    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
    [August 17, 2004]
    [Pages 1680-1688]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Boeing Company Employees in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania
    August 17, 2004

        The President. Thank you all very much. Gosh, it's good to be here.
        Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
        The President. Listen, thank you all for coming. I am honored to be
    here. Weldon is right, I'm here to thank the employees of this important
    plant for giving our troops what is necessary to keep the country safe.
        I appreciate the tour I just had. I want to thank Mark
    Madden. I appreciate Johnny D. If you don't know who Johnny D is, he's the president of
    Local 1069. He kindly came off vacation to say hi to the President.
    [Laughter] I was proud he did.
        I'm equally as proud of the men and women who work here, working day
    and night to put out a good product on behalf of our country. This is a
    great plant because we've got great workers.
        You know, this is my 32d visit to your State since I've been
    President. A lot of

    [[Page 1681]]

    people are wondering why I'm coming so much. It ought to be obvious to
    you. I like my cheesesteak ``whiz with.'' I also want to win
    Pennsylvania. I'm coming to this State and asking people for the vote.
    I've got more to do to work with our country to keep us safer, stronger,
    and better.
        We've done a lot. We've been through a lot together, but there's
    more work to do to realize the great promise of this country and to keep
    our country as secure as it possibly can be. With your help, we'll carry
    Pennsylvania. With your help, we're going to win in November of 2004.
        Laura sends her best. She's terrific. She's
    heading out to Colorado. She's campaigning, which is good news for me.
    [Laughter] She's a great mom, a wonderful wife. Let's put me back in
    there so she can have 4 more years as the First Lady. I love her dearly.
        I'm running with a good man in Dick Cheney.
    I admit he's not the prettiest face in the race. [Laughter] Yes. I
    didn't pick him because of his looks. I picked him because of his
    judgment, his ability to get the job done.
        I appreciate my friend Curt Weldon. He's
    right, he wasn't exaggerating. We were campaigning somewhere in this
    part of the world, and he said, ``We need to go over there and thank the
    workers.'' I said, ``Fine. Set it up.'' He said, ``Your schedule is
    harder to get through than mine.'' But here I am. And I want to thank
    Curt for setting up this visit. I appreciate his leadership and his
    friendship. He's doing a fine job for the people of Pennsylvania.
        I want to thank the president and the CEO of Boeing Company, Harry
    Stonecipher, for being here. I'm
    honored you're here, Harry. I want to thank Bill Hunt. He's a senior manager of the Chinook 47 operations. I
    want to thank all of the employees and families who are here. Thanks for
    coming by to say hello. I'm honored to be here. I appreciate you taking
    interest in the political process.
        You know, we all have a duty to do in our democratic system. We all
    have the obligation to vote. Obviously, when people start heading to the
    polls, I've got a preference. [Laughter] But I do want everybody in this
    country to vote. And for those of you who are involved in grassroots
    politics, I want to thank you for encouraging your fellow citizens to go
    to the polls.
        I'm on the ticket with Arlen Specter. He's
    a fine United States Senator. I'm proud to have his support and
    friendship. I appreciate my friend Jim Greenwood. Jim has served this part of the State with great skill,
    and we're going to miss him in the House of Representatives. I
    appreciate you coming, Jim. I'm honored you're here. I appreciate Mike
    Castle. He snuck across the border from
    Delaware. [Applause] Either others snuck across the border with you, or
    they know you here. [Laughter] Castle is a good man, a good, honest
    fellow. I appreciate working with him.
        I know the statehouse speaker is with us,
    a lot of local officials. Thank you all for coming.
        I first want to thank the veterans who are here. I know a lot of
    veterans work in this facility and are in this crowd. I'm honored you're
    here. I want to tell you what I told the VFW yesterday is, thanks for
    setting such a good example for the folks who wear the uniform today. I
    appreciate the high standards our veterans have set.
        I also reminded them that just like the wars of the past, we have
    got to stay dedicated, focused, and resolved. We're once again fighting
    deadly enemies, and we're depending on the people here at Ridley Park. I
    just came out of a sophisticated Chinook chopper that some brave soldier
    is going to be flying soon. And I can tell him and I can tell his loved
    ones that chopper has got the best equipment, the best hydraulics, made
    by the best hands in America.
        We're equipping our troops, as we should. Boeing company is not only
    making

