(Thanks to Nicola Linza)
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EXCERPTED from Full Conference that follows on.
President Bush and Italian Prime
Minister Discuss War Effort
Remarks by the President and Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi
in Photo Opportunity on The Colonnade
12:11 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: It's my honor to welcome the leader of one of our
nation's
best friends, the Prime Minister of a country that has had so much
to do with
our nation and its development.
I'm also pleased to be able to give him a lunch
-- after all, I had one
of the best lunches I've had since I've been the President because
of the
Prime Minister. We had a long discussion about our mutual desire
to rout out
terrorism where it might exist. He understands as well as I understand
that
the war on terrorism will be waged on many fronts, and I'm so pleased
with
the efforts of his government to join with us in disrupting the financial
networks of terrorist organizations. I'm pleased that we're sharing
intelligence. I'm pleased that the Prime Minister understands
that al Qaeda
has cells all around the world and he's more than willing to work with
us to
disrupt those cells, to bring people to justice. We're making
progress.
One reason we're making progress is because
we've got good, strong
friends such as the Italians and the Italian government.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. It's
my honor to have you here.
PRIME MINISTER BERLUSCONI: Thank you,
Mr. President, I am here, first
of all, to express our great pain and sadness for the attack on September
the
11th and to say to you if the same attack had been -- had occurred
on an
Italian city we would have felt the same pain as you are.
And also I'm here to express to you our desire
to be as close as
possible and to provide both moral and material support.
As I mentioned earlier this morning, this attack was an attack not only
against citizens, but also against freedom and liberty. The U.S.
is the
defensor of liberty all over the world, and that's what this attack
was about.
THE PRESIDENT: We'll answer a couple of questions.
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Q Mr. President, you have mentioned...like to see
more action from the
allies. And you mentioned what the U.K. is doing. What
would you say about
what Italy has done? And what was the subject of your conversation?
Would
you like to see something more done by Italy? And, also, from
Europe, would
you like to see more economic action from the European side to help
the U.S.
economy?
THE PRESIDENT: ...
First of all, I'm very pleased with the cooperation
and support of
Italy. They have been very strong from the beginning. The
Prime Minister
has been very, not only supportive, but has asked how to help in significant
ways to fight terrorism.
Again, I repeat to you, this is a war that's
going to be fought on a
variety of fronts. One such front will be to disrupt financial
-- the
finances of the terrorist organizations. And he was discussing
with me some
executive orders that had been taken recently that showed Italy's desire
to
be very firm about disrupting finances. There is a sharing of
information
that goes on.
I'm confident that if we put out the word that
we needed more help from
Italy they would be more than willing to help. Each of us has
a role to
play. And the Italian government, under this good man's leadership,
is
playing a very significant role....
============================================================
COMPLETE TEXT
President Bush and Italian Prime Minister Discuss War Effort
Remarks by the President and Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi
in Photo Opportunity on The Colonnade
12:11 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: It's my honor to welcome
the leader of one of our
nation's best friends, the Prime Minister of a country that has had
so much
to do with our nation and its development.
I'm also pleased to be able to give him a lunch
-- after all, I had one
of the best lunches I've had since I've been the President because
of the
Prime Minister. We had a long discussion about our mutual desire
to rout out
terrorism where it might exist. He understands as well as I understand
that
the war on terrorism will be waged on many fronts, and I'm so pleased
with
the efforts of his government to join with us in disrupting the financial
networks of terrorist organizations. I'm pleased that we're sharing
intelligence. I'm pleased that the Prime Minister understands
that al Qaeda
has cells all around the world and he's more than willing to work with
us to
disrupt those cells, to bring people to justice. We're making
progress.
One reason we're making progress is because
we've got good, strong
friends such as the Italians and the Italian government.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. It's
my honor to have you here.
PRIME MINISTER BERLUSCONI: Thank you,
Mr. President, I am here, first
of all, to express our great pain and sadness for the attack on September
the
11th and to say to you if the same attack had been -- had occurred
on an
Italian city we would have felt the same pain as you are.
And also I'm here to express to you our desire
to be as close as
possible and to provide both moral and material support.
As I mentioned earlier this morning, this attack was an attack not only
against citizens, but also against freedom and liberty. The U.S.
is the
defensor of liberty all over the world, and that's what this attack
was
about.
