[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[February 1, 2006]
[Pages 154-169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Nashville, Tennessee
February 1, 2006

    The President. Thank you all very much. Thanks for coming. Please be 
seated.
    Audience member. We love you--[inaudible].
    The President. Thanks for being here. Yes. I can see--[applause]. 
Did you say you love Laura? So do I. You stole my 
line. [Laughter] Thanks for coming. This is an amazing experience to be 
here. I can see why my buddy Gatlin finds that 
extra note when he stands out here and sings. It's a fantastic hall. The 
last time Laura and I were here, we were honoring Mother and Dad for their 50th 
wedding anniversary. Mother thought he'd lost his mind when he said, 
``Honey, I want to celebrate the 50 years of marriage at the Grand Ole 
Opry.'' I said, ``Gosh, you got good judgment, Dad, you know.'' 
[Laughter] So

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thanks for coming. I'm really thrilled to be here.
    I should have probably come before I gave my speech. When I was on 
the plane flying down here, I thought, how cool would it be to give a 
State of the Union address in a Porter Wagoner outfit. [Laughter]
    I do want to give you some of the thoughts behind what I said in my 
State of the Union. That's what I've come to do. You know, it's one 
thing to give the speech--I think it's important to come here to 
Nashville to tell people the reason why I said some of the things I 
said. I think it will help you understand why I have made some of the 
decisions I have made.
    One of the interesting things about the Presidency is we get to 
entertain a lot, and my favorite--the favorite folks to entertain are 
the people that Laura and I grew up with. I like 
my buddies from west Texas. I liked them when I was young; I liked them 
when I was middle-age; I liked them before I was President; and I like 
them during President; and I like them after President. And it's fun to 
have them come to the White House. It's neat to show off this fantastic 
experience that Laura and I are being able to go through. When they 
first walk in there, they're amazed at the White House. And the second 
thing is, they're amazed I'm in the White House. [Laughter] And they 
always say, ``What's it like to be President of the United States?'' And 
after I say it's just a huge honor, which it is, I say, ``If I could 
give you the job description, it would be decisionmaker.'' I have to 
make a lot of decisions. And today what I'd like to do is share with you 
why I have made decisions in the context of the State of the Union I 
gave last night.
    Before I do, I really am thrilled Laura's 
traveling with me. She's a great First Lady. She is--[applause]. I'm 
proud to be traveling with your two United States Senators--the majority leader of the United States Senate, Bill 
Frist. He's a good man. He's a good guy to deal 
with. He is doing a fantastic job of herding cats. [Laughter] And I'm 
proud to be here with Senator Lamar Alexander as well.
    A little later on, I'm going to talk about a key component of the 
competitive agenda, and that is to make sure our folks are educated for 
the jobs of the 21st century. And I will tell you that Lamar had a lot to do with planting this in my mind. He's, as 
you know, made his fame here in Tennessee for being a great education 
Governor. You'll be pleased to hear he's carried over that passion into 
the Halls of the United States Senate. And so in case I forget to give 
him credit later on, he deserves a lot of credit for making sure that 
we're competitive in the 21st century.
    I appreciate the members of the statehouse who are here. Thanks for 
serving. I appreciate those in local government who are here. I 
understand the mayor is here, Mayor Purcell. I 
appreciate you taking time out of your busy day. I know you didn't ask 
for any advice. My only advice is, fill the potholes. [Laughter] Works 
every time, Mayor. [Laughter]
    I want to thank the good folks here at Gaylord Entertainment for 
letting me come by and just explain some things to the people of 
Tennessee. This is such a fantastic facility. I had been here before my 
mother and dad's 
50th wedding anniversary when I was--happened to be involved in the 
baseball business. I can remember the winter meetings we held here. And 
we're still looking for two of our guys that worked for us. They got 
lost--[laughter]--in one of the 14 lobbies in this fantastic facility. 
It's a wonderful place.
    I want to thank those of you who wear our Nation's uniform who have 
joined us today. We particularly want to recognize Lieutenant Colonel 
Dan Epright. He's in active duty, U.S. Air 
Force. He's on a 2-week leave from Iraq, where he's stationed in the 
International Zone in Baghdad as the American Forces Network--Iraq, 
commander. He's in his 20th year of active

