'Our Disagreements Will Not Divide Us'

President Bush: Thank you all.  Sit down, please.  Thankyou all for that warm welcome. This is a great day for Central Texas. It'sa great day because Laura and I have had the honor of welcoming the Putins toour beloved state. It's a great day because it's raining. (Laughter. )

It's a great day, as well, because I just got off the telephone with twoCentral Texas women, Heather Mercer, who used to live in Crawford -- (applause)-- and Dayna Curry. They both said to say thanks to everybody fortheir prayers. They realize there is a good and gracious God. Theirspirits were high and they love America. (Applause. )

I remember clearly when I stood up in front of the Congress and said we havethree conditions to the Taliban. One, release those who are beingdetained; two, destroy terrorist training camps so that country can never beused for terror again either against us or against Russia, for example; three,bring al Qaeda to justice. 

Yesterday I was able to report to the nation that one of those conditions hadbeen met, with the release and rescue of the humanitarian aid workers. Andmake no mistake about it, the other two will be met -- particularly bringing alQaeda to justice. (Applause. )

I wanted to bring President Putin to Crawford.I wanted him to seea state that Laura and I love. I particularly wanted to be able tointroduce him to the citizens of Crawford, because this part of the staterepresents the independent-minded nature of Texans. It represents thehard-working Texans, people who have great values -- faith and family. Thepeople here, Mr.  President, love their country, and they like countries thatwork with America to keep the peace. (Applause. )

We had a great dinner last night; we had a little Texas barbecue, pecan pie-- (laughter) -- a little Texas music. And I think the Presidentreally enjoyed himself. I told him he was welcome to come back nextAugust -- (laughter) -- to get a true taste of Crawford. (Laughter. )Hesaid, fine, and maybe you'd like to go to Siberia in the winter. (Laughterand applause. )

It's my honor also to introduce President Putin to Crawford. I beta lot of folks here, particularly the older folks, never dreamt that an AmericanPresident would be bringing the Russian President to Crawford, Texas. (Laughter.)Alot of people never really dreamt that an American President and a RussianPresident could have established the friendship that we have. 

We were enemies for a long period of time. When I was in highschool, Russia was an enemy. Now the high school students can knowRussia as a friend; that we're working together to break the old ties, toestablish a new spirit of cooperation and trust so that we can work together tomake the world more peaceful. 

Russia has been a strong partner in the fight against terrorism. It'san interesting story for me to report. I was on Air Force One the dayof the attack, working my way back to Washington via Louisiana and Nebraska --(laughter) -- making sure that the President was safe and secure. Thefirst phone call I got from a foreign leader was President Putin. Hetold us that he recognized that I had put our troops on alert. I didso because, for the first time in a long period of time, America was underattack. It only happened once -- twice, I guess -- the War of 1812and Pearl Harbor. 

In the old days when America put their troops on attack, Russia would haveresponded and put her troops on alert, which would have caused the AmericanPresident maybe to put a higher alert, and Russia a higher alert, and all of asudden, we would have had two conflicts instead of one. But not this President.This President recognized we're entering into a new eraand his call was, don't worry, we know what you're up against, we stand with youand we will not put our troops on alert, for the good of the United States ofAmerica. (Applause. )

I brought him to my ranch because, as the good people in this part of theworld know, that you only usually invite your friends into your house.  Oh,occasionally, you let a salesman in, or two, but -- (laughter. )But Iwanted the Putins to see how we live. And even though we changedaddresses, our hearts are right here in our home state. 

We've got a lot to do together. We've had great discussions inWashington, as well as here in Texas. We're both pledging to reducethe amount of nuclear weapons, offensive weapons, we have in order to make theworld more secure. We're talking about ways to cooperate inanti-terrorism and anti-proliferation. We're talking about ways tomake sure our economies can grow together. What we're talking aboutis a new relationship -- a relationship that will make your lives better whenyou get older, and it will make your kids' lives better as they grow up. 

But in order to have a new relationship, it requires a new style ofleader. Andit's my honor to welcome to Central Texas a new style of leader, a reformer, aman who loves his country as much as I love mine; a man who loves his wife asmuch as I love mine; a man who loves his daughters as much as I love mydaughters; and a man who is going to make a huge difference in making the worldmore peaceful, by working closely with the United States -- please welcomeVladimir Putin. (Applause. )

President Putin: Dear friends, when we were riding here inthe presidential car, I'll divulge to you a small secret of ours. TheFirst Lady of the United States told me, you know, some kind of special peoplelive here. These are people with a special kind of pride of theirposition and of their heritage. And the more I come to know thePresident of the United States, the more I realize that the First Lady was right-- he is right from the heart of Texas and he is a Texan. And,herself, being a wise woman, she complimented her husband in an indirect andvery sensible way. (Laughter and applause. )

My wife and myself are also trying to help ourselves as we go along thislife. And it gives me pleasure to introduce my First Lady, my wife,Lyudmila Putin. (Applause. )

And like President Bush did, I would also like to congratulate three Texansand two people from Waco, with the liberation by the U. S.  official forces andtheir withdrawal from the land of Afghanistan. (Applause. )

Of course, it is very important to be born under a happy star and to havedestiny facing your way. And, indeed, I'm in agreement with thePresident, perhaps God was looking quite positively on this. 

