[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
[September 18, 2007]
[Pages 1208-1210]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to Members of Military Support Organizations
September 18, 2007

    The President. Please be seated. Thanks for coming. Laura and I are honored to welcome you here to the South 
Lawn. Welcome to the people's house. First, I'd like to thank Katy 
Benko for singing the national anthem. It's not 
only a beautiful morning to sing the national anthem, it's a beautiful 
setting in which to sing the national anthem. Katy's husband Ryan is deployed to Iraq. Katy, make sure you e-mail him and 
tell him how appreciative we are of your service, and tell him how 
appreciative all of us are of your voice.
    Laura and I want to thank the members of 
our--my administration for joining us. Mr. Vice President, we're really thrilled you're here. Thank you for coming, 
sir. Secretary of State Condi Rice is with 
us today. Madam Secretary, appreciate you being here. Secretary Jim 
Nicholson of the Veterans Affairs 
Administration; thanks for coming, Jim.
    For you veterans who are here, there is no more solemn obligation by 
your Government to make sure you have all it takes to--for your health 
care and for your support. I feel a very strong obligation, since it was 
my decision that committed young men and women into combat, to make sure 
our veterans who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan get all the 
help this Government can possibly provide.
    I appreciate the Secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, for joining us; the Secretary of the Navy, 
Don Winter; General Hoss 
Cartwright, Vice Chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife Sandee. By the way, General Cartwright is a marine.
    Audience members. Hooah!

[[Page 1209]]

    The President. I'm not playing to the crowd or anything. [Laughter]
    I want to welcome members of this crowd who have lost a loved one in 
this war against terror. Our hearts go out to you. We love you. The best 
way to honor the sacrifices that your loved one made, as well as the 
sacrifice you have made, is to accomplish the mission, is to achieve the 
peace.
    Laura and I welcome the families who have got 
a loved one overseas, whether it be in Iraq or Afghanistan, fighting 
these extremists and terrorists. The best way to honor your loved one is 
to make sure that he or she has the full support of the United States 
Government as you accomplish the mission that we have set out. By the 
way, for the loved ones here, I fully understand the best way to sustain 
a volunteer army is to make sure you're happy--[laughter]--is to make 
sure you've got good housing; to make sure that you've got good health 
care; to make sure that you understand that we know that you're in this 
fight along with your husband or wife or son or daughter. And that's 
exactly how this administration feels.
    For the veterans who are here, for those of you who are veterans in 
Iraq and Afghanistan, thank you for volunteering in the face of danger. 
And for the people who aren't veterans yet, still remain on active duty, 
thanks for wearing the uniform of the greatest country on the face of 
the Earth. We're proud of you.
    I want to thank our service organizations and those who have come 
together to support our families and our troops. I can't tell you how 
important it is for organizations like the Vets for Freedom or the VFW 
or the American Legion and other groups, two of you--Gold Star Mothers, 
got you, okay, thank you--Blue Star Mothers, Gold Star Mothers, all the 
mothers, yes. Every day is Mother's Day as far as you're concerned, 
isn't it? [Laughter]
    Audience member. Don't forget the dads.
    The President. And the dads, yes. I knew this was going to happen. 
[Laughter] Yes, the wives, okay, fine. [Laughter] Everybody's supporting 
our troops. I want to thank you for doing it.
    It's important people hear from you. It's important people hear your 
voice. And I want to thank you for organizing. I want to thank you not 
only for the grassroots support of our families, I want to thank you for 
going up to Capitol Hill. And here's the message I hope you deliver: The 
Commander in Chief wants to succeed, and the Commander in Chief takes 
seriously the recommendations of our military commanders. General 
Petraeus came back to the United States to 
deliver the recommendations he made to me. Inherent in his 
recommendations is, one, his belief we're succeeding, his belief we will 
succeed. And I ask the United States Congress to support the troop 
levels and the strategies I have embraced.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. Thank you all. When the history books are finally 
written about this chapter in the war against extremists and radicals, 
they will recognize certain truths: One, that we recognize that if we 
were to retreat from the Middle East, the enemy would not be content to 
remain where they are, but they would follow us here. We recognize that 
the best way to protect our homeland is to defeat an enemy overseas so 
we do not have to face them here on the streets of America. And we 
recognized that liberty is powerful, that liberty will yield the peace 
that we want for generations to come. They will recognize that this 
generation of Americans did the hard work now, so that future 
generations could live in security and peace.
    And so on this beautiful morning, we thank you for your steadfast 
resolve; we appreciate your support of those brave souls who have 
volunteered in the face of the danger. We ask for God's blessings on the 
families and our troops in harm's way.

[[Page 1210]]

And we thank you from the bottom of our collective hearts. God bless you 
all.

Note: The President spoke at 9:07 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, 
commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.