    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [October 24, 2002]
    [Pages 1890-1896]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1890]]

    Remarks in Auburn, Alabama
    October 24, 2002

        The President. Thank you all very much. You all go ahead and be
    seated. Thanks for coming.
        I have the honor of being the second United States President to ever
    visit Auburn University. The first was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I
    don't know how he started his speech, but here's how I'm going to start
    mine: War Eagle!
        Audience member. War Eagle, hey!
        The President. I want to thank all you War Eagles for being here. I
    particularly want to thank your president, President Walker. You did a fine thing when you picked a native
    Texan to run Auburn. [Laughter] And he's doing a fine job.
        And I also want to thank so very much Steven Renfroe, who's running the baseball program here. We'll leave
    behind some of my entourage to make sure the infield is smooth after we
    leave. [Laughter]
        I particularly thank you all for coming. It's a huge honor to be
    here. It's a great pleasure to be able to come and talk about some of
    the challenges which face our Nation, talk about why I'm so optimistic
    that we can face any challenge before us, to talk about your duty as
    citizens. You see, we're almost upon an election, and you have a
    responsibility as American citizens to exercise your right, to exercise
    your freedom to go to the polls.
        I think you have a duty to go to your coffee shops and your
    community centers and your houses of worship and ask others to go to the
    polls. It doesn't matter whether they're Republican or Democrat or don't
    give a hoot about politics. You ought to remind them of their duty.
        And I suggest when you go, if you're interested in your State and
    you're interested in your country, that you remind them to vote for Bob
    Riley as your next Governor. And as you're
    rounding up those votes, as you show your interest and concern for our
    country and our country's future, make sure you send to the United
    States Congress a man I can work with, and that man is Mr. Mike
    Rogers.
        There's a lot of reasons you ought to be for these two, but a real
    good reason is, they both married well. [Laughter] Like me, they married
    above themselves. I'm honored to be with Beth Rogers and the next first lady of Alabama, Patsy Riley.
        Speaking about First Ladies, Laura sends her
    very best. She campaigned for Riley the other day
    in Mobile. I told him he drew the short straw here.
        I just spoke to her. We're--it's raining in
    Crawford, Texas, and that's where she is. She's on our place in
    Crawford. And tomorrow we are hosting the President of China, so she's sweeping the porch. [Laughter] But she sends
    her best. You know, when I asked Laura to marry me, she was a public
    school librarian. [Applause] There's always one in every crowd.
    [Laughter] And that one in every crowd, like Laura, has got to have a
    good heart, cares deeply about the school children. And by the way, for
    those of you who are going to Auburn and thinking about becoming school
    children--a school teacher--[laughter]--or a public school librarian, I
    want to thank you for that. It's a really important profession; it's a
    noble cause.
        You know, when I asked her to marry me, she
    wasn't interested in politics and didn't like politicians. [Laughter]
    Now she's the First Lady of the United States, and she is doing a
    fabulous job on behalf of America. I'm really proud of her. People now
    know why I asked her to marry me. A lot of them are wondering why she
    said yes. [Laughter] But she sends her best.
        I'm also honored to be here with a fabulous United States Senator
    named Jeff Sessions. I like working with Jeff.
    We work well together. We need more Senators like

    [[Page 1891]]