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duty. I don't know where Colonel Epright is, but wherever you are, 
thanks for serving. Welcome back--Epright. Thank you very much. Is that 
your wife? I knew exactly where Epright was; I just forgot. [Laughter] 
And I'm proud that his wife is with him.
    Yesterday I said something I really mean: As we give praise to our 
troops who wear the uniform, we must also remember to give praise to 
military families who support the troops.
    Our state of the Union is strong. I say that because America is 
working hard to protect ourselves; we're spreading freedom; our economy 
is vigorous and strong as well. But there's some uncertainty in people's 
minds. People are uncertain, in spite of our strong union, because of 
war. And I understand that. I think it is--my job is as much educator in 
chief as it is Commander in Chief. And during times of uncertainty, it's 
important for me to do what I'm doing today, which is to explain the 
path to victory, to do the best I can to articulate my optimism about 
the future.
    But I understand there's an anxiety about a time of war. That's 
natural, it seems like to me. Even though this economy is roaring--and 
it's strong, particularly when you think--recognize we've overcome a 
lot. This year alone we've overcome higher energy prices and natural 
disasters, and yet we really are the envy of the world. Our economy is 
the envy of the world. And yet people are changing jobs a lot, and 
there's competition from India and China, which creates some 
uncertainty.
    My worry is, is that people see that uncertainty and decide to adopt 
isolationist policies or protectionist policies. In other words, in 
uncertain times, it's easy to--for people to lose confidence in the 
capacity of this country to lead and to shape our future.
    Last night in my speech, I talked about a couple of themes. And one 
of the themes was that we must never lose sight of our capacity to lead 
this world toward peace, and that we must never fear--and we must never 
fear competition. But, on the other hand, we've got to put solid policy 
in place to make sure that we can compete.
    First, let me talk about foreign policy and why I'm concerned about 
isolationism. We're at war, see. A lot of my thinking in the speech I 
gave last night--and speeches that I have been giving--is based upon my 
understanding that we're at war. On September the 11th, 2001, I vowed to 
the American people that we would not rest and tire in order to protect 
us. And I have never forgotten that vow. As a matter of fact, every day 
of my Presidency, I think about this war. That's what you've got to 
understand. And so when you hear me give a speech and talk about the 
dangers to America, they are real, not imagined. Some would like us to 
look at the world the way we would hope it would be. My job as your 
President is to look at the world the way it is.
    And I clearly see the threats to America. My job is to worry about 
those threats. That's not your job. We got a lot of people in Government 
worrying about those threats on your behalf, so you can go about your 
life. That's what we want. I knew after September the 11th, people 
would--they would tend to forget the nature of the enemy and forget the 
war, because it's natural. Who wants to live all your day worried about 
the next attack? That's my job, to worry about the attack. It's the job 
of the intelligence community and our military and law enforcement. 
That's what you pay us to do. But I also recognize that if we ever get 
weary or tired or uncertain and withdraw within our boundaries, the 
enemy is not going away.
    The enemy is a bunch of coldblooded killers that have taken a great 
religion--taken parts of a great religion and converted it into an 
ideology that is--they perverted a great religion, and they have an 
ideology. We've been through ideological struggles in the past. We've 
had an ideological struggle against fascism and communism. And we're in 
that same kind of

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struggle now. That's what's important for the American people to 
understand. They have ambition. They want to spread their totalitarian 
empire.
    People say, ``What do you mean by that?'' I say, the best thing to 
think about is what life was like in Afghanistan for the Taliban--under 
the Taliban, for the people under the Taliban. It's a life where young 
girls couldn't get an education. Think about that. You talk about a dark 
vision of the future--it's a life where if you didn't agree with their 
view of religion, you were punished. It's a life in which freedom of 
expression was not encouraged. It was a dim view of the world. That's 
what these people think like.
    They have stated clearly their desire to hurt us. And we got to take 
what they say seriously. When the enemy says something, an enemy which 
attacked us brutally on September the 11th, I would hope you would want 
the people in Government to take their word seriously--which I do. They 
have said they want to drive us out of Iraq. They have said they want 
weapons of mass destruction. In other words, they've got an ideology 
that they want to spread, and they want us to retreat. That's what they 
have openly stated. And that is why it's essential that we remain active 
in the world and keep the lead for peace. We have the duty to protect 
the American people. And so our strategy is to never give in, and never 
be--and never--[applause]. It's to never lose heart. This enemy has got 
one weapon, and it's the weapon of fear.
    What a fantastic country America is. We deeply care about every 
human life. The life of a child in Baghdad is precious. And so when we 
see these killers kill somebody--a young child outside a hospital where 
one of our soldiers is handing out candy--we weep, because Americans 
have a deep compassion for every human being. And the only weapon they 
have is to cause us to weep and lose our nerve. And as I said last 
night--it's something I truly believe--they don't understand the nature 
of America. We love our freedom, and we will do everything in our power 
to defend our freedom.
    And so we're on the hunt for Al Qaida, and we're going to stay on 
the hunt. And we will bring them to justice. No doubt in my mind--no 
doubt in my mind we are bringing them to justice. We're making great 
progress in dismantling Al Qaida, and the others who hide won't be able 
to hide long enough. We're using every asset in our power to keep them 
on the defense, to find them and bring them to justice.
    Secondly, I said something that I meant early on in this war against 
these terrorists, and that is, is that--to countries, ``If you harbor a 
terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorist.'' In other words, 
one of the--[applause]. Because I understand that these terrorist 
networks need safe haven in order to plan and plot. We're not dealing 
with nation-states; we're dealing with an ideological movement that 
needs a nation in which to hide. And so we made it clear that if you're 
complicit with the murderers, you're just as guilty as the murderers 
themselves. And that's why we took the action in Afghanistan. We gave 
the Taliban an opportunity to get rid of Al Qaida. They chose not to, 
and we acted.
    So, thirdly, when we see a threat, we've got to deal with the 
threat. I remember growing up in Midland--Gatlin grew up in Odessa, by the way, right down the road--or 
the Gatlins did. I was white collar; he was blue collar. Anyway--
[laughter]. I'm President; he's a singer. Anyway--[laughter]. You can 
tell I like him, because when I put the needle out, it's a sign of 
affection. Just don't give him the mike. Anyway--[laughter].
    When we grew up, oceans protected us, it seemed like. We felt pretty 
safe and secure from a attack on American soil. We were concerned about 
a nuclear threat, but nevertheless, we felt secure because we were 
isolated from threats, it seemed like. September the 11th changed my way 
of thinking. It changed my way of thinking

