First Lady Remarks on Cyclone in Burma, Says U.S. Will Increase Aid

QUESTION: Do you have any strong message for the dictatorship -- the military dictatorship in Burma -- as far as this democracy and this cyclone is concerned? And do you think they will have a change of heart and minds because of this tragedy?

BUSH: I hope so. I hope that there will be one good thing that comes out of such huge destruction, and that would be the government's realization that the people of Burma need help and they need more help than they can give them or that they've been able to give them.

And the country has just been totally decimated with both education, agriculture, all of the things that makes -- made Burma one of the richest countries in Asia have now been dismantled.

And it's very, very important that the regime start to accept both technical help from out of the country and, obviously, in this sort of disaster, very -- be able to accept the really basic help that anybody would need, any country would need and any people would need after this kind of disaster.

QUESTION: What message do you have for India -- what India can do? BUSH: Well, I think India can help. India is close on the border there. I think there are a lot of ways they could help and get help there quickly, and maybe the Burmese government would accept it more readily from the Indian government than they do from the U.S. government.

QUESTION: Mrs. Bush, why such a historic interest?

QUESTION: This is a first: for a first lady to come to this podium and talk about a cyclone. Why such a historic interest?

BUSH: Well, you know I've been interested in Burma for a long time. It started, really, with an interest in Aung San Suu Kyi and reading her works, and just this story of a Nobel Prize winner who's been under house arrest for so long, whose party was overwhelmingly elected in an election and then never able to take office.

And so it started with an interest in her. And then, just the more I've seen, the more critical I see the need is for the people in Burma to be -- for the world to pay attention to the people of Burma, and for the world to put pressure on the military regime.

QUESTION: And a follow-up: What about the issue of sanitation?

You talked about that, and dysentery. Could you talk, a little bit more, about...

BUSH: And those are the sort of things that international help would be critical for. We don't know, for instance, for -- people were already talking about the high price of rice. We don't know -- they would have been just in the planting season -- what would have happened if this big 12-foot surge of ocean water, salt water comes over the -- what would have been rice planting ground. You know, we just don't know.

But it seems very, very dire. They were -- already needed the help of the World Food Programme, the WFP. And now they'll need it even more. And so it's really important for the regime to accept this kind of help, to open their doors to all the help, to all of the help that U.N. could give, from U.N. aid, to UNICEF, each one of the international programs that can help, as well as help from every government that is willing to help. And I know there are a lot of governments that are.

QUESTION: Why do you think that the government didn't allow the state-run media to publish those warnings?

BUSH: I don't know. I have no idea.

QUESTION: Following on that, do you think that they have blood on their hands for that lack of warning?

BUSH: Well, I mean, I just think it's very, very important that we know already that they are very inept, that they have not been able to govern in a way that lets their company -- country, for one thing, build an economy.

This is a country that's rich in natural resources. Their natural resources are being depleted, as they sell them off, as far as we can tell, from the outside, for the financial benefit of the regime itself and not for the good of the people.

We know that. We know these huge forests, teak and mahogany forests may be being depleted, that they have their gem shows. Last year many American gem countries and European gem countries refused to go to the big gem auctions because they didn't want to prop up the government. But we do know that a lot of -- China, for instance -- a lot of Chinese gem buyers did go.

QUESTION: Mrs. Bush, the European Union has pledged $3 million. That initial aid offer from the United States is only $250,000.

BUSH: That's right.

QUESTION: If they accept some assistance, how large would the U.S....

BUSH: Well, I don't know. I mean, we'll have to see what it would be, and I can't speak to how large that would be. But I can -- I feel assured that it would be substantial, if we can give it.

The money, the first fund, the first $250,000 from the U.S. government is money that the embassy already has in a fund for something like this. And they can give it immediately to the World Food Programme or other NGOs that are meeting the very immediate needs.

If we can get some sort of team in there to assess what the other needs are, then I feel very assured that the United States government will follow with a bigger...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BUSH: I don't know that. They haven't said anything, as far as I know.

QUESTION: Mrs. Bush, what can you tell us about the president signing legislation in the near future to award Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional gold medal?