    him. One of my most important responsibilities is to name good judges,
    is to find good people to serve the Federal bench. I can count on his
    support. The problem is, I can't count on a lot of Senators' support.
    They've been playing politics with my judges. I put good, honorable,
    honest people on there whose job isn't to try to rewrite law but to
    strictly interpret the United States Constitution. They've got a lousy
    record in the United States Senate. No, they don't like those kind of
    judges up there, so they play politics with them, petty politics. For
    the sake of a sound judiciary, we need to change the leadership in the
    United States Senate.
        I appreciate Congressman Terry Everett; I
    appreciate Spence Bachus and Sonny Callahan--three fine Members of the United States
    Congress. And I'm glad they are here today. And I'm also glad to be up
    here with Jo Bonner, who's going to take Sonny
    Callahan's place, and he'll do just as good a job in the United States
    Congress as Sonny did. But you've got some good ones. You've got some
    good ones from Alabama up in Washington, and I'm proud to work with
    them, and I'm proud to call them friends.
        You've also got a fine slate of people running for office here,
    good, honest, honorable Americans. I hope you get out and support them.
    It's important.
        You know, when it comes to talking about the Governor, I know
    something about being a Governor. I was one. And it seems like to me
    that, particularly when you look around the statehouses, you want you a
    Governor who's going to elevate the discourse, who won't play the same
    old, tired politics of name calling and slashing and burning. You've got
    to have a Governor who's willing to commit himself to change the tone in
    the statehouse, to bring people together to get something done on behalf
    of the citizens. You've got to have you a Governor who will be honorable
    and honest and full of integrity, and that next Governor is Mr. Bob
    Riley.
        He's got his priorities straight. Education is to a State what
    national defense is to the Federal Government. Therefore, you better
    elect yourself a Governor who makes education the number one priority,
    and that Governor has got to have the right attitude about public
    education.
        See, you've got to have a Governor like Bob Riley, who is willing to challenge the soft bigotry of low
    expectations, somebody who believes every child can learn, somebody
    who's willing to set high standards, somebody who refuses to leave any
    child behind. No, you've got to have you a Governor who sets high
    standards but also understands that local control of schools is how you
    achieve excellence for every child in the State of Alabama.
        The Federal Government is going to send $700 million of your tax
    money out of Washington, DC, to help the schools here. And in return for
    that money, we're beginning to ask the fundamental question as to
    whether or not our children are learning, whether or not they're
    learning to read and write, add and subtract. See, that's a fundamental
    question that Riley is going to ask as Governor.
    You've got to ask that question.
        If you believe every child can learn, then it makes sense to want to
    know whether every child is learning. And when they are, we'll praise
    the teachers. But when we find children trapped in schools that will not
    teach and will not change, you better have you a Governor who's willing
    to challenge the status quo. No child should be left behind in the State
    of Alabama.
        I appreciate the fact that Bob Riley is an
    entrepreneur. He started his own business. If you're worried about jobs
    in the State of Alabama, it seems like you better have somebody who
    knows what it's like to create a job, somebody who's actually met a
    payroll, somebody who can empathize with the small-business owners of
    the State of Alabama--and that person is Mr. Bob Riley, your next
    Governor.

    [[Page 1892]]

        And finally, I look forward to working with Bob when he's your Governor on one of the most important
    initiatives I'm trying to push in Washington, DC, and it's a Faith-Based
    Initiative. It's an initiative that understands that Government can hand
    out money. Government can't solve a lot of the harms and hurts in our
    society. If you're really interested in saving people's lives, if you're
    interested in a society which is compassionate, decent, we must empower
    the houses of worship, the places of faith, to step in where Government
    has failed and to provide love and compassion.
        I'm not talking about one religion; I'm talking about all religions.
    All religions have heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like
    you'd like to be loved yourself. Bob Riley and I
    look forward to unleashing the great strength of the country, and that's
    the compassionate hearts of our fellow citizens to solve some of the
    needs and hurts in our society.
        I'm also here to make it clear to you, as clear as I can for the
    people of this district: You need to send Mike Rogers to the United States Congress. And there are a lot of
    reasons why. We've got some big hurdles in the country, and I need a man
    up there with whom I can work representing this great district.
        One of the hurdles I face is that our economy isn't as good as it
    should be. It's bumping along. Anytime somebody is trying to find work
    and can't find a job in America, I think we've got a problem. Anytime
    somebody wants to put food on the table and they can't find a job, we
    need to do something about it.
        Except our philosophy is different from some of them in Washington.
    The role of Government is not to create wealth. The role of Government
    is to create an environment in which the small-business owner can grow
    to be a big business, in which people with the entrepreneurial spirit
    flourishes, in which job creation is strong and evident. And the best
    way to do that is to let people keep more of their own money. Here's the
    textbook we read from. It says that if you let a person have more of
    their own money, then they're more likely to demand a good or a service.
    And when somebody demands a good or a service in the marketplace,
    somebody is likely to produce the good or a service. And when somebody
    produces the good or a service, somebody is more likely to be able to
    find a job.
        The tax cuts came at exactly the right time in U.S. economic
    history. And these tax cuts--and that tax relief plan is good for small-
    business owners. It's good for your ranchers. It's good for your
    farmers. It's good for working people. It's good for everybody. The tax
    relief plan did something on the marriage penalty. See, we believe the
    Tax Code ought to encourage marriage, not discourage marriage. The Tax
    Code is putting the death tax on its way to extinction.
        But there's a problem. See, the way the Senate voted it out, that
    after 10 years from the time of enactment, the tax relief goes away. And
    that's not right. It creates uncertainty in the Tax Code. It creates
    uncertainty for people wanting to plan their business, to create jobs.
    In order to make sure that our economy grows, in order to make sure the
    job base is strong, you need to have a Congressman who will join me in
    making sure the tax relief plan we passed is permanent and doesn't go
    away.
        I look forward to working with Mike to make
    sure the country is a stronger country. By the way, one way we need to
    make the country a stronger country is to make sure our health care
    system works, particularly for our elderly. Medicine has changed;
    Medicare hasn't. Medicine is modern. Medicare is stuck in the past. For
    the sake of a stronger America, for the sake of our seniors, we must
    reform Medicare and provide prescription drugs for the elderly.
        No, there are a lot of issues that we can work on together, and I
    look forward to working with him. I'm not going
    to have

