    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [August 3, 2005]
    [Pages 1295-1305]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the American Legislative Exchange Council in Grapevine, Texas
    August 3, 2005

        Thank you all. Thank you all. Please be seated. Earl, thanks for the warm introduction. Thanks for the
    invitation, and thanks for the award. And I appreciate your leadership
    of ALEC. Good leaders make good decisions. You made a good decision
    bringing this convention to Texas. [Laughter]
        I'm pleased to be with the members of ALEC, and I want to thank you
    for serving. And I want to thank your families for standing by you as
    you serve. I appreciate you putting your community and your State and
    your Nation ahead of your self-interest. I also appreciate the
    philosophy you espouse, philosophy rooted in free enterprise,
    accountability for local officials at all levels, and your focus on
    results. I used to work with some ALEC members when I was Governor of
    the great State of Texas. I see a couple of them sitting around here. I
    appreciate you all coming. The thing I found about ALEC members is
    they're always willing to challenge the status quo, to espouse what I
    call a compassionate conservative philosophy, a philosophy that says,
    ``Government if necessary but not necessarily Government.''
        And so, thanks for having me. Thanks for serving, and thanks for the
    invitation. Laura sends her best. She is the--
    she's down there in Crawford, and she is--I got to tell you, she's a
    great First Lady, is what she is, and a great wife.
        I see the speaker and Nadine
    Craddick from Midland, Texas. I think one of
    the reasons why Laura is admired is because she
    has never forgot where she came from or how she was raised. She's proud
    of Midland, Texas. She's carrying those Midland, Texas, values to
    Washington, DC. And she's a great mom, great wife, and a great First
    Lady. I want to thank--thank you, Tommy Craddick, who is the speaker of
    the house--of the Texas house is with us. And Speaker, you're doing a
    great job. Proud of your accomplishments, proud to be with you today.

    [[Page 1296]]

        I want to thank Duane Parde, the executive
    director. I want to thank the members of the Texas host committee.
        I want to thank the Congress folks who are here today. I see a
    couple of you out there, a couple of Texas Congressmen, Feeney from Florida, and Culberson is
    here. Thank you all for coming. I want to thank former Senator John
    Breaux from Louisiana for joining us. John,
    thanks for being here.
        I asked Breaux to help out on simplifying
    the Tax Code. It needs to be simplified, and--looking forward to seeing
    your report. [Laughter] But thanks for serving.
        In Washington, we're working on two great goals, one, strengthening
    our economy, so people can realize their dreams; and defending this
    country. And we're making good progress on both. This economy of ours is
    strong. It is getting stronger, and the amazing thing is to remember
    where we have come from. We went through a recession and a stock market
    correction and a terrorist attack and corporate scandals and war. And in
    spite of that, this economy is growing at some of the highest levels
    ever.
        In 2003, growth was at the highest levels in nearly 20 years. Our
    economy today is growing faster than any other major industrialized
    nation in the world. We've added 2 million new jobs in the last 12
    months. More people work today than ever before in our Nation's history.
    Employment is up in 48 of the 50 States. Unemployment is down to 5
    percent. That's below the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
    The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. More people own a home today than
    ever before in our Nation's history. Our tax relief plan is working.
        This week's report shows that both personal income and consumer
    spending grew rapidly in June. Real disposable personal income has grown
    by about 12 percent since the end of 2000. You know, some have
    questioned in Washington whether or not you can cut taxes and increase
    revenues for the Treasury. Well, I don't know if you saw the report that
    came out--recently came out. It showed that the Federal deficit is
    projected to be $94 billion less than previously expected. And that's
    because revenues are catching up. And the reason revenues are catching
    up is because the tax cuts stimulated economic vitality and growth all
    across the country. I laid out a goal for the Congress to work with the
    administration to cut the deficit in half by 2009, and we're ahead of
    pace to realize that goal.
        At the State level, there's some good news. You've seen the effects
    of the growing economy on your revenue. State revenues in the first
    quarter of 2005 increased 11.7 percent from the prior year; 42 States
    have received more in revenue than expected, which tells me that we need
    to work together to make sure we're wise about how we spend that money.
        Part of making sure that our economy continues to grow is to pass
    budget resolutions that are fiscally sound. And that's what we did in
    Washington, DC. I submitted the first budget to propose a cut in
    nonsecurity discretionary spending since Ronald Reagan was the
    President. And I appreciate the action in the United States House of
    Representatives and the United States Senate to pass a budget resolution
    that adhered to those principles. And now the appropriators must follow
    the guidelines of the budget. To keep this economy growing, we must not
    overspend at the Federal level.
        I set out some priorities this winter, priorities to adhere to our
    principle that the role of Government is not to create wealth; the role
    of Government is to create an environment in which the entrepreneurial
    spirit can flourish, in which dreamers can be--realize big dreams. And
    as they do, they'll employ more of our fellow citizens.
        I'm proud to report to you that we're making headway when it comes
    to legal reform. We've got too many junk lawsuits that make it hard for
    people to create jobs