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on a lot of things, and one way it changed is that when we see a threat, 
we got to deal with it. We can't hope for the best. One of the lessons 
of September the 11th is we--threats should not be allowed to fully 
materialize; otherwise, it will cause harm to the American people.
    I saw a threat in Iraq. The world saw a threat in Iraq. We gave 
Saddam Hussein a chance to deal with the 
world in good faith by honoring the United Nations Security Council 
resolutions. He chose--it was his choice; he chose to defy the 
resolutions. And so we took action. The world is safer and America is 
more secure without Saddam Hussein in power.
    I recognize in a free society like ours, there can be and should be 
debate on big matters. I welcome the debate. But as I said last night to 
Congress, whether you agree or not agree with the decision, this country 
has one option, and that's victory in Iraq. I say that because the enemy 
has said they want to drive us out of Iraq and use it as safe haven. 
We've got to take the word seriously of those who want to do us harm.
    I want to describe right quick our plans for victory in Iraq. First 
of all, anytime we put our troops in harm's way, we got to go in with 
victory in mind. And the victory is for Iraq to be a democracy that can 
sustain itself and govern itself and defend itself, a country which will 
be an ally in the war on terror, a country which will deny safe haven to 
the Al Qaida, and a country which will serve as a powerful example of 
liberty and freedom in a part of the world that is desperate for liberty 
and freedom.
    The Iraqis have shown incredible courage and a strong desire to live 
in democracy. If you really think about last year, the year 2005, the 
progress toward democracy was remarkable. Anyway you look at it, it was 
remarkable. This young democracy has gone from tyranny--[inaudible]--a 
brutal dictator that killed or had killed 
thousands of people to a country which had a transitional government in 
an election, to a country which wrote a progressive Constitution for the 
Middle East and had that Constitution ratified, to a country in which 11 
million people voted in elections last December. You see, one of the 
things that--[applause]--one of the inherent parts of my foreign policy 
is my strong belief that liberty is universal, that everybody desires to 
be free, that freedom is not just a Western idea or an American idea; 
freedom is lodged in the soul of every person. I used--I put it--let me 
put it another way to you: I believe there's an Almighty, and I believe 
the Almighty's gift is freedom to every single person in this world.
    And if you believe that--I'm just getting wound up here. [Laughter] 
I told Laura, I'd try to keep it under a couple 
hours. [Laughter] If you believe that, that freedom is universal, then 
it shouldn't surprise you that 11 million people, more or less, went to 
the polls. People want to be free, and the Iraqis are showing the world 
that.
    Secondly, we've got to make sure their economy is able to function 
as good as possible so that people see the benefits of democracy. It's 
one thing to have elections; it's another thing for people to say, 
``Democracy is good for me; democracy is good for my family.'' And so 
we're working on reconstruction and fighting corruption and making sure 
that there are tangible benefits. And it's been difficult because the 
enemy is not only brutal in terms of killing people, the enemy is just 
relentless in trying to destroy infrastructure so that people cannot see 
the benefits of democracy.
    And the third aspect--and it's one that I know is dear to the hearts 
of many people--is, how long will we be in Iraq? And the answer is this: 
It's a security aspect. And that is that if people want to be free and 
if 11 million people chose to vote, the question on people's mind is, is 
there a willingness for the Iraqis to defend their own freedom? And I 
will tell you, the answer we have seen, our commanders on

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the ground have seen, is, absolutely. Absolutely. There is great bravery 
amongst these Iraqi soldiers. Our job is to convert their desire to 
protect their new democracy into effective forces. And that's what we're 
doing.
    We've changed our training patterns. When we first got in there--one 
of the things I talked about over the Christmas season or the holiday 
season--prior to the holiday season--was that we've adjusted. That's 
what happens. We see things, and we change. We've done things 
differently. When we first went in there, we helped train an army for an 
external threat. Well, sure enough, the external threat wasn't nearly as 
significant as the internal threat. And so we started adjusting our 
training tactics. And we got good advice from Members of the Senate and 
the House from both political parties who went to Iraq and came back and 
said, ``Here's what we've seen.'' And so we're changing.
    And the security forces of Iraq are up to about 230,000, more or 
less. But the question is not just numbers. I first asked about numbers. 
You'd read about these suiciders knocking people off that were trying to 
stand these recruiting stations, and so the question is, are you able to 
get recruits? If it's dangerous to sign up, are you able to sign people 
up? And the answer is, absolutely. People wanted to serve the Iraqi 
military, which is a good sign about whether or not we're succeeding in 
our mission in training folks to defend their freedom. And if they're 
willing to sign up in the face of suiciders, it says something about 
their desire to protect their country.
    The second question is, can they do the job? Are we training them 
well enough so they can take the fight on their own? And the election 
was an interesting example where the Iraqis were in the lead, and the 
violence in the last election was significantly lower than the violence 
in the first election.
    Today, by video, I met with my--I met not only in the room with my 
national security team, but we had the Ambassador and General Casey 
from Baghdad. And it's interesting to be able to communicate with your 
commanders on the ground in real time. And the reason I bring that up is 
that they are constantly updating the national security team and me 
about the effectiveness of these troops and how much territory we're 
turning over to the Iraqi troops.
    What I have told the American people is, as the Iraqis stand up, we 
will stand down. As the Iraqis are capable of taking the fight to the 
enemy, we will reduce our troop levels. We have two less brigades there 
than we thought. In other words, these troops are being trained--the 
troops that we're training are more effective, more capable of taking 
the fight to the enemy. The commanders on the ground say, ``We need less 
American presence.''
    Now, I'm going to talk--tell you something about timetables and 
withdrawals and all that business. It is a mistake to have a definitive 
timetable of withdrawal, because the enemy will react; the Iraqis will 
react. And it's not fair to our men and women who wear the uniform.
    So I will make my decisions based upon what these commanders tell 
me. That's what you expect of the Commander in Chief. My job is to set 
the strategy. I just told you what victory is all about. We've defined 
victory. And now it's up to the commanders on the ground to help us 
achieve that victory. And if they say these Iraqis are capable of taking 
the fight, they're there firsthand to tell me that, and then we'll 
reduce our troops based upon their recommendation, not based upon the 
politics in Washington, DC.
    Another reason--in other words, we can't be isolationists and win 
the war on terror. And we can't be isolationist, either, because it 
would prevent us from doing our duty around the world, and not only make 
this world a place where terrorists have trouble recruiting, but to live 
to that admonition, ``To whom much is given, much is required.''

