President Bush met Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, who condemned terrorism and offered his support of the newly renamed Operation Enduring Freedom as they received news that Saudi Arabia cut all diplomatic ties with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
'I am really pleased and honored that my personal friend, and a friend of the United States, has come all the way from Japan to express his solidarity with the American people and our joint battle against terrorism,' Bush said.
The president said Japan and the United States would work together to cut off terrorists' funds and share Japanese intelligence.
Koizumi said he believed the Japanese could cooperate by providing financial and medical assistance, helping refugees, and transporting supplies.
'I believe there are many ways to cooperate,' he said.
President Bush also took the opportunity to praise recent developments in Saudi Arabia. 'Not only am I pleased with the great cooperation that we're having with our friend, the Japanese; I am most pleased that the Saudi Arabians yesterday cut off relations with the Taliban,' he said.
Saudi Arabia had earlier issued a statement announcing that it has severed all diplomatic relations with the Taliban government.
'The Taliban government has paid no attention to the calls and pleas of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to stop harboring, training and encouraging criminals,' the statement read. The statement accused the Taliban of 'besmirching the name of Muslims everywhere.'
'It is to be regretted that the government of the Taliban made use of Afghanistan's special status, not to build up brotherly relations or set up high Islamic values, but to make its land a center to attract and train a number of misguided people of all nationalities, and in particular, from among the citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in order to carry out criminal acts that are against every tenet of Shariah [Islamic Law] and faith,' the statement said.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in a press briefing that Saudi Arabia's severing of ties was one of several factors that will force the Taliban to 'begin to look at the world in a somewhat different way.'
Rumsfeld also revealed the Bush administration's name for the war against terrorism, Operation Enduring Freedom, which he said will 'involve a sustained effort over a good period of time.'
'There will not be a single coalition as there was in the Gulf War,' he said. 'We will see revolving coalitions that will evolve and change over time depending on the activity and the circumstance of the country,' he added.
Rumsfeld said the effort will be dangerous and 'the likelihood is that more people may be lost.'
But he added, 'What's at stake here is our way of life, and our ability to remain engaged in the world. And to recognize that is the underpinning of peace and stability in the world, and being able to live without fear is a worthy cause.'
President Bush discussed the domestic front of the war on terrorism when he addressed employees at the FBI headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.
'There are over 4,000 employees of the FBI ... running down every scrap of information that is being found all across our land, and analyzing the information, and preparing our great nation to disrupt any action that may be planned,' he said. 'I'm proud of the work of the FBI. I want to thank you all for your dedication. Stay at it. The nation is counting on you.'
Bush encouraged Congress to give the FBI the authority to hold suspected terrorists who are in the process of being deported and the authority to share information between intelligence operations and law enforcement. He said these requests are measured, responsible and constitutional.
'Ours is a land that values the constitutional rights of every citizen. And we will honor those rights, of course,' he said.
House Judiciary Committee consideration of the anti-terrorism bill supported by Bush was postponed Tuesday.
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, issued a Red Notice for Aiman Al Zawahri, the 'right-hand man' of Osama bin Laden, according to a statement released by Interpol.
Interpol member countries are now required to trace Zawahri, who is accused of 'criminal complicity and management, for the purpose of committing premeditated murders, of the storage and possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives, of destruction of property, and of document forgery,' the statement said.