    [[Page 1297]]

    in America. We passed class-action reform. We passed bankruptcy reform--
    hope we can get asbestos reform done. I tell you one other thing we need
    to get done in Washington, DC, this fall. For the sake of good health
    care, to make sure health care is available and affordable, Congress
    needs to pass medical liability reform and get it on my desk.
        I told the United States Congress this country needs to develop an
    energy strategy. We should have done that 10 years ago. We should have
    developed a strategy that would help us diversify away from foreign
    sources of oil. And finally, after years of work, I'm proud to announce
    I'll be signing next week a comprehensive energy bill. And it's a good
    piece of legislation. It's a legislation that encourages domestic
    production. It's a piece of legislation that encourages conservation.
    It's also a piece of legislation that recognizes, over time, we must
    diversify away from our dependence on hydrocarbons. That's why we're now
    promoting nuclear energy. It makes sense for this country to use safe,
    clean nuclear power.
        We've got plenty of coal in America. We're now spending the money to
    make sure we burn it wisely so that we can protect our environment. In
    this bill, we've got good clean coal technology research and
    development. I believe that the best way to end our dependence on
    foreign sources of energy is to figure out how to use different kind of
    automobiles. And I believe hydrogen power is going to be the source of
    power that will allow us to diversify over time. And this bill is good
    about promoting research and development for hydrogen automobiles.
        Some of you from the Midwest may remember we had a problem with our
    electricity grid. This is a bill that modernizes the electricity grid
    and gets rid of old laws that prevent utilities from being able to raise
    money efficiently in the capital market. This is a good piece of
    legislation. It's a legislation that sets us on our way for independence
    from foreign sources of oil. I'm proud to sign it next week in New
    Mexico, and I want to thank the Members of the House and the Senate for
    getting it done.
        Congress recently passed the patient safety bill which improves
    health care by reducing medical errors. Congress passed the highway
    bill. We had a little problem getting that bill done over the last
    couple of years because we had a disagreement about the right number. I
    felt that the number ought to be fiscally--a fiscally responsible
    number. We worked hard with Members of the Senate and the House. I'll be
    proud to sign a fiscally responsible highway bill next Wednesday in the
    State of Illinois.
        Finally, I campaigned across this country telling people, I believe
    in free trade and fair trade. I hope we all understand the importance of
    opening up markets for U.S. products. If you're good at something, you
    ought to be selling those products, not only here at home but around the
    world. And we're really good at certain things. We're great at growing
    crops, for example. We're good at growing soybeans, and therefore, it
    seems to make sense that the administration ought to be working hard to
    opening up markets for our soybean growers and our manufacturers and our
    entrepreneurs and our high-tech folks.
        We had a problem in our hemisphere about trade. I don't know if you
    realize it or not, but most of the goods from Central America came into
    this country duty-free. Yet 80 percent of our goods were taxed through
    tariffs in Central American countries. That didn't seem to make sense to
    me. It certainly wasn't fair. All I say to people is, you treat us the
    way we treat you. If your goods can come into our markets duty-free, our
    goods ought to be able to go into your markets duty-free.
        And that's the spirit of the CAFTA legislation that I signed
    yesterday. It recognized that free trade must be fair trade. And the
    piece of legislation I signed is going to help

