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THE WHITE HOUSE

..') Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 8, 2002

REMARKS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT

ON HIS TRIP TO THE MIDDLE EAST
The Roosevelt Room

10:20 A.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, obviously, I'm glad to see some

interest in the trip. It should be an interesting trip. The
President and I have talked about it over a period of several
months -- that is, the President had the idea in mind that at
some point he would want to send me into the region, partly
because of my own background and experience, especially with
these particular countries in this particular part of the world.
The timing was such, especially after 9/11, that it was difficult
to do anything last year, so we sort of pointed toward the first
part of this year.
-: ~vt

I The trip has taken on, I suppose, a little bit of added

^ significance because of the Middle East crisis with respect to
the peace process, but I wouldn't over-emphasize that aspect of
it. It's clearly something that will come up at every stop. It
would have come up at virtually every stop anyway, even if it
hadn't been for recent developments between the Israelis and the
Palestinians. But given the Zinni mission, given the vision the
Crown Prince put forward recently, recent conversations we've had
with Prime Minister Sharon and President" Mubarak here in
Washington, conversations with the Crown Prince by telephone,
it's bound to be a subject that I'll spend time on at each stop.
I'll be soliciting the views of our hosts in terms of how
they look at the current state of affairs and what suggestions
they have. We've also got the upcoming Arab summit in Beirut
March 27th and 28th, so clearly that will be one of the subjects
I discuss.
Apart from that, the main reason that the President wanted
me to go was to talk about the continuing war on terror, and our
ongoing operations not only in Afghanistan, but in other
respects, as well, too.
One of the things the President has emphasized is, even as
we proceed in Afghanistan -- and we clearly have made major.
\s there, although there remains a lot of work to be done;
J

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we still have significant ongoing operations in terms of
Operation Anaconda, and there may well be others in the months
ahead -- it also is important for us not to overlook the
activities that are required in other parts of the region.
And part of the effort here, as well, is to make certain
that we don't allow a sanctuary to develop someplace else that
could become a refuge, if you will, for the al Qaeda that are
currently under enormous pressure in Afghanistan from U.S.
forces. That means that it's important for us to continue to
work with our friends in those other nations out there that have
been affected by the al Qaeda operation. Just as we know there
was an al Qaeda cell here in the United States that conducted the
attacks on September llth, there are cells in other countries in
the region out there.
It's important to remember also that the strategy has
involved one of not only military action, such as we've engaged
in in Afghanistan, but also intelligence-sharing, cooperation on
law enforcement, significant efforts with respect to drying up
the financial resources of the al Qaeda network wherever we can
find them. And in the military arena, in some cases where we
don't -- where we're not involved in direct U.S. military
action, the military, nonetheless, has a role to play in terms of
training, providing equipment, helping equip friendly states to
deal with the threats that they encounter on their own soil. And
those kinds of issues will very much be front and center in terms
of my conversations as I travel through the region.
We also have a lot of U.S. military forces deployed in that
part of the world. One of the aspects of my trip that I look
forward to is having the opportunity to spend time with some of
our troops. Some of them are actively engaged in operations in
Afghanistan; some of them are there in support roles. But it
will-be an opportunity for me to talk firsthand with some of the
people who have been carrying out activities that are either in
directly involved in Afghanistan, or supporting our
operations there, as well as to say thank you to the young men
and women who are out there putting their necks on the line every
day for us.
And so I'll be involved in doing some of that, as well, too.
Finally, at each stop we clearly have ongoing bilateral
relations of various kinds -- in some cases, efforts that are
focused on military-to-military relationships; some cases,
important economic relationships. The Saudis, for example, very
interested in economic reform and accession into the WTO. So
there will be these kinds of issues that I'll be discussing at
each stop, as well.
All in all, it will be about 10 days, 12 countries, and it
should be a good trip. The final point I'd make, some people
ask, why are you going. The President asked me to go. It is an
area of the world where I've been actively involved in the past,

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both in public and private life. I think I've been in all but
one of these countries before. There's only one that's a new
stop for me; that's Yemen.
In most cases, I'm also -- I'll be dealing with people
that I've dealt with before over the years. And so it's familiar
territory from that standpoint. And I think by sending me, the
President emphasizes the importance he places on these
relationships. But the entire administration has been engaged in
that region, in preparation for my trip. General Powell's been
an integral part of that; Don Rumsfeld has been an integral part
of that. Don and Condi and Colin and I all met this morning to
go over it one last time before I take off. So it's part of a
team effort. And as THE VICE PRESIDENT, I've got an extra set of
hands, and this is an area where I can be useful. So that's the
prime reason for my going.

END
10:30 A . M . EST

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