    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
    [February 20, 2003]
    [Pages 185-194]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Kennesaw, Georgia
    February 20, 2003

        Thank you all very much. Thanks a lot. So, I'm on my way down to
    Crawford, and I thought it would be wise to stop in Cobb County. And I'm
    glad I did. Thank you for that incredibly warm welcome. It is wonderful
    to be here at Harrison High. I'm honored to be in the presence of the
    principal, Donnie Griggers. I want to thank
    he and his staff--he and his fine staff for putting up with the
    entourage. [Laughter] I appreciate all the teachers here at Harrison
    High. I want to thank you for teaching. Yours is a noble profession, an
    important profession, and all of us who care about our children and our
    children's future thank you for teaching and sharing your wisdom and
    your love for our children.
        I appreciate the Harrison High students who are here. Listen to your
    teacher and your mother, by the way. I'm still listening to mine.
    [Laughter] But I'm honored the students are here, and thank you for
    sharing your facility with us.
        I've come to your school to talk about the need for this Nation to
    assume responsibilities, that we have a responsibility to keep the peace
    and to protect the homeland, that we have a responsibility to make sure
    this economy is strong so people can find work. We have a responsibility
    to nourish the entrepreneurial spirit of America. We have that
    responsibility. And I want to talk to you about the need for all of us
    to assume our responsibilities as we go through life.
        If you're fortunate enough to be a mom or a dad, you're responsible
    for loving that child with all your heart and all your soul. If you're a
    citizen of democracy, you're responsible for participating in the
    political process. If you're a leader, you're responsible for doing what
    you think is right on behalf of all of the citizens. And that's why I'm
    so honored--[applause].
        Those of us in office have the responsibility to reject partisan
    politics which divides our Nation, that--ugly politics, which says, if
    so and so wins, such and such has got to lose--the zero-sum politics
    that oftentimes enters the discourse of Washington, DC. We have a
    responsibility to lift up issues beyond the mud pit of politics.
        And that's why I'm so honored to be standing here with Democrat
    Senator Zell Miller, American first. He is the
    kind of fellow that tells you exactly what he thinks. If he agrees with
    you, he tells you he agrees with you. If he doesn't agree with you,
    he'll tell you that, too. [Laughter] One thing you can be certain of, he
    puts his country ahead of the political party. I'm proud to call him
    friend. I listen to him. And I'm proud of the fact that he is going to
    sponsor the tax relief plan I'm going to tell you about in a minute.
        I'm also proud to be traveling with Saxby Chambliss, newly elected Senator from Georgia. These two Senators
    make a fine combination on behalf of all the people. Your State is
    really well represented in the Halls of the United States Senate.
        I'm proud to be with the man who's got one of the greatest jobs in
    America, the Governor of the State of Georgia.
    It's interesting we're here with Sonny in a school, because I understand
    his passion for public education. He understands that's the number one
    priority of any State. And I believe a result of his leadership and
    working with the teachers and principals and administrators and parents,
    education in this great State is going to flourish for every single
    child. No child is going to be left behind in the State of Georgia.
        We've got the members of the mighty Georgia congressional delegation
    with us. I say ``mighty'' because they're mighty strong. And I'm mighty
    proud to call them

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    all friends. The Congressman from this district, Johnny
    Isakson, is with us today. Newly elected Phil
    Gingrey is with us as well. And John
    Linder from the Atlanta region is with us. And
    some of the country boys from the delegation arrived with us today--
    [laughter]--Charlie Norwood, Mac
    Collins, and Max Burns,
    all fine Members. Thank you all for coming.
        I am proud to be in the presence of State and local leaders. Thank
    you all for being here. Recently I had a--recently--like 15 minutes ago,
    I had a chance to--[laughter]--really recently--[laughter]--I had a
    chance to visit with some of our fellow citizens. I'm going to talk
    about them a little later on. I think it's very important for our fellow
    Americans to know that when I talk about tax relief and talk about the
    entrepreneurial spirit, that it can relate directly to people in your
    neighborhoods and your communities. I want to thank you all for coming
    today.
