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Text: President Bush and Prime Minister Blair on Lebanon
President Bush and Prime Minister Blair of the United Kingdom Participate in
July 28, 2006
12:36 P.M. EDT
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060728-1.html

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all. Prime Minister Tony Blair, welcome back to
the White House. As you know, we've got
a close relationship. You tell me what you think. You share with me your
perspective -- and you let me know when the microphone is on. (Laughter.)

Today the Prime Minister and I talked about the ways we're working to
advance freedom and human dignity across the world. Prime Minister Blair and
I discussed the crisis in the Middle East. In Lebanon, Hezbollah and its
Iranian and Syrian sponsors are willing to kill, and to use violence to stop
the spread of peace and democracy -- and they're not going to succeed.

The Prime Minister and I have committed our governments to a plan to make
every effort to achieve a lasting peace out of this crisis. Our top
priorities in Lebanon are providing immediate humanitarian relief, achieving
an end to the violence, ensuring the return of displaced persons, and
assisting with reconstruction. We recognize that many Lebanese people have
lost their homes, so we'll help rebuild the civilian infrastructure that
will allow them to return home safely.

Our goal is to achieve a lasting peace, which requires that a free,
democratic and independent Lebanese government be empowered to exercise full
authority over its territory. We want a Lebanon free of militias and foreign
interference, and a Lebanon that governs its own destiny, as is called for
by U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1680.

We agree that a multinational force must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly,
to augment a Lebanese army as it moves to the south of that country. An
effective multinational force will help speed delivery of humanitarian
relief, facilitate the return of displaced persons, and support the Lebanese
government as it asserts full sovereignty over its territory and guards its
borders.
We're working quickly to achieve these goals. Tomorrow, Secretary Rice will
return to the region. She will work with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon
to seize this opportunity to achieve lasting peace and stability for both of
their countries. Next week, the U.N. Security Council will meet, as well.
Our goal is a Chapter 7 resolution setting out a clear framework for
cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis, and mandating the multinational
force.

Also at the United Nations, senior officials from many countries will meet
to discuss the design and deployment of the multinational force. Prime
Minister Blair and I agree that this approach gives the best hope to end the
violence and create lasting peace and stability in Lebanon. This approach
will demonstrate the international community's determination to support the
government of Lebanon, and defeat the threat from Hezbollah and its foreign
sponsors.

This approach will make possible what so many around the world want to see:
the end of Hezbollah's attacks on Israel, the return of Israeli soldiers
taken hostage by the terrorists, the suspension of Israel's operations in
Lebanon, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East. Yet our aim is to
turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for a broader change in
the region. Prime Minister Blair and I remain committed to the vision of two
democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and
security. This vision has been embraced by Israel, the Palestinians, and
many others throughout the region and the world, and we will make every
effort to make this vision a reality. The United States is committed to
using all of its influence to seize this moment to build a stable and
democratic Middle East.

We also talked about other regions and other challenges and other conflicts.
The Prime Minister and I each met with the Prime Minister of Iraq this week.
The U.S. and U.K. are working together to support the Prime Minister and his
unity government, and we will continue to support that government.

Afghanistan's people and their freely-elected government can also count on
our support. Our two nations urge Iran to accept the EU-3 offer, which also
has the backing of Russia, China, and the United States. We agree that the
Iranian regime will not be allowed to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.
The suffering in Darfur deserves the name of genocide. Our two nations
support a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur, which is the best
hope for the people in that region.

I want to thank you for coming. It's good to discuss these urgent matters
with you. We will continue to consult with each other as events unfold in
the Middle East and beyond. The alliance between Britain and America is
stronger than ever, because we share the same values, we share the same
goals, and we share the same determination to advance freedom and to defeat
terror across the world.

Mr. Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your welcome
to the White House once again. And first of all, I'd like to say some words
about the present Middle East crisis, and then we'll talk about some of the
other issues
that we discussed.

What is happening in the Middle East at the moment is a complete tragedy for
Lebanon, for Israel and for the wider region. And the scale of destruction
is very clear. There are innocent lives that have been lost, both Lebanese
and Israeli. There are hundreds of thousands of people that have been
displaced from their homes, again, both in Lebanon and in Israel. And it's
been a tremendous and terrible setback for Lebanon's democracy.