    [[Page 1298]]

    people find jobs here in America. It's going to make it easier for us to
    sell our products to 44 million consumers.
        But CAFTA was more than a trade bill. CAFTA was a statement about
    democracy in our own neighborhood. We entered into a pact, a long-term
    pact with new democracies, countries that not all that long ago were
    wrestling with civil strife and dictatorships. These young democracies
    turned to America, and said, ``We want to be allied with you through an
    economic trade pact.'' And by passing that bill, the United States of
    America made a clear statement to those young democracies that we stand
    with you. We will help you develop free markets and free societies. We
    will help you stand as you struggle to build your democracy. It's in our
    national interest that democracy prevail in our neighborhood.
        So we got some stuff done, and I want to thank you all for your
    support in this legislation. I also want to thank you for standing
    strong when it comes to insisting that there be high standards and
    accountability in our public school systems. I was proud to sign the No
    Child Left Behind Act. It's what I call challenging the soft bigotry of
    low expectations. If you do not have high standards and if you do not
    measure, people just simply get shuffled through the system. That's not
    what we believe. And I told you earlier I was proud of ALEC because of
    your results-oriented nature. You believe in results.
        I believe in local control of schools, and that's inherent in the No
    Child Left Behind Act. It says, ``You measure. You court your--chart
    your course to excellence.'' But I also believe in results, and when we
    spend money at the Federal level, I expect people who are spending that
    money to show the taxpayers results. And that's why we're measuring.
    That's why we want to know whether a child can read and write and add
    and subtract. It's not too much to ask. You shouldn't be afraid to ask
    that question to your local educators and school boards. You ought to
    say, ``Listen, we trust you. We believe in you. We support you, but why
    don't you show us.'' See, you can't correct a problem until you diagnose
    a problem.
        Inherent in the No Child Left Behind Act is our belief that we've
    got to diagnose problems before you can solve problems. And by the way,
    it's working. There's an achievement gap in America. We've got too many
    young African American kids who aren't reading at the proper grade
    level, relative to Anglo kids. But because of the No Child Left Behind
    Act and because of good teachers and because of good leadership at the
    State level, that achievement gap is narrowing, and America is better
    off for it.
        I want to thank you for your support of the Faith-Based and
    Community Initiative. We understand that Government can't love.
    Government can pass law. Government can hand out money, but Government
    cannot put heart--hope in a person's heart or a sense of purpose in a
    person's life. That's done when a loving citizen puts their arm around
    somebody who hurts and says, ``How can I help you? What can I do to make
    your life better?'' The true strength of America lies in the hearts and
    souls of our fellow citizens. That's our strength. Our strength can be
    found in the armies of compassion which exist all across America.
        ALEC understands that the best way to bring hope into the dark
    corners of our country, the best way to bring optimism into people's
    lives is to stand squarely on--side by side with faith-based
    organizations and community-based organizations whose members have heard
    that call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to love--be loved
    yourself.
        At the Federal level, we'll continue to open up Federal money for
    grant purposes for faith-based programs. And at the same time, we will
    not allow bureaucracies to say to a faith-based program, ``You can't
    practice your faith.'' We're saving lives in America because we're
    unleashing the great

    [[Page 1299]]

