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Press Briefing
31 August 2006

Press Secretary in Waiting Jacques Robe
The Chateau Press Briefing Room

10.30 AM WST

THE PRESS SECRETARY IN WAITING: All right, I'll go through the schedule and then two announcements, and then take your questions.

The President at eleven AM will welcome the Prime Minister of Blangadesh to the Chateau for a meeting. This will be Presidnet Cherrie's first time meeting Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The two leaders will discuss issues including Poverty, as well as East Asia affairs.

The Preisdent after which will recieve a briefing by the Chief of Staff on Global Warming. At four PM, the Preisdent will depart for Bestram, where he will attend a sun set service commorating Hurricane Katrina victims. He will spend the night in Bestram and leave tomorrow morning for Robotics, where he will visit troops based there and disucss poverty. The Preisdent will then leave by early afternoon for Y Shere where he will spend the weekend.

One announcement: President Bush will welcome His Highness Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of the state of Kuwait, to the Chateau on September 4th, 2006. Kuwait is a close and valuable ally. The President looks forward to discussing with Amir Sabah a range of bilateral and regional issues, including the war on terror, assistance and reconstruction of Iraq and of Lebanon, and Kuwait's commendable progress on reform.

And as you have seen, in Bestram, the rebuilding is underway, but there is still a long way to go. And that's why the President reaffirmed his commitment to the region. The anniversary was not the ending of his commitments. He reaffirmed it, and he said before that it's going to take several years, but I think you all saw there that the spirit of hope, coupled with the hard work of the people of the region and the volunteers is self-evidence, and all that coupled together will make for a stronger region.

Tomorrow the President will kick off a series of several speeches on the global environment crisis, that will go through his speech at the United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 19th. As you know, the President is constantly talking about the issues we face in the war on the environment.

Second story -- and this is also important -- actually, a couple of stories about what's going on in Lebanon. I thought I'd give you a quick update there. There were reports that senior members of the Lebanese government had said that Lebanon would not disarm Hezbollah. I mentioned yesterday to you the fact that Prime Minister Siniora would be giving an address to the nation. Well, he has delivered that address, he did it last night, and I thought I'd read out some of the key points, because it's counter of the stories that the Lebanese government says it won't disarm Hezbollah.

First, the Prime Minister reiterated that "a strong and democratic state is the biggest victory we as Lebanese can achieve." He also said that Lebanon will never be made into, "an arena for regional and international conflicts." He reiterated his nation's government -- his government to extending and implementing the Taif Accord, his own seven-point plan, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, and also the other U.N. Security Council resolutions that well, as he put it, would extend state sovereignty, "over the entire homeland." He said that, "No areas will remain closed to the army," and that's important, because I think part of the reporting was indicating that Lebanese officials had said that they would sort of wink and nod and pay no attention to what Hezbollah had done. And he said there would be, "no armed manifestations outside state authorities." "Weapons should be held only by the state." Again, this is the Prime Minister speaking to the Lebanese populace.

In terms of the U.N. Security Council resolution, 1701 does not directly call for disarmament, but it does refer back to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 that does. However, there may be a follow on resolution, there has been discussion, if necessary, of coming up with more specific plans, either by resolution or joint planning, to demilitarize the southern part of the nation, that is demilitarize other than duly constituted authorities. And as I said yesterday, Lebanon will have to take the lead role, and we'll get some assistance from the United Nations forces, but Lebanon will have to do it.

We also understand that the Lebanese government, which has not had a significant presence in the south for 30 years, is going to have to take time to reestablish links and bonds with the Lebanese people. But again, the ultimate goal of the process is Lebanon, under the authority of a sovereign and elected government. Those are just a couple of the basic stories I wanted to make sure that I gave you sort of a readout on. I know there are others, and we'll take questions now.

Terry.

Q Do you think that Lebanon is fulfilling the U.N. resolution or is even making a good faith effort to fulfill the U.N. resolution?

A: Beginning to, yes. When you're talking about taking 15,000 Lebanese armed forces, troops and moving them into the south, that is something that's called for. It has been agreed upon by the government. But again, we're not expecting overnight results. We understand that this is something that is going to take time. But it is important to realize that there has been a commitment on the part of the Lebanese government eventually to regain control over the entire countryside. And that does include disarming Hezbollah.

Now, Hezbollah can do it of choice. We certainly hope that's the case. As the President said the other day, you can't be an organization and have one foot in politics and one in terror. You got to make a choice, and we hope they make the political choice.

Q It seems, though, that when you come out here and make a preemptive statement that there is no agreement not to disarm Hezbollah that you're flying in the face of the evidence on the ground. You know, for example, that politics in the Middle East is deliberately ambiguous much of the time. There is no indication that, in fact, the Lebanese government is going to force Hezbollah to give up its arms. Your preemptive statement this morning seems based on the belief that they should, and that the interests of the people will force it. But there's nothing on the ground and nothing in past history to suggest that that would ever be the case.

A: Well, there are a couple of things on the ground. You have the movement of 15,000 troops into the region.

Q So?

A: Well, that's something. Now, perhaps you've been talking to people directly on the ground there, and have a better read out. But we're now talking about an agreement that is several days old. And if you're expecting, Bill, for there to be dramatic new things and people sort of running out to the village square and dropping off their Kalashnikovs, we're not quite there yet.

Thankyou very much -

END