[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[January 4, 2008]
[Pages 20-24]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Interview With Yonit Levi of Channel 2 News of
Isreal
January 4, 2008
Middle East Peace Process
Ms. Levi. Mr. President, firstly, thank you so much for taking the
time to talk to us.
The President. Welcome to Washington.
Ms. Levi. Thank you very much. You're just about to come to the
Middle East. And in Annapolis, you said that the parties will make every
effort to reach an agreement, until the end of 2008. And I--you know, I
don't want to sound skeptic, but I'm an Israeli, and it's in our nature.
The President. Right. [Laughter]
Ms. Levi. Why do you believe that you can reach peace in 12 months,
when it hasn't been attainable in the 7 years of your Presidency and
long before that?
The President. Yes. I think we can reach a vision of what a
Palestinian state would look like. But I have made it abundantly clear
that the existence of a state will be subject to the obligations in the
roadmap. And so the goal is to have the--a--something other than just
verbs, words. In other words, that the state--here's what a state will
look like. And what's important for that is that the Palestinians need
to have something to hope for, something to be for. There needs--
Abbas, who has agreed that
Israel has the right to exist, must be able to say to his people: ``Be
for me, support me, and this is what can happen. If you follow the way
of the terrorists and the killers, this will never happen.''
And so I'm optimistic that we can have the outlines of a state
defined. And in other words, negotiations on borders and right of return
and these different issues can be
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settled. I'm optimistic because I believe Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas want to achieve that objective. I know I'm willing to
help. But I believe we can get that done, and I think it's in Israel's
interest to get it done.
One reason why it was impossible to get a two-state solution moving
forward previous to this is, one, when we first came into office, there
was an intifada. Secondly, a lot of people didn't necessarily agree with
the two-state solution as being in Israel's interest. Ariel
Sharon changed that point of view. Prime
Minister Olmert campaigned on that. And so we
have a good chance.
I do want to emphasize, however, that the state won't come into
being just because we defined a state. It will come into being subject
to the roadmap, and that's important for the Israeli people to
understand.
Ms. Levi. So there won't necessarily be a complete, ratified, signed
agreement by the end of 2008.
The President. There will be an agreement on what a state would look
like, in my judgment. I think it'll happen. I also believe that the
leaders know me, and I know them, and that there's a--you know, they
say, ``Well, are you going to have a timetable?'' One timetable is the
departure of President George W. Bush from the White House--not that--
that I'm any great, heroic figure, but they know me, and they're
comfortable with me, and I am a known quantity. And therefore, the
question is, will they decide to make the efforts necessary to get the
deal done while I'm President, as opposed to maybe the next person won't
agree with a two-state, or maybe the next person will take a while to
get moving?
And so there's a--I am not going to try to force the issue because
of my own timetable. On the other hand, I do believe Prime Minister
Olmert and President Abbas want to see this done. And therefore, I'm optimistic
it will get done by 2008.
Iran
Ms. Levi. So I am moving on to Iran, and I think the question on
every Israeli's mind--and you're the best man to answer it--is, is Iran
an immediate threat to the existence of Israel?
The President. Yes. First of all, if I were an Israeli, I would take
the words of the Iranian President
seriously. And as President of the United States, I take him seriously.
And I've spoken very bluntly about what that would mean, what an attack
on Israel would mean if Iran were to do that.
Ms. Levi. You said world war III, if I----
The President. Well, I did. And I said that we will defend our ally,
no ands, ifs, or buts. And so--now, I am--one of the concerns, I'm sure,
amongst the Israeli population is whether this intelligence estimate
that came out--what does it mean? It means to me that Iran was a threat,
and Iran is a threat. In other words, just because they had a weapons--a
military covert program that it suspended doesn't mean, one, they could
restart it, and two, doesn't mean that their capacity to enrich
couldn't--in a so-called civilian program--couldn't be transferred to a
military. So I see it as a threat.
Whether there's an imminent attack coming--I don't think so. The
Iranians, I'm confident, know that there would be a significant
retaliation. The key, however, is to make sure that they don't end up
with a weapon. And one of the things I will talk to the Prime
Minister about again is our strategy to solve
this issue diplomatically.
U.S. Foreign Policy
Ms. Levi. You say ``diplomatically,'' but is a military strike still
an option until the end of your Presidency?
The President. Well, the U.S. always maintained a military option. I
have told the American people that I believe we can solve this issue
diplomatically. Diplomacy works best when all options are on the table.
And we're making some progress.
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The Russians and the Chinese as well as the other members of the U.N.
Security Council supported two Security Council resolutions, which, some
might say, aren't very effective. I think they are.
I think they're effective in the sense that it creates a sense of
isolation amongst the Iranians. And I constantly speak to the Iranian
people when I say, you can do better than a Government which is causing
you to be isolated; your economy can do better than it's doing. Because
of your Government's decision not to be honest with the world, not to be
transparent, not to listen to the IAEA, there will be continued economic
sanctions, some of them unilaterally, some of them bilaterally. The
sanctions on their financial institutions, for example, can be very
effective.
And so the United States--we've spent a lot of time on this issue,
keeping the pressure on the Iranians.
2008 Presidential Election
Ms. Levi. So we're--let's move to something a lot nicer, namely, the
upcoming U.S. elections. And I seem to recall you liked to be on the
campaign trail. You were there twice, and you won. Are you a little bit,
you know, envious of the candidates?