    compassion of America, the people of America, and the people whose
    hearts are right. I'm honored to be standing with good folks who
    understand that we can save America, one heart, one soul, and one
    conscience at a time. So I want to thank you for your support of the
    faith-based initiatives.
        I hope Congress gets a good rest because they got a lot of work to
    do when they get back. The Senate has got work to do, starting with the
    confirmation of a fine man, Judge John Roberts. John Roberts is highly qualified. He's one of the best
    appellate attorneys in the United States. He has argued 39 cases before
    the Supreme Court. I nominated him to the DC District Court, and he was
    approved by unanimous consent in the United States Senate. That means
    nobody objected. I spent time with John Roberts. He's a good family man.
    He has got a good way about him, a good modest fellow who is plenty
    bright. But most importantly, John Roberts is a man who will interpret
    the law--interpret the law based upon the United States Constitution,
    and he will not legislate from the bench.
        The Senate needs to conduct this hearing in a way that brings credit
    to the Senate. They need to have a good, honest debate about Judge
    Roberts. But I hope it's done in a way
    that brings dignity to the process. And they must be deliberate, but
    they also must hear this call: Roberts needs to get his hearing done and
    the confirmation completed so he can be seated before the Supreme Court
    reconvenes in early October.
        Congress needs to continue debating Social Security. Let me tell you
    about what I think my job description is. I think my job is to confront
    problems, not pass them on to future Presidents and future Congresses. I
    know that's what the American people expect of their leaders, and I see
    a problem in Social Security. I'm part of the problem. I'm fixing to
    retire. [Laughter] Matter of fact, my retirement age is in 2008. That's
    when I'm eligible for Social Security. It's a convenient year.
    [Laughter] And I'm not the only one. There's a lot of us who are
    eligible to retire. We're called the baby boomers. There's about 40
    million people today receiving Social Security. By the time the baby
    boomers like me get completely retired, there will be about 75 million.
    In other words, a lot--there's a lot of us. And we're living longer than
    previous generations. Matter of fact, I think I'm going to ride the old
    mountain bike this afternoon in Crawford to make sure I live longer--
    [laughter]--if I can survive the heat.
        We've been promised greater benefits than the previous generation.
    People went around the country saying, ``Vote for me. I'll increase your
    Social Security benefits.'' And sure enough, that's one of the promises
    that Congress kept. You've got a lot of people living longer, getting
    greater benefits, with fewer people paying in the system. In the early
    fifties, there was about 16 workers to every beneficiary. Today, there's
    3.3 workers for every beneficiary. Soon there's going to be two workers
    for every beneficiary. If you look at the cash flow analysis, you'll
    find that the system goes red in 2017.
        And by the way, it is a pay-as-you-go system. Some people think it's
    a trust fund. The trust fund concept means we take your money; we hold
    it; and we give it back to you. No, this isn't the way it is. It is a
    pay-as-you-go. You pay. We go ahead and spend. [Laughter] You pay. We
    pay--you pay your payroll taxes, and we go ahead and pay for the
    benefits. And with money left over, we fund Federal programs. And all
    that's left is a file cabinet full of IOUs. Somebody told me that, and I
    went to West Virginia to see it for myself, and sure enough, it's still
    there--paper, promises. No, the system in 2017, goes in the red. In
    2042, it's bankrupt.
        So my first question to Members of Congress is, how can you go back
    to your districts, when you look at the facts, and stand up in front of
    young workers and look them in the eye and say, ``Man, the future is

    [[Page 1300]]

    bright for you,'' knowing full well somebody is going to be paying
    payroll taxes into the system that's going broke? I certainly can't do
    that. And that's why I stood up in front of the Congress and said,
    ``We've got a problem. Let's work together to fix it,'' and have gone
    around the country describing to the people the nature of the problem.
    The system is going broke is what is the problem.
        Secondly, I've done something most Presidents haven't done and that
    is put out some solutions. First of all, if you were born prior to 1950,
    nothing is going to change for you, and that's important for those of
    you who are interested in the subject to remind your mothers and fathers
    or some of the elderly in your districts--nothing changes. I understand
    older people don't like change, and therefore, when they hear, Social
    Security reform, it makes them nervous. As a matter of fact, some folks
    who don't want to see any Social Security reform at all have used that
    leverage--they go into people's districts and say, ``George W. is going
    to take your check away.'' It's not going to happen. There's plenty of
    money for the senior citizens.
        It's the younger workers who are coming up who better be paying
    attention to this issue. It's the younger folks who are coming up who
    are going to have to pay for people like me who are going to live longer
    and get more benefits than the previous generation. And so I said, ``Why
    don't we go ahead and come up with a system that says you're going to
    get your benefits if you're a poor person based upon wage increases, and
    if you're a wealthy person, you get your benefits that increase based
    upon the cost of living increases, and you scale it in between?'' And
    that solution or that suggestion nearly solves all of the permanency
    problems in Social Security. Listen, if you're a younger--somebody told
    me about a survey about the younger folks said they're more likely to
    see a UFO than a Social Security check. [Laughter] Well, if you believe
    that, it seems like it makes sense to have a system that if you're doing
    all right, it increases your benefits based upon cost of living. That
    means you're going to get a check, and it's going to be at least
    increasing at the rate of cost of living.
        We've got a lot of politics in Washington these days, though. People
    don't want to discuss the idea. It's kind of zero-sum up there when it
    comes to big issues. By the way, as we're talking about how to make the
    system permanently fixed, seems like to me now is the time to make sure
    it turns out to be a better deal for younger workers too. I strongly
    believe that younger workers ought to be allowed to take some of their
    own money and put it in a personal savings account, so they can watch
    their money grow at a rate greater than that which the Government can
    grow their money, a personal account they call their own, a personal
    account the Government cannot spend, a personal account they can pass on
    to whomever they want.
        We believe in ownership. We understand that the more people that own
    their home or own their own business or own and manage their own health
    care account or own and manage their own retirement account, the more
    people that do that, the better off America is. If you own something,
    you have a vital stake in the future of this country. Now is the time to
    permanently fix Social Security, and now is the time to trust people
    with their own money, to give people a chance to build an asset base
    they call their own.
        I told you about old Johnny Breaux and
    his tax reform. When Congress gets back, I think they ought to do two
    things. One, I think they ought to make the tax cuts we passed
    permanent. And that includes getting rid of the death tax forever. And
    as I mentioned, I'm looking forward to the tax simplification ideas.
    It's not going to be easy, but it's necessary. And John is a good man,
    and he'll work with his fellow citizens on that panel, both Republicans

