*EPF402 02/07/2002
White House Report, Feb. 7: Bush/Hemisphere Travel, Cheney to Mideast
(Bush/Sharon talks on the Mideast, Cheney to travel to the Mideast) (1020)

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed at early morning and midday sessions with reporters.

BUSH WILL TRAVEL TO MEXICO, PERU, EL SALVADOR MARCH 22-24

Fleischer announced that President Bush will travel to Peru and El Salvador on March 23-24 following his already announced meeting with Mexico's President Vicente Fox in Monterrey on March 22.

"Peruvians, over the last year," Fleischer said, "have reaffirmed strongly their commitment to democratic principles and have shown leadership in promising these principles throughout the Inter-American region.

"In Peru," he said, "the President will meet with President Toledo to discuss our mutual efforts to strengthen hemispheric democracy, free trade and the rule of law. They will also discuss our common fight against narcotics trafficking and terrorism."

The Press Secretary said that in El Salvador, "the President will discuss with President Flores the proposed initiative on a Central American Free Trade Agreement. The two leaders will also discuss U.S. support for El Salvador's ongoing efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and to modernize its economy. They'll also review U.S. assistance programs for earthquake reconstruction."

BUSH, SHARON DISCUSS TERRORISM AND THE MIDEAST LATE FEBRUARY 7

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would "discuss the campaign against terror and developments in the Middle East," including efforts to "achieve peace" in the region, during their Oval Office meeting at the White House later in the day.

"As to the Middle East," said Fleischer, "the President believes that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat knows what he needs to do, and that's to fight terror, and the President is still waiting for Chairman Arafat to take stronger actions to do it."

The Press Secretary said that Bush "will express to Prime Minister Sharon his deep concern about the plight of the Palestinian people -- and he'll also discuss what steps might be taken to ease the situation for the people."

Asked what concrete steps would be recommended that Arafat could take that might end terrorism or at least reduce it, Fleischer responded: "The Palestinian Authority has many police at their disposal who are capable of cracking down on people who engage in terror and violence, if they so choose. It's preventive action to stop any attacks from taking place. It's action to arrest and detain those who commit acts of terror -- not to arrest and release them, but to arrest and detain them and keep them detained. Those are a couple of examples."

The Press Secretary also said that "the President has made it clear and will continue to make clear that Chairman Arafat has got to do more, that he has not done enough. The President will also make clear that the United States will remain engaged in the region and engaged with the Palestinian Authority.

Asked about the number of meetings the President has had with Sharon compared with Arafat, Fleischer responded, "the President thinks that when it comes to stopping the terror in the Middle East, one side needs to do more."

BUSH SENDING CHENEY TO THE MIDDLE EAST

The Press Secretary said that President Bush has asked Vice President Cheney "to go to the Middle East and a couple of other nations that are just outside -- one just outside the Middle East, another -- Britain, of course -- because the Vice President has great knowledge of officials in the region, the issues in the region.

"And vice presidents often travel to represent the President, and the Vice President will do that in this case," said Fleischer.

He characterized the Vice President's visit to the region "as part of the ongoing efforts by the administration on a host of issues, to talk about regional stability, to talk about the war against terrorism. I don't think you should look at it as if he is going to be going there with any one specific grand plan. It doesn't work that way."

Asked if part of Cheney's trip would be to shore up the coalition for the next steps in the war on terrorism, Fleischer said, "he's going there to discuss a wide range of issues, and certainly the war on terrorism is one of those issues, but there are no plans at this point for what people have referred to as phase two. This is an ongoing effort that's evolving."

In response to a question about whether the White House thinks the international coalition in the war is holding, the Press Secretary said, "Yes, the coalition is holding. And the coalition, as we've said from day one, will be different coalition partners on different missions, and not everybody will be part of the same coalition."

Fleischer reiterated that Cheney is going to the region "to represent the President on a wide variety of issues," but, on the question of Iraq, added that "the President has not made any determination to go into Iraq. He'll discuss a lot of regional issues, so I'm sure that will be one" of them.

Asked if there would be a phase two in the war against terrorism, the Press Secretary responded, "Well, the President has made clear to the American people that the first phase was focused on Afghanistan but, as the President said in his State of the Union address, clearly more needs to be done outside the Afghan theater when it comes to combating terrorism on multiple fronts, including, as you know, diplomatic, political, military, financial, et cetera."

On the issue of regime change in Iraq, the Press Secretary replied, "Secretary Powell testified about regime change" before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. "It is long-standing American policy on Iraq, properly so. The Iraqi people will be much better off without Saddam Hussein."

Fleischer told questioners that he does not think "it's a question of going it alone. The President has made clear that he will lead the world in fighting terrorism, and this is part of the ongoing diplomatic efforts."

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

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