being seen as a setback or failure, should instead be seen as “a renewed urgency for us to rise to the challenge of defeating these people who are committing this carnage.”

These acts of violence have not been perpetrated because Iraqis do not believe in democracy or want liberty, but rather because the terrorists fear the opposite, Blair said.

“[I]f the idea became implanted in the minds of people in the Arab and Muslim world that democracy was as much their right as our right, where do these terrorists go, what do they do, how do they recruit? How do they say America is the evil Satan? How do they say the purpose of the West is to despoil your lands, wreck your religion, take your wealth -- how can they say that? They can't say that,” he said.

Blair also expressed his view that in the coming months more Iraqi provinces will be coming under the control of Iraqi security forces.

Contrary to the impression that Iraqis “wish that we were gone from Iraq and weren't there any longer in support of the Iraqi government or the Iraqi forces,” the prime minister said, “not one of the political leaders,” with whom he met in Baghdad, regardless of their political party or community, “wanted us to pull out precipitately.

“All of them wanted us to stick with it and see the job done,” Blair said.

Asked about Iran and its nuclear program, President Bush said he and Blair share the common goal of convincing the international community of the danger that would result in Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons. The United States will consider all options in dealing with Iran, but “it's their choice right now. They're the folks who walked away from the table. They're the ones who said that … your demands … don't mean anything to us.”

If the Iranian government wants to see “an enhanced package,” that includes incentives, “the first thing they've got to do is suspend their operations, for the good of the world,” Bush said.

Both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair expressed their respect and good will toward the Iranian people.

Blair said the United States and the United Kingdom have “absolutely no quarrel with the Iranian people.”

“Iran is a great country, but it needs a government that is going to recognize that part of being a great country is to be in line with your international obligations, and to cease supporting those people in different parts of the world who want by terrorism and violence to disrupt the process of democracy,” the prime minister said.

A transcript of the joint press availability is available on the White House Web site.

For additional information, see Middle East and North Africa.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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