somehow able to swallow their fears and secure a beachheadn@@ when an unforgiving sure. to those men to achieve that victory 65 years ago, we thank you for your service. may god bless you, and may god bless the memory of all those to rest here. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, four of the normandy veterans who are with us today will be awarded the legion of honor and recognition of their bravery. is france's highest decoration. it was created by napoleon bonaparte in 1892.

today's recipients will be awarded the order of officer of legion of honor. [speaking in french] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of the legion of honor to zane schlemmer, jack woods, joseph donroach, and military

personnel, gather to orders. [speaking french] [applause] [speaking french] [applause] [speaking french]

[applause] [speaking french] [applause] ♪ . . >> ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. ladies and gentlemen, president

obama, his royal highness, prince of wales, prime minister brown, prime minister harper, and president sarkozy one-hour rate -- lay a wreath in honor of those who made the supreme sacrifice. [speaking in french] >> ladies and gentlemen, we will now observe a moment of silence for our fallen

brethren. >> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for our 21 gun salute, the playing of "taps" and the fly-over by the french, british, and u.s. air forces. [speaking in french]

["taps" plays] ["taps" plays]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. [speaking in french] >> ladies and gentlemen, please

remain in place until the official party has departed the ceremonial area. [speaking in french] >> more now from president obama and french president nicolas sarkozy. they met earlier today in france and questions from some reporters on the middle east peace process, north korea's nuclear weapons and their policy towards iran. this is 35 minutes. >> i would like to say to the president of the united states of america how proud france is to work with you. for the second time this year, this afternoon we will be

talking about the ceremonies and the commemoration of the d-day landings but i want to say in the strongest, most sincere terms that never in the history, perhaps, of our two countries the united states and france, have been so close to one another on major issues, major questions. i say to the president that we are determined to help him in his decision to close down -- shut down guantanamo. i told president barack obama to what extent we support his open, outstretched hand initiative to russia, that we improve and endorse this policy. i said to the president that we totally agreed with him. on the israeli and palestinian

issue. two states that need to live alongside one another, an israeli state whose security we're very attached to and a secure palestinian state. and to what extent we support american diplomacy when it requested that an end stop, a halt be put to settlements. on the iranian matter, i've said this very frank and open terms to the iranian foreign secretary how important it is he take his hand outstretched by president obama, that we, france, europe, and the united states are totally aligned to this and we cannot in any way accept the insane statements made by president mahmoud ahmadinejad on north korea we

have total convergent of views with the president and of course france is delighted to have fully reintegrated nato, as i said to the american president. so really, it is a pleasure to work with barack obama. we work regularly together. he knows that france is a friend of the united states. we basically coordinate on all major issues and we are determined to continue that. barack, welcome, welcome to your family. >> it's wonderful to be back in france, particularly on this day because this day marks not only the triumph of freedom, but it also marksow the

transatlantic alliance has allowed for extraordinary prosperity and security on both sides of the atlantic. the fact that france fully reintegrated into nato this year under president sarkozy's leadership is just one further indication of the degree to which u.s.-french cooperation can help to underpin not only security in europe but also a more secure and prosperous world beyond europe. world beyond europe. i very much appreciated president sarkozy's leadership on a whole range of issues. he mentioned a number of them. france's leadership within europe and understanding the need for us to have tough

diplomacy with the iranians, to reach out to them but also insist that we couldn't afford a nuclear arms race in the middle east, our close collaboration on a whole host of issues with russia, france's willingness to accept a guantanamo detainee, but more broadly to help us as we want to deal with the terror threat but do so in a way that is consistent with our values and our ideals, the assistance that all nato allies, as well as others are providing in helping to bring about a more peaceful and democratic afghanistan, on all of these issues president sarkozy has not just cooperated, he's led.

e's led. and that kind of approach i think is serving the interests of france but it's also serving their interest and we're very grateful for that. obviously i also want to make mention of the extraordinary tragedy of the air france plane that we believe may have gone down. we don't know yet what exactly happened, but it is heartbreaking, obviously, for the families. the american people offer our thoughts and prayers. we've already authorized all of our resources to coordinate with the french in trying to discover where the plane went down and to find as much information as possible. but our deepest condolences to

the people of france, most particularly to the families involved. and we are determined to find out what happened and support france in that regard. so with that, i think that we can take a question. >> mr. president, concerning -- excuse me. the gentleman is speaking without a microphone. >> apparently you're speaking without a microphone so the translator cannot hear you. do we have a mike anywhere? >> yes, we do. right here. >> sir. >> who has the microphone? >> you said yesterday that you hoped to see significant progress in the middle east by

the end of this year. what did you mean by that? and president sarkozy, you had a meeting earlier this week with the iranian foreign minister, what message was he able to give you to pass on to the president? thank you. >> ok. i think all of us understand what would constitute progress when it comes to the israeli-palestinian conflict. progress would mean that the parties involved supported by not just the united states, not just by france, but also other arab states, are in serious constructive negotiations about how to achieve a two-state solution.