THE PRESIDENT: We'll answer a couple
of questions.
Q These anthrax attacks,
sir, do you believe that there is any
connection to bin Laden's organization? Your Vice President,
on Friday,
seemed to indicate there may be some possible link.
THE PRESIDENT: There may be some possible
link. We have no hard data
yet. But it's clear that Mr. bin Laden is a man who is an evil
man. He and
his spokesmen are openly bragging about how they hope to inflict more
pain on
our country. So we're watching every piece of evidence.
We're making sure
that we connect any dots that we have, to find out who's doing this.
I
wouldn't put it past him, but we don't have hard evidence, yet.
Q Do you have anything that
points towards bin Laden, besides your
gut? And has there been any other reports of anthrax tainted
mail being
received by U.S. businesses or government offices today?
THE PRESIDENT: There has been today.
I just talked to Leader Daschle.
His office received a letter, and it had anthrax in it. The letter
was field
tested. The staffers that have been exposed are being treated.
The powder
that had been field tested is now, obviously, going to the CDC lab.
Beyond that, I don't know more about it.
I spoke to the Leader; he is,
obviously, concerned, as am I. The key thing for the American
people is to
be cautious about letters that come from somebody you may not know,
unmarked
letters, letters that have got -- that look suspicious. And give
those
letters and packages to local law authorities.
Again, the process is working; but, today,
the Senate Majority Leader,
his office did receive a letter.
Q Was it definitely anthrax,
or just a preliminary test, do you know?
THE PRESIDENT: The field test shows it
to be anthrax. Ron, there's
more tests being conducted as we speak. The Leader believes it
is anthrax,
but we'll find out more as time goes on.
They've got the letter. As he said, it
was a letter that had been
wrapped a lot and that the powder was within the confines of the --
within
the envelope. It wasn't on the outside of the envelope, it was
within the
envelope. And a staffer opened the letter. They obviously
became suspicious
of the material within the letter and immediately called in for a field
test.
The field test was done, shows it to be anthrax, and then all
people are
being treated.
Q India says it opened fire
on Pakistani positions in the Kashmir
region today, this just an hour or two after Secretary Powell landed
in
Pakistan. How helpful is something like that?
THE PRESIDENT: I haven't see a report
yet, John. And I think it is
very important that India and Pakistan stand down during our activities
in
Afghanistan; stand down, for that matter, forever.
But I am -- I need to find out more about the
report; I will find out
more about the report. As you noted, our Secretary of State is
in the
region. One reason he's there is to talk to both sides about
making sure
that there is no -- that if there are tensions and, obviously, there
are,
that they be reduced, that we are mindful that activities around Kashmir
could create issues in that part of the region, particularly as we're
conducting our operations in Afghanistan.
Q Mr. President, you have
mentioned that you would -- the other
evening in your press conference, that you would like to see more action
from
the allies. And you mentioned what the U.K. is doing. What
would you say
about what Italy has done? And what was the subject of your conversation?
Would you like to see something more done by Italy? And, also,
from Europe,
would you like to see more economic action from the European side to
help the
U.S. economy? Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. First
of all, we're taking measures here at
home to get our economy started. There is some optimism, as some
numbers
recently have shown that consumer confidence is getting stronger, that
people
are getting to get on the airways more, that people are traveling.
So there
are some positive signs.
I hope to work with -- I am working with Congress
and hope to get a
stimulus package that will dovetail nicely with the tax cuts we had
this
summer, coupled with some of the spending measures we've taken since
September 11th.
First of all, I'm very pleased with the cooperation
and support of
Italy. They have been very strong from the beginning. The
Prime Minister
has been very, not only supportive, but has asked how to help in significant
ways to fight terrorism.
Again, I repeat to you, this is a war that's
going to be fought on a
variety of fronts. One such front will be to disrupt financial
-- the
finances of the terrorist organizations. And he was discussing
with me some
executive orders that had been taken recently that showed Italy's desire
to
be very firm about disrupting finances. There is a sharing of
information
that goes on.
I'm confident that if we put out the word that
we needed more help from
Italy they would be more than willing to help. Each of us has
a role to
play. And the Italian government, under this good man's leadership,
is
playing a very significant role.
We're going to go eat lunch. Thank you.
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