        I also want to recognize a fellow named Bob Langley. Where are you, Bob? Right there. Thank you for coming.
    The reason I mentioned Bob is he came out to Air Force One to greet me.
    He represents thousands of our fellow citizens who have heard a call to
    help somebody in need. He is a volunteer for Hospice Atlanta and the
    American Cancer Society. He is a citizen, like many of you here and many
    around the country, who know that each of us has a responsibility to
    make our communities better by following our hearts and helping people
    in need.
        See, the greatest strength of America, the greatest strength of our
    country, lies in the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens. And my
    call--my call to particularly the students here--is that in a
    responsible society, not only do you have a responsibility to make right
    choices, but you've got a responsibility to help somebody who hurts, to
    make somebody's life a little brighter, to love a neighbor just like
    you'd like to be loved yourself. Here's a living example of a member of
    the army of compassion. Bob, I thank you for
    your example. I thank you for what you do in the city of Atlanta to help
    somebody in need. Welcome.
        We've got an amazing country. Just look what we have been through
    the last couple of years, starting with the economic challenges that
    this country has faced. First the stock market peaked in March of 2000,
    people feeling pretty good about the stock market, and then it started
    heading down. And then the economy went into three quarters of negative
    growth, which is the definition of a recession. In other words, we
    weren't--we were going backwards for three solid quarters. That affects
    a lot of people's lives when that happens. It means people are--can't
    find work. It means that instead of being optimistic about the future,
    many of our citizens were pessimistic about their future.
        And so we did something about it. I want to thank Zell for his leadership in the Halls of the Senate. We passed
    tax relief, which helped this economy begin to grow again. And this--as
    the economy was beginning to grow, then the terrorists, the killers, hit
    us. And that affected the economic vitality of the country. There's no
    question about it--the shock to a system, the damage that the attacks
    did on our financial markets as well as the airline industry, for
    example.
        But we acted. We came together as a country. We responded. The
    people responded with great strength and courage. The Congress responded
    by passing terrorism insurance. The administration responded by getting
    the financial markets opened quickly. We responded by helping airlines,
    such as Delta Airlines, to get flying again. The Nation responded.
        And then we suffered another shock to the system, and that is we
    found out some corporate citizens were not responsible citizens, because
    they thought they could not tell the truth and get away with it. And
    that caused a lot of Americans to take a step back and reflect about
    what they were hearing when it came to somebody's balance sheet. In
    other words, if they were

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    an investor, they got a little nervous about the numbers they were
    looking at. So the country responded. And I had the honor of signing the
    most sweeping corporate accountability reforms, supported by both
    Republicans and Democrats, since Franklin Roosevelt was the President of
    the United States.
        And now we're sending a clear message that in a responsible society,
    if you don't tell the truth, there's going to be a consequence. We're
    going to find you and hold you to account if you don't tell the truth to
    shareholders and employees alike.
        So it's been an amazing period for this Nation and our economy to
    have overcome those obstacles. But there's still too many people looking
    for work. There's still too many people who wonder whether or not their
    future is bright enough. And I think we need to continue to move forward
    with good, positive legislation that will turn this recovery into
    lasting prosperity. It's to make sure that the economic growth we're
    seeing now lasts, so that the great American hope and American Dream can
    spread its--can spread throughout all our society.
        And so you ask the question, ``If things aren't going as well as
    they should, what should we do?'' Well, I agree with Zell, with this economic theory, that when a person has more
    money in their pocket, they're likely to demand somebody to produce them
    a good or a service. In other words, you get money in your pocket, you
    say, ``Well, I think I'd like this product, or I'd like this service.''
    And when you make that demand in a market-oriented society like ours,
    somebody is going to produce it. And when somebody produces a good or a
    service to meet your demand, it means somebody is more likely to find
    work.
        And therefore, the cornerstone of good economic policy recognizes
    that the money in Washington, DC, is not the Government's money. It's
    the people's money. And the more of it you have in your pocket, the more
    likely somebody is going to find a job. And that is the principle of the
    plan I'm going to describe to you, that I described to Congress, a plan
    that will be introduced by Zell and supported by
    the Members here, a plan that both--members of both parties recognize
    that makes sense.
