[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
[March 27, 2002]
[Pages 512-515]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to First-Responders in Atlanta, Georgia
March 27, 2002

    Thank you all very much. It is such an honor to be back in Atlanta, 
on the campus of one of the great universities in our country. I want to 
thank Wayne, the president of the 
university, for hosting us. And Saxby, thank 
you for your leadership and your strong support of our national effort 
to defend the homeland.
    I want to thank the Governor and the first 
lady for being here. The last time I saw you 
was at Booker T. Washington High School. I was honored that you all came 
and took time out of your day to help us focus the Nation's attention on 
how best to secure the homeland.
    I want to thank all who work at the Center for Emergency Response 
Technology, Instruction, and Policy. I have just seen a demonstration 
that helps prepare the emergency firefighters and--firefighters and the 
police how to take care of a disaster or an attack, how best to protect 
the citizens. This is an innovative training center. And I want to thank 
all those involved with the center for your hospitality and for the 
chance to see firsthand how Atlanta and the State of Georgia are 
preparing for any possible attack. I particularly want to thank the guy 
who--they cut off his clothes and ran him through water. That goes 
beyond the call of duty to impress the President. [Laughter] There he 
is. Better you than me. [Laughter]
    I'm also here to say thanks to those who wear the uniform, the 
policemen, policewomen, the firefighters, the emergency medical teams, 
all of whom work hours on hours to serve the people of Georgia and the 
United States of America.
    My first responsibility as your President is to protect the American 
people and to provide a strategy that not only protects the American 
people but, should there ever be another incident, provides response, 
quick response for the American people.

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    I picked a good friend, a former Governor colleague of Roy and mine, to serve as the Director of Homeland Security. 
His job is to develop a strategy, a national strategy that uses 
national, State, and local assets to protect the homeland. And I picked 
a very good man to take on this assignment. Tom Ridge is doing a heck of a good job, and I'm so honored he left 
his job as Governor.
    Part of that homeland security measure is to enhance the capacity of 
first-responders to deal with any kind of emergency. And that's what 
we're watching today, the training of first-responders. Those who have 
called into action must be able to save as many lives as possible. And 
that's why the budget I submitted for '03 has $3.5 billion available for 
State and local governments to enhance the capacity of our first-
responders to deal with any crisis that might arise.
    As well, I submitted what we call a supplemental budget request; 
that's an emergency request. And part of that emergency request is 
nearly $5 billion to make sure that we make our airports more secure and 
make our borders more secure. What we want to know in America is, who's 
coming into the United States and why and, if they're leaving, when 
they're supposed to leave, in order to make sure we protect the 
homeland.
    So, in other words, what we've done is we're making the borders more 
secure. We're dealing with first-time responders to make sure they've 
got what's needed to be able to respond.
    As well, I understand how it works in rural parts of our country, 
like Georgia. I've got a pretty good handle on what happens in rural 
Georgia. I cut my teeth on rural Georgia in 1968 and '69 as a pilot 
trainee in Valdosta, Georgia, home of the mighty Bulldogs, I think 
they're called. I also understand the role of the volunteer firefighter. 
You've got a lot of fine citizens serving as volunteer firefighters in 
your State. We've got a lot in my State. I'm a proud backer of the 
Crawford Volunteer Fire Department, Crawford, Texas.
    And one of the things that I know is that not all rural counties in 
Georgia or in Texas or anywhere else can have all the equipment 
necessary to be an integral part of the first line of response. But I do 
know that neighbors like to work with neighbors. And I do know that one 
county might have a good hospital; another county might have the 
capacity to respond. So we've got money in our budget, Governor, for what I call mutual aid agreements. There's $140 
million in the budget to encourage rural counties to pool their 
resources, their talents, their time to be able to respond to any kind 
of attack. We've got a big focus on the big cities like Atlanta and the 
surrounding counties. But we've also got to make sure that our rural 
areas all across America also have got a capacity to respond.
    You also need to know that we are spending a great deal of time 
trying to gather as much intelligence as we possibly can to make sure 
that we follow every lead to protect the American people. If we get a 
hint that somebody is coming, we're going to respond. We're chasing down 
every--[applause]--and part of a modern homeland defense system is one 
that shares information more timely, not only amongst Federal agencies 
but amongst State and local authorities.
    The enemy is a dangerous group of people. There's no way to 
rehabilitate these folks. They are murderers. And they hate what America 
stands for. See, they can't stand the thought that we're a society that 
welcomes all religions, that we value freedom of religion as a part of 
our basic core. They hate the idea of political discourse and debate, 
freedom to speak. They don't even like the free press. They don't like 
much about what America stands for. And I want to issue this warning to 
the American people that they're still after us.
    But we're on alert. And I want to thank all the local law 
enforcement officials and