    [[Page 1682]]

    good choppers; they're working on unmanned vehicles, advanced
    satellites, modern communication systems, the Army's future combat
    systems, all of which will help defend our country. In other words, this
    administration is thinking about today; we're also thinking about
    tomorrow. We're going to secure the country today, and we're going to
    prepare this country to be able to secure us down the road.
        Another thing that's interesting that's happening at Boeing that
    probably you aren't aware of, but you should be, is that Boeing
    engineers lowered the first ballistic missile interceptor into its silo
    at Fort Greely, Alaska. It's the beginning of a missile defense system
    that was envisioned by Ronald Reagan, a system necessary to protect us
    against the threats of the 21st century. We want to continue to perfect
    this system, so we say to those tyrants who believe they can blackmail
    America and the free world, ``You fire. We're going to shoot it down.''
        I think those who oppose this ballistic missile system really don't
    understand the threats of the 21st century. They're living in the past.
    We're living in the future. We're going to do what's necessary to
    protect this country.
        Boeing is not only important for the defenses of America, Boeing is
    important because we've got great workers. And the great workers of
    America helped us overcome some economic obstacles that were pretty
    significant. You might remember, during the last 3\1/2\ years, we've
    been through a recession; we went through some corporate scandals; we
    went through a terrorist attack, all of which affected our economy. Yet
    we've overcome it. Our economy is strong and getting stronger. The
    reason we've overcome it is because we've got great workers in America.
    We've overcome it because we've got great small-business owners in
    America. We've got great farmers and ranchers in America. We've got a
    great spirit in America.
        I'll argue vehemently, we've overcome it because of well-timed tax
    cuts. [Applause] Yes. It helped when we put more money in the people's
    pockets. It helped when we said, ``You know, we hear your cries, and you
    need more money if you've got a child in your family.'' It helped the
    families of America to raise the child credit. It helped to lessen the
    marriage penalty. I don't know what kind of tax--I know what kind of Tax
    Code it is that penalizes marriage. It's a code that needs to change. We
    ought to be rewarding marriage in America, not penalizing it.
        We helped our small businesses today. The national unemployment rate
    is 5.5 percent, well below the national averages of the seventies,
    eighties, and nineties. I understand there's still people looking for
    work here in America. So long as anybody wants to work and can't find a
    job, I know we've got more work to do in Washington, DC. It starts with
    making sure your taxes are low. Be careful of these folks who travel
    around the country making all these big promises and say, ``Oh, don't
    worry. We'll pay for it by taxing the rich.'' You know how that goes.
    The rich hires accountants and lawyers, and you get stuck with the bill.
    But we're not going to let him raise your taxes. For the sake of
    economic growth, for the sake of job creation, we will keep America's
    taxes low.
        We've got more work to do to keep jobs here in America. We've got to
    make sure this is the best place for people to expand the job base in
    the world. And therefore, we're going to make sure trade is free and
    fair. I was out at the Boeing plant in Seattle. I said a clear statement
    about fair trade to the folks out in that part of the world. I said
    we're going to work to get rid of the subsidies of Airbus that makes it
    difficult for Boeing to compete on a fair and level playing field in the
    world. We want there to be trade. We want there to be fair trade,
    because American workers can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere, so
    long as the rules are fair.