i don't expect that a 60-year problem is solved overnight, but as i said before, i do expect both sides to recognize that their fates are tied together and that it is in the interest of israel, its security interests as well as the interests of the palestinians to resolve this in a peaceful way. there are a whole host of difficult questions out there, we all know what those questions are. but i believe president sarkozy and i agree that we have to move beyond the current stalemate. both sides are going to have obligations. i've discussed the importance of a cessation of settlement construction but i also want to re-emphasize because that's gotten more attention than what

i've also said, which is the palestinians have to renounce violence and incitement, improve their governance capacity so that israelis can be confident that the palestinians can follow through on any commitments they make across the table. now, i cannot impose such negotiations or certainly the terms of a final settlement on the parties. that's their task. president sarkozy cannot impose peace in that region. but what we can do is to be friends to israel, honest in our assessments of what it's going to take, hold the palestinians accountable for their end of the bargain, and move the process forward. and we are going to pry to put

as much energy as we can do it. my special envoy, george mitchell, will be returning to the region this week and we are going to systematically work through as many of these issues as possible. one last point i want to emphasize, the arab states have to be a part of this process. it's not sufficient just to point at the palestinian problem and then say we are not going to engage, we're not going to take responsibility. they are going to have to step up as well because the arab states not only are important politically, they're also important economically, and to the extent that they put their shoulder behind the wheel, that can move the process forward in a significant way.

>> it is not me to speak of the minister of the foreign affairs of iran. i can tell you what i told him. i said to him, number one, he has to take the hand stretched out by barack obama and set a meeting so the group of six, the six-party talks start again. secondly, we all were aligned if iran wants access to civilian, nuclear energy, it's entitled to that. but if it wants nuclear, military nuclear, the answer is no. and you have to understand this fair and square. if your interests are peaceful, then accept controls. we cannot accept the iranian leader to make extremely aggressive statements on the one hand, and checks and controls not to be accepted by

the iranians, and at the same time to give them access to civilian nuclear freedom. we are working hand in hand. iran is a great nation, a great civilization. we want peace, we want dialogue and we want to help them develop but we do not want nuclear -- military nuclear weapons to spread and we are clear on that. mr. president, there are a lot of comments in france and germany recently on the fact that you stayed briefly in these two countries and you haven't spent much private time outside of the official engagements here. does that mean that europe is not on your priority list, diplomatic list, or what would you have to say on the subject? >> what it means is that i have

a very tough schedule. i would love nothing more than to have a leisurely week in paris, stroll down the thames, take my wife to a nice meal, have a picnic in luxembourg gardens. those days are over for the moment. and so i think it's very important to understand that good friends don't worry about the symbols and the protocols, the united states is a critical friend and ally of france and vice versa.

i personally consider nicolas sarkozy a friend. i think he feels the same way. and so since i know i can always pick up the phone and talk to him, that it's not necessary for me to spend huge amounts of time other than just getting business done when i'm here. at some point i will not be president and then you will find me in france, i'm sure, quite a bit having fun. i said the same thing in germany yesterday where they were asking, well, you know, you didn't have an overnight here or this i think you're reading too much into my schedule. my main issue has to do with the fact when i take these foreign trips, it's to get business done because i also have an economy where the

unemployment rate is 9.4%, we still have to pass financial regulations that will prevent the kind of crisis we've seen from happening again. that all requires a lot of work and so my schedule is always limited. >> well, in a democracy, one has to accept all criticisms and all comments. let me tell you, do you think we do not have enough on our plate to do without spending time to have our pictures taken, what with the unemployment rate in france, the united states, the western world, to work with the iranian issues, do you think our prime concern is what glossy magazine we'll be pictured in or what restaurant we're going to go and spend an evening in or whether we spend an extra night

here or not, what does friendship means? friendship means when the united states is going to shut down gaughan town mow, we'll say, we'll help you. we'll have some of the detainees in france. friendship is what is coming back into nato and taking two important command posts in the integrated structure. that's what friendship is about. we're here to work together and achieve results. we're not here walking hand in hand saying how much time did you spend with her? but do you think people are waiting to see us hand in hand sitting here looking in one another's eyes? of course not. they want us to achieve results on iran or north korea or whatever it is, where we see harmony. i'll tell you one thing, it's very easy to work with the united states president. >> mr. sarkozy speaks quite quickly so we can even get more done. [laughter]

>> i speak fast, but you understand fast. >> we'll take one last question. we've got a mike? >> president obama, the ban on head scarves and veils for young girls in french schools and president sarkozy's position on the entry into the union is it going to hinder what you said in islam two days ago? >> i think this is a process >> i think this is a process and what i tried to do in cairo was to open up a conversation, both in muslim communities but also in non-muslim communities, both in the middle east but also here in the west and as i said in my speech, the freedom is critical, both here and in the

united states. and we should not have two standards of freedom of religious expression, one for muslims and one for non-muslims. that doesn't mean that each country isn't going to be working through these issues with its own history and own sensitivities in mind, and i don't take responsibility for how other countries are going to approach this. i will tell you that in the united states our basic attitude is we're not going to tell people what to wear if in their exercise of religion they are impeding somebody else's rights. that's something that we would obviously be concerned about. but my general view is that the most effective way to