We shouldn't forget how this began, how it started. In defiance of the U.N.
Resolution 1559, Hezbollah, for almost two years, has been fortifying and
arming militia down in the south of Lebanon, when it is the proper and
democratically elected government of Lebanon and its armed forces who should
have control of that area, as they should of the whole of Lebanon. They
then, in defiance of that U.N. resolution, crossed the U.N. blue line. As
you know, they kidnapped two Israeli soldiers; they killed eight more. Then,
of course, there was the retaliation by Israel, and there are rockets being
fired from the south of Lebanon into the north of Israel the entire time.

So we know how this situation came about and how it started, and the
question is, now, how to get it stopped and get it stopped with the urgency
that the situation demands.

Since our meeting in St. Petersburg for the G8, we have been working hard on
a plan to ensure that this happens. And as well as, obviously, the
consultations that I've had with President Bush, I've spoken to President
Chirac, Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, the President
of the European Union, the Prime Minister of Finland, and many, many others.
And as the President has just outlined to you, I think there are three
essential steps that we can take in order to ensure that there is the
cessation of hostilities we all want to see. The first is, I welcome very
much the fact that Secretary Rice will go back to the region tomorrow. She
will have with her the package of proposals in order to get agreement both
from the government of Israel and the government of Lebanon on what is
necessary to happen in order for this crisis to stop.
Secondly, we are bringing forward to Monday the meeting in the United
Nations about the international stabilization force. And again, this is
something we've been discussing with various different countries over the
past few days. The absolute vital importance of that force is that it is
able to ensure that the agreement the international community comes to in
respect of Lebanon is enforced, and that we have the government of Lebanon
able to make its writ run fully with its own armed forces in the south of
Lebanon.

And then, thirdly, as the President has just said to you, we want to see
tabled and agreed a U.N. resolution as early as possible that will allow the
cessation of hostilities. Provided that resolution is agreed and acted upon,
we can, indeed, bring an end to this crisis. But nothing will work unless,
as well as an end to the immediate crisis, we put in place the measures
necessary to prevent it occurring again.

That is why I return at every opportunity to the basis of the United
Nations Resolution 1559 -- almost two years ago now -- that said precisely
what should happen in order to make sure that the southern part of Lebanon
was not used as a base for armed militia. The purpose of what we are doing,
therefore, is to bring about, yes, the cessation of hostilities, which we
want to see as quickly and as urgently as possible, but also to put in place
a framework that allows us to stabilize the situation for the medium and
longer-term.

In addition to that, we, both of us, believe it is important that we take
the opportunity to ensure that the Middle East peace process, which has been
in such difficulty over the past few months, is given fresh impetus towards
the two-state solution that we in the international community want to see.
In the end, that is of fundamental importance, also, to the stability and
peace of the region.

Now, in addition to all of these things -- and obviously, we discussed Iraq,
as the President has just said, and the work that our troops are doing in
Iraq and, indeed, in Afghanistan. And if I might, let me, once again, pay
tribute to the quite extraordinary professionalism, dedication, bravery and
commitment of the armed forces of both the United States and the United
Kingdom, and the many other countries that are working there with us.

In addition to that, as the President indicated to you, we discussed the
situation in the Sudan. We will have an opportunity to discuss other issues
later, notably, obviously the World Trade talks and other such things. But I
want to emphasize, just in concluding my opening remarks, by referring once
again to the absolutely essential importance of ensuring that not merely do
we get the cessation of hostilities now in Lebanon, and in respect of
Israel, but that we take this opportunity -- since we know why this has
occurred, we know what started it, we know what the underlying forces are
behind what has happened in the past few weeks -- we take this opportunity
to set out and achieve a different strategic direction for the whole of that
region, which will allow the government of Lebanon to be in control of its
country, Lebanon to be the democracy its people want, and also allow us to
get the solution in respect of Palestine that we have wanted so long to see.

If we are able, out of what has been a tragedy, a catastrophe for many of
the people in the region, to achieve such a thing, then we will have turned
what has been a situation of tragedy into one of opportunity. And we intend
to do that.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Good job.

Three questions a side. Tom.

