    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [September 16, 2001]
    [Pages 1114-1117]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Arrival at the White House and an Exchange With Reporters
    September 16, 2001

        The President. Today millions of Americans mourned and prayed, and
    tomorrow we go back to work. Today people from all walks of life gave
    thanks for the heroes; they mourned the dead; they asked for God's good
    graces on the families who mourn. And tomorrow the good people of
    America go back to their shops, their fields, American factories, and go
    back to work.
        Our Nation was horrified, but it's not going to be terrorized. We're
    a great nation. We're a nation of resolve. We're a nation that can't be
    cowed by evildoers.
        I've got great faith in the American people. If the American people
    had seen what I have seen in New York City, you'd have great faith too.
    You'd have faith in the hard work of the rescuers. You'd have great
    faith because of the desire for people to do what's right for America.
    You'd have great faith because of the compassion and love that our
    fellow Americans are showing each other in times of need.
        I also have faith in our military. And we have got a job to do. Just
    like the farmers and ranchers and businessowners and factory workers
    have a job to do, my administration has a job to do, and we're going to
    do it. We will rid the world of the evildoers. We will call together
    freedom-loving people to fight terrorism.
        And on this day of--on the Lord's Day, I say to my fellow Americans:
    Thank you for your prayers; thank you for your compassion; thank you for
    your love for one another. And tomorrow when you get back to work, work
    hard like you always have. But we've been warned. We've been warned
    there are evil people in this world--we've been warned so vividly--and
    we'll be alert. Your Government is alert. The Governors and mayors are
    alert that evil folks still lurk out there.
        As I said yesterday, people have declared war on America. And they
    have made a terrible mistake, because this is a fabulous country. Our
    economy will come back. We'll still be the best farmers and ranchers in
    the world. We're still the most innovative entrepreneurs in the world.
    On this day

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    of faith, I've never had more faith in America than I have right now.

    National Economy

        Q. Mr. President, are you worried this crisis might send us into a
    recession?
        The President. David [David Gregory, NBC News], I understand that
    there are some businesses that hurt as a result of this crisis.
    Obviously, New York City hurts. Congress acted quickly. We worked
    together, the White House and the Congress, to pass a significant
    supplemental. A lot of that money was dedicated to New York, New Jersey,
    and Connecticut, as it should be. People will be amazed at how quickly
    we rebuild New York, how quickly people come together to really wipe
    away the rubble and show the world that we're still the strongest nation
    in the world.
        But I have great faith in the resiliency of the economy. And no
    question about it, this incident affected our economy. But the markets
    open tomorrow, people go back to work, and we'll show the world.
        Yes, Bill [Bill Plante, CBS News].

    Usama bin Laden

        Q. Mr. President, do you believe Usama bin Laden's denial that he
    had anything to do with this?
        The President. No question, he is the prime suspect. No question
    about that.

    International Cooperation Against Terrorism

        Q. Mr. President, can you describe your conversation with the
    President of Pakistan and the specific promises he made to you? And in
    addition to that, do you see other promises, similar--I know you've
    asked Saudi Arabia to help out--other countries?
        The President. John [John King, Cable News Network], I will--
    obviously I made a call to the leader of Pakistan. We had a very good, open conversation. And there is no
    question that he wants to cooperate with the United States. I'm not at
    liberty to detail specifically what we have asked him to do. In the
    course of this conduct of this war against terrorism, I'll be asked a
    lot and members of my administration will be asked a lot of questions
    about our strategies and tactics. And in order to protect the lives of
    people that will be involved in the different operations, I'm not at
    liberty to talk about it, and I won't talk about it.
        But I can tell you that the response from Pakistan, Prime Minister
    Vajpayee today of India, Saudi Arabia
    has been very positive and very straightforward. They know what my
    intentions are. They know my intentions are to find those who did this,
    find those who encouraged them, find those who housed them, find those
    who comfort them, and bring them to justice.
        I made that very clear. There is no doubt in anybody's mind with
    whom I've had a conversation about the intent of the United States. I
    gave them ample opportunity to say they were uncomfortable with our
    goal. And the leaders you've asked about have said they were
    comfortable. They said, ``We understand, Mr. President, and we're with
    you.''