    [[Page 1683]]

        We're going to make sure the health care system of America is
    accessible and affordable. You know, there's been a lot of talk about
    Medicare. For those of you with elderly parents, you've heard all this
    talk about Medicare reform. We got the job done. There's been a lot of
    politics with Medicare, but finally, an administration came along that
    could work with the Congress and strengthen Medicare so the seniors of
    America now have got prescription drug coverage in Medicare.
        We need health savings accounts for American families. We need
    association health care plans for small businesses. You know what else
    we need in Pennsylvania and around the country? We need medical
    liability reform. These lawsuits are running up the cost of your health
    care, and they're running good docs out of practice right here in your
    State and in other States around the country. See, I don't think you can
    be pro-patient and pro-doctor and pro-plaintiff-attorney at the same
    time. I think you have to choose. My opponent
    made his choice, and he put him on the ticket. I
    made my choice. I'm for medical liability reform now.
        We've got to make sure we have an energy policy in this country that
    makes us less dependent on foreign sources of energy. You can't build
    these choppers without good energy supplies at affordable costs. I've
    submitted a plan to the United States Congress that encourages
    conservation, renewable sources of energy, ways to use coal in a clean
    way, ways to explore in environmentally friendly ways. The Congress
    needs to get an energy policy to my desk now in order to keep jobs here
    in America.
        Finally, to make sure we keep jobs here, our education system has to
    be the best in the world. We're making pretty good progress when it
    comes to our public schools. You remember, when I came into office, we
    had a system that just moved our kids through grade after grade, year
    after year, without learning the basics. So we've increased Federal
    funding, but we've also, for the first time, asked the question, ``Can
    you read and write?'' It seems like a legitimate question for Government
    to ask on behalf of the taxpayers and families of America. And if you
    can read and write, we'll thank you; but if you can't, change before
    it's too late, so that no child gets left behind in this country.
        We've done a lot of hard work, but there's more to do to move
    America forward. And there's more to do to protect this country from the
    threats of the 21st century. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in
    this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This is not going to
    happen on my watch. Since September the 11th, America has led the world,
    and the world has changed for the better.
        There are some serious lessons that we must remember about September
    the 11th. I would like to share some of those with you today. First,
    we're fighting an enemy that is so coldblooded it's hard for many
    Americans to fathom. These people will cut off your head like that,
    trying to shake our will and shake our conscience. That's why I remind
    our fellow citizens we must be resolute, and we must be steadfast in the
    face of these coldblooded killers. You cannot negotiate with these
    people. You cannot hope for the best when it comes to these people.
    Therapy is not going to work. [Laughter] The only way to deal with them
    is to bring them to justice.
        And we're making progress. Slowly but surely, we're bringing them to
    justice. It's a different kind of war. See, this is the kind of war
    where these killers will hide in a cave and use terror to shake our
    will. America's will will not be shaken. America will show strength and
    resolve for the sake of freedom and peace. We will continue to find
    these killers and defeat them overseas so we do not have to face them
    here at home.
        In this different kind of war, we had to send a message to the world
    that we wanted others to join us, and they have.

    [[Page 1684]]

