Transcript: Joint Press Conference with President Bush and Prime Minister Blair

BUSH: Well, you know, I read, kind of, the characterizations of the memo, particularly when they dropped it out in the middle of his race. I'm not sure who "they dropped it out" is, but I'm not suggesting that you all dropped it out there. (LAUGHTER) And somebody said, "Well, you know, we had made up our mind to go to use military force to deal with Saddam."

There's nothing farther from the truth. My conversations with the prime minister was how could we do this peacefully, what could we do. And this meeting, evidently it took place in London, happened before we even went to the United Nations -- or I went to the United Nations. And so it's -- look, both of us didn't want to use our military.

Nobody wants to commit military into combat. That's the last option. The consequences of committing the military are very difficult. You know, one of the hardest things I do as the president is to try to comfort families who've lost a loved one in combat.

It's the last option that the president must have, and it's the last option I know my friend had as well. And so we worked hard to see if we could figure how to do this peacefully, to put a united front up to Saddam Hussein, so the world speaks. And he ignored the world. Remember, 1441 passed the Security Council unanimously. He made the decision. And the world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

QUESTION: You've talked of what you've hoped to do for Africa. Do you regard the phrase "make poverty history" as rhetoric from rock stars or do you really believe it in your gut that this is a year it could happen? And, Mr. President, if I may as well on climate change. You didn't talk about climate change. Do you believe that climate change is manmade and that you personally, as the leader of the richest country in the world, have a responsibility to reverse that change?

BUSH: Let me address your first question. You said, I'm willing to talk about what we're going to do. I want you to focus on what we have done, for starters. I mean, part of this world we got a lot of big talkers.

What I like to say is my administration actually does what we say we're going to do; and we have. When I say we're going to make a commitment to triple aid in Africa, I meant it; and we did. When I said we're going to lead an HIV/AIDS initiative the likes of which the world has never seen before on the continent of Africa, we have done that, and we're following through.

And so when I say we're going to do more, I think you can take that to the bank, as we say, because of what we have done. We have taken a leadership role. Second question, do I believe in my gut we can eradicate poverty? I do believe we can eradicate poverty. By the way, Bono has come to see me. I admire him. He is a man of depth and a great heart, who cares deeply about the impoverished folks on the continent of Africa. And I admire his leadership on the issue.

And so I do believe. I don't view -- I can't remember how you characterized the rock stars, but I don't characterize them that way, having met the man. In terms of climate change, I've always said it's a serious long- term issue that needs to be dealt with. And my administration isn't waiting around to deal with the issue; we're acting. I don't know if you're aware of this, but we lead the world when it comes to millions of dollars spent on research about climate change. We want to know more about it. It's easier to solve a problem when you know a lot about it.

And if you look at the statistics, you'll find the United States has taken the lead on this research. Secondly, we're spending a lot of money on developing ways to diversity away from a hydrocarbon society. America must do that for national security reasons and economic security reasons. And that's why I laid out the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Initiative with the understanding that our country is going to have to diversify away from the type of automobiles we drive. And it's beginning to happen here.

We'll have more cars driven by fuel cells on the road next year than we had the past year and more after that. We're beginning to change. Technology is changing how we can approach energy and the technology, mating technology and energy independence from hydrocarbon also will produce a cleaner environment. We're spending a lot of money on clean coal technology. That's going to be very important for a country like ours, and a country like China. And one of the issues we've got to figure out how to deal with is how we share that technology with developing nations.

You cannot leave developing nations out of the mix if you expect to have a cleaner world. I strongly believe that the world needs to share technologies on nuclear power. I don't see how you can be diversified away from hydrocarbons unless you use clean nuke. And so we need to work together on developing technologies that will not only ensure people that nuclear power will be safe, but that we can dispose of it in a safe way. I tell you, an interesting opportunity, for not only here but for the rest of the world, is biodiesel.

That is a fuel developed from soybeans. I'd kind of in jest like to travel our country saying, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if some day the president sat down and looked at the crop report? He'd say, 'Man, we got a lot of soybeans. Means we're less dependent on foreign sources of energy.'" We're spending money to figure out how best to refine soy into diesel.

See, there's a lot of things we're doing in America. And I believe that not only can we solve greenhouse gas, I believe we will. And I appreciate the prime minister bringing this issue up. I look forward to sharing that which we know here in America with not only the G-8 members, but equally importantly with developing countries.

And not only that, I am convinced that we can use technology to help keep the air cleaner and the water purer, and develop economies around the world at the same time. That's going to be one of the great advances in technology in the coming years. Thank you for your question. Good to see you all.