But there are different approaches to addressing such kind ofproblem.  Thereare people deeply religious who usually say that God knows what is to befall anation, a people, or a person. But there are people no less devotedto God, but who still believe that the people, a person should also take care oftheir own destiny and lives. And it gives me great pleasure to dealand to work with President Bush, who is a person, a man who does what he says.(Applause. )

And I congratulate those who have been liberated by the Armed Forces, andtheir relatives. And also, I would like to congratulate on this, President Bush.(Applause. )

On our way here, we didn't expect at all that things would be so warm andhomey as they were at the ranch of President Bush here. Yesterday, wehad a surprise, but today's meeting is yet another and very pleasant surprise,indeed, for us. Indeed, in any country, the backbone of any countryis not only the people who live in the capitals, but also and mostly, the peoplewho live hundreds and thousands of miles from the capital. 

It is especially pleasant and pleasing for me to be here in your highschool. Andmy being here brings me to remembering those distinguished Russian Americans whocontributed so much to the development and prosperity of this nation --including a world-known composer and musician, Rachmaninoff; a well-knowndesigner and inventor of aircraft, helicopters and airplanes, Sikorsky; and aworld-renowned economist and Nobel Prize winner, Leontiev; and many others. Andit is extremely pleasant for me to know that here in this room we have somepeople, boys and girls from Russia who have come here to study. (Applause. )

Of course, serious people work in the capital cities and much depends onthem. But in any circumstances and in any situation, what they mustdo is to fulfill the will of their people. And being here I can feelthe will of these people, the will to cooperate with the Russian Federation, thewill to cooperate with Russia. And I can assure you that the Russianpeople fully share this commitment and is also committed to fully cooperatingwith the American people. (Applause. )

Together, we can achieve quite a lot, especially if we are helped in this bysuch a young and active and beautiful generation as the one we are meeting withnow. 

Thank you very much. (Applause. )

President Bush: Okay. The President and I haveagreed to take a few questions from the students. I figured thiswould be a pretty good opportunity for you all to ask --

President Putin: Only questions. No mathquestions, please.  (Laughter. )

President Bush: Good idea. Particularly no fuzzymath questions.  (Laughter and applause. )

Anybody got any questions?Yes, ma'am. Hold on, we'vegot a mike coming so everybody gets to hear it, too. What is yourname and what grade are you in?

Q:  I'm Amanda Lemmons (phonetic. )I'm asenior. 

President Bush: Senior?Good. 

Q:  Have you decided on whether you're going to go to Russia or not?

President Bush: Well -- (laughter) -- the President invitedme and I accepted. We haven't figured out a time yet. But,in that I'm from Texas and kind of like the warm weather, I was hoping to wait acouple of months.  (Laughter. )I'm really looking forward to going toRussia. I would hope that I could not only go to Moscow, but maybe goto the President's home town of St.  Petersburg, which they tell me is one of themost spectacular cities in Europe. But I look forward to going. Ithink it is going to be a very important trip. 

We have met four timesnow. We have made a lot of progress oncoming together on some key issues. There is more work to be done. Ibelieve the U. S. -Russian relationship is one of the most important relationshipsthat our country can have. And the stronger the relationship is, themore likely it is the world will be at peace, and the more likely it is thatwe'll be able to achieve a common objective, which is to defeat the evil onesthat try to terrorize governments such as the United States and Russia. Andwe must defeat the evil ones in order for you all to grow up in a peaceful andprosperous world. (Applause. )

Okay. Wait for the mike. I'm kind of getting hard of hearing. 

Q: My name is Jana Heller -- (phonetic) -- and I'm in the eighth grade. AndI was wondering what is President Putin's favorite thing about Texas. 

President Bush: What does he think about Texas?

Q:  Yes, sir. 

PresidentBush: Oh, favorite thing. Favorite thing. Crawford, of course. (Laughter. )

President Putin: We in Russia have known for a long timethat Texas is the most important state in the United States. (Laughterand applause. ) But, seriously speaking, we in Russia somehow tend to know aboutTexas rather better than about the rest of the United States somehow. Exceptmaybe for Alaska, which we sold to you. (Laughter and applause. )

In my view, first of all, because, like in Russia, here in Texas the oilbusiness is quite well-developed and we have numerous contacts in this area. Andwe have very many contacts in such areas as high-tech and the exploration ofspace. And the fact that the parliament of the state of Texasdeclared April the 12th -- the day when Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly tospace, accomplished this -- as a state holiday, like it is a national holiday inRussia, is yet another testimony of the closeness of our outlook andachievements. (Applause. )

President Bush: Name and grade?

