    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [March 27, 2002]
    [Pages 504-508]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to First-Responders in Greenville
    March 27, 2002

        Thank you very much. It is great to be back in South Carolina. I
    didn't realize I was going to be giving an address on my old jogging
    path. [Laughter]
        Mr. Mayor, I have fond memories of your
    beautiful city. And thank you very much for your leadership and your
    hospitality, and thank you all for coming.
        One of the things that I'm not surprised about was how the good
    folks of South Carolina responded on September the 11th, in the
    aftermath. The good people here hurt for the people of New York, because
    they realized an attack on one part of America was an attack on all of
    America. And I want to thank you all for donating a brand new firetruck
    to New York City. I want to thank you for sending men and women to New
    York City in response to the emergency. I know that firefighters and
    casualty experts, emergency management director headed up north to
    provide help, and I'm here to thank you for that. And I'm here also to
    thank you for what you do every single day.
        You know, the evil ones hit us, but out of that evil has come some
    good. I'm going to talk to you about some of that good. And one of the
    good things that's come is a sincere appreciation and respect for the
    men and women who wear the uniform, the police and the fire and the
    emergency medical units all across the country. And I'm here to thank
    you as well for your dedication and your service to the people of your
    communities here in South Carolina.
        I appreciate so very much Tom Ridge's service.
    You know, he was a Governor there in Pennsylvania, just kind of cruising
    along. Life was pretty good. And then the President called him and said,
    ``I've got an assignment for you, to come and set a national strategy
    for our homeland security. The enemy's hit us, and we'd better be ready
    in case the enemy hits us again. And we need a strategy.'' And I'm
    telling you, he's come to Washington, DC, with a vision and a capacity.
    And we're developing and have got a strategy, some of which I will share
    with you today. And Tom, I want to thank you for your service.
        And I want to thank the other fellow on the stage here, Jim
    DeMint. He is a strong Congressman. He cares
    deeply about the people of this State. He is--he is an ally of mine in
    the House, because he is a man of integrity. He cares deeply about
    national issues and issues that affect the people here in his district.
    He understands the need for us to be tough and diligent and forceful
    when it comes to fighting terrorists. He understands the need for us to
    be strong at home as well. And that's why he has led a discussion on a
    strategy to make sure that the textile industry here in South Carolina
    gets not only the attention of the administration but a strategy to help
    people who work in the textile industry. This man is a leader, and he
    needs to go back to Washington, DC.
        And we've got some other people from the fine South Carolina
    delegation. Lindsey Graham is here, and a
    little later on, I'm going to try to give Lindsey a little boost. And I
    appreciate Hank Brown for being here as
    well. Thank you for coming.
        And I want to thank members of the statehouse who have come. You've
    got a