    We've got a vast coalition of nations sharing intelligence, cutting off
    money. There's some 40 nations involved in Afghanistan, some 30 nations
    involved in Iraq. I appreciate their service. As a matter of fact, this
    morning I talked to Tony Blair,
    Silvio Berlusconi--the Prime Ministers of
    Great Britain and Italy. Once again, I thanked them for the sacrifices
    of their citizens to provide help in places like Afghanistan and Iraq so
    that the world would be more free and peaceful. I will continue to work
    with coalitions, but I will never turn over America's national security
    decisions to leaders of other countries.
        Another lesson of September the 11th is that it's just not enough to
    go after the killers who killed thousands of Americans, but that if
    there's a country which harbors them or feeds them, they must be held
    equally to account. And so I said to the Taliban in Afghanistan, ``Cough
    up Al Qaida, or face serious consequences.''
        Now, let me say something to you. When the American President
    speaks, it better be clear for everybody to understand and he better
    mean it. And I meant it. And as a result of some brave Americans and
    coalition troops, the Taliban no longer exists in Afghanistan. And
    America and the world are safer for it. And these Chinook choppers
    helped free Afghanistan from the Taliban.
        It's an amazing--think about this in Afghanistan. You remember when
    the four women were drug off the bus. They were voter registration
    people, and they got drug off the bus by some remnants of the Taliban
    and were killed because they were trying to register voters. And I
    remember some people saying, ``Well, gosh, it just goes to show how
    terrible it is there in Afghanistan, and they're not going to have much
    of an election.'' Do you realize that there's now about 9.5 million
    people who have registered to vote in Afghanistan? It's an amazing
    statistic. Think about the world 3\1/2\ years ago. These thugs were
    running the country and providing training bases for Al Qaida. And the
    world was dangerous. We didn't realize it at the time, but think about
    how dangerous the world was then. And now, because we took action and
    upheld doctrine--we did what we said we were going to do--Afghanistan is
    free. The people are registering to vote.
        I was in Cleveland, Ohio, recently and welcomed children to the
    International Children's Game, and there right to my right was the
    Afghan girls soccer team. They would not have been here without the
    United States of America having freed the people of that country.
        And a free Afghanistan is not only an ally in the war on terror, and
    a free Afghanistan is not only a place where many young girls go to
    school for the first time, but a free Afghanistan makes America more
    secure and the world more peaceful.
        Another important lesson of September the 11th that all Americans
    must realize is we must take threats seriously before they fully
    materialize, that you cannot hope for the best when you see a threat. In
    the old days, we could because we never thought anybody would attack us
    here at home, but that all changed on that day.
        And so when I looked at Saddam Hussein, I
    saw a threat. And the reason I did is because he had used weapons of
    mass destruction against his own people, and he was a sworn enemy of
    America. He had provided safe haven for terrorists. He had paid money to
    the families of suiciders. He was an unstable--he was a source of
    instability in a volatile part of the world. He was firing at our pilots
    who were enforcing the world's sanctions. He was a threat.
        And I recognized that I needed to go to the United States Congress
    to get support. I wanted the Congress involved, and I took it to the
    Congress. They looked at the same intelligence I looked at, and they
    remembered the history of Saddam Hussein that
    I remembered. And so members of both political parties, including my
    opponent, supported our position in Iraq. They
    saw a threat.

    [[Page 1685]]

        The United Nations Security Council saw a threat. Remember, I went
    to the U.N. I believe diplomacy must be tried, and we must exhaust all
    options in the diplomatic front. See, war is the last resort for a
    President. It's the toughest decision a President will make. It's the
    hardest call a Commander in Chief can possibly decide. So I went to the
    U.N., I said, ``Look, why don't we, as the world, finally get together,
    when we say something, mean it, and let's disarm this guy. Take a look, and you decide if he needs to be
    disarmed.'' Remember, they had had resolution after resolution after
    resolution after resolution. And they passed another one, 15 to nothing,
    in the United Nations Security Council. It said, ``Disclose, disarm, or
    face serious consequences.'' That's what the free world said, in a 15-
    to-nothing vote.
        Saddam Hussein defied the free world,
    just as he had for year after year after year. He didn't give a hoot
    about what they said. He wasn't interested in complying to the demands
    of the free world. As a matter of fact, when we sent the inspectors in,
    he systematically deceived them. So I had a choice to make. And the
    choice was, do I trust a madman? Do I forget the lessons of September
    the 11th and hope for the best in this new era, or do I take action
    necessary to defend our country? Given that choice, I will defend
    America every time.
        No, I realize we didn't find the stockpiles we thought we would
    find. But I want you to remember, Saddam had
    the capability of making weapons, and he could have shared that
    capability with our enemies. And in the post-9/11 environment, that's a
    risk America could not afford to take. Knowing what I know today, I
    would have made the same decision. And America and the world are better
    off with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell.
        We have a mission in Afghanistan and Iraq and that is to help them
    achieve freedom. They've got leaders there now who believe in the future
    of their countries and want their countries to be free. As I told you,
    Afghanistan is headed toward elections; Iraq will be too. That's what we
    believe in. We believe in systems empowering the people. So we'll help
    them. We'll be there to help train their troops so they can stand up and
    take responsibility for their own societies. And we will complete the
    mission. It's in our national interest that these countries be free.
    They're going to be such powerful examples in neighborhoods that are
    desperate for freedom. You see, the way you defeat terror in the long
    run is to defeat hopelessness and poverty. And the best way to do that
    is to spread freedom. Free societies are peaceful societies.
        By adhering to a--our beliefs in liberty, we're helping others and,
    at the same time, helping ourself. By standing strong for liberty, we're
    remembering lessons of the past. You know, I was talking to Prime
    Minister Koizumi--I do quite a bit--and my
    last dinner with him--I think my last dinner, one of my last dinners
    with him--it dawned on me how amazing it was that here I was talking to
    the leader of a country that my dad had fought against in World War II
    and your dads had fought against. And you know what we were talking
    about? We were talking about the peace. We were talking about how to
    make the world a more peaceful place. And I was having that conversation
    in part because our country understood that liberty could transform the
    habits of former enemies. And as Japan was rebuilt after World War II,
    we stood strong to our belief in freedom for all people. See, we believe
    that freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty
    God's gift to every man and woman in this world.
        These are historic times. These are historic times. We've done a lot
    of hard work, I know that. But we're headed toward a freer world and a
    more peaceful world. My dream for this country is that when your kids
    grow up, the world is more--America is more secure, and they look out
    and see