Q:  I'm Brian Birch -- phonetic. )I'm a senior here. Inwhat ways has this summit helped bring Russia and the U. S.  closer together?

President Bush:  Well, first of all -- his question is in what ways hasthe summit brought us together. Well, in order for countries to cometogether, the first thing that must happen is leaders must make up their mindthat they want this to happen. And the more I get to know President Putin,the more I get to see his heart and soul, and the more I know we can worktogether in a positive way. 

And so any time leaders can come together and sit down and talk about keyissues in a very open and honest way, it will make relations stronger in thelong run. 

There's no doubt, the United States and Russia won't agree on every issue.Butyou probably don't agree with your mother on every issues.  (Laughter. )Youstill lover her, though, don't you?Well, even though we don't agreeon every issue, I still respect him and like him as a person.  The other thingis, is that the more we talk about key issues, the more likely it is we come toan understanding. And so the summit enabled us to continue a verypersonal dialogue. As well, we agreed to some significant changes inour relationship. 

I, after long consultations with people inside our government, I announcedthat our government was going to reduce our nuclear arsenal to between 1,700 and2,200 warheads over the next decade. That's a tangible accomplishment. I shared that information with PresidentPutin. He,too, is going to make a declaration at some point in time. 

In other words, this particular summit has made us closer because we'veagreed on some concrete steps, as well, specific things we can do together.We'reworking on counter-proliferation, which is an incredibly important issue, tomake sure that arms and potential weapons of mass destruction do not end up inthe hands of people who will be totally irresponsible, people that hate eitherone of our nations.  

And so we made great progress. And I look forward to futuremeetings with the President because there's more to do, to make sure therelationship outlives our term in office. It's one thing for he andme to have a personal relationship. The key is that we establish arelationship between our countries strong enough that will endure beyond ourpresidencies. And that's important so that in the long run, as youcome up and as your kids grow up, that Russia and the United States willcooperate in ways that will make the world more stable and more peaceful, andways in which we can address the common threats. And terrorism andevil are common threats to both our governments, and will be tomorrow, as wellas today, unless we do something about it now.  And that's exactly what we'redoing.  (Applause. )

Yes, ma'am. Ask the President a question. The other one. 

Q:  We, the women of America, are very appreciative of all the rights wehave. So, with the fall of the Taliban government, how do you thinkthat women's rights will affect Afghanistan?

President Bush: How do I think what?

Q:  How do you think the fall of the Taliban government will affect women'srights?

President Bush:  Yes, I appreciate that. I'm going to answerit quickly, and then I want Vladimir to discuss that. He knows aboutwomen's rights and the importance of them because he's raising two teenagedaughters. (Laughter. )He and I share something in common. 

I'll tell you an interesting story, and then I'm going to let him speak aboutit. First of all, there's no question the Taliban is the mostrepressive, backward group of people we have seen on the face of the Earth in along period of time, including and particularly how they treat women. (Applause. )

But President Putin, I think it would be interesting for him to discuss theconcept of women's rights inside of Russia and his vision of how Afghanistantreats women. But I'll tell you an interesting story. 

So we are getting ready to have the first press conference we had together inSlovenia. And by the way, there was I think a thousand reports there-- it seemed like a thousand. (Laughter. )And we werewalking in.  I said, say, I understand you've got two daughters. Hesaid, yes; he said, they're teenagers. I said, I've been through that myself.(Laughter. )I said, who did you name them for?Hesaid, well, we named them for our mothers, my mother and my mother-in-law. Isaid, that's interesting -- that's exactly what Laura and I did, too. Wenamed our girls for our -- my mother and Laura's mom. And I said,gosh, the thing I want most in life is for those girls to be able to grow up ina free world and prosper and realize their dreams. He said, that'sexactly what I hope, as well. 

There's a lot in common, even though -- between our countries, even thoughit's a long way away. And it all starts with the human element, thething that matters most in life, and that is our faiths and our families and ourrespected loves as dads for our daughters. 

But anyway, I think it would be appropriate for President Putin to talk aboutwomen in Russia and his keen desire, like mine, to free the women ofAfghanistan, as well. 

President Putin:  I do agree with the President that, indeed, such aproblem does exist in the world. And in Afghanistan this phenomenonhas taken an extreme form, and the disrespect of human rights has acquiredextreme dimensions. Overall, women in Afghanistan are basically nottreated as people.