    [[Page 1301]]

    and Democrats, to propose some interesting ideas for the administration
    and Congress to look at. It's important. It's a big idea, and it's a
    necessary idea.
        I'll tell you another big idea. We've got to do something about our
    immigration laws. Our obligation is to secure the borders. We've got to
    make sure that we have the resources and technologies available for our
    Border Patrol agents. We've got to make sure we have a focused strategy
    to prevent people, goods, drugs, whatever, being smuggled into this
    country. That's one of our duties. And I meet with Chertoff quite frequently. He's the head of the Homeland
    Security. We do talk about how best to modernize the border security.
    One way to protect this border is to recognize that people are sneaking
    in here to work. And I believe that if you are a willing employer--in
    other words, if you have somebody looking for work and you can't find an
    American, there ought to be a legal way, not an illegal way, a legal way
    for you to be able to employ that person.
        Listen, we'd rather have people coming in with a card that said,
    ``I'm a legal worker,'' than trying to sneak across the border. And
    we've got people being smuggled across--there is a whole smuggling
    network and a network of forgers and document falsifiers that are trying
    to beat the system. It seems rational to me that says there ought to be
    a way to let somebody come and do jobs Americans won't do, on a
    temporary basis.
        I've heard all kinds of talk about amnesty. I'm against amnesty. I
    think amnesty would be a mistake. But I do think it would be good to
    make sure our employers who are looking for workers are able to find
    people who are willing to do the jobs they have in a legal way. I'd
    rather our Border Patrol agents be looking for terrorists and drugs and
    guns being smuggled across our border, and people here--coming here to
    work have a legal way to do so on a temporary basis.
        So immigration reform is going to be an interesting subject when we
    get back to Washington, DC. I'm looking forward to the topic. I also
    want to talk to you about national security. Make no mistake about it,
    we are at war. We're at war with an enemy that attacked us on September
    the 11th, 2001. We're at war against an enemy that, since that day, has
    continued to kill. They have killed in Madrid and Istanbul and Jakarta
    and Casablanca and Riyadh and Bali and London and elsewhere.
        These are ideologues. These people have an ideology. It's really
    different from ours. We believe in human rights and human dignity and
    minority rights and rights for women and rights to worship freely.
    That's what we believe. We believe in a lot of rights for people. These
    killers don't. They have a narrow view of life. They have taken a great
    religion and converted it to their own vision. They have goals. They
    want to drive us out of parts of the world. They want the free world to
    retreat so they can topple governments. They want to be able to do in
    parts of the world that which they did in Afghanistan, take over a
    government, impose their negative, dark vision on people.
        Remember what life was like in Afghanistan. It's hard for the
    Western mind to even comprehend what life was like for people in
    Afghanistan, but this is a society in which young girls couldn't go to
    school. And if you objected to their point of view, you were taken into
    the public square and whipped or sometimes assassinated. There was no
    freedom. The only people that were free were the tyrants and the
    dictators, those who imposed their view of the world. This is their
    vision, and they would like to see that vision spread. Make no mistake
    about it, this is a war against people who profess an ideology, and they
    use terror as a means to achieve their objectives.
        After September the 11th, I made a commitment to the American people
    that the United States of America will not wait