        It starts with reducing the rates of people who pay taxes. Everybody
    who pays taxes, in my judgment, ought to get rate relief. We ought not
    try to pick and choose. I don't think your Government wants to decide,
    ``Well, you qualify for rate relief, and you don't.'' If you pay taxes
    and there's going to be tax reduction, everybody who pays taxes ought to
    get relief. It's only fair that it be done that way. You don't want your
    Government picking winners and losers when it comes to tax policy.
        Secondly, we have what's called a marriage penalty in the Tax Code.
    That's backwards. We ought not to penalize marriage in America. So
    therefore, we must phase out the effects of the marriage penalty. We've
    got in our Tax Code a child credit, and we think we ought to raise the
    child credit from $600 a child to $1,000 a child. That policy will not
    only help moms and dads, it will--it sends the right signal in our
    society. It's good policy to do that. It's got the right social policy
    with it as well, it seems like to us.
        And so I've asked Congress to pass rate reductions and increase the
    child credit, do away with--start the process of getting rid of the
    marriage penalty. But the interesting thing is we've already passed
    this, see. In 2001, the Congress decided--along with a little urging
    from the White House, I might add--[laughter]--to reduce all rates on
    people who pay taxes, to get rid of the--to phase out, to the extent
    possible, the marriage penalty, to raise the child credit to $1,000.
    It's been approved.
        But instead of approving it and having it all in one year, Congress
    decided in 2001 that they would phase it in over a period of years. And
    so I'm going to the United States Congress and say, ``Wait a minute. If
    these--tax relief is good enough 3 or

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    5 or 7 years from now, and the economy is not as strong as it should be,
    if you thought tax relief would help economic growth, let's accelerate
    the tax relief. You've already passed it once. Let's make it effective
    this year.''
        And I'm also going to ask Congress to make sure that we make the tax
    relief effective as of January 1st so that it has an immediate effect on
    our economy. So I look forward to working with Members of the House and
    the Senate to get this passed, to make it effective January 1st, so that
    the hard-working citizens of America will see this in their paychecks as
    soon as possible. That's how you stimulate the economy. That's how you
    make sure people who are looking for work can find work.
        I'm optimistic about our future because I'm optimistic about
    Americans. I'm optimistic about the entrepreneurial spirit of this
    country. There's a blue chip survey from leading economists that predict
    growth this year of 3.3 percent. And that's positive. But I want to
    remind the Members of Congress who are going to be studying whether or
    not there needs to be tax relief that a part of the fine print of this
    prediction is this: The economists are basing this prediction on
    Congress passing tax relief this year. In other words, inherent in the
    3.3 percent prediction of economic growth is that Congress acts in a
    positive way.
        If Congress doesn't act, there's a risk we won't have economic
    vitality the likes of which we all support. My point to you is that this
    plan makes sense. It makes sense from not only what sounds--a
    commonsensical perspective, but it makes sense when analyzed by the
    economists behind the blue chip forecasts. And I'm going to remind
    Congress--I don't need to remind these Members of Congress, but I want
    to remind other Members of Congress--[laughter]--that without the
    stimulus, without tax reductions, we could jeopardize the recovery that
    we long for.
        I also want you to know this plan is fair, and it is balanced. One
    of the things that's important about any stimulative plan or tax relief
    plan, it's got to be fair. Under this plan, 92 million Americans receive
    an average tax cut of $1,083. That's fair. Nearly 2.5 million taxpayers
    in your State of Georgia will see lower income-tax bills. That's
    widespread.
        What's interesting about tax relief, though, is how it affects our
    small businesses. And it's very important for our fellow citizens to
    know that many small-business owners organize their businesses in such a
    way as that they pay tax at the individual tax rates. A Subchapter S
    corporation will pay tax at the individual tax rates. A limited
    partnership pays tax at the individual tax rates. A sole proprietorship
    pays tax at the individual tax rates. Most small businesses are one of
    those three--are organized in one of those three fashions. So when you
    hear me talk about individual tax rate cuts, I want you to think about
    its effect on small-business Georgia or small-business America.