Q Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, with support apparently growing among
the Arab population, both Shia and Sunni, for Hezbollah by bounds, is there
a risk that every day that goes by without a cease-fire will tip this
conflict into a wider war?
And, Mr. President, when Secretary Rice goes back to the region, will she
have any new instructions, such as meeting with Syrians?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Her instructions are to work with Israel and Lebanon to get
a -- to come up with an acceptable U.N. Security Council resolution that we
can table next week. And secondly, it's really important for people to
understand that terrorists are trying to stop the advance of freedom, and
therefore, it's essential that we do what's right and not necessarily what
appears to be immediately popular.

There's a lot of suffering in Lebanon, because Hezbollah attacked Israel.
There's a lot of suffering in the Palestinian Territory because militant
Hamas is trying to stop the advance of democracy.

There is suffering in Iraq because terrorists are trying to spread sectarian
violence and stop the spread of democracy. And now is the time for the free
world to work to create the conditions so that people everywhere can have
hope.

And those are the stakes, that's what we face right now. We've got a plan to
deal with this immediate crisis. It's one of the reasons the Prime Minister
came, to talk about that plan. But the stakes are larger than just Lebanon.

Isn't it interesting that when Prime Minister Olmert starts to reach out to
President Abbas to develop a Palestinian state, militant Hamas creates the
conditions so that there's crisis, and then Hezbollah follows up? Isn't it
interesting, as a democracy takes hold in Iraq, that al Qaeda steps up its
efforts to murder and bomb in order to stop the democracy?

And so one of the things that the people in the Middle East must understand
is that we're working to create the conditions of hope and opportunity for
all of them. And we'll continue to do that, Tom. That's -- this is the
challenge of the 21st century.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: It's very obvious what the strategy of terrorism is,
and of the actions that Hezbollah took. Their strategy is to commit an
outrage that provokes a reaction, and then on the back of the reaction, to
mobilize extreme elements, and then try and create a situation which even
moderate people feel drawn to their case. That's the strategy.

And you, quite rightly, say, well, isn't there a danger that the Arab street
and people in Arab Muslim countries become more sympathetic to Hezbollah as
a result of what's happened? That is their strategy. How do we counter it?
We counter it, one, by having our own strategy to bring the immediate crisis
to an end, which we do. That is what is important about the Secretary of
State visiting the region, getting an agreement, tabling it to the United
Nations, getting the endorsement of the United Nations, having an
international stabilization force to move into the situation. We've got to
deal with the immediate situation.

But then, as the President was saying a moment or two ago, we've then got to
realize what has happened in the past few weeks is not an isolated incident.
It is part of a bigger picture. Now, I'm going to say some more things about
this in the days to come, but we really will never understand how we deal
with this situation unless we understand that there is a big picture out in
the Middle East, which is about reactionary and terrorist groups trying to
stop what the vast majority of people in the Middle East want, which is
progress towards democracy, liberty, human rights, the same as the rest of
us.

Now, that's the battle that's going on. And, yes, it is always very
difficult when something like this happens, as it has happened over the past
few weeks. So we've got to resolve the immediate situation, but we shouldn't
be in any doubt at all, that will be a temporary respite unless we put in
place the longer-term framework.

Q Mr. President, you spoke of having a plan to rebuild houses in Lebanon.
Wouldn't the people of Lebanon rather know when you're going to tell the
Israelis to stop destroying houses?

And, Prime Minister, you've talked of having a plan today, but isn't the
truth that you and the President believe that Israel is on the right side in
the war on terror and you want them to win this war, not to stop it?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Look, we care deeply about the people whose lives have been
affected in Lebanon, just like we care deeply about the people whose lives
have been affected in Israel. There's over a million people in Israel that
are -- are threatened by this consistent rocket attack coming out of
Lebanon. And, yes, we want to help people rebuild their lives, absolutely.
But we also want to address the root causes of the problem. And the root
cause of the problem is you've got Hezbollah that is armed and willing to
fire rockets into Israel; a Hezbollah, by the way, that I firmly believe is
backed by Iran and encouraged by Iran.

And so for the sake of long-term stability, we've got to deal with this
issue now. Listen, the temptation is to say, it's too tough, let's just try
to solve it quickly with something that won't last; let's just get it off
the TV screens. But that won't solve the problem. And it's certainly not
going to help the Lebanese citizens have a life that is normal and peaceful.

What is necessary is to help the Siniora government. And one way to help the
Siniora government is to make aid available to
help rebuild the houses that were destroyed. Another way to help the Siniora
government is to implement 1559, which is the disarmament of armed militia
inside his country.

