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Q: As you mentioned, there have been other incidents today in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. And you also mentioned the importance of our alliances. We've had some arrests in Britain, even in Spain and elsewhere.

The question is, are you satisfied with the level of cooperation among the governments in combating these attacks?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, yes, I am. I think, obviously, we've got to continue to work to make sure people understand the threat is real. For a while, obviously, America was the most energetic in fighting terror because the memory of September 11th was fresh in our mind and people felt like, it couldn't happen to me. There's been a lot of attacks since September the 11th, which has convinced people that we've got to work together.

Saudi Arabia is a good example. This is a place when they got attacked a year ago that helped change their attitude toward chasing down al Qaeda types within their country. And the attack again today on Riyadh was a reminder that there are people that would like -- I don't want to guess their intentions -- I think they would like to overthrow the ruling government. They certainly want to frighten everybody and kill as many as they can.

The attacks on Istanbul happened when I was in Great Britain, and they were devastating attacks to the Brits -- a lot of Brits were there -- but also to the Muslims who were killed. And the cooperation is good. But it's an issue that you just constantly have to work on to remind people of the stakes that just -- you've got to share intelligence better. And sometimes bureaucracies get in the way of the fast flow of information. I suspect governments complain that we might not be as forthcoming as quickly as they would hope us to be. I haven't heard much of that. But we're getting good cooperation. And it's -- but I say it's an issue we've got to continue to work.

Pakistan, we're getting cooperation. Just think about what life was like prior to September the 11th in Pakistan. Pakistan was friendly to the Taliban. And, fortunately, our government, thanks to the good work of Colin Powell, convinced President Musharraf that that was not in his interests. His interests were to be working with us and fighting off the terror. Of course, since then al Qaeda has tried to kill him twice. I think it confirms the fact that he's chosen the right side. We're trying to help him.

And he's active in the war on terror. And he is -- but he's got issues, just like any of these countries have got issues. But he's done -- in my judgement, he's been a good, strong ally. And I'm pleased with the fact that progress is now being made on the relationship between Pakistan and India. I don't know if you remember, I think it was in the year '01 -- I don't see many foreign policy kind of reporters here -- but '01 was the year that we had shuttle diplomacy to convince Pakistan and India not to go to war with each other.

Powell went, and then Straw went from Great Britain, and then Armitage went, and then whoever his equivalent is from Great Britain went, with the idea of kind of talking everybody down. And now, quite the opposite, they're talking with each other in a positive way, and hopefully can get some sticky issues resolved, for the sake of world peace and stability in that part of the world. I think progress is being made. But we can always -- we will always find ways to improve our alliances.

I mention to you -- look, I mentioned to you the need for international bodies to be effective. We're working with the IAEA with Iran. And the Iranians need to feel the pressure from the world that any nuclear weapons program will be uniformly condemned. It's essential that they hear that message. An appropriate international body to deal with them is the IAEA. They signed an additional protocol, which was a positive development. The foreign ministers of Great Britain, France and Germany have interceded on behalf of the civilized world to talk plainly to the Iranians. One of my jobs is to make sure they speak as plainly as possible to the Iranians, and make it absolutely clear that the development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable, and a program is intolerable, otherwise there would be -- otherwise they will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations.

And hopefully we're making progress there, as well. It's a tough -- tough crowd to negotiate with. They've got a classic -- it's a really long answer, I know. At least I'm answering it. (Laughter.) They've got the classic principle-to-non-principle negotiating strategy available for them. They've got a fellow sitting up on top, probably the decision-maker on most matters, and yet the world goes to Khatami, so you're not really sure if the message is getting totally delivered or not. I think the message is getting delivered to them that it's intolerable if they develop a nuclear weapon. It would be intolerable to peace and stability in the Middle East if they get a nuclear weapon, particularly since their stated objective is the destruction of Israel.

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