*EPF302 06/25/2003
White House Report: Bush Says Mideast Terrorist Groups "Must Be Dismantled"
(Palestinian truce, Iraq, Africa) (1040)

Asked at a press availability with European Union leaders in the East Room about news reports that three Palestinian terrorist groups -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah -- have agreed to a cease-fire lasting three months, President Bush responded:

"As I was walking in, somebody told me about the report. I'll believe it when I see it, knowing the history of the terrorists in the Middle East. But the true test for Hamas and terrorist organizations is the complete dismantlement of their terrorist networks, their capacity to blow up the peace process. That's the true test."

The president said "it's one thing to make a verbal agreement. But in order for there to be peace in the Middle East, we must see organizations such as Hamas dismantled, and then we'll have peace. Then we'll have a chance for peace. I like to remind people that there are three parties involved directly in the territories there. There's the Israeli government. I believe the Israeli people want peace, and I believe their government when they say they want a peaceful state, living side by side Israel.

"Secondly, there are the people of the Palestinian world who are tired of failed leadership, tired of terrorism destroying their hopes, tired of living in poverty, and they, too, want a peaceful state. And then there are the terrorists, like Hamas, who do not want a peaceful state, and they're willing to use terrorist means to destroy it. In order for there to be peace, Hamas must be dismantled."

Earlier June 25, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters "we in the United States government have not yet received any official information" about the reported truce agreement.

But Fleischer said "anything that reduces the level of violence is a step in the right direction, but it's only a step. What's important is the dismantlement of organizations that engage in terror, because otherwise there is always the possibility that some of these organizations, they get breathing space, they reserve time or save their energy for more combat later and more terrorist operations later."

BUSH STILL CONFIDENT WMD WILL BE FOUND IN IRAQ

President Bush continues to be confident that weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq, Fleischer told reporters.

Fleischer discounted remarks made earlier in the day by Senator Joseph Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said he believes that the Bush administration exaggerated the evidence on weapons of mass destruction to create a sense of urgency to deal with Iraq.

"[T]here's no truth to that," Fleischer said. "[A]ll you need to do is take a look at the consistency of what this administration, previous administrations, numerous Democrat and Republican senators, including House members -- Democrat, Republican alike -- have said for now a decade. You need to take a look at the debate that the senators themselves got into in 1998 when they passed the regime change legislation, if you want to see what the senators themselves said about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and weapons of mass destruction programs.

"And so what the administration has said is exactly what the best analysts in the intelligence agencies have reported for a considerable period of time, and that is that Iraq had biological and chemical weapons and the means to produce them. That is what we said. We said it for good reasons, for accurate reasons. ... And we stand by it."

Fleischer said the fact that weapons of mass destruction have not been found "suggests that they [members of the former Saddam Hussein regime] have hidden them and that they will ultimately be discovered."

President Bush "is still patient and still confident" that the United States and coalition forces "will indeed be successful" in their search for weapons of mass destruction, the press secretary said.

"Now, the war just ended a little while ago when it came to major operations. And this president is going to continue to be steadfast and patient. He understands that people are going to be critics. It won't stop him from continuing to complete the mission in Iraq," he said.

Asked about the ongoing attacks on U.S. and British forces in Iraq, and whether Bush declared the war over too soon, Fleischer said:

"No, I think if you take a look at what the president has said -- the president, in his remarks on the Abraham Lincoln [aircraft carrier], warned the American people that Iraq remains a dangerous place. And it's dangerous because there are still elements that are loyal to Saddam Hussein, that are still members of the Baath Party, who want to do today what they've done for decades, which is kill and torture and bring harm to the people of Iraq. And the United States is there to help the people of Iraq and, therefore, they're attacking the United States and, in this case, British forces."

BUSH AFRICA TRIP TO FOCUS ON TRADE

President Bush "is very much looking forward" to his visit to five countries in Africa, Fleischer told reporters.

The president will visit Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria July 7-12.

"This was a trip that was originally scheduled in January; the president had to postpone it. And he said he would carry out the trip later this year, and he, indeed, is," Fleischer said.

"[T]he focus of the trip is going to be on trade. It's going to be on promoting democracy. Indeed, there are several success stories in Africa that the president is going to put on the world's map for all the world to see, that, indeed, democracy can be a part of the African story."

The president will also talk about his initiative to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, Fleischer said.

And Bush will visit Goree Island, off the coast of Senegal, used as a slave trading center for hundreds of years.

"[Y]ou're going to hear from the president on the topic of slavery and about democracy and about how to help people forward in life and how people progress, thanks to democracy and freedom," Fleischer said.

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

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