Full text of Bush news conference

One of the great sources of energy for the future is liquefied natural gas. There’s a lot of gas reserves around the world. Gas is—can only be transported by ship, though, when you liquefy it, when you put it in solid form. We’ve only got five terminals that are able to receive liquefied natural gas so it can get into our markets. We need more terminals to receive liquefied natural gas from around the world.

We should have a active energy—nuclear energy policy in America. We’ve got abundant resources of coal, and we’re spending money for clean-coal technology. So these are longer term projects all aimed at making us become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.

Terry.

Q So am I reading correctly that the energy bill would not have had an effect on today’s high gasoline—

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it would have 10 years ago. That’s exactly what I’ve been saying to the American people -- 10 years ago if we’d had an energy strategy, we would be able to diversify away from foreign dependence. And—but we haven’t done that. And now we find ourselves in the fix we’re in. It’s taken us a while to get there, and it’s going to take us a while to get out. Hopefully, additional crude oil on the market from countries with some spare capacity will help relieve the price for the American consumers.

Terry.

Q Mr. President, your State Department has reported that terrorist attacks around the world are at an all-time high. If we’re winning the war on terrorism, as you say, how do you explain that more people are dying in terrorist attacks on your watch than ever before?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’ve made the decision to defeat the terrorists abroad so we don’t have to face them here at home. And when you engage the terrorists abroad, it causes activity and action. And we’re relentless. We, the—America and our coalition partners. We understand the stakes, and they’re very high because there are people still out there that would like to do harm to the American people.

But our strategy is to stay on the offense, is to keep the pressure on these people, is to cut off their money and to share intelligence and to find them where they hide. And we are making good progress. The al Qaeda network that attacked the United States has been severely diminished. We are slowly but surely dismantling that organization.

In the long run, Terry—like I said earlier—the way to defeat terror, though, is to spread freedom and democracy. It’s really the only way in the long-term. In the short-term, we’ll use our troops and assets and agents to find these people and to protect America. But in the long-term, we must defeat the hopelessness that allows them to recruit by spreading freedom and democracy. But we’re making progress.

Q So in the near-term you think there will be more attacks and more people dying?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to predict that. In the near-term I can only tell you one thing: we will stay on the offense; we’ll be relentless; we’ll be smart about how we go after the terrorists; we’ll use our friends and allies to go after the terrorists; we will find them where they hide and bring them to justice.

Let me finish with the TV people first. Suzanne. You’re not a TV person, Ed—I know you’d like to be, but -- (laughter.)

Q You’d be surprised. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: It’s a tough industry to get into.

Q Mr. President, it was four years ago when you fist met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. You said you looked into his eyes and you saw his soul. You’ll also be meeting with the Russian leader in about a week or so. What do you think of Putin now that he has expressed a willingness to supply weapons to outlaw regimes, specifically his recent comments that he said he would provide short-range missiles to Syria and nuclear components to Iran?

THE PRESIDENT: We have—first, just on a broader—kind of in a broader sense, I had a long talk with Vladimir there in Slovakia about democracy and about the importance of democracy. And as you remember, at the press conference—or if you weren’t there, somebody will remember—he stood up and said he strongly supports democracy. I take him for his word.

I—and we’ll continue to work. Condi just—Condi Rice, our Secretary of State, just came back and she briefed me that she had a very good discussion with Vladimir about the merits of democracy, about the need to listen to the people and have a government that’s responsive.

We’re working closely with the Russians on—on the issue of vehicle-mounted weaponry to Syria. We didn’t appreciate that, but we made ourselves clear. As to Iran, what Russia has agreed to do is to send highly enriched uranium to a nuclear civilian power plant, and then collect that uranium after it’s used for electricity—power purposes. That’s what they’ve decided to do.

And I appreciate that gesture. See, what they recognize is that—what America recognizes, and what Great Britain, France, and Germany recognize, is that we can’t trust the Iranians when it comes to enriching uranium; that they should not be allowed to enrich uranium.

And what the Iranians have said was, don’t we deserve to have a nuclear power industry just like you do? I’ve kind of wondered why they need one since they’ve got all the oil, but nevertheless, others in the world say, well, maybe that’s their right to have their own civilian nuclear power industry. And what Russia has said: Fine, we’ll provide you the uranium, we’ll enrich it for you and provide it to you, and then we’ll collect it. And I appreciate that gesture. I think it’s—so I think Vladimir was trying to help there. I know Vladimir Putin understands the dangers of a Iran with a nuclear weapon. And most of the world understands that, as well.

Wendell.

Q Mr. President, have you asked your ambassador to the U.N., Ambassador John Bolton, about allegations that he acted improperly to subordinates? Do you feel that these allegations warrant your personal intervention? And if they’re true, do you feel that they should disqualify him from holding the post, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, John Bolton has been asked the questions about—about how he handles his business by members of the United States Senate. He’s been asked a lot of questions and he’s given very good answers. John Bolton is a seasoned diplomat. He’s been serving our country for, I think, 20 years. He has been confirmed by the United States Senate four times. In other words, he’s been up before the Senate before and they’ve analyzed his talents and his capabilities and they’ve confirmed him.

John Bolton is a blunt guy. Sometimes people say I’m a little too blunt. John Bolton can get the job done at the United Nations. It seemed like to me it makes sense to put somebody who’s capable, smart, served our country for 20 years, been confirmed by the United States Senate four times, and who isn’t afraid to speak his mind in the post of the ambassador to the U.N.

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