        In this State, 614,000 small-business owners will have more money in
    their coffers as a result of reducing the individual tax rates. And
    that's important. That's important because most job growth--new jobs in
    America are created by our small businesses, by the entrepreneurs of
    America. We estimate that 23 million small-business owners across
    America will receive average income-tax rate cut of $2,042. That
    matters.
        You'll hear in a minute what people do with extra money in their
    pockets. You know what they do? They invest, or they hire. And it's the
    cumulative effect of 23 million small-business owners making the
    decision to make an investment in equipment or to hire somebody else,
    which will have an incredibly positive effect on this economy. We
    believe the tax relief plan will create 1.4 million new jobs by the end
    of 2004.
        We also believe the Tax Code ought to be used to encourage people to
    make wise

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    decisions in their businesses right now. A small business can only
    deduct up to $25,000 in the year in which they make a capital purchase--
    $25,000. And so we believe that in order to encourage more investment,
    to encourage small-business owners to buy more machines, for example,
    that make their business grow faster or more productive, we ought to
    raise that limit to $75,000. If you raise the limit to $75,000 and
    somebody is only buying $25,000 worth of equipment because of the Tax
    Code, there's an additional $50,000 of purchases in a year.
        Somebody goes out and buys a piece of equipment, it means somebody's
    got to make the piece of equipment, which means somebody is likely--more
    likely to find a job in the equipment manufacturing company. And if
    somebody buys that equipment, it makes their company more productive,
    which increases wages over time. It's really important that our fellow
    citizens understand the stimulative effects of good economic policy when
    you encourage people to make wise investments, and they have more money
    in their pocket to make those investments.
        I also want to make this Tax Code more fair. It's important that the
    Tax Code be fair. It's fair to tax corporate profits. That's fair.
    What's not fair, it seems to me, is that when a corporation distributes
    those profits to the shareholders in the form of what they call a
    dividend, that you tax it again. It doesn't make economic sense to keep
    taxing the same dollar over time. If part of a healthy economic society
    is one in which money is circulating in the private sector--this causes
    fewer dollars to circulate--it means less investment when you stand in
    between the owner of the company, the shareholder, and the distribution
    of once-taxed profits of that company.
        And so I've asked for the Congress to join me in getting rid of the
    double taxation of dividends. Let me describe why I think this makes
    sense. First, obviously, people will have more money to invest. If an
    investor pays less in taxes because the double taxation of dividends is
    gone, that person has got more money to invest. And secondly, dividend-
    paying stocks become more attractive to the investor. If you don't pay
    tax on the dividends, it's more likely you'll purchase a stock that pays
    dividends, and that's positive news.
        In other words, the benefits--Americans would get more money to save
    and more money to invest. And that means that more capital will be
    available for companies, large and small, to use for expansion. The more
    money in circulation through investment, the more capital available. And
    capital equals jobs, and that's what's important to know.
        The greater the number of people who are willing to invest or who
    want to invest also helps the stock market. The markets will benefit.
    And that's important because America is now an ownership society. It
    used to be in our history that only a few would own stocks. I bet
    there's a lot of people in Georgia in the old days who would look up at
    Wall Street and say, ``You know, they own stocks. What is that all
    about?'' Well, those days have changed. There are millions of our fellow
    citizens who own stocks directly or through pension plans.
        America is an ownership society, by the way, and that is fantastic
    news for the future of this country. And as an ownership society, we've
    got to understand what it means to reduce taxes on dividends. It means
    there will be $20 billion--this year--more dollars in circulation for
    investment.
        It means that 10 million seniors, nearly one in four who receive
    dividend income, will get relief. Now, that's important. Ten million
    seniors rely upon dividend income as a way to make sure the quality of
    their life is strong in their retirement years--10 million of them. They
    rely--and getting rid of the double taxation on dividends is a
    incredibly positive thing for the quality

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    of life of our seniors. Nine hundred thousand of your citizens will
    benefit right away from getting rid of the double taxation of dividends;
    60 percent of them made $75,000 or less in the year 2000. That's a fair
    plan.