    [[Page 1686]]

    a peaceful horizon, not only for ourselves but for people all around the
    world. It's important we complete our mission in Iraq and Afghanistan.
        I was disappointed the other day when my opponent said after he gets elected that he believes he'll
    substantially reduce the troops in Iraq in 6 months. See, I think that
    sets a terrible signal. I mean, after all, the enemy has got to wait for
    6 months and 1 day. It sends a bad signal to our troops over there, who
    every day are doing their best to help that country rebuild and bring
    peace. It sends a bad signal to the Iraqis, doesn't it? They're
    wondering whether or not America is going to cut and run. They're
    wondering whether or not--you see, before they take risks for freedom,
    they're wondering or not whether we'll be there to help stabilize the
    country. So long as I'm the President of the United States, America will
    keep its word to the people around the world.
        I'll tell you another commitment I have made and one I'll keep. Our
    troops are going to have the best training, the best pay, the best
    possible equipment. When we put these folks in harm's way, the Federal
    Government must stand squarely by their side. I've increased the defense
    budgets--strongly increased the defense budgets--because I want these
    folks to have the best, and I know you do too. As a matter of fact, the
    defense budgets have increased as great as they ever had since Ronald
    Reagan was the President of the United States.
        That's why I went to the United States Congress last September and
    said, ``We need supplemental funding to support our troops in combat in
    both Afghanistan and Iraq.'' That was for body armor and fuel and spare
    parts, just all the things necessary to help these people complete their
    mission. And I--we got great bipartisan support. That means people from
    both parties realized the funding was important--so strong that only 12
    people voted against it in the United States Senate, 2 of whom are my
    opponent and his runningmate. I think when you put people into harm's way, you ought
    to make sure they're well-equipped.
        And so they asked him--they started pressing him. You know how it is in politics. And so he said, ``Fine,
    well, I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against
    it.'' [Laughter] I can assure you people don't talk like that on the
    floor of this factory. They'll tell you what's on their mind. And then
    he got pressed further, and he went on to say, well, he's proud of it,
    and then, ``It's a complicated matter.'' There's nothing complicated
    about supporting our troops in combat.
        We've done a lot of hard work, a lot of hard work, and there's more
    work to be done to do our duty, which is to secure our country, to
    protect our homeland, and to help the world become more free and more
    peaceful.
        You know, this is a changing world of ours, and there are some
    things that won't change, however. The values we try to live by will not
    change, courage and compassion, and reverence and integrity, hard work
    and duty. The institutions that give us direction will not change, our
    families, our schools, our religious congregations. This is important to
    our country, that these values be strong.
        That's why I stand for institutions like marriage and family, which
    are the foundations of our society. We stand for a culture of life in
    which every person matters and every person counts. We stand for judges
    who faithfully interpret the law instead of legislating from the bench.
        We stand for a culture of responsibility here in America. You know,
    the culture is changing from one that has said, ``If it feels good, do
    it,'' and ``If you've got a problem, blame somebody else,'' to a culture
    in which each of us understands we're responsible for the decisions we
    make in life. If you're fortunate enough to be a mother or a father,
    you're responsible for loving your child with all your heart and