    [[Page 1893]]

    to worry about his vote, and that's important. I know he stands solid
    and square with the people of this district, and that's important. But
    the biggest issue we're going to have to work on is protecting America.
    The biggest issue we face, the biggest issue my administration faces and
    future Congresses are going to face, is the protection of you.
        You see, there's an enemy out there which hates us. They hate us
    because of what we love. And we love freedom. We love freedom, and we're
    not going to change. We love freedom with every fiber in our body. We
    love the fact that people can worship an almighty God freely in this
    society. We appreciate people's right to express themselves. We love the
    freedom of a political process where people can vote. We love a free
    press. We love every single thing about freedom, and we're not changing.
        And as a result, the enemy hates us. I want you to know that not
    only does our love for freedom differentiate us from an enemy; our value
    for life differentiates us from the enemy. You see, in our view,
    everybody is precious; every life matters; everybody counts. But the
    enemy we face is nothing but a bunch of coldblooded killers who, on the
    one hand, hijack a great religion, and on the other hand, kill with
    impunity.
        And so we've got a big chore ahead of us. See, it used to be that
    oceans could protect America. I remember conflicts across the sea, and
    it didn't seem to bother us because oceans were there to guard us. After
    September the 11th, 2001, we've learned a new lesson, that if there's an
    enemy out there that hates us, the battlefield can come home.
        And it's a lesson we've got to remember--it's a lesson I'll
    certainly remember--which means that we not only have to be alert for
    the known enemy, the obvious enemy, the killers that bombed Bali--Bali--
    or continue to try to take innocent life. But we've got to worry about
    people who've been a problem for a while and are going to be a problem
    over time. And I'm talking about Saddam Hussein.
        He's a man who told the world he wouldn't
    have weapons of mass destruction. He lied and deceived the world. He's a
    person who not only has weapons of mass destruction; he has used weapons
    of mass destruction. He's used them in the neighborhood, and he's used
    them on his own people. This dictator has defied the world over and over
    and over again. He also can't stand America, can't stand our friends,
    can't stand our allies. He hates freedom.
        I decided to go to the United Nations and make the case that it's
    time to deal with this man. It's time to hold
    him to his word. It's time to disarm him. It's also time for the United
    Nations to show us whether or not they're going to be a body which can
    keep the peace, whether or not they're going to be the United Nations or
    whether or not they're going to be the League of Nations, an ineffective
    body. It's their choice to make.
        I hope they act. I hope they show the world that this body is
    capable of keeping the peace. I hope they show the world that after 16
    resolutions which were defied by Mr. Saddam Hussein, that the United Nations finally acts in the name of a
    peaceful world. I hope that Saddam Hussein hears the call for freedom-
    loving nations and does what he said he would do, which is disarm. But
    if he doesn't, for the sake of peace, for the sake of our children, for
    our children's children, if he doesn't act, the United Nations will not
    act, the United States will lead a coalition to disarm Mr. Saddam
    Hussein.
        Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
        The President. I say that because I believe in peace. I say that
    because we must be clear-eyed about the real world. I say that because I
    understand, after September the 11th, the world has changed for America.
    I say that because our most important obligation is to protect you,
    which is why