        There's also an old expression in economics that says, ``Profit is
    an opinion, but cash is a fact.'' [Laughter] When a company pays a
    dividend, you know the profits are real. You get that check. Dividends
    encourage open and honest accounting. Good business practices shouldn't
    be punished in this Tax Code.
        I know there's some concern about overstating of numbers, you know,
    ``Invest in my company because the sky's the limit. We may not be
    cashflowing much, but the sky's the limit.'' Well, when you pay
    dividends, that ``sky's the limit'' business doesn't hunt. What only
    matters is whether or not they can distribute that cash they say they're
    going to distribute. It leads to conservative business practices. It
    leads to being people--more businesses being responsible with your
    money. After all, you're the owner of the company.
        And so this dividend policy makes sense from a senior's perspective.
    It makes sense to encourage investment, and it makes sense to make sure
    the balance sheets of America are treated with respect. And so I urge
    the United States Congress to listen to the citizens who will benefit
    from this plan and get rid of the double taxation of dividends, for the
    good of the American economy.
        And so, as I said, I recently met with some of your fellow citizens,
    starting with the Kings. The Kings started
    their own business right here, in 1996. You know, I don't know the
    moment it happened, but it had to have been an exciting moment for
    somebody to say, ``I'm starting''--or in this case, ``we are starting
    our own business, something I can--we can call our own.'' They've always
    invested in the profits of their firm. They believe in growing their
    firm, and their firm now has 60 people--60 employees, 60 people working
    with them. He is what I described as a Subchapter S. The Kings pay
    individual tax rates for their corporation.
        If you're interested in the Kings expanding
    their business, which I am--they certainly are--it makes sense to reduce
    the tax rates they pay. And by cutting the individual tax rates, the
    Kings will have more cashflow. They also told me that it's important for
    them to have the best computers possible, that they got to got--upgrade
    their equipment to make sure that the 60 smart folks they've got working
    for them have got the best ability to compete in the marketplace and
    that equipment purchases are important to enhance the productivity, the
    ability for a worker to increase their output per hour.
        And therefore, when we raise the exemption by 75--the ability to
    expense up to $75,000 of equipment purchases, they have told me they're
    going to invest in new equipment. The person that manufactures the
    equipment the Kings purchase also will have a--
    will benefit from the tax rate reduction because it's more likely
    they're going to need somebody to help build that equipment.
        In other words, good tax policy has an effect throughout the
    economy. We want the Kings to continue to
    expand their business. I said, ``Are you optimistic?'' They said, ``You
    bet we're optimistic.'' We want to make them a little more optimistic by
    letting them have more of their own money.
        Lee Pickard--he's the pretty one in the back
    row--or at least his mother thinks so. [Laughter] Anyway, he runs Mid-
    State RV Sales and Rentals. It's his own business. He's a Subchapter S.
    In other words, he pays taxes at the individual tax rate, too.
        When you hear the rhetoric about cutting taxes on individuals, it's
    important for our fellow citizens to also understand how many small
    businesses are affected. That's why the Kings
    and Lee are here. They represent hundreds and
    thousands of the

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    companies that pay tax at the individual rate. When we talk about
    income-tax reductions, we're affecting his ability to save money; his
    ability--he, too, wants to increase the amount of capital expenditure
    he's going to make as a result of increasing the limit to $75,000.
        I said, ``What does this mean to you?'' He says, ``Three more
    employees for next year.'' Three more employees from this man's good
    business, 3 more employees from the guy across the street, 3 more
    employees and 10 over here, how many for the Kings--it adds up. If
    you're interested in job security, growth in jobs in America, the
    Congress must understand that this plan directly benefits the
    entrepreneurs of this country and will make a huge difference in the
    ability to find people work.
        It also helps individuals. Stirlyn Harris
    works for Stanley King. He and his wife Billie
    Jeanne Jean both work, and you're doing what
    you'd expect them to do as the parents of two children: They're saving.
    They're saving through the 401(k) plan, a stock purchase plan, a credit
    union account. They are saving. This tax relief plan will mean $1,300
    extra for them. I asked them, ``What does that mean, $1,300? You going
    to play the lottery?'' [Laughter] He said he didn't think so. He thinks
    Timothy and Travis
    need to have as good an education as possible throughout their life.
    He's putting aside that money, he and his wife, Billie Jean, putting
    aside that money for their children's future.
        That extra money in their pocket will help them be responsible
    parents, will help them save. And you put $1,300 aside for two children
    who are young and let it accumulate and grow, those children are going
    to say, ``We were blessed to have such a good mother and daddy.'' Tax
    relief has positive effects on the families of America.
        Carolyn Galvin is with us. She owns
    Storeel Corporation. Carolyn, thank you for coming. She's got a couple
    of things in mind. One, she wants to make sure her business grows, and
    she wants to leave it to her children. That's noble, and that's great.
    As a matter of fact, anybody who builds up their own assets ought to be
    able to leave it to whoever they want to. The problem is, the Government
    stands in between that through the death tax. For the good of the
    entrepreneurial spirit in America, we need to get rid of that death tax
    forever.
        Part of the 2001 tax relief package, we put the death tax on its way
    to extinction. But it's hard to explain what I'm about to tell you. It
    really doesn't go away forever, because of some of the quirky rules of
    the United States Senate. And we need--the Senate needs to join with
    Zell and Saxby, who
    agree with me that it's important to have certainty in our society. If
    people need to plan for their families, it's--you don't want the Tax
    Code saying, ``Well, it may be this way; it may not be this way.'' The
    tax relief plan, including getting rid of the death tax, needs to be
    made permanent.
        Carolyn says that as a result of allowing
    for more expensing, she's going to quadruple the investments that her
    company will make this year. That's important. As she makes additional
    investments, somebody is more likely to find work. It has a positive
    effect. Her decision, one of millions of decisions that will be made,
    will have an incredibly positive effect on a person looking for work.
    There is a connection between her decision and jobs, and there is a
    connection between how she makes a decision and good tax policy.
        I also want you to know that her tax bill will fall by about $5,500
    this year alone, mainly because we're getting rid of the double taxation
    of dividends. It is likely--I'm not going to tell her what to do, but it
    is likely she will, being the optimistic soul that she is--[laughter]--
    will invest that, is--make a decision that, ``Well, you know, things are
    going to get better. I think I'll buy a stock or two or save it.'' And
    it's that act, that decision, that circulates

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    more capital in the private sector which helps this economy recover.
        No, the people that we have talked to today--Chris
    Mitchell and Pamela
    Talley--Pamela, by the way, is a single mom. She's got the toughest job
    in America. It's a hard job. She can use a little extra money--of her
    own money, by the way. She told me that she wants to save for her 3-
    year-old child's education as well.
        See, these are real-life stories that will affect this economy. The
    whole premise of the jobs-and-growth package is to trust people with
    their own money, based upon the idea that more money in your pocket will
    mean more consumption and more investment. More consumption and more
    investment means somebody is more likely to find work.
        Not only do we need to deal with this economy--and we'll spend a lot
    of time on it in Washington and, I'm confident, pass good legislation--
    but we'll continue to make sure this homeland is secure. In order to
    make sure the homeland was more secure, we're obviously spending money
    on our military and on homeland security. And when you couple that with
    a recession, which means less money coming to Government, we've got us a
    deficit. First of all, you've got to know, when it comes to the deficit,
    I'm--I believe the best way to get out of it is to grow the economy so
    more revenues come in and then make sure Congress doesn't overspend.
        But as we insist that Congress be wise with your money, we're going
    to make sure we spend enough to win this war. And by spending enough to
    win a war, we may not have a war at all.
        We've got to spend enough to protect this homeland too. But the
    money--the budget I submitted holds growth--setting a priority our
    military, setting as a priority our homeland security--it holds growth
    to 4 percent on discretionary spending. That's about as much as the
    average America's family's income is expected to grow this year. To me,
    it's a good benchmark for the year 2003.