    U.S. Response to Terrorist Attacks

        Q. Mr. President, the Attorney General is going to ask for enhanced
    law enforcement authority to surveil and do other things to disrupt
    terrorism that might be planned here in the United States. What will
    that mean for the rights of Americans? What will that mean for
    Americans----
        The President. Terry [Terry Moran, ABC News], I ask you to talk to
    the Attorney General about that subject. He'll
    be prepared to talk about it publicly at some point in time. But what he
    is doing is, he's reflecting what I said earlier in my statement, that
    we're facing a new kind of enemy, somebody so barbaric that they would
    fly airplanes into buildings full of innocent people. And therefore, we
    have to be on alert in America. We're a nation of law, a nation of civil
    right. We're also a nation under attack. And the Attorney General will

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    address that in a way that I think the American people will understand.
        We need to go back to work tomorrow, and we will. But we need to be
    alert to the fact that these evildoers still exist. We haven't seen this
    kind of barbarism in a long period of time. No one could have
    conceivably imagined suicide bombers burrowing into our society and then
    emerging all in the same day to fly their aircraft--fly U.S. aircraft
    into buildings full of innocent people and show no remorse. This is a
    new kind of--a new kind of evil. And we understand. And the American
    people are beginning to understand.
        This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while, and
    the American people must be patient. I'm going to be patient. But I can
    assure the American people, I am determined. I'm not going to be
    distracted. I will keep my focus to make sure that not only are these
    brought to justice, but anybody who's been associated with them will be
    brought to justice. Those who harbor terrorists will be brought to
    justice. It is time for us to win the first war of the 21st century
    decisively, so that our children and our grandchildren can live
    peacefully into the 21st century.
        Patsy [Patricia Wilson, Reuters].
        Q. Mr. President, you've declared that we're at war and asked the
    military to get ready. Should the American people also be ready to
    expect casualties in this war?
        The President. Patsy, the American people should know that my
    administration is determined to find, to get them running, and to hunt
    them down, those who did this to America. Now, I want to remind the
    American people that the prime suspect's organization is in a lot of
    countries. It's a widespread organization based upon one thing,
    terrorizing. They can't stand freedom. They hate what America stands
    for. So this will be a long campaign, a determined campaign, a campaign
    that will use the resources of the United States to win.
        They have roused a mighty giant. And make no mistake about it: We're
    determined. Oh, there will be times when people don't have this incident
    on their mind; I understand that. There will be times down the road
    where citizens will be concerned about other matters, and I completely
    understand that. But this administration, along with those friends of
    ours who are willing to stand with us all the way through, will do what
    it takes to rout terrorism out of the world.
        Stretch [Richard Keil, Bloomberg News].

    International Cooperation Against Terrorism

        Q. Mr. President, getting back to your conversation with the leader
    of Pakistan, did you make any requests or demands of him that he turned
    you down on, or did you get what you asked for?
        The President. The leader of Pakistan
    has been very cooperative. He has agreed with our requests to aid our
    Nation to hunt down, to find, to smoke out of their holes the terrorist
    organization that is the prime suspect. And I am pleased with his
    response. We will continue to work with Pakistan and India. We will work
    with Russia. We will work with the nations that one would have thought a
    couple of years ago would have been impossible to work with--to bring
    people to justice but, more than that, to win the war against terrorist
    activity.
        The American people are used to a conflict where there was a
    beachhead or a desert to cross or known military targets. That may
    occur. But right now we're facing people who hit and run. They hide in
    caves. We'll get them out.
        The other day I said, not only will we find those who have affected
    America or who might affect America in the future, we'll also deal with
    those who harbor them.

    September 11 National Security Decisions

        Q. Mr. President, would you confirm what the Vice President said
    this morning,

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    that at one point during this crisis you gave an order to shoot down any
    civilian airliner that approached the Capitol? Was that a difficult
    decision to make?
        The President. I gave our military the orders necessary to protect
    Americans--do whatever it would take to protect Americans. And of
    course, that's difficult. Never did, in anybody's thought process about
    how to protect America, did we ever think that the evildoers would fly
    not one but four commercial aircraft into precious U.S. targets--never.
    And so, obviously, when I was told what was taking place, when I was
    informed that a unidentified aircraft was headed to the heart of the
    Capital, I was concerned. I wasn't concerned about my decision; I was
    more concerned about the lives of innocent Americans. I had realized,
    there on the ground in Florida, we were under attack. But never did I
    dream we would have been under attack this way.
        That's why I say to the American people, we've never seen this kind
    of evil before. But the evildoers have never seen the American people in
    action before, either, and they're about to find out.
        Thank you all very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:23 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al
    Qaida terrorist organization; President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan;
    and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India.