BUSH: The president will sign the legislation tomorrow, the congressional legislation that awards Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Medal of Honor, and I was hoping to be here with him when he did that. I don't think I'll be here, because I think I'll be going on tomorrow. But he will, and I think that's important.

I think it's just another way, like the Senate and the House caucuses on Burma, that let the people of Burma know that the United States is standing with them.

And we do know that they listen to Radio Free Asia and they listen to Voice of America. And so it's very important to get out message out on those radio stations so that people in Burma know that we are aware of what's happened and we are very aware of the needs of the people after the cyclone. QUESTION: Do you think that might, though, affect the military junta's willingness to receive aid from the international community, particularly the U.S.?

BUSH: I hope -- I hope not.

BUSH: I hope that the military will realize they have to accept aid from everybody they can possibly accept it from. And maybe that will be the something good that can come out of this terrible destruction.

QUESTION: Would they let her come to the U.S. to accept a medal.

BUSH: They might let her come accept. They might not let her ever go back.

I don't think she would ever do that, because she couldn't be assured that she could go home. That's why she didn't go see her husband when he was dying in England.

Anything else?

QUESTION: The U.S. only provides a few million dollars in annual humanitarian aid to Myanmar now. Some relief officials have raised concerns that the existing U.S. sanctions plus the sheer lack of trust in the two countries will impede the flow of any significant U.S. aid following the cyclone.

And the question is, how is the U.S. government going to balance those two objectives, the ones of maintaining financial pressure on the junta and at the same time making sure the cyclone victims aren't victimized once again?

BUSH: Well, that -- you know, that's the very -- that's always the question when sanctions are part of any sort of pressure that we can put on a government.

And, in fact, that seems to be the only kind of pressure the United States can put on Burma.

And certainly we hope that India, for instance, and other countries in the neighborhood can step up if they won't accept aid from the United States.

But I think in front of their own people and in front of the world, if they don't accept aid from the United States and from all the rest of the international community that wants to -- wants to help the people of Burma, that that is just another way that the military regime looks so cut off and so unaware of what the real needs of their people are.

OK. One last one. QUESTION: Is there any way for the Burmese leaders to salvage the referendum process? Should they scrap it, start from scratch?

BUSH: Well, I'm not going to give them any advice, but it would be very, very odd, I think, if they went ahead and held a referendum this Saturday.

QUESTION: All the best for the marriage, Jenna's marriage.

BUSH: Thank you very much.

QUESTION: Any chance you'll let us cover it?

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Is it true there is an altar, a limestone altar?

BUSH: That's right. The president told that this morning on "Good Morning, America." This was his idea, to build this beautiful limestone altar. And it's the Texas limestone, the same that our house is made out of, from a local quarry. And they're the ones that made it.

QUESTION: Is it permanent?

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: It's permanent.

QUESTION: Is she more nervous or are you?

BUSH: Neither one of us are nervous. I'm very, very excited. It's a very interesting passage of life when you get to that time in your life when your child -- first child is getting married. And we're getting, for us, our first son.

So, it's a thrill and we're very happy about it.

QUESTION: When the grandchildren come, will they be named Georgia, George Bush or...

BUSH: George and Georgia, Georgina...

(LAUGHTER)

... Georgette.

QUESTION: Is the president more excited or you are more excited?

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: We're both really, really excited. We're very thrilled. And, of course, Jenna is so happy and Henry is very happy. That makes their mother and dad really happy.

QUESTION: Madam, why the wedding didn't take place here at the White House?

BUSH: Well, she just wanted to get married at home. She just feels a lot more comfortable there. And it'll be really beautiful. This is a time when wildflowers are all blooming and I think it'll be a very, very lovely wedding and it'll be very like Jenna and Henry, and, of course, that's what we want. We want what she wants.

QUESTION: How early Sunday morning is the bike ride the president...

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: Since he probably won't be staying up to dance the last dance, it'll probably be early.

(LAUGHTER)

Bye, you all. Thank you very much. And thank you so much for covering Burma, and I hope you'll keep watching.

Thanks a lot.

END