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    Effective foreign policy is--recognizes that we can help change 
conditions on the ground to make life better for future generations of 
Americans. And I believe that helping defeat HIV/AIDS on the continent 
of Africa is--not only reflects the great compassion of America, but it 
will improve lives for generations of Americans to come. I believe 
defeating hopelessness and despair and helping others defeat poverty is 
in our national interest. I also know it reflects the deep character of 
the American people.
    If this country were to become isolationist and withdraw and say we 
don't care about conditions of life elsewhere, we're not only ceding the 
ground to terrorists, we're not doing our duty as a compassionate 
nation.
    Do you realize we feed a lot of the hungry in the world--and I'm 
proud of that record--that we're providing incredibly important 
lifesaving antiretroviral drugs to help defeat HIV/AIDS on the continent 
of Africa? There is a pandemic sweeping that continent, and the United 
States of America is leading the world in helping save lives. Do you 
realize that when the tsunami hit earlier this past year, it was the 
United States military that moved in and provided immediate help and aid 
and comfort and organization? Our choppers were flying rescue missions 
in Pakistan after the devastating earthquake. In my judgment, an active 
foreign policy, one that aids the suffering and helps the poor, is one 
that is in the interest of the United States of America, both short term 
and long term.
    And finally, if we were to withdraw, not only would we cede ground 
to the terrorists and endanger this country, we would miss a fantastic 
opportunity to help spread liberty. In my speech, I mentioned Roosevelt 
and Kennedy, Truman, and Reagan. I did so because I wanted to remind the 
American people that these leaders were one that acted in confidence in 
our values. They understood when America led, not only was America 
better off, but the world was. And we're spreading freedom now.
    For those of you who are young, I want you to watch the spread of 
freedom in our world. It's amazing to see, when you think about it. The 
vote in Afghanistan was part of freedom's march. The vote in Iraq is 
part of freedom's march. People in Lebanon want to be free from Syria, 
and we're working--the Palestinians voted. Now, that election was an 
important election because it said what the people on the street wanted. 
They wanted clean government. They want people to pay attention to the 
education needs and their health needs. In order for us to--and Hamas, 
by the way, now has a choice to make. If they want to work with the 
United States of America, they must renounce their desire to destroy 
Israel; they must be a partner in peace.
    Last night I spoke to the people of Iran--spoke first to the 
Government of Iran and said, ``The world will continue to come together 
in unity to say you can't have nuclear weapons.'' But I also spoke to 
the people, because I believe that everybody desires to be free, and I 
just wanted to assure them that someday, that they will be able to have 
a choice in their Government, and the United States looks forward to a 
friendship with a free and democratic Iran.
    Liberty is universal, but it's important also to understand that 
freedom and liberty yield the peace we all want. One reason to be active 
in the world is to spread peace. If the United States were to withdraw, 
we'd miss an opportunity to make this world a more peaceful place for 
generations to come.
    I like to tell people about my relationship with Prime Minister 
Koizumi because it helps drive home the 
point about freedom yielding peace. You know, my dad and, I suspect, a lot of your relatives fought against 
the Japanese in World War II. They were the sworn enemy of the United 
States of America. If there are any World War II vets here, they'll tell 
you what it was

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like during that period of time. The Japanese attacked us, and we vowed 
to do everything in our power to defeat them. And we sent a lot of kids 
into battle, and we lost a lot of lives, and the Japanese lost a lot of 
lives. It was a brutal battle, and we won.
    Interestingly enough, one of the people that I work closest with in 
the world is the Prime Minister of Japan. 
Isn't that interesting? At least it is to me. My dad fought them, and now his son is working to keep the 
peace with the Prime Minister of the country that he went to war 
against. And so what happened between when he was 18 and I'm sitting 
here at 59? I'll tell you what happened in between: Japan adopted a 
Japanese-style democracy. Freedom has the capacity to convert enemies 
into allies. Freedom has the capacity to lay--[applause]--freedom has 
that capacity to lay that foundation for peace for generations to come.
    I believe we will be victorious in Iraq, and I know that by laying 
that foundation of peace in the Middle East, we'll be able to say, job 
well done. We have laid--we have made a better chance for peace for a 
generation of Americans coming up. Someday, an American President will 
be sitting down with a duly elected leader of Iraq, working on keeping 
that peace, and a new generation of Americans will say, thank goodness 
this generation accepted the responsibilities given to them.
    Talk about a couple of other issues. There is a duty of us in 
Washington to protect you. One of the important aspects of protecting 
you is to make sure our law enforcement has all the tools necessary to 
do their job. Right after September the 11th, members of both political 
parties came together and said, ``Let us make sure that we tear down 
walls between intelligence gathering service and law enforcement 
services in America so they can share information to connect dots and 
protect the people.'' And so they passed what's called the PATRIOT Act.
    The PATRIOT Act is an important piece of legislation, in my 
judgment, because it says to folks, ``Here's some tools that we use in 
other areas of law enforcement now applicable to intelligence, to 
protecting you.'' For example, some of the tools in the PATRIOT Act were 
already being used by people fighting off drug lords or Medicaid fraud, 
interestingly enough. The PATRIOT Act had safeguards designed in it 
where the programs were reviewed, and if people had complaints about 
abuse of civil liberty, they could bring them, and we would know whether 
or not the law was meeting intended consequences.
    The law has worked. It's been a very important tool for our law 
enforcement officials. The PATRIOT Act is set to expire. The war against 
terrorists is not expiring. These people need the tools necessary to do 
their job. It's essential that Congress reauthorize the PATRIOT Act.
    I want to take a little time to explain the terrorist surveillance 
program to you. First, if I was trying to pull a fast one on the 
American people, why did I brief Congress? In other words--[applause]. 
Right after September the 11th, it was apparent that there was some of 
the hijackers in the United States who were calling Al Qaida--Al Qaida 
operatives calling overseas. We don't know what they were talking about. 
Matter of fact, we found out about the calls after it was too late. But 
I was concerned about a system that wasn't doing everything we could to 
protect the American people, within the Constitution. And so, as you 
would hope that the Commander in Chief would do, I said to our 
operators, people responsible for protecting you, ``Are we doing 
everything we can to protect you? Come up with other ways to connect the 
dots.'' And this terrorist surveillance program was designed by very 
capable operatives.
    But before I implemented the program--I'm mindful of the fact that I 
took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the

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laws of the United States. So I had lawyers--the Attorney 
General and the Justice Department--look 
at what I was doing. I'm also mindful that people want to make sure the 
President safeguards civil liberties while we protect the country, that 
there needs to be a balance. And so this is a program--and I became 
comfortable with that balance and confident that I had the legal 
authority to do what I did.
    And so let me tell you what I did without talking about the 
operating details. I'm sure you can understand why you don't want the 
President or anybody talking about the operating details. If you're at 
war and you're trying to stop an enemy from attacking you, why in the 
world would you want to tell the enemy what they're doing to stop them, 
because they'll adjust. So I've authorized NSA to listen to a phone call 
from outside the United States in, or inside the United States out. In 
other words, this is not a program where we're listening to phone calls 
inside the United States. One of the people making the call has to be Al 
Qaida, suspected Al Qaida, and/or affiliate.
    This is a program in which we have briefed key Members of the 
Congress a lot of times. It is constantly reviewed by a legal team, 
constantly reviewed. It is constantly reviewed inside NSA by a legal 
team. We are safeguarding your liberties.
    Federal courts have ruled that the President--a President has 
constitutional authority to use foreign intelligence surveillance 
against enemies. Previous Presidents have used the same constitutional 
authority I have. I've got statutory authority as well. The Congress 
passed the authorization to use military force against Al Qaida after 
September the 11th, and the Supreme Court, in a recent opinion, ruled 
that the President--the Congress gave me the authority to use what's 
called the ``fundamental incidents of war.'' In other words, Congress 
authorized me to use force in the fundamental incidents of war, which 
means in this case, you can't defeat the enemy until you know when the 
enemy is going to hit. And therefore, using this surveillance to find 
out the intention of the enemy is a fundamental incident of war to 
protect the American people. Let me put it to you in Texan: If Al Qaida 
is calling into the United States, we want to know.
    Here's the challenge at home--we got a great economy. The American 
people are amazing when you unleash their creativity and talent. The 
entrepreneurial spirit of this country is strong when we reinforce that 
entrepreneurial spirit. Over the past 2\1/2\ years, this economy has 
created 4.6 million new jobs; the unemployment rate is 4.9 percent. 
Small businesses are flourishing. After-tax income since `01 is up 7 
percent. Productivity is very high, which is important for quality of 
life and higher standards of living. Homeownership is at an alltime 
high; more minorities own a home today in America than ever before in 
our Nation's history. This economy is doing just fine.
    But the question is, how do we stay competitive? What do we do to 
make sure, in a world in which competition is becoming fiercer and 
fiercer--what do we do to stay ahead of it? Now, some would say, 
``Protect yourselves by withdrawing from the world.'' I think that is a 
huge mistake. Protectionism doesn't work. Protectionism would default to 
other countries in the world. That's not the American way. America must 
be confident and lead and do what is necessary to keep us competitive.
    And I've got some ideas for you. First, in order to make sure we're 
competitive, this economy has got to continue to grow. Last night I said 
an interesting statistic, at least I thought it was; otherwise, I 
wouldn't have said it, but--[laughter]. I said the tax relief we passed 
left $880 billion in the hands of American families and small businesses 
and entrepreneurs. See, my philosophy is that the more money you got, 
the more of your own money you keep, you will save and invest and spend, 
and that's how this economy grows. And the tax relief

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we passed is working because the American people are responding.
    And so how do we make sure that we have economic vitality and 
growth. Well, one thing you don't want to do is take money out of--if it 
has worked, why take money out of your pocket? And the tax relief we 
passed is set to expire. If Congress doesn't do anything, your taxes are 
going to go up, which, in my judgment, would be bad for the economy. In 
order to keep America competitive, the Congress needs to make the tax 
relief permanent.
    You'll hear folks say, ``Well, we got to run up your taxes in order 
to balance the budget.'' That's not the way it works in Washington. 
They're going to raise your taxes so they can find new ways to spend 
your money. That's how it works. So I want the tax cuts permanent, and I 
want to work on the deficit by controlling Federal spending.
    We can meet priorities. We can meet priorities. See, you got to set 
priorities in order to meet priorities. So long as we've got kids in 
harm's way, a priority will be to make sure our troops have what's 
necessary to do their job.
    We got a plan to cut this deficit in half by 2009. It's just going 
to take Congress making some hard choices. Part of my job is to present 
a budget that gives them a chance to show how to cut that deficit in 
half by 2009. Looking forward to working with them on achieving this 
objective. [Laughter] But the long-term problem we got is the mandatory 
spending. And I want to spend a little time on it.
    There's--we got a real issue with Social Security and Medicare. And 
the reason why is, guys like me are fixing to retire. I'm turning 62, 
retirement age, in 2008, which is a convenient coincidence. [Laughter] 
I'm looking around and I see some other baby boomers out there too. And 
we're going to stress the system. There's a lot of us getting ready to 
retire, a heck of a lot more than have been retired. And we've been 
promised a lot. And a lot of young guys are going to be having to pay 
into a system that is flat going broke. That's the reality.
    It's hard for me to be the President and look at young workers, 
young people coming into the workforce, paying payroll taxes into a 
system that I know is going broke. And it is. We've been promised too 
much, and too few people paying into the system. And now we need to do 
something about it, because this mandatory spending, these entitlement 
programs, are going to make it really hard for future Congresses and 
future taxpayers.
    I tried last year with the Social Security plan. I thought my job 
was not only to raise the issue but to come up with some solutions. One 
of my first objectives was to explain to the American people, we got a 
problem. I believe that until Congress hears from the people that we got 
a problem that their attitude is going to be, ``Nobody thinks we got a 
problem; why do anything about it?'' People now know we got a problem.
    Last night I said to Members of Congress the truth: We're not going 
to be able to solve this issue until we bring Republicans and Democrats 
together. It's a big issue solving the baby boomer--[applause]. We can 
get the job done. You don't have to cut benefits to people; you just got 
to slow them down so that the next generation can afford them. Do you 
realize my benefits or your benefits grow faster than the rate of 
inflation? I mean, in other words, there's ways to make it work. But 
it's going to require a new attitude in Washington, DC. There's too much 
politics up there. There's too much zero-sum. I want the Democrats on 
Capitol Hill to hear loud and clear: I want a bipartisan solution on 
mandatory and entitlement spending for the sake of future generations of 
Americans.
    I want to talk about four other issues right quick. You still awake? 
[Laughter] They didn't come all the way to hear this, kind of getting 
shortchanged. I'll make it

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quick. It's important for us to stay competitive, to open up markets. 
The temptation is to shut markets down. I'm confident in our ability. 
I'm confident in our farmers; I'm confident in our entrepreneurs. I 
think the job--I know the job of the President is to work to open up 
markets and level the playing field. My attitude is this: We say to 
countries, ``You treat us the way we treat you,'' and when they do, 
nobody can outcompete the American worker and farmer and entrepreneur.
    A big issue is immigration. It's important for us to get this issue 
solved so that we can be competitive as we go out into the 21st century. 
First of all, the obligation of the Federal Government is to enforce our 
borders, is to make sure that--[applause]. And I want to thank Leader 
Frist for passing a strong appropriations bill to 
provide resources necessary for more Border Patrol technology along the 
border. Listen, the border is long, and it's not easy to enforce. But 
with proper use of technology, some physical barriers, I think we'll be 
able to do a much better job.
    The second issue along the border, by the way, is that when we catch 
somebody sneaking into our country illegally, we just can't release them 
out into the system. We've got to have more detention space so that--it 
used to be they'd catch them, a lot of the folks, they'd say, ``All 
right, check back in with your immigration judge here in 45 days.'' And 
the guy would say, ``Yes, you bet--[laughter]--see you later.'' So we're 
changing that along the border.
    I do want to talk about the worker issue. A lot of people here in 
America have come to do jobs Americans won't do. And they're here 
because they can make money for their families. I used to tell people in 
Texas that family values didn't stop at the Rio Grande River. If you're 
a mother or a dad and you want to put food on the table for your 
children, and you had the choice between $5 and $50, you'd head for $50 
if you could.
    I believe a very significant part of enforcing our border--make it 
easier for our Border Patrol to do the job--is to end this system that 
encourages smuggling and pressure on the border by people sneaking 
across, and saying if there is somebody that's willing to do a job an 
American won't do, let's give him a fool-proof pass so they can be here 
on a temporary basis.
    Now, I'm against amnesty, and the reason I am is, I believe if you 
grant amnesty to people that are here, it will cause another wave of 
people to want to come. But I am for recognizing reality and saying that 
if you're doing a job, if you're an employer and you're looking for 
somebody to do a job an American won't do, then here is a card for a 
temporary worker. That's a humane way to treat the issue. I can't stand 
a system that has caused people to get stuffed in the back of 18-
wheelers and they're driving across the desert. We have--because of our 
policy, we have caused there to be a whole smuggling industry and a 
forgery industry. If you're out there working and somebody shows up, and 
you can't find somebody to find work, and they show up and you say, 
``Show me your card''--you don't know whether it's real or not real. 
There's people forging cards in order to help these people find work.
    We've got Border Patrol agents chasing people getting smuggled 
across the border to do work. If you are able to have a rational plan on 
a temporary-worker basis, it doesn't seem like to me--they're not going 
to have to try to sneak across the border, and our Border Patrol will be 
able to do a better job on drugs and terrorists and guns that are trying 
to be snuck in and out of this country. Immigration is an important 
issue, and I'm looking forward to working with Congress to get a job 
done on behalf of the American people.
    I want to talk about health care right quick. The job of the Federal 
Government is to take care of the elderly and the poor. We're rolling 
out a Medicare plan that is going to make medicine for our seniors

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modern, up to date, and work well. It's a really important reform.
    Listen, if you say, ``We're going to provide medicine for our 
seniors,'' you need to provide the best medicine possible for our 
seniors. And that means including prescription drug coverage for the 
seniors. And that's what's happening. We got--millions of people are 
signing up for this program. We've been in it for about 4 weeks. We're 
going to correct problems. Most of the people signing up are finding out 
it's a good deal. I urge seniors to look at this program carefully and 
sign up.
    We also have an obligation to the poor, which we're taking care of 
in Medicaid. But I want to give you another way of dealing with medicine 
other than having the Federal Government run it all, which I am 
unalterably opposed to. I think, one, we ought to have policies that 
encourage the doctor-patient relationship, strengthen that relationship. 
Secondly, we got to be wise about how we help control costs. One way to 
control costs is to spread information technology out--throughout the 
health care field.
    Let me put it to you this way: Health care is kind of lagging behind 
when it comes to using modern technology. Think about it. You got docs 
still writing out those files. And they hand that file to you and say, 
``Take it down the hall.'' You're moving paper still in a paperless 
world. The problem is, not only are you moving paper, but doctors can't 
write in the first place. [Laughter] It creates inefficiencies in the 
system. There are too many medical errors. By spreading information 
technology, which--Bill Frist and I went to a 
hospital--I think it was here in Nashville--where they've got a modern 
information technology system being put in place. They're going to save 
20 percent to 30 percent on health care costs. It's a rationale way of 
helping control health care without the Federal Government getting in 
your business.
    I'm for allowing small businesses to pool risk across jurisdictional 
boundaries so they have the opportunity of buying health care at the 
same discount big businesses get.
    I am big believer in health savings accounts. For those of you who 
don't know health savings accounts, investigate health savings accounts. 
They're an innovative way to make sure the doctor-patient relationship 
is strong, that people are in charge of making the health care decisions 
themselves, that there is an incentive to taking care of your body 
through good exercise and good nutrition. It's a way to save money tax-
free in your health care and, at the same time, get coverage for 
catastrophic illness. These make sense for small businesses; they make 
sense for individuals. And I'm going to ask Congress to make them more 
available and more attractive for individual consumers all across the 
United States.
    Finally, if you want to do something about availability of health 
care and affordability of health care, we have got to get the United 
States Senate to pass medical liability reform. You don't have to worry 
about Frist. No, he understands. We got a problem 
with ob-gyns. I said last night a statistic which should alarm the 
American people: There are 1,500 counties in America in which a woman 
can't find an ob-gyn. And a lot of that has to do with lawsuits driving 
good docs out of practice. This isn't right, folks. This isn't right. 
It's time for those Senators who are blocking that bill, those Senators 
who are representing the trial lawyers of America, to understand the 
damage they're doing to the health care industry of this country.
    I'm just getting warmed up. [Laughter] In order to stay competitive, 
America must end its dependence on oil. When you're hooked on oil from 
the Middle East, it means you've got an economic security issue and a 
national security issue. And I spoke last night to some exciting 
opportunities here in America. I believe--I know that technology is 
going to enable us to

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diversify away from being dependent on hydrocarbon, from oil.
    Let me talk about cars, and that's really the area where we can 
achieve a lot of independence. We use a lot of foreign oil in our 
automobiles, and we drive a lot. And people say, well, CAFE this and 
CAFE that. Actually, we have increased CAFE standards for certain types 
of vehicles during my administration, and that's important, as is giving 
people choice, and marketplace function is important. But most important 
of all, it seems like to me, if you recognize the fact that being 
dependent upon oil is a problem for the long term, then why don't we 
figure out how to drive our cars using a different type of fuel?
    Now, let me talk about two things that we're working on. We spent--I 
said last night, we've spent $10 billion, since I've been President, on 
research, and we're close to some really interesting breakthroughs. One 
such breakthrough is advanced batteries, which will make the hybrid car 
or the electric car much more affordable and much more suitable to the 
consumer demands. You don't want your battery running out halfway 
between here and somewhere else.
    But I do want to talk about ethanol right quick. You know, we're 
making ethanol out of corn right now. We're very close to a breakthrough 
where we'll be able to figure out how to make ethanol from other forms, 
other materials, like grasses, woods. Now, think about that. All of a 
sudden--we may be in the energy business by being able to grow grass on 
the ranch--[laughter]--and have it harvested and converted into energy. 
And that's what's close to happening. We're told that if we continue to 
focus on research, we'll be able to, within 6 years, have a competitive 
fuel to gasoline.
    Now, people say, ``Well, that's great. How about the automobile?'' 
Will they be able to use it? Four-and-a-half million cars today are 
flex-fuel automobiles. In other words, they can either use gasoline or 
ethanol. So the technology is there for the automobile, and we're close 
to the technology of providing a competitive fuel to gasoline by 
converting that which we grow into fuel. It's coming. It's an exciting 
time. I can't wait to work with Congress to continue promoting this kind 
of research so that someday we're no longer dependent on Middle Eastern 
oil.
    People say, ``Well, why can't--once you get the fuel, why can't you 
just convert your fleet instantly?'' We've got 200 million cars out 
there. It takes a while for new automobiles to become the main, dominant 
part of the automobile fleet. What I'm telling you is, is that we're 
close to some breakthroughs. These are exciting times. Technology is 
going to help keep this country competitive.
    But the thing that's going to keep the country most competitive is 
making sure our workforce has got the skills to compete. This is a 
dynamic world. Whether the people want to recognize it or not, we're in 
a competitive world. Some will say, ``It's so competitive; let's 
withdraw and protect ourselves.'' That's not my attitude. My attitude is 
if it's competitive, let's get in a position where we can out-compete 
the rest of the world. And the most important place is going to be to 
make sure our kids have got the skills to fill the jobs of the 21st 
century. If our kids don't have those skills, those jobs will go 
somewhere else.
    And so this is the initiative that I praised Lamar about; it's called the America Competitiveness 
Initiative. It basically says that we're going to focus on research, 
both in public and private sector, to make sure that the technologies 
and skill base of our science and engineering community leads the world. 
It also recognizes that we've got to make sure our children have got 
math and science skills.
    By the way, that starts with making sure children can read. One of 
Laura's most important initiatives and inherent 
in the No Child Left Behind Act is the absolute demand by our Government 
that schools

