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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 25, 2005

Remarks by the President and Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy Upon Signing Condolence Book

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AND EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR NABIL FAHMY UPON SIGNING CONDOLENCE BOOK

Egyptian Embassy Washington, D.C.

11:52 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for having us. Laura and I have come to your embassy to express our heart-felt sympathies for those who have lost their lives, and our strong determination to stand with the government of Egypt and the people of Egypt in rejecting this kind of violence and terror.

The people who struck in Sharm el-Sheikh killed Muslims, innocent mothers and dads, people who were trying to make a living. They have no heart, they have no conscience, and they have no ideology that is hopeful. And they have an ideology of hate.

It was my honor to speak to your President, President Mubarak, and again reiterate my country's strong desire to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Egypt and bring justice to those who killed innocent people.

Thank you for letting us come by.

AMBASSADOR FAHMY: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mrs. Bush. I want to thank you both very much and very sincerely for coming here this morning to share with us in this moment of remembrance to the people who have lost their lives -- Egyptians, foreigners -- at Sharm el-Sheikh over the weekend. I think your presence here, your phone call to the President over the weekend, and also the many Americans who have been in touch with our embassy, and in Cairo, reflect the nature of the relationship that we have together, as two countries working hand-in-hand for peace and stability in the region, working against terrorism.

As you are well aware, we were the targets of terrorism years ago, as you were on 9/11. And we continue to work together, resolute, to deal with this scourge, and ultimately, hopefully to develop in the Middle East an Egypt that is prosperous, stable and secure for all.

I'd like to see this occasion to thank you both, and through you, all of the American people, and to reaffirm our determination to continue to pursue terrorism without equivocation and determination and resolve. Thank you, sir.

END 11:55 A.M. EDT