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    to be attacked again. We will take the fight to the enemy, and we will
    defend our freedom.
        To win this war on terror, we will use all elements of national
    power. We will use our military. For those of you who have got loved
    ones in the military, I want to thank you--tell them to thank--you thank
    them for me, on behalf of a grateful nation.
        We'll use our diplomatic corps. In other words, we're working with
    friends and allies. Part of winning this war on terror is to remind
    others of what's at stake and to work diplomatically to get people to
    keep pressure on the enemy. We've got our Treasury Department working
    with our friends and allies to cut off money. One way to defeat the
    enemy is deny them access to money. And when we find money being spent
    illegally or funding these terrorist organizations that funnel money to
    these killers, we do something about it.
        We're beefing up our intelligence here in America. We want to make
    sure that FBI and CIA can share intelligence. We want to make sure that
    we not only get the best intelligence, we analyze it properly, and we
    share it with our friends and allies and vice versa.
        See, it's a different kind of war. In the old days, you'd have
    armies that were funded by States. You knew where they were. You could
    trace them. This war is against killers who hide, and then they show up
    and kill innocent life, and then they retreat. And so you've got to have
    good intelligence in order to defeat them. We're working hard to
    coordinate law enforcement around the world. In other words, we're using
    all assets of this great Nation in order to defeat this enemy.
        We're making progress in defending the homeland. We've more than
    tripled homeland--funding for the homeland security since 2001. I'm sure
    some of you, in your States and local communities, have seen some of
    that money come down to help our first-responders be trained and to be
    equipped. I'm proud to report that the House of Representatives and the
    Senate renewed parts of the PATRIOT Act, permanently, and a small part
    of the PATRIOT Act will be sunsetted.
        This is an important piece of legislation. It was passed
    overwhelmingly right after September the 11th, and it's been used
    effectively by our Government. You see, the PATRIOT Act did several
    things. One, it allowed law enforcement to share intelligence with the
    enforcement side of their operations. The FBI couldn't talk to each
    other before the PATRIOT Act. You couldn't have your intelligence
    division sharing information with your law enforcement division. It
    didn't make any sense, but that's the way it was. And the PATRIOT Act
    ended that. It tore down walls. It allows parts of our Government to
    share information with one another.
        The PATRIOT Act, in essence, gave our terror fighters the same tools
    that our Government has given our drug fighters. The PATRIOT Act enables
    us to more effectively defend the homeland, and it does not usurp your
    rights under the Constitution. Every tool we use has got the scrutiny
    within the guidelines of the Constitution. The PATRIOT Act is important.
    I'm looking forward to the House and the Senate to reconcile their
    differences and get a PATRIOT Act to my desk as soon as possible. Our
    law enforcement officials must have the tools to protect the United
    States of America.
        And we're making progress here at home. We've broken up terrorist
    cells in America. We've broken up networks, financing networks in
    America, in places like California, Oregon, Illinois, North Carolina,
    New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, and other States. There are a
    lot of people working hard on our citizens' behalf to protect this
    homeland. The best way to protect the homeland, however, is to stay on
    the offense, is to bring the enemy to justice before they come to our
    shores. And that's precisely the second part of our strategy. We're
    fighting the enemy in Afghanistan.