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teach every single child how to read by fourth grade--or third grade--
and remain at grade level throughout their entire public school career.
    One of the ways to make sure that our children have got math and 
science skills that will give them the basis on which to compete--and, 
by the way, when you test our scores relative to other children, we're 
doing just fine in elementary school, and we start slipping off in 
middle school, and we're not doing worth a darn in high school. And so 
one way to reverse that trend is to make sure our high school teachers 
have got the necessary skills to teach kids the skill sets to be able to 
compete. And so we believe that we can help train 70,000 high school 
teachers to lead Advanced Placement courses in math and science.
    Advanced Placement works. AP is a vital program. If you study your 
AP results here in Tennessee schools, you'll see it makes a lot of 
sense. We want AP programs to be available to children from all walks of 
life so that they have the skills necessary to compete. We got a plan to 
get 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in our classrooms. 
And we want to make sure, just like we do on No Child Left Behind, that 
we focus on math as well, and we find math deficiencies early--we 
provide money to correct them. See, if you diagnose and don't correct, 
you're doing a child a disservice. If you don't diagnose, you're doing a 
child a disservice. The best thing to do is what we're doing, is 
diagnose and solve problems early, before they're too late. And that's 
what we're going to do in this very exciting initiative.
    A couple of other things I want to talk about. What I just told you 
is how to stay competitive. See, we have a choice. We can withdraw and 
say, ``Okay, you all go do your thing, and we'll just protect ourselves 
inside America,'' or we can compete. And I just laid out an agenda for 
America to lead. I believe that the way you enhance prosperity for the 
American people is you shape your own destiny. And America has been a 
leader and will continue to be a leader in the world economy.
    What really matters in the long term is the character of the 
American people. The great strength of this country is the compassion of 
our citizens. It really is. I like to remind people that de Tocqueville 
got it right when he came and looked at America in the 1830s and 
recognized the voluntary associations. The ability for people to serve 
something greater than themselves was the strength of America then, and 
it's the strength of America now.
    One of the reasons why I mentioned Laura last 
night and her program is not only I want her to get a little air time--
[laughter]--but she's heading up a very important effort to encourage 
mentors to help say to a child, ``I love you. What can I do to help you? 
How can I help you realize you need to make the right choices in life in 
order to succeed?''
    I see a Scout there. The Scouting program is a great mentoring 
program. But there are all kinds of ways you can help, all kinds of ways 
you can help get involved with people's lives. Last night we honored 
some folks by putting them in the box there during the State of the 
Union. I guess it's an honor when you sit there and have to listen to an 
old guy for an hour. But anyway, nevertheless, they were there. And one 
of them was a young guy that was volunteering down there in--for those 
affected by the hurricanes.
    One of the things about that hurricane is we're going to make sure 
that we analyze the response. And, as I said, we just didn't do as good 
a job as we should have done at all levels of government. As the head of 
the Federal Government, I take responsibility for that. But having said 
that, the response of the American people to these hurricanes was 
unbelievable. People were uprooted out of their homes. They were 
wandering out there, wondering whether or not anybody cared. And 
thousands of our fellow citizens had open arms and said, ``I

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care about you. How can I help you?'' It was a remarkable, remarkable 
thing to watch. It's reconfirmed my great faith in the American people.
    The Government has got a role. As I mentioned last night, we've 
committed $85 billion to help the people get on their feet down there. 
We're going to stay with them. We'll help them. And the American people 
are helping them as well.
    Another thing I talked about last night, to make sure that our 
country is hopeful and the spirits are up, is that when you look at 
Washington, you've got to be assured that people are upholding the 
integrity that you expect them to. I look forward to working with 
Congress on ethics reform. We have a solemn duty and an obligation to 
say to the American people that we will uphold the honor of the offices 
to which we have been elected.
    I do want to say something about judges. I want to thank both Senators here for voting to 
confirm a good man. Laura and I are going to--if 
I can ever stop speaking here--[laughter]--we're going to go back and 
have a swearing-in ceremony for Judge Sam Alito. The reason I bring this up is that part of making sure 
America knows there's a hopeful tomorrow is that--a lot of Americans 
don't like it when judges kind of write the law. We've got plenty of 
legislators in Washington. Believe me, we've got plenty of legislators 
in Washington. And so I'm going to put judges on the bench who know the 
difference between interpreting the Constitution and trying to write the 
law. I'll continue to do that.
    And so that's what's on my mind, and it took me an hour to tell you. 
[Laughter] I hope you get the sense of my optimism about the country. I 
told you mine is a decisionmaking job. I first learned that when the guy 
called me--I was getting ready to give my Inaugural Address, right 
before the swearing-in of the first Presidency--the first term. And a 
guy called me and said, ``What color rug do you want in the Oval 
Office?'' I said, ``Man, this is a decisionmaking job.'' 
[Laughter]``What color rug do I want?'' The second thing about 
decisionmaking is you've got to know when it's time to delegate. So, not 
knowing much about rug designing, I said, ``Laura, give me a hand.'' [Laughter]
    And the third thing about my job is you've got to set a strategic 
vision. I set the strategic vision last night for our country: active in 
the pursuit of our own security and the spread of freedom; confident in 
our ability to compete in the world; understanding we need to 
continually recommit ourselves to serving others. And so I said, 
``Laura, the only thing I want is that rug to 
say--you figure out how to say it--is, `Optimistic person comes here to 
work every day.' '' And she captured my spirit, because I am optimistic 
about our future.
    Thanks for giving me a chance to share that optimism with you. God 
bless.

Note: The President spoke at 12:01 p.m. at the Grand Ole Opry House. In 
his remarks, he referred to entertainer Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin 
Brothers; entertainer Porter Wagoner; Mayor Bill Purcell of Nashville, 
TN; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; U.S. Ambassador to Iraq 
Zalmay Khalilzad; Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., USA, commanding general, 
Multi-National Force--Iraq; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of 
Japan.

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