*EPF302 04/30/2003
White House Report: Bush To Announce End Of Combat Phase of Iraq War
(Iraq/WMD, Colombia, Norway) (580)

President Bush will announce the end of major combat operations in Iraq in a speech to the nation the evening of May 1, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters, but the speech will not be a legal declaration of an end to hostilities because "pockets of resistance" remain.

Bush will make the speech from the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln (at 0100 GMT May 2) as it returns to its home port of San Diego, California from the Middle East.

The president will talk about the purpose of the military operation in Iraq, the security of the United States, the liberation of the Iraqi people, and the reconstruction of Iraq, Fleischer said. The White House, Fleischer said, has formally requested that network television broadcast the president's speech live.

General Tommy Franks notified the president April 29 that major combat operations had ended and that focus has shifted to the next phase of the mission, known within military circles as Phase Four, which is reconstruction in Iraq, Fleischer said.

The aircraft carrier will be hundreds of miles from shore when the president makes his speech. Bush will spend the night aboard the carrier but depart via helicopter to California the morning of May 2, before the sailors and soldiers arrive home to be reunited with their families.

The U.S.S. Lincoln has been deployed for nearly ten months in three separate operations dealing with Afghanistan and Iraq.

U.S. CONFIDENT WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WILL BE FOUND IN IRAQ

The Bush administration remains confident that weapons of mass destruction will turn up in Iraq, Fleischer said, in response to a question.

"We continue to have high confidence that the weapons of mass destruction will be found. Iraq is a regime that was a master at hiding it, (WMD) and there are thousands and thousands of sites where it could be hidden, and they will be pursued as increasing evidence comes along."

Fleischer pointed out that Saddam Hussein had some 14 years "to hide his weapons of mass destruction, and particularly the four years when the inspectors were out of the country."

BUSH TO DISCUSS TERRORISM WITH COLOMBIA'S PRESIDENT

Bush was scheduled to meet in the Oval Office late in the day April 30 with President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia.

President Bush "looks forward to his meeting this evening to talk to President Uribe about steps that are being taken to fight the terrorism there. And it's important. The people of Colombia have long been struggling against terrorism there that's sapping the strength of the country, and they deserve the support of the world," Fleischer said.

Asked about the murder of two journalists in Colombia a day earlier, Fleischer said "the United States is working directly with the Colombians, and we have a presence in the region, authorized by the Congress, to help with the narcoterrorist war that the government of Colombia and President Uribe are fighting."

PRIME MINISTER OF NORWAY TO VISIT WHITE HOUSE

President Bush will welcome Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik of Norway to the White House May 16. "Norway is a close ally and good friend of the United States. And the president and the prime minister will discuss important challenges on the global agenda, including the war on terrorism, reconstruction of Iraq, and transatlantic relations," Fleischer said.

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

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