[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 40 (Monday, October 7, 2002)]
[Pages 1687-1694]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Gubernatorial Candidate Mitt Romney in 
Boston, Massachusetts

October 4, 2002

    The President. Thank you all very much. Thank you all. Glad I came.
    Audience member. We are, too.
    The President. Thanks for coming. ``Governor,'' thanks for those 
kind, kind remarks. I'm proud to be--[applause]. I strongly stand with 
Mitt Romney because I believe he is the best person for the job of 
Governor of Massachusetts.
    I say that I know that because I know his values. He's got his 
priorities straight: his faith, his family, and his State. And he's not 
going to waver from those priorities. They're etched in his heart.
    He's got a record. He's done things in life. He started his own 
businesses. He's an entrepreneur. He knows how to create jobs at a time 
when you need somebody in Massachusetts who knows job creation.
    He knows how to take a struggling organization and turn it around. 
He's done that recently. He's not one of these talkers that you find in 
the political arena. He's a doer. Just ask the folks--just ask the folks 
who were wondering whether or not the Olympics were going to go 
bankrupt. Ask them what happened when Mitt Romney showed up and brought 
some managerial skills and some vision and the ability to set priorities 
and the know-how how to set budgets and turned that organization around 
and made sure the Olympics in Salt Lake City were not only successful 
but profitable. It's the same kind of attitude you need here in your 
State budget in Massachusetts.
    No, you've got the right man for the job here. You've got the right 
person for the job. And I want to thank you for backing him.
    And I'm real proud of his wife, Ann. She'll be a great first lady 
for Massachusetts. She's a dedicated mom. She's looking forward to 
working hard with Mitt to do everything they

[[Page 1688]]

can to help everybody in the State of Massachusetts, to help people get 
ahead in this State.
    Mitt and I married above ourselves--[laughter]--in my case, by a 
long shot. [Laughter] Yes, I know. Laura sends her best to the Romneys, 
sends her love to our friends here. She is--I can't tell you how proud I 
am of her. You know, when I married her, she was a public school 
librarian in Texas. The truth of the matter is, she didn't like 
politics--[laughter]--nor did she like politicians. [Laughter] Now she's 
stuck with me. [Laughter]
    But the American people have gotten to see why I asked her to marry 
me. She is steady. She's calm. She's--in my judgment, and I must confess 
it's not very objective--she's a class act. A lot of her buddies in 
Texas are wondering why she said yes to my proposal. [Laughter] But she 
sends her best.
    I'm also honored to be here with the next Lieutenant Governor, Kerry 
Healey. I'm impressed by Kerry's know-how, her knowledge. She's a smart, 
smart lady, and she's going to make a great Lieutenant Governor.
    You all have got a great team here, a great team to represent you. 
And so I want to thank you for coming. I want to thank those of you who 
are involved with grassroots politics here in Massachusetts for what you 
have done and, more importantly, what you're going to do. See, you can't 
win a race unless you've got citizens willing to go to the coffee shops 
and the community centers, the churches and synagogues and mosques, and 
talk up good people when you find them. You've got two good ones here. 
And you owe it to them, in my judgment, for the sake of the future of 
your State, to do everything you can between now and election day to 
turn out the vote. The votes are there. They need your help in turning 
them out.
    I appreciate the agenda of the next Governor and Lieutenant 
Governor. It starts with jobs. You've got to have you somebody in the 
Governor's office who can recruit, who knows the language of the 
entrepreneur, who understands how small businesses are created and 
function, in order to make sure that not only is the landscape here good 
for attracting jobs but he can recruit jobs.
    See, you need somebody who knows what they're talking about when it 
comes to making sure the people of this important State can find work. 
And there's no question in my mind Mitt Romney knows what he's talking 
about. He knows--he knows capital. He knows entrepreneurship. He 
understands small-business creation.
    The role of Government is not to create wealth. That's what other 
people might think. The role of Government is to create an environment 
in which the entrepreneur can flourish, in which the small business can 
grow to be big business.
    That's why he also is focusing on infrastructure, to make sure your 
transportation system is efficient, cost-effective, works well. 
[Laughter] It's an important part of making sure the environment for 
attracting jobs is competitive, and Mitt understands that.
    But what I like best about him is, they understand--Mitt and Kerry 
understand--the number one priority of any State is the education of the 
children of the State. See, I used to say--I used to put it this way: 
Education is to a State what national defense is to the Federal 
Government. It's the most important priority. And this team has got 
education as a priority.
    We share a philosophy. It's a philosophy incorporated in the No 
Child Left Behind bill that I had the honor of signing. It starts with 
the belief that every child can learn, a belief that there ought to be 
high standards and high expectations in our society. You've got to have 
a Governor who is willing to challenge the soft bigotry of low 
expectations. If you lower the bar, see, if you believe certain children 
can't learn--inner-city kids, kids whose parents may not speak English 
as a first language--if you believe that, the systems will reflect that. 
They'll just shuffle the kids through. That's unacceptable anywhere in 
the United States of America.
    Part of what this next team, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, 
believe is, you've got to decentralize power; you've got to trust local 
people to manage the path to excellence. If you have high standards and 
local control of schools, you're more likely to achieve educational 
excellence. But finally, the cornerstone of the new bill and a 
cornerstone of any good education policy is this:

