We are conducting a wide discussion with Russia on this topic (of Iran), … Our positions are similar, and we are agreed on the basic points.

I don’t think you’re going to see headline breakthroughs.

will depend on the political evolution and the security evolution.

What is really interesting is the response of the various communities in Iraq. You have seen statements from all of them condemning the violence and indicating their resolve that there needs to be calm, no...

Argentina is the host. Argentina has taken a strong hand in forming the agenda, and we will obviously want to support that. And the president will make a contribution on those topics.

The language is agreed. The vehicle by which it is going to get enacted by the Congress is still being worked.

I think it is very important for any U.S. administration to be clear that America stands on the side of freedom and democracy and respect for individual rights.

Obviously there’s an election coming up. We would like it to be free and fair. And a prerequisite of free and fair elections is that you don’t beat up opposition candidates or opposition supporters and...

We think, in the end of the day, China also faces a strategic choice: whether they are going to follow up the increasing amounts of economic freedom they’re affording to the people and whether they...

For those critics to ignore their own past statements exposes the hollowness of their current attacks.

I point out that some of the critics today believed, themselves, in 2002 that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. They stated that belief, and they voted to authorize the use of force in...

We’re making progress, but we’re not yet there.

If freedom prevails in Iraq, others in the region — including Syria and Iran — will be under greater pressure to open up their repressive political systems. And that is good news for Israel.

This is not going to get worked out before we get there, it’s not going to get worked out while we’re there. But we hope in a reasonable time afterwards to see this issue worked...

a mix of carrots and sticks, and who should the carrots come from and what should they be.

We would obviously like, and the Indians would like, to use the occasion of this [Bush] visit to reach agreement on this separation agreement, so-called. We think that would be a good thing, but it’s...

This summit is not about Hugo Chavez. We’ve had some long-standing concerns about the policy for his government. This is not news.

Everybody understands the Sunnis need to be part of this process going forward and need to be part of this government. How that will sort out and get down is obviously for the Iraqis to...

The violence seems to be diminishing. They’ve stared into the abyss a bit. I think they’ve all concluded that further violence… is not in their interests.

Suffice to say they didn’t come to me. They didn’t come to the NSC,

That’s clearly where we’re heading.

I think our judgment is: That is a credible claim. But I think that we are going to learn a lot more as the investigation goes forward.

This is actually the vehicle to bring India onto our page, in terms of proliferation policy.

We would like to get it before the trip. If we can, great. If we can’t, we’ll continue to negotiate it after the trip.

Scooter Libby is a fine person. And he served the president and the vice president well,

This is going to be an issue, you know, it’s a longstanding issue that we’ve had with China.

I can tell you my recollection. My recollection is no, not here, not anyplace else.

At this point people are comfortable that the necessary precautions are in place but this is not a risk-free undertaking.

It’s still something we’re working on. Obviously, it has not moved as quickly as we would have liked.

We must get it right.

We hope and we’ve made clear that the forces need to come out. It needs to be full and complete withdrawal. Our position is it needs to be done as soon as possible so that...

Our preference is to act through diplomacy in conjunction with friends and allies. That is our preference. That is our preference.

China would do well to implement policies to correct its global trade imbalances, through expanding domestic demand, increasing market access for foreign goods and services, and adopting a flexible, market-based exchange rate for its currency.

Turns out, we were wrong,

They were on the terrorist list and that is why they were taken into custody,

Next week the president and Mrs. Bush will depart for South Asia. They will travel to India and Pakistan. This is the first trip of the president and Mrs. Bush to either country. They are...

People recognize that it would be problematic for Chavez to be in the nuclear business.

It’s going to be an issue during this trip, it’s going to be an issue after this trip. I don’t think you’re going to see, you know, headline breakers.

The spread of democracy will make the Middle East a safer neighborhood for Israel. An American retreat from Iraq, on the other hand, would only strengthen the terrorists who seek the enslavement of Iraq and...

In terms of the administration and executive branch process, that process has been completed … There’s nothing to reopen. In terms of the CFIUS, process, it’s been completed.

The president has been very clear we’re doing that in a way that is consistent with our values and that is why he’s been very clear that the United States will not torture.

We are winning that ideological struggle.

That U.N. Security Council resolution requires getting Syrian troops and intelligence officials out of Lebanon so that the Lebanese can have elections here this spring that are free and fair and free of outside influence.

Obviously, we didn’t have the intelligence we needed in that particular instance. In some sense, those countries that pursue weapons of mass destruction in secret also learned an important lesson – that there are risks...

We think we’re going to make progress on three of them.

roughly the same intelligence that the Clinton administration saw.

It’s also an opportunity to pay tribute to the people of the Slovak Republic, and also other countries in the region, for the right choices they made in pursuing democracy and freedom.

The two countries are working together on a range of global issues, including counter terrorism, nonproliferation, energy and the environment, and the expansion of economic and political freedom.

While we have to do what is necessary to defend the country against terrorists and to win the war on terror, the president has been very clear that we’re going to do that in a...

We’ll want to continue to have a dialogue on that issue to make sure that we continue to see that issue the same way.