And I -- look, we care deeply about the lives that have been affected on
both sides of this issue, just like I care deeply about the innocent people
who are being killed in Iraq, and people being denied a state in the
Palestinian Territory. But make no mistake about it, it is the goal and aims
of the terrorist organizations to stop that type of advance. That's what
they're trying to do. They're trying to evoke sympathy for themselves.
They're not sympathetic people. They're violent, cold-blooded killers who
are trying to stop the advance of freedom.

And this is the calling of the 21st century, it seems like to me, and now is
the time to confront the problem. And of course, we're going to help the
people in Lebanon rebuild their lives. But as Tony said, this conflict
started, out of the blue, with two Israeli soldiers kidnapped and rockets
being fired across the border.

Now, we have urged restraint. We made it clear that we care about wanton
destruction. On the other hand, in my judgment, it would be a big mistake
not to solve the underlying problems. Otherwise everything will seem fine,
and then you'll be back at a press conference, saying, how come you didn't
solve the underlying problems?

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: We feel deeply for people in Lebanon and people in
Israel who are the innocent casualties of this conflict, of course, we do.
And we want it to stop and we want it to stop now. And what we're putting
forward today is actually a practical plan that would lead to a U.N.
resolution, could be early next week, that would allow it, put in place the
conditions for it to stop.

But what we've also got to do is to make sure that we recognize that this
action wasn't simply aimed against Israel, and then Israel retaliated. It
was also aimed against the proper government of Lebanon being able to
control its own country. And the very reason why, two years ago, the
international community passed this resolution was because people could see
that what was going to happen in southern Lebanon was that these Hezbollah
militias, that are armed and financed by Iran and by Syria, were going to
move into the south of the country in order to be a focus of terrorism and
discontent.

Now, that is the fact. And, of course, all of us are appalled at the
destruction and loss of life. Of course, we are. And that's why we've
actually come together today with a viable plan, if people can agree it, as
I believe they can, to get it stopped. But once you stop this violence
happening now -- which, of course, we should do -- once you do, it doesn't
alter the underlying reality unless we've got a framework that allows us to
put the government of Lebanon properly back in charge of its own country;
unless we've got the commitment to take forward the Israel-Palestine two
state deal, which is there and which everyone wants to see; and then if we
can -- unless we mobilize the international community, to deal with the
threat that Iran poses.

And there's no other way out of this. We're not -- we can, all of us, make
whatever statements we want to do, use whatever words we want to do, but the
brutal reality of the situation is that we're only going to get violence
stopped and stability introduced on the basis of clear principles.

Now, as I say, we've set out a way to do this. But it requires the
long-term, as well as the short-term.

Q Thank you. Mr. President, on the issue of a multinational force, what
shape should it take, who should lead it, who should be part of it? And
also, should Hezbollah agreeing to it be a precondition for setting up the
force?

And, Mr. Prime Minister, you talked about a resolution leading to a
cessation of hostilities, and I'm just wondering, should it include a call
for an immediate cease-fire?

PRESIDENT BUSH: In terms of the troops, that's what the meeting Monday is
going to be about. And this is one of these issues that requires
international consensus, people who put forth ideas, and we'll participate
in terms of trying to help develop a consensus about what the force ought to
look like.

In a general sense, though, the force needs to serve as a complement to a
Lebanese force. See, that's the whole purpose of the force, is to strengthen
the Lebanese government by helping the Lebanese force move into the area.
The whole cornerstone of the policy for Lebanon is for Lebanon to be free
and able to govern herself and defend herself with a viable force.

And so one of the things you'll see in discussions there is, how do we help
the Lebanese army succeed? What does it -- what's required? What's the
manpower need to be in order to help this force move into the south so the
government can take control of the country. What it looks like -- if I hold
a press conference on Tuesday, I'll be able to answer that better. But since
I probably won't be, read your newspaper.

Q What about Hezbollah --

PRESIDENT BUSH: That's a part of the conditions that they'll be discussing.
That's what they'll be talking about. The key is to have Lebanon agree with
it. And the key is to have Israel agree with it. Those are the two parties.
Hezbollah is not a state. They're a supposed political party that happens to
be armed. Now, what kind of state is it that has got a political party that
has got a militia? It's a state that needs to be helped, is what that is.
And we need to help the Siniora government deal with a political party that
is armed, that gets its arms and help from other parts of the world -- in
order for Lebanon's democracy to succeed.