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    We're fighting them in Iraq. We're defeating them there so we do not
    have to face them here. And our troops are doing great work.
        Iraq is the latest battlefield in the war on terror. Foreign
    fighters are going into Iraq to fight coalition troops for a reason.
    They understand the stakes. A free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East
    will deal a serious blow to their hateful ideology. A democracy in the
    heart of the Middle East will be a major blow to their desire to spread
    an ideology that's hateful and dark and negative.
        The violence in recent days in Iraq is a grim reminder of the
    enemies we face. These terrorists and insurgents will use brutal tactics
    because they're trying to shake the will of the United States of
    America. That's what they are trying to do. They want us to retreat.
    They want us, in our compassion for the innocent--say, ``We're
    through.'' That's what they want. They will fail. They do not understand
    the character and the strength of the United States of America. They do
    not understand our desire to protect ourselves, to protect our friends,
    protect our allies, and to spread freedom around the world.
        Our men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan
    and in this war on terror have died in a noble cause, in a selfless
    cause. Their families can know that American citizens pray for them. And
    the families can know that we will honor their loved one's sacrifice by
    completing the mission, by laying the foundations for peace for
    generations to come.
        We have a strategy for success in Iraq. On the one hand, we've got a
    military strategy, and we'll continue to hunt down the terrorists, as we
    train Iraqi forces so they can defend their own country. As Iraqis stand
    up, Americans and coalition forces will stand down. And we're making
    progress. More and more Iraqi units are more and more capable of
    defending themselves.
        You know, my--I hear all the time, ``Well, when are you bringing the
    troops home?'' And my answer to you is: Soon as possible, but not before
    the mission is complete. Why would a Commander in Chief--it makes no
    sense for the Commander in Chief to put out a timetable. We're at war.
    We're facing an enemy that is ruthless. And if we put out a timetable,
    the enemy would adjust their tactics.
        The timetable is this--and you can tell your Guard troops and
    reserve troops and mothers and dads of those serving--the timetable
    depends on our ability to train the Iraqis, to get the Iraqis ready to
    fight. And then our troops are coming home with the honor they have
    earned.
        At the same time, we're helping that country defend itself and
    training its troops, there's a political track. A democracy is beginning
    to grow. I don't know about you, but when those 8 million-plus Iraqis
    went to the polls, it was an amazing moment. You know, I believe this,
    and at the heart of much of my policy is this firm belief, that freedom
    is the gift of an Almighty to every person in this world. It doesn't
    matter who you are. Embedded in your soul is the deep desire to live in
    freedom. That's what I believe. And if you believe that, then you
    shouldn't be all that surprised when, if given a chance, 8 million-plus
    people, in defiance of car bombers and killers and terrorists, said loud
    and clear to the world, ``We want to be free. We want to live in a
    democracy. We want a government that listens to us and doesn't tell us
    what to do.''
        And it's that movement toward freedom that frightens the enemy. It's
    that movement toward a free society in which people of different
    religious persuasions can live in peace together. It scares--it's that
    movement that says, women have got equal rights with men that frightens
    these people.
        But that movement is going forward. They're in the process now of
    arguing about a constitution. I don't know if you've read our American
    history much, about

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    when we were writing our Constitution. You know, if there had been that
    much scrutiny when we were writing our Constitution as has been given to
    their--scrutiny when they're writing their constitution, a lot of people
    would have said it's never going to get written. It was not an easy deal
    for our Forefathers, our Founders to get consensus on our Constitution.
    But nevertheless, they worked hard and came up with a great
    Constitution.
        That's what the Iraqis are doing. They're coming up with a doctrine
    that will survive the years so that self-government and freedom prevail.
    And then they'll be voting on the document in October. And then they'll
    elect a permanent government in November. Democracy is moving forward,
    and that's part of laying the foundation for peace.
        We have done this type of work before in our Nation. We have fought
    evil before. We have been through ideological struggles. Your dads and
    granddads fought against the Nazis and fought against the Japanese. It
    was an ideological struggle against an enemy that was ruthless. And we
    prevailed. We prevailed in more ways than one. We prevailed militarily,
    but we also helped spread democracy. We laid that foundation for peace
    for the next generation coming up.
        Do you know that one of my best friends in the international
    community is the Prime Minister of Japan? Isn't that interesting? The
    Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Koizumi, and I work together on North Korea and Iraq and
    Afghanistan. He's an ally. He's a good buddy. It wasn't all that long
    ago that my dad and your dads and granddads
    were at war with the Japanese, in a brutal war. They were the enemy. But
    something happened in between, something other than a military victory
    happened in between. And what happened was, was that Japan embraced a
    democracy. It wasn't an American democracy. It was a Japanese democracy,
    but it was a democracy.
        And it turns out, if you look at history, democracies are peaceful
    nations. The spread of democracy yields peace. What you're seeing on
    your TV screens today is the work of brave soldiers and diplomats and
    coalition partners, spreading democracy, defeating a hateful ideology
    with an ideology of hope, an ideology that has got a clear vision for a
    better tomorrow for all its citizens. We've seen this work before, and
    we have prevailed because we have been steadfast and true to our
    beliefs.
        And we'll prevail again. This Nation will be steadfast. This Nation
    will be strong. And this Nation, like other generations before us, will
    make sacrifices necessary to lay the foundation for peace for
    generations to come. We've got a big task in Washington, DC, and that's
    to remember the stakes of the war on terror and to do our duty and to be
    true to the principles of the greatest Nation on the face of the Earth.
        I want to thank you for letting me come here today. May God bless
    you all, and may God continue to bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:58 a.m. at the Gaylord Texan Resort and
    Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Earl Ehrhart,
    chairman, and Duane Parde, executive director, American Legislative
    Exchange Council; Tom Craddick, speaker, Texas State House of
    Representatives, and his wife, Nadine; and Prime Minister Junichiro
    Koizumi of Japan.

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