President Bush's reaction to Taliban offer on bin Laden negotiation

By The Associated Press

President Bush's remarks Sunday upon his arrival at the White House, as recorded and transcribed by The Associated Press:

Q: (inaudible)

BUSH: Turn him over. Turn him over. Turn his cohorts over. Turn any hostage they hold over. Destroy all the terrorist camps. There's no need to negotiate. There's no discussion. I told them exactly what they need to do. And there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty. Turn him over. If they want us to stop our military operations, they just got to meet my conditions. And when I said no negotiations, I meant no negotiations.

Q: ... you reject this offer?

BUSH: I don't know what the offer is. All they got to do is turn him over, and his colleagues and the thugs he hides, as well as destroy his camps and the innocent people being held hostage in Afghanistan.

Q: They want you to stop the bombing.

BUSH: There's no negotiations. They must have not heard. There's no negotiations. This is nonnegotiable. These people if they're interested in us stopping our military operations, we will do so if they meet the conditions that I outlined in my speech to the United States Congress. It's as simple as that. There's nothing to negotiate about. They're harboring a terrorist and they need to turn him over. And not only turn him over, turn the al-Qaida organization over, destroy all the terrorist camps – actually we're doing a pretty good job of that right now – and release the hostages they hold. That's all they got to do. But there is no negotiation. Period.

Come on Barney.

End

APNP-10-14-01 1502CDT