'This Week' Transcript: Former President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush, Lt. General Ken Keen and USAID Chief Rajiv Shah.

Transcript: Former President Clinton and President Bush

ByABC News
December 20, 2009, 6:03 AM

Jan. 17, 2010 — -- JAKE TAPPER, ABC ANCHOR: First of all, Mr. President and Mr. President, thanks so much for doing this.

I want to read you an e-mail I got from a Haitian friend of mine just a few minutes ago describing the situation on the ground there. He said: "The country is in total chaos, the government is totally non-existent, law and order no longer exist."

How frustrating is it for you, President Clinton, that the response has been so overwhelming and yet there is still -- supplies are not getting to the people in need?

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's frustrating, but I think we're moving on it quickly. I think having the American military, the -- President Preval signed an agreement, worked out an agreement with Hillary yesterday morning to turn the airport over.

Now the military working with the U.N. forces, they still have structure. We lost a lot of U.N. people, most of them were non-military. They're setting up distribution centers to safely distribute food and water. And they'll be able to have a widespread availability of medical care.

And that -- so I think you will see it get a lot better in a hurry now. There also was an extraordinary amount of time devoted to try and dig through those buildings, to find people living and dead. I think as that effort begins to wrap up, you will see the distribution of food, medicine, water, and basic care get better. I think the security situation will get better.

But people have to understand, not only was the city leveled and others as well west, the parliament-managed building was wrecked, the presidential palace was wrecked. As of yesterday we're still missing parliamentarians, still missing government ministers. I mean, the country -- the structure of the country was taken down, and I think the United States has done a good job and I think the international community has done a good job.

The U.N. structure was taken down. Biggest loss of life in a single day in U.N. history. So President Bush and I were talking before, people get frustrated by this, but I think if you just -- within two or three days the thing will be in much better order.

TAPPER: Mr. President, this is an unusual partnership. How did it come about?

GEORGE W. BUSH, 43RD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, actually, I used to talk to President Clinton during my presidency. And I -- and then of course called upon he and president 41, my dad, to work together on the tsunami and then Katrina. And then when you're both retired, you kind of hang around the retirement center together and so he and I have become friends.