The President. It's an interesting question. I know exactly what
they're going through. Laura and I--well, Laura
and I were talking about what it was like the day before, like, the Iowa
caucuses. You know, I've been through three Iowa caucuses: one, when my
dad beat Ronald Reagan in 1980 and then
lost; two, that when my dad came in third in Iowa in 1988 and won; and
of course, our own caucus, which then--you know, we win Iowa, go
immediately to New Hampshire, lose, and eventually win.
And so there's a--it's just the beginning of a long process. And
it's an important process for an American politician because it does two
things: one, it lets the electorate see how people handle stress; and
equally importantly, it lets the candidate, the running--person running
determine whether or not they have the inner fortitude necessary to be
the President of the United States. Because if things were okay and
everything is, you know, smooth, it's--the job is kind of--it's
interesting. And it's always interesting--don't get me wrong--but it's--
when times are tough is when you're really tested, when you have to make
the tough decisions of war and peace. And you--it requires an inner
fortitude that I think that you begin to develop when you're out there
in those primaries.
So this is the beginning of a fairly long process, although it's
been--to answer your question, I don't wish for things that are
impossible to wish for. And so I'm an observer, but with a pretty
intimate knowledge of the sentiments that these candidates are going
through.
President's Legacy
Ms. Levi. I imagine so. You are, you know, reaching the end of your
Presidency in a year, and it's sort of the season to summarize. Can you
tell me what your--you consider as your biggest achievement, and what,
if anything, do you regret?
The President. Yes. First of all, I'm going to get a lot done next
year.
Ms. Levi. Of course.
The President. I really am. You know, there's this great myth about
how the President--because there's an election or because it's the last
year of his Presidency, not much is going to get done. Quite the
contrary. We'll get a lot done.
I would think that--first of all, I don't believe there's such a
thing as an accurate short-term history. I'm still--I read a lot of
history these days. I like to read a lot about Abraham Lincoln, for
example. And if they're still analyzing the 16th--the history of the
16th President, see, then I--the 43d guy just doesn't need to worry
about it. I'll be long gone. But I do believe that----
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Ms. Levi. Isn't that kind of sad, that you won't be appreciated
enough until after you're gone?
The President. No, what really matters in life is, do you have a set
of principles, and are you willing to live your life based upon those
principles? That's what matters most to me. My priorities are really my
faith and my family. And we're blessed with a lot of friends. And I just
am not the kind of person that's--I don't spend a lot of time looking in
the mirror, I guess is the best way to say it. But I do believe that--I
can predict that the historians will say that George W. Bush recognized
the threats of the 21st century, clearly defined them, and had great
faith in the capacity of liberty to transform hopelessness to hope, and
laid the foundation for peace by making some awfully difficult
decisions.
President's Future
Ms. Levi. And finally, can I ask you, when you do leave the White
House--you're still fairly young, you know--what's next for you after
you're the leader of the free world?
The President. Yes, you know, I don't know. I do know where I'm
going to live, and that's in Texas.
Ms. Levi. Texas.
The President. I tell my friends from Texas, I left the State with a
set of principles, and I'm returning with the same set of principles.
And I didn't compromise my beliefs in order to be the popular guy or the
hip guy or the guy that every--you know, the cultural elite likes. But I
don't know. I'm going to build a library with a freedom institute
attached to it.
And it's not just freedom from tyranny, it's freedom from disease.
One of the great initiatives of my administration has been the HIV/AIDS
initiative on the continent of Africa. Laura and
I are very much involved in an initiative to end malaria. And thanks to
the taxpayers of our country, we've dedicated about $1.6 billion to help
save babies' lives. It's the tyranny of hunger, the tyranny of
ignorance. I mean, there's all kinds of ways that I think I can help
others realize the great blessings of life.
But I haven't gotten there yet. I've got too much to do. I mean,
I've been thinking about this trip to the Middle East today, and I'm
excited to go, I really am. You know, my first trip to Israel--and only
trip to Israel--was in 1998. And I remember being in a hotel room and
opened the curtain over the Old City, and the sun was just coming up,
and it just glowed. It was golden. And I told Laura, I said, ``I can't believe what I'm looking at.'' And
after she got her contacts on--[laughter]--she came and looked.
And you know, one of the great ironies of that trip was that I was
on a helicopter tour of the West Bank with Ariel Sharon. You know, life works in funny ways. I had just finished
a reelection campaign in Texas, and there was a lot of pressure and a
lot of talk about me running for President. But I don't think either of
us would have guessed that both of us would have been serving in our
respective offices at a defining moment in history. And that defining
moment is the willingness of free nations to confront the ideology of
hate, those who use murder to achieve political objectives. And yet
there we were.
I'm saddened by the fact that he's in the
state he's in. But nevertheless, it was--the beginning of a relationship
started in a helicopter flying over the West Bank in 1998, and I'm
glad--I'm really glad to be coming back. And I'm looking forward to
being with my friend Prime Minister Olmert and
other leaders.
Ms. Levi. Mr. President, thank you so much----
The President. Thank you.
Ms. Levi. ----again for taking the time to talk to us. Thank you so
much.
The President. You bet. Thank you.
Ms. Levi. And have a safe trip, and best of luck. We're all keeping
our fingers crossed for you.
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The President. We'll be fine.
Ms. Levi. Thank you.
Note: The interview was taped at 4:05 p.m. in the Map Room at the White
House for later broadcast. In his remarks, the President referred to
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority; Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel; and
President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad of Iran. The transcript was released by
the Office of the Press Secretary on January 6. Portions of this
interview could not be verified because the tape was incomplete.