    [[Page 1894]]

    I went to the United States Congress and asked them to join me in the
    creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
        See, there's over 100 agencies scattered about in Washington,
    involved with protecting you. They're all over the place up there, and
    it felt like to me that they ought to be under one organization, so that
    if the number one priority is to protect the homeland, it becomes the
    number one priority of scattered agencies. If protecting the homeland is
    important, it seems like to me that under one umbrella, a new
    Department, that it will be easier to change cultures. And we're making
    progress.
        By the way, you need to know a lot of good people are working on
    your behalf, at the Federal level, at the State level, at the local
    level. If we get any kind of hint, any evidence whatsoever that somebody
    might be thinking about doing something to America, we're moving. We're
    disrupting. We're denying. We're doing everything we can to protect the
    homeland.
        But we can do a better job. And that's why the House of
    Representatives acted, and I appreciate Bob Riley's vote and the other Congressmen here's vote to get that
    out of the House. But it's stuck in the United States Senate. The Senate
    actually wants me to give up some power in order to accept their version
    of the bill. They want me to give up a power that every President since
    John F. Kennedy has had, which is the capacity to suspend collective
    bargaining rules for the sake of national security. And I'm not going to
    accept that.
        I need to be able to move people to the right place at the right
    time to protect you. We've got a border issue. We need to know who's
    coming into America, what they're bringing into America, and are they
    leaving America. We've got three agencies on the border, INS and Customs
    and Border Patrol. They're full of fine people, really good, hard-
    working Americans. But in some sectors, they've got different
    strategies; they wear different uniforms. We need a seamless capacity to
    protect America. The Senate needs to give me the flexibility and the
    authority to put the right people at the right place at the right time
    to protect America.
        But the best way to protect America, the best way to secure the
    homeland, the best way to protect our families, is to hunt the killers
    down one by one and bring them to justice. And that is exactly what we
    are going to do.
        It's a different kind of war. In the old days, you could count the
    number of tanks destroyed or ships that were sunk or airplanes shot out
    of the air, and you say you're making progress. This is a war where the
    leaders hide in a cave, or they kind of hide in a dark corner of one of
    these cities around the world, and then they send youngsters to their
    suicidal deaths. They don't care about innocent life. They're
    coldblooded killers. And therefore, the best thing for us to do is to
    get them on the run, to hunt them down and to bring them to justice,
    which is exactly what is happening.
        I want you to know that therapy isn't going to work. [Laughter] The
    doctrine that says, ``Either you're with us, or you're with the
    enemy''--it still stands. And there's a lot of good folks hunting these
    people down. Sometimes you'll see us making progress, and sometimes you
    won't. We've probably hauled in a couple thousand of them so far, and
    like number weren't so lucky.
        The other day, a guy named bin al-Shibh, he popped his head up. [Laughter] He is no longer a
    problem to the United States of America.
        No, we've got a lot of work to do. There's still a lot of heavy
    lifting. There's still a lot of killers on the loose. But I've unleashed
    one of the finest militaries in the history of mankind. Yesterday I
    signed the defense appropriations bill. It's the largest increase in
    defense spending since President Ronald Reagan was in office. I did so
    because I wanted to send two messages. One, anytime we put our troops,
    our

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    youngsters, into harm's way, they deserve the best training, the best
    equipment, the best possible pay. We owe it to our soldiers, and we owe
    it to their loved ones.
        And I wanted to send a message to friend and foe alike that when it
    comes to the defense of our freedom, when it comes to answering
    history's call, we're in this deal for the long haul. There's not a
    calendar on my desk in the Oval Office that one day the date is going to
    pop up and say, it's time to pull them in. It's not the way I think.
    It's not the way America thinks. We've been called to action. Our
    generation has been given a charge to keep. We are responsible for this
    country's safety. We're responsible for our freedoms. And the message I
    sent by signing that defense bill, to the enemy: You've got a big
    problem with America, is what you've got.
        I can't imagine what was going through their mind when they hit us.
    [Laughter] You know, they thought we were so materialistic, so selfish,
    so self-absorbed, that after September the 11th, 2001 we might have
    filed a lawsuit or two. [Laughter] That's all we were going to do.
        No, they don't understand this country. They don't understand the
    courage of our people. They don't understand the depth of love we have
    for freedom. They don't understand that we're a nation full of
    responsible citizens who understand we have a duty to future generations
    of Americans. That's what they don't understand. And they're going to
    pay a serious price for misunderstanding America.
        I believe out of the evil done to America is going to come some
    incredible good. I believe that we can achieve peace if we are strong
    and focused and diligent, if we remember that freedom is not an American
    blessing; it's a God-given blessing for people all around the world. If
    we remain true to our beliefs, we can achieve peace. We can achieve
    peace for people here at home. We can achieve peace in parts of the
    world which have quit on peace. We can achieve peace in the Middle East,
    can achieve peace in South Asia.
        No, amidst this talk about going to get them and hauling them in,
    you've just got to know that I believe in peace. And I believe peace is
    going to come. I believe peace is going to come.
        And here at home, I know that out of the evil done to America can
    come a more compassionate country. See, amidst our plenty, there are
    pockets of despair and hopelessness. There are people, when they hear
    the word ``American Dream,'' they don't know what you're talking about.
    They don't have a dream. They're lost souls. Government can hand out
    money, but it can't put hope in people's hearts. That happens when a
    fellow American puts their arms around somebody in need and says, ``I
    love you. What can I do to help you, brother? How can I help you?'' No,
    the best way to fight evil here in America is to love a neighbor just
    like you'd like to be loved yourself. See, it's the gathering momentum
    of millions of acts of kindness and compassion which change our country.
        I met Shirley Rose Glisson today at
    Air Force One in Montgomery. She came out because she is a--she's one of
    the soldiers in the armies of compassion right here in Auburn. She goes
    to Auburn United Methodist. She decided she was going to start a food
    pantry with members of her church. They now feed 30 hungry families.
    It's this act and thousands of acts like it which define the true
    character of our country.
        You know, it's interesting about what happened on September the
    11th. A lot of our citizens have taken a step back. They wonder what
    life is all about. The most vivid example of the new American spirit
    took place on Flight 93, people flying across the country. They heard
    the plane was being used as a weapon. They were on their cell phones to
    their loved ones. They said goodbye. They said, ``I love you.'' They
    said a prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll.'' And they drove the plane in
    the ground to serve something greater than themselves.

    [[Page 1896]]

        You've got to understand that patriotism--patriotism or the American
    spirit can be served all kinds of ways. It is more than just putting
    your hand over your heart. It is serving a great nation. And you can do
    so by helping somebody who hurts, somebody in need.
        No, the enemy hit us. They had no idea who they were hitting.
    There's no doubt in my mind that this great Nation can lead the world to
    peace. There's no doubt in my mind that we can have a more compassionate
    tomorrow for everybody who lives in this country because, my fellow
    Americans, we're citizens of the greatest country, full of the finest
    people on the face of the Earth.
        Thank you for coming. May God bless you, and may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:33 p.m. at Hitchcock Field at the
    Plainsman Park Baseball Stadium. In his remarks, he referred to William
    F. Walker, president, and Steven Renfroe, head baseball coach, Auburn
    University; gubernatorial candidate Bob Riley and his wife, Patsy; Mike
    Rogers, candidate for Alabama's Third Congressional District, and his
    wife, Beth; Jo Bonner, candidate for Alabama's First Congressional
    District; President Jiang Zemin of China; President Saddam Hussein of
    Iraq; and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an Al Qaida operative suspected of helping
    to plan the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, who was captured in
    Karachi, Pakistan.