    [[Page 1687]]

    all your soul. You know, if you're worried about the quality of the
    education in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, you're responsible for doing
    something about it. A responsibility society is one in which every CEO
    in corporate America understands he or she is responsible for telling
    the truth to the shareholders and employees. And a responsibility
    society is one in which each of us understands we're responsible for
    loving our neighbor just like we'd like to be loved ourself.
        I'm running again because I want to continue to rally the armies of
    compassion all around our country. See, Government can hand out money,
    but Government cannot put hope in a person's heart or a sense of purpose
    in a person's life. That happens when a loving soul puts their arms
    around somebody, says, ``I love you,'' and ``How can I help you?'' We
    must continue to rally those compassionate folks who are willing to
    volunteer their time so America can change one heart and one soul and
    one conscience at a time.
        Tom Shaffer is a Boeing employee. He's up
    here. He runs the Race Against Drugs. He volunteers time to help
    convince kids to get off drugs. He's making a difference. All he's got
    to do is convince one soul, and he's helped that life and helped change
    America. Volunteers come--they do all kinds of things around our
    country.
        Paula Zimmerman is with us. She started
    what's called Touch of Home. Her son, Private First Class Kevin
    Zimmerman, is a member of the Army's Crazy
    Horse Company, 1st Battalion. He's in Sadr City, Iraq. He's doing his
    duty for his country, and his mom has sent 160 care packages to Crazy
    Horse Company. She took time out of her life to volunteer, to lift
    somebody's spirit, to help some soul understand that a lot of people
    back home appreciate what they're doing. Government didn't make her do
    it. She decided to do it because she cares about her son and her
    country.
        I realize one person can't do everything, but a person can do
    something to help change this country for the better. I want to thank
    our two examples for volunteers. I want to thank you all for loving your
    neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. You're helping your
    country when you do so.
        You know, for all of us, these years in our history will stand
    apart. There are quiet times in the life of a nation when little is
    expected of its leaders. This isn't one of those times. This is a time
    that requires firm resolve, clear vision, a strong belief in the values
    that make us a great nation.
        None of us will ever forget that week when one era ended and another
    began. September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin
    Towers. It's a day I will never forget. There were hardhats there,
    yelling at me, ``Whatever it takes, Mr. President.'' I can remember
    walking down the line, shaking hands and thanking people. A guy looked
    me in the eye--he had just come out of the rubble--and he said, ``Do not
    let me down.''
        See, he took that day personally. Everybody on that site took it
    personally. I know you took it personally, and so did I. I have a duty
    that goes on. I wake up daily trying to best figure out how to protect
    our country. I will never relent in bringing justice to our enemies and
    secure the homeland, whatever it takes.
        When I traveled your great State and our country 4 years ago, I
    said, if you would give me the honor of holding this office, I would
    uphold the dignity and the honor of the office to which I had been
    elected. With your help, I will do so for the next 4 years.
        Thank you for coming. God bless. Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. at the Boeing Co. In his remarks,
    he referred to Mark Madden, employee, Boeing Co.; John DeFrancisco,
    president, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement
    Workers of America Local 1069; John M. Perzel, speaker, Pennsylvania
    House of

    [[Page 1688]]

    Representatives; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Prime Minister
    Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of
    Italy; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan.