campaign to take down we see now both presidents walking in to address the reporters there in the east room of the white house. let's now listen to president obama. t it has been an honor to welcome you to the white house before in happier times than this, but as americans, we stand by our friends in good what. so on be half of the american people i want to once again express our deepest condolences to you and all of the people of france for the attacks that took place in paris. we're here today to declare that the united states and france stand united, in total solidarity to deliver justice

to these terrorists and those who sent them and to defend our nations and in that spirit, with heavy but strong hearts, i welcome you here today. francois, with your understanding my statement today will be a little longer than usual. i've been traveling and this is an important moment for our nations and for the world. this barbaric terrorists group, isil in miss ideology poses a serious threat to all of us. it cannot be tolerated, it must be destroyed and we must do it together. this is the unit of purpose that brings us here today. on your visit here last year you said that the french love america. well we love the french. sometimes, we americans are too shy to say so but we aren't

we americans love france because we dedicate ourselves to the same ideas, that all people deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. france is our oldest allie. you helped us win our independence. we helped lib rate france from faciis sm. we are a freedom to each other. we love france for your spirit and your culture. since the attacks americans have recalled their own visits to paris, visiting the eifel tower and we know these places, they are part of our memories woven into the fabric of our lives and our culture. i am very grateful to the french people for the hospitality they've always shown me and when they welcome michelle and our daughters on

their first visit to the city of lights. by my bed in the residence is a picture of me and michelle in luxemborg gardens, kissing. those are the memories we have of paris as early on, i have no greater. so when tragedy struck that evening, our hearts broke too. in that stadium and concert hall and those restaurants and cafes, we see our own. in the face of the french people we see ourselves and that's why so many americans have embraced the blue, white and red and that's why americans had candlelight vigils have joined together to sing. we've never forgotten how the french people stood with us after 9/11 and today we stand with you.

its been noted that the toy or it'ses did not direct their attacks against the french government or military rather they focused their violence on the very spirit of france and by extension on all liberal democracy, this was an attack on our free and open societies where people come together to celebrate and sing and compete and targeting venues where people come together from around the world, killing citizens of nearly 20 countries including america, this was an attack on the very idea that people of different races and religions and backgrounds can live together in peace. and sure this was not only a strike against one of the world's great cities. it was an attack against the world itself. it's the same madness that has slaughtered the innocent from

it is a skurge that threatens all of us and that's why for more than a year the united states, france, and our coalition of some 65 nations have been united in one mission, to destroy these isil terror its and defeat their ideology. today, we reviewed our coalitions progress. more than 8,000 air strikes combined with local partners on the ground have pushed isil back from territory, in both iraq and syria. today, we agreed our nations must do even more together u.s. assistance supported recent french strikes in syria and we're going to keep stepping up that coordination and as we saw

in malli, the terror threat goes beyond isil. it goes to sustain our support including airlift to intelligence two allies like france as we work together to root out terrorists networks in africa. we'll do even more to prevent attacks at home. building on our recent intelligence agreement the united states will quickly share threat information with france and in the wake of pairs and with the threats in belgium there's also a growing recognition among european nations that they need to ramp up additional efforts to prevent the flow of foreign terrorists fighters. as part of that, i'm calling on the european union to finally implement the agreement that's been long in the works that would require airlines to share passenger information so we can do more to stop foreign terrorists fighters from entering our countries undetected and i'm prepared to send teams of our experts to work on this with our european

redoubling our efforts together. regarding the broader crisis in syria. president olan and i agree that russia's strikes against the moderate opposition only bolster the asad regime whose brutality has helped to fuel the rise of isil. we agree that russia could play a more constructive role if it were to shift the focus of its strike to defeating isil. and likewise president olan and i agree that the best way to bring peace to syria is through the principles reaffirmed in vienna which require active russian support for a cease fire and a political transition away from asad to a democratically elected government that can unite the syrian people against terrorism. finally, francois and i understand one of our greatest weapons in the fight against isil is the strength and

here i want to speak directly to the american people. what happened in paris is truly horrific. i understand the people worry that something similar could happen here. i want you to know that we will continue to do everything in our power to defend our nation. since 9/11 we've taken extraordinary measures to strengthen our homeland security. our counterterrorism, homeland security, and law enforcement professionals, federal, state and local they are tireless and they have prevented attacks and they have saved lives. they are working every hour, every day for our security. they did so before paris. they do so now, and they will not stop. they are the best in the world but it's not just our security

