Bush frames Israel/Lebanon conflict as struggle against “Islamo-fascism”

Transcript: Bush, Rice news conference, by The Associated Pres, Monday 7 August 2006, 11:17 AM ET

BUSH: Well, the people who should get really frustrated are the Israelis and Lebanese. They ought to be the ones that are frustrated. Because 1559 clearly laid a way forward for there to be a strong democracy in Lebanon which will more likely yield the peace.

And there is a level of frustration around the world with organizations that will take innocent life to achieve political objectives.

And our job is to remind people that this isn’t a moment; this is a movement. And that we must deal with this movement. We must deal with the movement with strong security measures. We must bring justice to those who would attack us and at the same time defeat their ideology by the spread of liberty.

And it takes a lot of work. This is the beginning of a long struggle against an ideology that is real and profound. It's Islamo-fascism. It comes in different forms. They share the same tactics, which is to destroy people and things in order to create chaos in the hopes that their vision of the world become predominant in the Middle East.

And Condi and I will work hard—by the way, the United States can’t win this war alone. We can do damage to the enemy. We can take the philosophical high ground and remind people of the importance of how freedom can change societies. But we will work with our allies and friends to achieve this objective.

And part of the challenge in the 21st century is to remind people about the stakes and remind people that in moments of quiet, there's still an Islamic fascist group plotting, planning and trying to spread their ideology.

And one of the things that came out of this unfortunate incident in the Middle East is it is a stark reminder that there are those who want to stop the advance of liberty and destabilize young democracies. And they’re willing to kill people to do so.

I repeat, this whole incident started because Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers and launched rocket attacks. And it's been unfortunate that people on both sides of the border have lost life.

And we’re committed to helping the Lebanese government rebuild.

On the other hand, what we won’t do is allow for a false hope. We believe that it's important to challenge the root cause now.

We thought we had done so with 1559, but 1559 wasn’t implemented. In other words, there was a way forward to deal with the problem.

And now there's another chance to deal with the problem. And that's the role of the United States, working with others, to not only remind people about the problem but to come up with solutions in dealing with the problem.

And the solutions that we are working with our friends, in our judgment, is the best hope for achieving stability and peace.

But it take a lot of work. And it takes commitment and focus. And that's what this administration will continue to do: We’ll stay focused on the problem and stay focused on coming up with solutions that, when implemented, will leave behind a better world.

I thank you all very much for your interest.