Bush To Unveil Energy Proposals
President Gives CBS News Early Peek At State Of The Union Initiatives
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Play CBS Video Video Bush Talks Tough On Iran In an exclusive CBS News interview with Bob Schieffer, President Bush sent a strong message to Iran. "The Free World cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," Mr. Bush said.
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Video Bush On Energy Independence President Bush tells Bob Schieffer that he supports promoting and actively advancing new energy technologies so that the U.S. can become independent from foreign sources of oil.
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Video Bush On Politics In Washington President Bush tells Bob Schieffer one of his biggest disappointments is that it seems like everything is run through the prism of zero sum politics.
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President Bush and Bob Schieffer outside the White House. (CBS)
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Bob Schieffer interviews President Bush inside the Cabinet Room of the White House. (CBS)
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President Bush (CBS)
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President Bush and Bob Schieffer outside the White House. (CBS)
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Bob Schieffer talked about interviewing President Bush with Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith on Monday. (CBS/The Early Show)
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Video Archive Bush Interview An exclusive pre-State of the Union interview with the president.
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Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
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Interactive Nuclear Armed World The world's nuclear weapons powers, missile defense and a history of the nuclear weapons age.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBS News's Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation, the president said "being hooked" on oil from overseas jeopardizes the country's economic and national security.
Mr. Bush said the best way to achieve energy autonomy is through new technologies and better driving habits, emphasizing his support for corn-based fuel.
"There are about 4.6 million cars in America now that are flex-fuel cars," he said. "They could either use regular gasoline or fuel derived from corn. I'd like, for example, to not only advance that technology of deriving fuel from corn, but also deriving fuel from waste materials, and I'm convinced we could do that with a good push, a technological push."
The one often-mentioned idea that Mr. Bush flatly rejected as a way to reduce America's gas consumption was imposition of a gas tax.
In the 20-minute interview, President Bush also addressed a variety of critical issues, from the Iranian nuclear threat and Hamas's election victory to the handling of Hurricane Katrina and the epidemic of bitterness in Washington.
The president said he would pursue a policy in which a coalition of nations would bring pressure to bear on Iran, but he refused to take the military option off the table.
"All options should be on the table, and the last option is the military option. We have got to work hard to exhaust all diplomacy and that's what the country is seeing happen," he said.
"One, they've got to get rid of that arm of their party which is armed and violent, and secondly, they have got to get rid of that part of their platform that says they want to destroy Israel. And if they don't, we won't deal with them," he said.
"My job is not only Commander-In-Chief but educator-in-chief. And I needed to say to the people, you bet it's tough," he said, adding later, "I'm not so sure you've got the desire or the plan to win, and that's what I've been trying to articulate, is we do have a plan to win, and we are winning."
But Mr. Bush stopped short of offering a specific time frame for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, insisting he would leave troop level decisions to the commanders on the ground.
"One of the interesting lessons from the Vietnam era was it seemed like to me that politicians all were making the decisions and not the commanders on the ground a lot of times," he said. "I have vowed that the American people, and I will follow through on that--that if General Casey and the generals there in Iraq that will be making the decisions as to the troop levels."
"I made the decision to listen to phone calls of al Qaeda or suspected al Qaeda from outside the country coming in or inside the country going out because the people, our operators, told me that this is one of the best ways to protect the American people," he said.
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