professionals who will defeat isil and other terrorists groups. as americans we all have a role to play in how we respond to threats. the groups like isil cannot defeat us on the battlefield so they try to terrorize us at home against soft targets, against civilians, against innocent people. even as we're vigilant, we cannot and we will not succomb to fear. nor can we allow fear to divide us. but that's how terrorists win. we cannot give them the victory of changing how we go about living our lives. the good news is americans are resilient. we mourned the lives lost at fort hood, the boston marathon,

the chattanooga, but we did not waiver. our communities is have come together and we've gone to ballgames and gone to concerts and we've gone shopping and men and women who want to serve our country continue to go to military recruiting offices. we're vigilant, we take precautions, but we go about our business. to those who want to harm us, our actions have shown that we have too much resolve and too much character. americans will not be terrorized. and i say all of this because another part of being vigilant, another part of defeating terrorists like isil is upholding the rights and freedoms that define our two great republics. that includes freedom of religion, that includes equality before the law.

there have been times in our there have been times in our history in moments of fear when we have failed to uphold our highest ideals and it has been to our lasting regret. we must uphold our ideals now. each of us, all of us must show that america is strengthened by people of every faith and every background and related to this i want to note that under president olan, france plans to welcome 30,000 additional syrian refugees over the next two years. here in the united states, refugees coming to america go through up to two years of intense security checks including biometrics screening. nobody who sets foot in america goes through more screening than refugees. and we're prepared to share these tools with france and our european partners.

as francois said our humanitarian duty to help desperate refugees and our duty to our security those duties go hand in hand. on the statue of liberty, a gift from the people of france. there are words we know so well. give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be free. that's the spirit that makes us american. that's the spirit that binds us to france. that's the spirit we needed to. in closing i want to salute the people of paris for showing the world how to stay strong in the face of terrorism. even as they grieve, they have begun returning to their cafes, riding the metro and going to

teams, crowds gathered in the plaza including a mother who brought her children. she said to let them see that we should not be afraid. as one said paris will always be paris. next week, i will be joining president olan and world leaders in paris for the global climate conference. what a powerful rebute to the terrorists it will be when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children. so president olan, my fellow americans, let's remember we face greater threats to our way of life before. facism, communism, a first

cold war, each and every time we prevailed. we have prevailed because our way of life is stronger. because we stay united. because even as we are relentless in the face of evil, we draw on what's best in ourselves and in the character of our countries. there will be no different this time. make no mistake, we will win and groups like isil will lose and standing with allies like france we will continue to show the world the best of american leadership. vive la france, god bless the united states of america, mr. president. >> ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to thank the president

of the united states barack obama for the solidarity he has shown immediately and we found out about the terror attacks. he was the first one to call me. 2:00 a.m. when barack obama called. the president of the united states expressed his solidarity towards france, his emotion, his compassion against and on that night, he meant to tell me that the united states stood by france, that the help that could be provided to france would have no limit and that we had a duty, a joined duty to put our forces together and fight terrorism.

i do not forget either all of the messages that the american people sent to the french people over the past few days. the french colors, the french flags, all around in many gatherings these candles in places that represent france here in the united states, the messages on national items sang in official ceremonies . it is to you that 9/11, we all felt americans but after the 13th of november, americans felt french. they are two peoples together merged as one, sharing the same emotion and also the same willingness to fight for freedom, to stand for values.

we each have our own history. we have our own culture, our own background, but we share the same trust, the same faith in freedom. it is france that came under attack on the 13th of november. france for what it is, a country which we consider unique in the world because france speaks to the world. france came under attack for what it represents, for what it stands for, for its culture and as well as all values, principles, but by targeting france, the terrorists, the cowardly murders were targeting the world in these restaurants

concert venue, they were men and women, most of them young who came from 20 countries at least and they share the same passion for life and that's the reason why they were murdered. my thoughts are with the friends and family of the young american student, noemy gonzalez who came as well to share a moment of culture and joy. i thoughts also go to the american band playing. all cultures on that occasion were together to bring the same enthusiasm and then were hit by terrorists. we are facing the terror group

