Description

President George W. Bush is repeating his long-standing call for creation of a Palestinian state and says Hamas must back off from its attacks on Israel./nAt a news conference Monday, Bush was asked how a ceasefire might be brought about to end the violence that has been running rampant in Gaza Strip./nHe replied that a \sustainable\ ceasefire can only be possible if Hamas retreats in its eff More..orts to launch attacks on Israel./nBush said that \Israel has a right to defend herself,\ but added that the Jewish state must be mindful of the risk of civilian casualties./nThe US leader continued to say that North Korea and Iran, whom he once dubbed part of an \Axis of Evil,\ remained dangerous and called on Pyongyang to honor promises made in nuclear disarmament talks./n\In order to advance our relations with Korea, the North Korean government must honor the commitments it made to allow for strong verification measures to be in place to ensure that they do not develop a highly enriched uranium program,\ Bush told his final news conference at the White House./nBush admits \mistakes\ in office/nHe said he regretted some of his rhetoric, in particular his \bring it on\ comment to those who carried out \terror\ attacks./nHowever, he defended his administration\s record on the Middle East, saying he felt he had \advanced the process\ despite the widely perceived failure of the Annapolis talks in 2007./nBush also used his final news conference to insist he remained \for a sustainable ceasefire\ in Gaza, but said Hamas must stop firing rockets into southern Israel./nAlso on Monday, Bush agreed to Obama\s request for congress to release the remaining $350bn of the $700bn bailout for the country\s financial sector./nThe request gives Obama the ability to access the money and also change the programme\s aims and conditions./nThe Bush administration was strongly criticised by congress and financial watchdogs for the handling of the first $350 billion of the bailout./nIraq question/nBush, whose popularity reached record lows in his second term, also defended his decision in 2007 to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Iraq in a bid to combat fighters opposed to the government and the US military presence./n\The question is, in the long run, will this democracy survive [in Iraq], and that\s going to be a question for future presidents,\\ he said./nHe also said the most imminent challenge Obama would face was the prospect of another attack on the US./n\I wish that I could report that [this is] not the case, but there\s still an enemy out there that would like to inflict damage on America - on Americans,\ he said./nHe also described North Korea and Iran as \still dangerous,\ saying Pyongyang may be enriching uranium for possible nuclear weapons./n\Standing for freedom\/nOn domestic issues, Bush defended the government\s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which decimated the city of New Orleans and parts of the US\s Gulf Coast./n\Don\t tell me the federal response was slow when there were 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed,\ he said./n\Could things been done better? Absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 who got pulled off the roof?\/nAnd he grew irritated when asked if the US\s moral standing in the world had suffered as a result of his presidency./n\I strongly disagree with the assessment of our moral standing has been damaged. People still understand America stands for freedom,\ he said./nHe said that keeping the US safe had been more important to him than personal popularity./n\I would not worry about popularity. What I would worry about is the constitution of the United States and putting plans in place that make it easier to [find out what ]the enemy is thinking.\

Video URL:
http://www.arabiatube.com/video/2773/-Bush-Hamas-Must-Back-Off


Embed URL
<embed width="452" height="361" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" wmode="transparent" name="main" id="main" allowfullscreen="false" src="http://www.arabiatube.com/player/vPlayer.swf?f=http://www.arabiatube.com/player/vConfig.php?vkey=af6986443db0bf01018b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" />