    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [November 11, 2002]
    [Pages 2057-2061]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a White House Reception for Veterans
    November 11, 2002

        Good morning, and welcome to the White House. Thank you for joining
    us in observing Veterans Day. On this holiday, the 11th day of the 11th
    month, Americans

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    reflect on the great sacrifices of military service. And we honor every
    man and every woman who has accepted those sacrifices.
        In Veterans Day gatherings across America, we think first of those
    who fell and never lived to be called veterans. We remember those whose
    fate is still undetermined. We look around us to all the veterans and
    retired members of the military with admiration and with respect.
    Especially in this time of war, we see in our veterans an example of
    courage and selfless sacrifice and service that inspires a new
    generation and will lead this country to victory.
        I want to thank Tony Principi and
    Elizabeth for their service to our
    country. Our veterans have had no better friend and no more able
    administrator than Tony Principi as the
    head of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I want to thank the Chairman
    of the Joint Chiefs for joining us, General Richard Myers. Thank you.
        I appreciate members of the mighty Virginia delegation for being
    here--[laughter]--anchored by two incredibly able United States
    Senators, John Warner and George Allen--the chairman. I appreciate Congressman Jim
    Moran for joining us as well. Thank you for
    being here, Jim. We're honored you're here. Congressman Chris
    Smith from New Jersey is with us as
    well. Thank you for coming, Chris.
        I want to thank our Secretary of the Navy, Gordon England, for joining us. Mr. Secretary, we're honored you're
    here. Leo Mackay, who is the Deputy Secretary of
    Veterans Affairs, is with us today. I thank you for coming, Leo--
    appreciate you being here. Members of our Joint Chiefs are here, General
    John Jumper and General Eric
    Shinseki. Thank you all for coming. Major
    General James Jackson, Commanding General
    of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, is here with his
    wife. Thank you for coming.
        I want to thank the sergeant majors who are here, representing the
    fine enlisted folks all around our country. Thank you guys for coming.
        I appreciate the Medal of Honor recipients who are with us today,
    Nick Bacon and David Dolby, Wesley Fox and Howard V.
    Lee. We're honored you're here. Thank you all
    for coming.
        I want to thank the leadership of the national veterans service
    organizations who are with us today. I appreciate your hard work and
    concern for our veterans all across the country. Thank you for coming.
        I'm honored--so honored to welcome to the White House World War II
    Allied forces veterans from one of our strongest friends, Great Britain.
    I'm honored you guys are here. Thank you for coming.
        We've got veterans from the United States who are in this fantastic
    room as well as veterans from Great Britain. And we're honored you all
    are here. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the people's house.
        The veterans in this room are among 25 million living men and women
    who have served this country in uniform. Certain experiences bind
    veterans from every branch of the service. All have known the life of
    answering to superiors, following orders, and observing a code. From the
    hour you repeated the oath to the day of your honorable discharge, your
    time belonged to America and your country came before all else. There
    are still veterans among us who marched to the orders of General
    Pershing, served in the army of Eisenhower, sailed in the fleet of
    Nimitz. Many more served with honor during the conflicts in Korea,
    Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and throughout the vigil of the cold war.
        For some veterans, service in the military fulfilled a dream. For
    others, military service was an unexpected honor. For most veterans will
    tell you that it was the defining experience in their lives.
        A veteran named Jim Shenton writes, returning home from service in
    Europe at the age of 20--here's what he had to write. He'd been in the
    army for nearly 3 years,

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    and he saw action from Normandy to the liberation of Buchenwald. When he
    arrived home, he said, ``It has been a long journey home. I was a
    thousand years older.''
        Many war veterans share in that experience. You carry memories of
    great heroism and great suffering. You've seen the worst that men can do
    to one another and the best that men can do for one another. And whether
    their service came abroad or at home, every veteran has shared the
    responsibility of keeping America strong.
        On Veterans Day, the American people take pride in every citizen who
    has defended America, in times of calm and in times of danger. We live
    today in a time of danger. War has come once again to America. Our
    Nation is called to meet great challenges, and our military is called to
    the defense of our people and to the defense of our freedoms.
        The enemies of America have killed thousands of our citizens, and
    they desire to kill thousands more. They're discovering, as others
    before them, the fierce resolve of this great Nation. We will not forget
    the harm that was done to us. We will not be distracted from the task
    before us. No enemy that threatens our security or endangers our people
    will escape the patient justice and the overwhelming power of the United
    States of America.
        That justice and that power have been demonstrated in Afghanistan.
    And our work in that country goes on. More than a year after the
    campaign began, our troops remain engaged in a difficult and dangerous
    mission. We must not permit Afghanistan ever again to become a base for
    the training of terrorists and for the export of murder.
        The people of Afghanistan still face many hardships. Yet they are
    free from tyranny. And as a result, more than 2 million Afghan refugees
    have returned home to a free land. The Afghan people, with a new
    Government, are building a future of hope, and they have a committed
    friend in the American people. We are helping to build roads and
    bridges, sharing the methods of modern agriculture. We're providing
    textbooks for classrooms. We're building clinics and bringing medicine
    to the sick. Recently, Afghan children were dying of whooping cough. Yet
    they were in a region so remote that the vaccine would lose potency
    before it could arrive by horse. So the United States acted. We sent
    helicopters to deliver those vaccines and, as a result, save more than
    100 children every week.
        Defeating our enemy and defending our freedoms is the best tradition
    of our military, and so is helping the innocent. We're making good
    progress in this, the first war of the 21st century. For years, the
    terrorists trained in the camps of Afghanistan. Those camps no longer
    exist. Some of the terrorists met their fate in caves and mountains of
    that country. Others were a little luckier, and they're now in custody,
    answering questions. Yet many trained killers are still scattered
    amongst 60 nations.
        And ridding the world of this threat requires a different kind of
    strategy. We're in a different kind of war. The global terrorist threat
    is not met on a single conventional battlefield. The terrorists find
    allies in outlaw regimes but themselves have no land or capital or
    standing army to defend. They send other people's children on missions
    of suicide and murder. That's how they operate. They accept no rule of
    morality or law of war.
        But we now know the nature of this enemy. We know what they're all
    about. And they will be pursued, and they will be found, and they will
    be defeated, no matter where they hide.
        Shortly after September the 11th, 2001, I announced a doctrine that
    said, ``Either you're with the United States and those of us who love
    freedom, or you're with the enemy.'' And that doctrine still stands
    today. And today, more than 90 other Governments are actively
    cooperating with us in the war on terrorism.
        Justice has been brought to terrorists in countries from Spain to
    the Philippines to