territory, they have some substantial resources. they are striving on smuggling drug, human beings and since the beginning of the year, they hit many countries, denmark, tunicis, loan a knob, kuwait, turkey, egypt as well as russia by taking down the russian plane, so together with president obama, today we wanted on the occasion of that meeting first of all to share our determination, relentless determination to fight terrorism everywhere and anywhere. we also wanted to tell the

those who want to destroy what we've built, we will not allow them to do it, to destroy what we built generation after generation, they will not be able to damage the world and against that we need a joint response. france and the united states stand together to bring that joint response. it is about destroying them no matter where they are. it is about taking out their financing, hunting down their leaders, dismantling their networks and taking back the land they currently control. we there for decided, president obama and myself, to scale up our strikes built in syria and in iraq to broaden their is scope to strengthen our intelligence sharing regarding

the targets we must aim at. the priority is to take back key locations in the hands of syria. it is also a matter of urgency to close the border between turkey and syria and prevent terrorists from crossing the border and coming to europe or other places and undertake such terrible attacks. we also took the decision to work together with our partners of the coalition in iraq and to support all of those who are fighting on the ground. the aim is to make sure that these forces can be supported, helped, but all the countries that are willing to act milli tearily to destroy, the resolution of the security council that was voted

unanimously friday after being introduced by france and supported by the united states, this resolution provides us with the clear basis to act. this is what france is currently doing on aircraft carrier is currently in the eastern mediterranean and allows us to enjoy more capability. yesterday for the sixth time after the terror attacks in paris, we struck roca. in addition we've been provided some assistance into iraqi fighters in the region of remadi and mosul within the framework of the coalition. now diplomatically both president obama and myself havestrengthened our cooperation as early as the night of the attacks and i would like to commend everything that is being done so that intelligence and information can be used to

their movements, so that we prevent from doing them from doing what they want to do because beyond syria, what they want is somehow to spread fear everywhere so that we doubt, so that we make decisions which are exactly contrary to what we want in terms of freedom and rights but we will not give in. that being said we have to of course as quickly as possible and to open up the

process that will lead to the departure, because we cannot imagine the syrians getting together, gathering around the leader whose responsible for is some of the most of the 300,000 dead in a few years, so a government of unity is required but that must lead to asad's departure. the syrian crisis is directly relevant to europe. first of all given the terrorists threat, but also because there are millions of refugees fleeing the regimes bombs and atrocity. if we were to abandon them, we would betray what we are. this is the reason why i reject

at the same time we must control the borders. today, people are risking their lives to flee when they travel between turkey and greece. turkey there for plays an important role and it is together with turkey that we must find solutions so that the refugees can stay close to their country of origin and we need to make sure that the required controls for the checks are implemented at the border. on thursday i will be traveling to moscow to meet with vladimir putin and i will tell him france can work together with russia if russia concentrates its military action against isil and if russia fully

committs to political solution in syria. this is what we want to do. we want to gather all countries, all those who are willing to find and implement a political solution in syria. we do not want to exclude anyone but we want to make sure that this political solution can eradicate terrorism. lastly, next week, that is on monday, we will be hosting in paris a climate conference. i certainly could not imagine that this conference would be taking place against such a background. at the same time, i think they cannot be any better symbol or response but to hold the conference in paris where the

right measures in terms of security protections as well as in defending our values. there's no greater symbol than holding this conference on climate in paris with some 150 heads of state and government. never before did france host so many leaders of the international community. they are coming to sort out the climate challenge and again to work and to find the right agreement so that we can limit greenhouse gas emission and make sure our children and grandchildren can live better or simply live but they are also coming to express their

support freedom to the fight against extremism, that radical dangerous. yes, all of them are coming no matter their background, no matter their religion, their convictions, to express the same principle, the same values with the same word, life, yes, simply life. and for this reason president obama will allow us to succeed, i command his recent statements over the past few weeks and month but i also command the committments he's made in the name of the united states as well as in the name of the world. it was very important that one of the most powerful countries in the world if not the most

highest level of emissions could also be there to face the future like we have been facing history. what we will be doing early next week in paris means that we can continue to live as well as protect our lives of children. france and the united states given their history and the values, the founding values of both our nations given our spirits, we both have that duty to act as matter of urgency against terrorism and at the same time, to prepare for the future. against that background, even though it is a very dire one, i'm pleased to be wb o to send

across that message to the