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everybody else who has got positions of responsibility for paying 
attention and for reporting anything that seems out of the ordinary, so 
we can follow it up to make sure it's not a real threat to America.
    But the surest way that we protect the homeland is to run them down 
one by one and bring them to justice, and that's what we're going to do.
    I want to thank you for giving me the chance to come and share with 
you some of my thoughts about this war against terrorists and terrorism. 
First, I see a lot of young folks here. I want to assure you of a couple 
of things about our country. First, we don't do this, take this action, 
out of revenge. We seek justice, not revenge. We seek justice. And 
secondly, we take this action because we believe so deeply in freedom. 
We love our freedom. And this Nation will stand strong and steady when 
it comes to defending our freedoms.
    I also want you to know that I laid out a doctrine--and it's really 
important for when the United States speaks, it means what they say. And 
I said that if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the 
terrorist; if you feed one or hide one, you're just as guilty as those 
who came and murdered thousands of innocent Americans. It's an important 
part of any foreign policy to do what you say you're going to do. And we 
did. Thanks to the mighty United States military, the Taliban no longer 
is in power.
    But I want to make two points to the young: One, we're not alone in 
this. There's a vast coalition of other countries that love freedom like 
we do. And secondly, your country went into Afghanistan not as 
conquerors, but we were liberators. It is hard to believe what I'm about 
to tell you, but there are hundreds of young girls in Afghanistan who 
weren't allowed to go to school. And thanks to the United States 
Government and the coalition we put together, last weekend children--
boys and girls--got to go to school in Afghanistan.
    But our defense of freedom is far from over. While we have held the 
doctrine in Afghanistan, the doctrine of ``thou shall not harbor a 
terrorist,'' there still are killers running loose; there just are. And 
we must deal with that fact. And the best way to deal with it is to make 
sure there is no sanctuary, no haven, no place for them to group up or 
to train. The best way to deal with that is to cut off their money, is 
to insist that you're either with us or you're against us, insist that 
there be action when it comes to nations in the world, is to hold people 
accountable in the name of freedom.
    And so the United States Government is today determined and 
steadfast and patient and resolved to chase down any criminal, any 
international terrorist, and bring them to justice. And the good news is 
the American people understand the cause. They understand the need. They 
understand that history has called us into action, and we must not 
blink. And we must not grow weary, because I repeat: We fight for 
freedom. We fight for values we hold so dear and precious.
    Now, I believe that by being firm and disciplined and determined, we 
can achieve peace throughout the world. I believe out of this incredible 
evil that was done on September the 11th, we can realize good. And one 
of the good is going to be peace.
    It is awfully hard to realize there can be peace in a place like the 
Middle East. My heart breaks for those innocent lives that are lost on a 
daily basis. And today there was another suicide bomber who murdered 
innocent Israelis. This callous, this coldblooded killing, it must stop. 
I condemn it in the most strongest of terms. I call upon Mr. 
Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to do 
everything in their power to stop the terrorist killing, because there 
are people in the Middle East who would rather kill than have peace.
    If the United States is firm and strong in routing out terror, if 
the United States stays steady in our quest for peace, I believe we can 
achieve peace in places where people think we'll never have peace. The

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road is going to be hard, there's no question about it. It'll test our 
will; it'll test our determination. But the enemy that struck us is 
going to find out what we're made out of. They've already found out a 
small taste about what we're made out of.
    You know, when they hit us, they must have thought we were so self-
absorbed and so materialistic that we would sue them. [Laughter] They 
were wrong. They're also wrong about one other thing. Our Nation--our 
Nation is not only a strong and determined nation, we are a 
compassionate nation. We're a nation who will show the world our true 
face by not only putting a military in place that's well paid, well 
trained, well equipped but also by loving a neighbor like we'd like to 
be loved ourself.
    Today I had two fine Americans--if you all would stand, please--come 
out to the airport. These good folks take time out of their lives. These 
are citizens that have heard a call to love a neighbor like they'd like 
to be loved themselves. They spend extra time helping a neighbor in 
need. They've asked the question, ``What can I do to make my society a 
better place''--you can sit down if you like--``how can I serve 
something--how can I serve something greater than myself?'' Thank you 
all for coming to the airport. Thank you for your service to your 
community. Thank you for teaching children to read. Thank you for 
mentoring. Thank you for having served in AmeriCorps.
    You see, if you want to help in the war against terror, find 
somebody whose heart may be broken and help mend it by loving them. Walk 
across the street and say to a shut-in, ``I care for you.'' Mentor a 
child on how to read. If you're a mom or a dad, love your children with 
all your heart and all your soul. It's the accumulation of millions of 
acts of kindness and decency that define the true nature of our country. 
And by loving a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself, you help 
stand square in the face of evil.
    The evil ones hit us. I believe the world can be more peaceful. I 
know our Nation can be more compassionate. And as a result, those who 
died on September the 11th and those who died subsequently defending 
freedom will not have died in vain.
    Thank you all for coming. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 3 p.m. at the Georgia Institute of 
Technology. In his remarks, he referred to G. Wayne Clough, president, 
Georgia Institute of Technology; Representative Saxby Chambliss of 
Georgia; Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; and Gov. 
Roy Barnes of Georgia and his wife, Marie.