A lot has changed in Lebanon. It wasn't all that long ago that Lebanon was
occupied by Syria. And we came together and worked in the U.N. Security
Council, and Syria is now out of Lebanon. But part of the resolution that
enabled Syria to get out was that Hezbollah would disarm. And if we truly
want peace in the region, we've got to follow through on that 1559, and
that's what the whole strategy is. And part of the peacekeepers will be
to -- or the multinational force, whatever you call them, will be in there
trying to help the government.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Just on the international force, the thing that's very
important to realize is that the purpose of it, obviously, is to help
stabilize the situation. But it's also to allow the government of Lebanon's
true armed forces to come down from the north and occupy the south,
themselves. In other words, the purpose of the force is almost as a bridge
between the north and the south in order to allow the forces of the
government of Lebanon to come down and do what Resolution 1559 always
anticipated would happen.

And as for your second question, yes, of course, the U.N. resolution, the
passing of it, the agreeing of it can be the occasion for the end of
hostilities if it's acted upon and agreed upon. And that requires not just
the government of Israel and the government of Lebanon, obviously, to abide
by it, but also for the whole of the international community to exert the
necessary pressure so that there is the cessation of hostilities on both
sides. Now, that will be important, also, in making it very clear to
Hezbollah and those that back Hezbollah that they have to allow the
stabilization force to enter.

But, yes, of course -- look, anybody with any human feeling for what is
going on there wants this to stop as quickly as possible. And we have a
process that allows us to do this, but it's got to be acted on. It's not
just going to be agreed in theory, it's got to be acted on, too.

Q Thank you. Mr. President, and Prime Minister Blair, can I ask you both
tonight what your messages are for the governments of Iran and Syria, given
that you say this is the crisis of the 21st century?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Want me to start? My message is, give up your nuclear weapon
and your nuclear weapon ambitions. That's my message to Syria -- I mean, to
Iran. And my message to Syria is, become an active participant in the
neighborhood for peace.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: The message is very, very simple to them. It is that,
you have a choice. Iran and Syria have a choice. And they may think that
they can avoid this choice; in fact, they can't. And when things are set in
train like what has happened in Lebanon over the past few weeks, it only, in
my view, underscores the fact they have this choice. They can either come in
and participate as proper and responsible members of the international
community, or they will face the risk of increasing confrontation.

And coming in and being proper members of the international community does
not mean -- though I would love to see both Syria and Iran proper
democracies -- does not mean to say that we insist that they change their
government or even their system of government, although, of course, we want
to see change in those countries. But it does mean Iran abides by its
obligations under the nuclear weapons treaty. It does mean that Iran and
Syria stop supporting terrorism. It does mean that instead of trying to
prevent the democratically-elected government of Iraq fulfill its mandate,
they allow it to fulfill its mandate.
Now, that's their choice. It's a perfectly simple one. They can either
decide they are going to abide by the rules of the international community
or continue to transgress them. And, look, in the end, that's the choice
that they will have to make. But where I think they make a strategic
miscalculation is if they think that because of all the other issues that we
have to resolve and so on, that we are indifferent to what they are doing.
There will be no side-tracking of our determination, for example, to make
sure that Iran is fully compliant with the call that's been made on them
from the whole of the international community in respect of nuclear weapons
capability. And I hope they realize there is a different relationship that
is possible with the international community, but only on the basis that has
been set out.

PRESIDENT BUSH: David Gregory.

Q Thank you. Mr. President, both of you, I'd like to ask you about the big
picture that you're discussing. Mr. President, three years ago, you argued
that an invasion of Iraq would create a new stage of Arab-Israeli peace. And
yet today, there is an Iraqi Prime Minister who has been sharply critical of
Israel. Arab governments, despite your arguments, who have criticized
Hezbollah, have now changed their tune. Now they're sharply critical of
Israel. And despite from both of you, warnings to Syria and Iran to back off
support from Hezbollah, effectively, Mr. President, your words are being
ignored. So what has happened to America's clout in this region that you've
committed yourself to transform?

PRESIDENT BUSH: David, it's an interesting period because instead of having
foreign policies based upon trying to create a sense of stability, we have a
foreign policy that addresses the root causes of violence and instability.