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    fine Lieutenant Governor and attorney
    general. Thank you both for coming and, of
    course, your speaker, homegrown boy, David Wilkins. I'm honored that you all have been here today.
        I drove in and went by the BMW plant for about the hundredth time,
    and it was good that I was traveling by it with Carroll
    Campbell, who made sure that the
    BMW plant came here the first time around. Governor, it's good to see
    you. Thank you for coming.
        I want to thank the high sheriff of Greenville County, Sam Simmons--I don't know if you call him the high sheriff
    around here or not, but play like you do, if you don't. [Laughter] But I
    want to thank the sheriff. I want to thank Willie Johnson, the chief. I want to thank Tom McDowell, chief of the fire department; John Zaragoza as well. And again, I want to thank you all for coming.
        The interesting thing about September the 11th is that even though
    the attacks were on two major cities, it reminded us--and in the
    aftermath reminded us that we're all vulnerable as well. I mean, after
    all, you might remember that some of the initial discussions after
    September the 11th, about potential threat, was about crop dusters. Now,
    they don't have a lot of crop dusters, you know, in Manhattan. They've
    got a lot of crop dusters in South Carolina or Texas. In other words,
    some of the intelligence we were getting was that not only were the
    enemy willing to use airplanes, obviously, as weapons, but what we were
    concerned about was that they would use other methods, like using a crop
    duster to spray a weapon of mass destruction, if possible. It's an
    indication that we had to be on alert to defend all sites and all
    locations in our country.
        We knew they were evil, and we're beginning to learn how really evil
    their intentions were, after September the 11th. And that's why
    Tom and I and many of you all and others around
    the country have got plans in place to defend power-generating plants,
    dams and reservoirs, livestock and crops, all kinds of areas. I mean,
    the truth of the matter is, homeland security in the heartland is just
    as important as homeland security in the big cities.
        And that's what we're here to talk about today, to make sure that
    America is safe. See, that's my most important job. My most important
    job is to work with Federal, State, and local officials to prevent the
    enemy from hitting us again and taking innocent life. I think about it
    every day. And even though they're still under threat--and we are under
    threat--we're getting better prepared every day.
        I sent a budget up to Congress that reflects my priority. The first-
    responders of America, all across America, must have the resources
    necessary to respond to emergencies and save lives. In the budget we
    sent up, there is a 1,000 percent increase for first-responders--
    requests $3.5 billion to make your jobs easier. I've requested $327
    million right away, right off the bat, to provide critical training and
    equipment to first-responders; 327 will come this year, hopefully; 3.5
    is for next budget cycle.
        In places like Pickens, South Carolina, and Union and Greer--and by
    the way, I've been to all three and enjoyed every minute of it. One of
    the bedrock principles of smalltown life is, you help a neighbor in
    need. A volunteer firefighter in Fort Mills, South Carolina, put it this
    way: ``We may not be a big department like New York City, but we have
    the same goal, to help our neighbors in time of trouble.'' That's how
    you all feel too. That's how the Crawford, Texas, volunteer fire
    department feels as well. I'm a proud booster.
        And one of the things we've got to do is to understand that we've
    got to strengthen security in smalltown America as well by helping
    smaller communities and smaller counties develop what we call mutual aid
    agreements. And in the budget that I've submitted to Congress, there's
    $140 million to do just that. If one town has got them a good hospital
    facility, another may be

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    able to lend fire trucks; a third may be a home to hazardous material
    experts. But we've got to develop these mutual pacts so that we can
    coordinate efforts, pool resources--all aimed at helping a neighbor in
    need, if we need to.
        So one of the things we're doing is focusing on the big cities,
    medium-sized cities like Greenville. But we understand we've got to have
    a strategy for rural South Carolina and rural America as well. And I'm
    here to assure the good folks of South Carolina that the strategies that
    we're putting out, the strategies that we're going to outline and work
    with the States and local authorities on, will also include rural South
    Carolina, to make sure that assets are pooled, personnel is
    coordinated--all aimed at buttoning up the homeland of the United States
    and preparing our country.
        But I want you to know that the best homeland security, the best way
    to secure the homeland and protect innocent life, is to find the enemy
    wherever they hide and bring them to justice. And that's exactly what
    we're going to do. We will hunt them down one by one.
        And after September the 11th, we started. And I said as plainly as I
    could speak, mustering up as much Midland, Texas, as I could find--I
    said, ``Either you are with us, or you're against us.'' And I made it
    clear that if anybody harbored a terrorist or they fed a terrorist or
    they hid a terrorist, they're just as guilty as the murderers who took
    innocent life on September the 11th. And thanks to a mighty United
    States military, the Taliban found out exactly what I meant.
        I'm proud of our military. And for those of you who have got a
    relative in the military, I want you to thank them on behalf of a
    grateful nation. But we've got to do more than thank them. We've got to
    make sure that they've got the best training, the best equipment, the
    best pay possible. And that's why the budget I submitted to the United
    States Congress not only includes a significant increase for first-
    responders and homeland security issues, but it is the largest increase
    in military spending in two decades. Because I understand that the price
    of freedom is high, but as far as I'm concerned, it is never too high
    when it comes to the defense of freedom.
        And that's what we're defending. We don't seek revenge; we seek
    justice. But it's more than just justice. This Nation will defend
    freedom. We defend the freedom to worship; we defend the freedom to
    speak; we defend the freedom for all Americans, regardless of their
    background, to enjoy a country that says, if you work hard, you can
    realize your dreams. That's what we defend.
        And this enemy of ours hates what we stand for. They can't stand us.
    They're ruthless murderers. And they must not have understood America
    when they attacked us. They thought we were weak. They thought we were
    so self-absorbed in our materialism that all we would probably do is
    just sue them. [Laughter] Man, were they wrong.
        We've thrown the Taliban out. And this past weekend, for the first
    time, many young women went to school. We went into Afghanistan not as
    conquerors but as liberators, as people who are willing to sacrifice to
    defend our freedoms.
        The first phase of the war is over--holding people accountable for
    harboring a terrorist--that message is now loud and clear. I think other
    governments have heard that message. And the next message is this: We're
    going to keep you on the run. If you're a killer, we're going to treat
    you for what you are, an international criminal with no place to hide,
    no place to sleep.
        Oh, I know some of them think there's a cave deep enough. We're
    patient; we're determined; we're united. As proud and patriotic
    Americans, I can assure you that distance between September the 11th is
    not going to cause me to weaken in my determination to defend our
    country and to fight for freedom.
        I also want to explain right quickly what I meant when I was talking
    about the axis

