minister erdogan, who has led a fantastic economic revival. the problem with choosing that example is that under erdogan, turkey has become a less free place. journalists and others have less freedom to criticize the government than they did, the judiciary is less independent than it was. the army is under tighter control. you know, turkey is a mixed model. there are people who say the new iraq is a model. i m not one of them. i think prime minister maliki who owes his job to all those american troops who came in and swept out saddam hussein, i think he s been as much a dictator as a democrat as well. so david, what, if any, options do we have? well, i think the core option for the united states should always be to state clearly what are values and interests tell us about particular places?
of communication between our national security advisers. finally, we re partnering for regional security. for just as iraq has pledged not to interfere in other nations, other nations must not interfere in iraq. iraq s sovereignty must be respected. and meanwhile, there should be no doubt the drawdown in iraq has allowed us to refocus our resources, achieve progress in afghanistan, put al-qaeda on the path to defeat and to better prepare for the full range of challenges that lie ahead. so make no mistake, our strong presence in the middle east endures, and the united states will never waver in defense of our allies, our partners or our interests. this is the shared vision that prime minister maliki and i reaffirm today; an equal partnership, a broad relationship that advances the security, the prosperity and the aspirations of both our people. primeprime minister, you ve sait
what iran would like to see. you know, prime minister maliki has been explicit here in the united states, he s been explicit back in iraq in his writings, in his commentary that his interest is maintaining iraqi sovereignty and preventing meddling by anybody inside of iraq. and i believe him. and he has shown himself to be willing to make very tough decisions in the interests of iraqi nationalism even if they cause problems with his neighbor. and so, you know, we may have some different tactical views in terms of how best to transition to an inclusive, representative government inside of syria, but every decision that i believe prime minister maliki is making, he is making on the basis of what he thinks is best for the
a very, it has very high aspirations, and i would like to renew my thanks to his excellency, the president, for giving me this opportunity and wish him much success god willing. thank you very much. all right. we ve got time for a few questions. i m going to start with ben feller of ap. thank you, mr. president and mr. prime minister. mr. president, i have two questions for you on the region. in syria you have called for president assad to step down over the killings of his people, but prime minister maliki has warned that assad s removal could cause the whole region [inaudible] i m wondering if you re worried that iraq could be succumbing to iran s influence on this matter and, perhaps, helping to protect assad. and speaking of iran, are you concerned that it will be able to weaken america s national security by discovering intelligence from the fallen drone that it captured? prime minister maliki, i d like to ask you the question about
links and dialogue between the united states and iraq through some difficult times. and i think prime minister maliki would agree that the vice president s investment in making this successful has been hugely important. translator: thank you very much. i believe the remaining of the question that was given was answered by his excellency, the president. the dialogues were to confirm the confidence and to move to the implementation of the framework agreement, to train our soldiers or the weapons bought from america and the need for expertise in other civil fields and the protection of their movement to iraq. we also talked about the political issues, which is a