For a while, American foreign policy was just, let's hope everything is
calm, kind of managed calm. But beneath the surface brewed a lot of
resentment and anger that was manifested in its -- on September the 11th.
And so we've taken a foreign policy that says, on the one hand, we will
protect ourselves from further attack in the short-run by being aggressive
and chasing down the killers and bringing them to justice -- and make no
mistake, they're still out there, and they would like to harm our respective
peoples because of what we stand for -- in the long-term, to defeat this
ideology, and they're bound by an ideology. You defeat it with a more
hopeful ideology called freedom.

And, look, I fully understand some people don't believe it's possible for
freedom and democracy to overcome this ideology of hatred. I understand
that. I just happen to believe it is possible, and I believe it will happen.
And so what you're seeing is a clash of governing styles, for example. The
notion of democracy beginning to emerge scares the ideologues, the
totalitarians, those who want to impose their vision. It just frightens
them, and so they respond. They've always been violent.

I hear this amazing kind of editorial thought that says, all of a sudden
Hezbollah has become violent because we're promoting democracy. They have
been violent for a long period of time. Or Hamas. One reason why the
Palestinians still suffer is because there are militants who refuse to
accept a Palestinian state based upon democratic principles.

And so what the world is seeing is a desire by this country and our allies
to defeat the ideology of hate with an ideology that has worked and that
brings hope. And one of the challenges, of course, is to convince people
that Muslims would like to be free, that there's other people other than
people in Britain and America that would like to be free in the world.
There's this kind of almost -- kind of weird kind of elitism, that says,
well, maybe certain people in certain parts of the world shouldn't be free;
maybe it's best just to let them sit in these tyrannical societies. And our
foreign policy rejects that concept. We don't accept it.

And so we're working. And this is -- as I said the other day, when these
attacks took place, I said this should be a moment of clarity for people to
see the stakes in the 21st century. I mean, there's an unprovoked attack on
a democracy. Why? I happen to believe, because progress is being made toward
democracies. And I believe that -- I also believe that Iran would like to
exert additional influence in the region. A theocracy would like to spread
its influence using surrogates.

And so I'm as determined as ever to continue fostering a foreign policy
based upon liberty. And I think it's going to work, unless we lose our nerve
and quit. And this government isn't going to quit.

Q I asked you about the loss of American influence in the region.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, David, we went to the G8 and worked with our allies
and got a remarkable statement on what took place. We're working to get a
United Nations resolution on Iran. We're working to have a Palestinian
state. But the reason why -- you asked the question -- is because terrorists
are trying to stop that progress. And we'll ultimately prevail, because they
have -- their ideology is so dark and so dismal that when people really
think about it, it will be rejected. They just got a different tool to use
than we do: They kill innocent lives to achieve objectives. That's what they
do. And they're good. They get on the TV screens and they get people to ask
questions about, well, this, that or the other. I mean, they're able to kind
of say to people, don't come and bother us because we will kill you.

And my attitude is, is that now is the time to be firm. And we've got a
great weapon on our side, and that is freedom, and liberty. And it's got --
those two concepts have got the capacity to defeat ideologies of hate.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: I don't think, actually, it's anything to do with a
loss of American influence at all. I think -- we've got to go back and ask
what changed policy, because policy has changed in the past few years. And
what changed policy was September the 11th. That changed policy, but
actually, before September the 11th this global movement with a global
ideology was already in being. September the 11th was the culmination of
what they wanted to do. But, actually -- and this is probably where the
policymakers, such as myself, were truly in error -- is that even before
September the 11th, this was happening in all sorts of different ways in
different countries.

I mean, in Algeria, for example, tens and tens of thousands of people lost
their lives. This movement has grown, it is there, it will latch on to any
cause that it possibly can and give it a dimension of terrorism and hatred.
You can see this. You can see it in Kashmir, for example. You can see it in
Chechnya. You can see it in Palestine.

Now, what is its purpose? Its purpose is to promote its ideology based upon
the perversion of Islam, and to use any methods
at all, but particularly terrorism, to do that, because they know that the
value of terrorism to them is -- as I was saying a moment or two ago, it's
not simply the act of terror, it's the chain reaction that terror brings
with it. Terrorism brings the reprisal; the reprisal brings the additional
hatred; the additional hatred breeds the additional terrorism, and so on.
But in a small way, we lived through that in Northern Ireland over many,
many decades.