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    of evil. Let me put it to you this way: We cannot allow nations that
    have got a history of totalitarianism and dictatorship--a nation, for
    example, like Iraq, that poisoned her own people--to develop a weapon of
    mass destruction and mate up with terrorist organizations who hate
    freedom-loving countries. We can't afford to do that, for the sake of
    our children and our children's children. History has called this Nation
    into action, and we're not going to let the world's worst leaders
    develop and maintain and deploy and aim, at us or our friends, the
    world's worst weapons.
        My fellow Americans, we've got a lot at stake. We've got a lot at
    stake at home and a lot at stake around the world. We've been called,
    and I'm here to assure you this great country is prepared and willing
    and will answer the call to freedom.
        And I believe there's another calling at home as well. I believe
    that we have an opportunity to fight evil at home in a different kind of
    way than people would have imagined. I'm asked all the time by people,
    ``What can I do in a war against terror?'' You all are answering that
    call. But there's something else I'd like for you and others in South
    Carolina and around America to do. You see, in order to fight evil, we
    can stand strongly in the face of evil with acts of kindness and
    compassion. We can better love our neighbor like we'd like to be loved
    ourself.
        You see, the great strength of America is not necessarily our
    military might, and it's certainly not our Government, even though the
    system is great and the military is strong. The great strength of
    America are the hearts and soul--the great strength is the heart and
    soul of our country; that's the strength. The strength of the country
    comes when somebody walks across the street to a neighbor in need and
    says, ``What can I do to help you''; when somebody walks in to a shut-in
    and says, ``I care about you''; or somebody mentors a child, teaching
    that child how to read; or a church or a synagogue or a mosque comes up
    with a program based upon faith of the Almighty to help a person whip
    alcohol or drugs. That's the great strength of America.
        And I believe out of this evil will come incredible goodness. I know
    this country can stand squarely in the face of evil by loving a neighbor
    just like you'd like to be loved yourself. And today we've got a high
    school student, Gus Samuel. Please stand up, Gus.
    Gus is here because he is a living example of what I'm talking about.
    This guy goes to high school, and yet he is active in the Salvation
    Army, and he finds time to work with youngsters in the Girls and Boys
    Club.
        Our society can be changed one heart, one soul, one conscience at a
    time. And it's the gathering momentum of millions of acts of kindness,
    because of guys like Gus, that we will show the
    world the true heart of America, and we will stand squarely in the face
    of the evil ones who did not understand who they were attacking.
        Out of the evil will come a more lasting peace, if we're tough and
    firm. And out of the evil will come a new renewal of heart in the
    greatest land on the face of the Earth.
        May God bless you all, and may God bless America. Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Wyche Pavilion at the
    Peace Center for the Performing Arts. In his remarks, he referred to
    Mayor Knox H. White, Police Department Chief Willie L. Johnson, and
    Emergency Medical Services Director John Zaragoza of Greenville; Lt.
    Gov. Bob Peeler, Attorney General Charlie Condon, and former Gov.
    Carroll A. Campbell, Jr., of South Carolina; and David H. Wilkins,
    speaker, South Carolina House of Representatives.

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