        Congress needs to make sure that it holds discretionary spending to
    4 percent. If it's good enough for the American family's income, it's
    good enough for the spending habits of the United States Congress.
        This great country is equal to every challenge we face here at home,
    and it's equal to every challenge we face abroad, and we've got some
    challenges. As we move to strengthen this economy, we're going to
    protect the American people and this homeland against ruthless killers.
    The terrorists who struck the United States are still determined to harm
    this country. It's the cold reality of the 21st century, but we are even
    more determined to hunt them down one by one, to disrupt their plans,
    and to bring them to justice.
        It's important--it's very important for our citizens to understand
    the significant change that took place on September the 11th, 2001.
    Obviously, it changed a lot of people's lives, and we still mourn for
    the families who lost life. But it used to be that oceans--we thought
    oceans could protect us, that we were guarded by the oceans, and that if
    there was a threat overseas, as a result of the protection from the
    oceans, we could decide whether to be involved or not. It might affect
    us overseas, but it couldn't affect us at home. And therefore, we have
    the luxury of kind of picking and choosing gathering threats.
        That changed on September the 11th, 2001, because the stark reality
    of 2001 is that America is now a battlefield, that the war has come
    home. And therefore, this Nation must also confront not only shadowy
    terrorist networks but the gravest danger in the war on terror: outlaw
    regimes arming to threaten the peace with weapons of mass destruction.
        After Secretary of State Powell's
    presentation to the United Nations Security Council, the world knows
    that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass
    destruction, even

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    though he said he didn't, and that he is not complying with the United
    Nations demands to destroy them. He is actively deceiving the
    inspectors. He is actively hiding the weapons. And so the Security
    Council, earlier on, gave Saddam Hussein one final chance to disarm, and
    he's throwing that chance away.
        If military force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq, this Nation,
    joined by others, will act decisively in a just cause, and we will
    prevail.
        Military action is this Nation's last option. And let me tell you
    what's not an option. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam
    Hussein is not an option; denial and endless
    delay in the face of growing danger is not an option; leaving the lives
    and the security of the American people at the mercy of this dictator
    and his weapons of mass destruction, not an option.
        America and our allies are called once again to defend the peace
    against an aggressive tyrant, and we accept
    this responsibility.
        We defend the security of our country, but our cause is broader. If
    war is forced upon us, we will liberate the people of Iraq from a cruel
    and violent dictator. The Iraqi people today
    are not treated with dignity, but they have the right to live in
    dignity. The Iraqi people today are not allowed to speak out for
    freedom, but they have a right to live in freedom. We don't believe
    freedom and liberty are America's gift to the world; we believe they are
    the Almighty's gift to mankind. And for the oppressed people of Iraq,
    people whose lives we care about, the day of freedom is drawing near.
        A free Iraq can be a source of hope for all the Middle East. Instead
    of threatening its neighbors and harboring terrorists, Iraq can be an
    example of progress and prosperity in a region that needs both. If we
    liberate the Iraqi people, they can rest assure that we will help them
    build a country that is disarmed and peaceful and united and free.
        The disarmament of Iraq will also demonstrate that free nations have
    the will and resolve to defend the peace. By defeating this threat, we
    will show other dictators that the path of aggression will lead to their
    own ruin. By defeating the threat of Iraq, we will show the world--we
    will show that the world is able and prepared to meet future dangers
    wherever they arise.
        Our goal is peace, and achieving peace requires resolve and action
    by free nations. In a more peaceful world, the American people will not
    live in fear, and the Iraqi people will not live in oppression.
        The United States of America, joined by many nations--by many
    nations--is committed to building a world at peace and bringing a better
    day. There is no question in my mind--no question in my mind--that
    because of the strength of this country, the heart and soul of the
    American people, the courage of the American people, the determination
    of the American people, and the values of the American people, that we
    can have a more peaceful world, a more just society, and a more hopeful
    America.
        May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:58 a.m. in the gymnasium at Carl
    Harrison High School. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Sonny Perdue
    of Georgia; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The Office of the
    Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these
    remarks.

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