Now, what happened after September the 11th -- and this explains, I think,
the President's policy, but also the reason why I have taken the view, and
still take the view that Britain and America should remain strong allies,
shoulder-to-shoulder in fighting this battle, is that we are never going to
succeed unless we understand they are going to fight hard. The reason why
they are doing what they're doing in Iraq at the moment -- and, yes, it's
really tough as a result of it -- is because they know that if, right in the
center of the Middle East, in an Arab, Muslim country, you've got a
non-sectarian democracy, in other words people weren't governed either by
religious fanatics or secular dictators, you've got a genuine democracy of
the people, how does their ideology flourish in such circumstances?

So they have imported the terrorism into that country, preyed on whatever
reactionary elements there are to boost it. And that's why we have the issue
there; that's why the Taliban are trying to come back in Afghanistan. That
is why, the moment it looked as if you could get progress in Israel and
Palestine, it had to be stopped. That's the moment when, as they saw there
was a problem in Gaza, so they realized, well, there's a possibility now we
can set Lebanon against Israel.

Now, it's a global movement, it's a global ideology. And if there's any
mistake that's ever made in these circumstances, it's if people are
surprised that it's tough to fight, because you're up against an ideology
that's prepared to use any means at all,
including killing any number of wholly innocent people.

And I don't dispute part of the implication of your question at all, in the
sense that you look at what is happening in the Middle East and what is
happening in Iraq and Lebanon and Palestine, and, of course, there's a sense
of shock and frustration and anger at what is happening, and grief at the
loss of innocent lives. But it is not a reason for walking away. It's a
reason for staying the course, and staying it no matter how tough it is,
because the alternative is actually letting this ideology grip a larger and
larger number of people.

And it is going to be difficult. Look, we've got a problem even in our own
Muslim communities in Europe, who will half-buy into some of the propaganda
that's pushed at it -- the purpose of America is to suppress Islam, Britain
has joined with America in the suppression of Islam. And one of the things
we've got to stop doing is stop apologizing for our own positions. Muslims
in America, as far as I'm aware of, are free to worship; Muslims in Britain
are free to worship. We are plural societies.

It's nonsense, the propaganda is nonsense. And we're not going to defeat
this ideology until we in the West go out with sufficient confidence in our
own position and say, this is wrong. It's not just wrong in its methods,
it's wrong in its ideas, it's wrong in its ideology, it's wrong in every
single wretched reactionary thing about it. And it will be a long struggle,
I'm afraid. But there's no alternative but to stay the course with it. And
we will.

Q Can I ask you both how soon realistically you think there could be an end
to the violence, given there's no signs at the moment of 1559 being met? I
mean, do you think we're looking at more weeks, months, or can it be
achieved sooner than that? And also, will the multinational force
potentially be used to effect a cease-fire, or simply to police an agreement
once we eventually get to that?

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Well, the answer to the first point is, as soon as
possible. And if we can get the U.N. resolution agreed next week and acted
upon, then it can happen, and it can happen then. We want to see it happen
as quickly as possible, but the conditions have got to be in place to allow
it to happen.

And in relation to the multinational force, what will be -- it's not going
to be the opportunity to fight -- to fight their way in. But the very way
that you posed that question underlines this basic point, which is, this can
only work if Hezbollah are prepared to allow it to work. And we've got to
make sure, therefore, that we have the force go in as part of an agreement
that the government of Lebanon has bound itself to, the government of Israel
has bound itself to, the international community has bound itself to. And
Hezbollah have got to appreciate that if they stand out against that, then
it's not really that they will be doing a huge disservice to the people of
Lebanon, but they will also, again, face the fact that action will have to
be taken against them.

PRESIDENT BUSH: We share the same urgency of trying to stop the violence.
It's why Condi Rice went out there very quickly. Her job is to, first and
foremost, was to make it clear to the Lebanese people that we wanted to send
aid and help, and help work on the corridors necessary to get the aid to the
Lebanese people. And she's coming back to the region tonight, will be there
tomorrow. I could have called her back here and could have sat around,
visited and talked. But I thought it was important for her to go back to the
region to work on a United Nations Security Council resolution.

So, like the Prime Minister, I would like to end this as quickly as
possible, as well. Having said that, I want to make sure that we address the
root cause of the problem. And I believe the plan that Tony and I discussed
will yield exactly what we want, and that is addressing the root cause of
the problem.

Thank you all for coming.