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    Pakistan to Indonesia, and we're still on the hunt. Sometimes you'll see
    successes, and sometimes you won't. But one thing is certain, an enemy
    that conspires in the shadows will not be safe in the shadows.
    Terrorists who plot to kill Americans and our friends should know this:
    No matter how long it takes, their day of justice will come.
        Success in the war on terror is measured in the safety of innocent
    people from sudden and catastrophic violence. And we must oppose the
    threat of such violence from any source. We oppose the terror network
    and all who harbor and support terrorists.
        And we oppose a uniquely dangerous regime that possesses the weapons
    of mass murder, has used the weapons of mass murder, and could supply
    those weapons to terror groups. The dictator in Iraq has had a long history of aggression and a deep hatred
    of America. The United States Government, and once again the United
    Nations Security Council, share a determination: The Iraqi regime must
    not produce or possess chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
        Iraq pledged to disarm more than a decade ago. It's been a decade of
    systematic deception, unmet obligations, unpunished violations. Those
    games are now over. Saddam Hussein will fully
    disarm and prove that he has done so, or America will lead a coalition
    to disarm him.
        This is an urgent task for America and the world, because the events
    of September the 11th clearly demonstrate that a threat that gathers on
    the other side of the Earth can bring suffering to the American
    homeland. The danger from Iraq is clear, and it's multiplied a thousand
    times over by the possibility of a chemical or biological or nuclear
    attack. The time to confront this threat is before it arrives, not the
    day after.
        I have no greater responsibility than protecting the American
    people. Should military action become necessary for our own security, I
    will commit the full force and might of the United States military, and
    we will prevail.
        In whatever lies ahead, the United States will remain a friend to
    the Iraqi people. They have suffered years of brutal repression, years
    of domestic terror from their own rulers. A new regime would bring
    deliverance for them.
        Iraqi resources are abundant; its culture is rich; its citizens are
    talent--talented. And given a chance, there is no limit to what the
    Iraqi people can achieve. Their hopes are the same as all people in
    every land, to lead lives of dignity in a nation at peace. And America
    will help them.
        As many veterans have seen in countries around the world, captive
    people have greeted American soldiers as liberators, and there is good
    reason. We have no territorial ambitions. We don't seek an empire. Our
    Nation is committed to freedom for ourselves and for others. We and our
    allies have fought evil regimes and left in their place self-governing
    and prosperous nations. And in every conflict, the character of our
    Nation has been demonstrated in the conduct of the United States
    military. Where they have served, America's veterans are remembered by
    civilians with affection, not fear.
        One veteran recalls the closing days of the Second World War. In the
    spring of 1945, he said, ``Around the world, the sight of a 12-man squad
    of teenage boys, armed, in uniform, brought terror to people's hearts.
    But there was an exception, a squad of GIs, a sight that brought the
    biggest smiles you ever saw to people's lips and joy to their hearts.
    GIs meant candy and cigarettes, C-rations and freedom.'' ``America,'' he
    said, ``has sent the best of her young men around the world, not to
    conquer but to liberate, not to terrorize but to help.''
        As the Commander in Chief of Veterans Day, 2002, I see that same
    spirit in our military. These men and women are still the best of
    America. They are prepared for every mission we give them, and they

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    are worthy of the standards set for them by America's veterans. Our
    veterans from every era are the finest of citizens. We owe them the life
    we know today. They command the respect of the American people, and they
    have our everlasting gratitude.
        May God bless America's veterans.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:54 a.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Elizabeth Ann Principi, wife of
    Secretary Anthony J. Principi; Nancy Jackson, wife of Maj. Gen. James T.
    Jackson, USA; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The Veterans Day
    proclamation of November 6 is listed in Appendix D at the end of this
    volume.