[[Page 1689]]

If you take money, taxpayers' money, you need to show society whether or 
not the children are learning to read and write and add and subtract.
    You see, if you believe every child can learn, if you believe every 
child can learn, then you want to know if every child is learning, and 
therefore you measure. If you have no accountability, how do you know? 
If you have no accountability, you're more likely just to shuffle the 
kids through and, at the end of the process, you say, ``Oops, they 
forgot to learn to read,'' and that's unacceptable. You need to have a 
Governor and a Lieutenant Governor who are willing to hold people 
accountable and are willing to praise success but willing to blow the 
whistle on failure when you find kids trapped in schools which will not 
teach and will not change.
    Now, they've got a good, positive agenda. They've got a good, 
positive agenda. When they get in there, they're going to represent 
everybody, not just those who voted for them, not just the 50-percent-
plus that voted for them. [Laughter] They're going to represent all the 
people. They believe in uniting people, not dividing people. They 
believe in rejecting old-style politics. This team is going to be a 
breath of fresh air for the citizens of Massachusetts.
    I'm confident they'll make this State a safer, stronger, and better 
place. And that's what I want to do for our country. A stronger 
country--a stronger country is one in which our citizens can find work--
that's a stronger country--a country in which the job base is expanding, 
a country in which somebody who wants to put food on the table is able 
to do so. Too many of our citizens can't find work--although we got some 
good news today, an indication that the economy has got the foundation 
for growth. The unemployment rate dropped, which is good news.
    But that's not good enough. It's not good enough. There are still 
too many people who wonder whether or not they're going to be able to 
find employment. My job is to continue to insist upon growth, urge 
Congress to pass the necessary legislation to create the environment for 
growth.
    And we've got a good chance to do that before they go home to 
campaign, and that is to pass a terrorism insurance bill. Here's the 
problem we face in America: Over $15 billion worth of construction 
projects have been put on hold or canceled because of the lack of 
terrorism insurance. See, after the enemy hit us on September the 11th, 
it distorted market. You can't find insurance; you can't go forward with 
a project.
    And therefore, I think it's a useful tool of the Federal Government 
to provide--to mitigate some of that risk. Congress has been talking 
about this, now, for a long time. The House of Representatives passed a 
bill. The Senate passed a bill. They're still talking about it. I'm 
convinced when they pass a good terrorism insurance bill that rewards 
hardhats and not trial lawyers, 300,000 additional Americans will find 
work. No, they get a bill to my desk--they get a bill to my desk before 
they go home and help this economy. There's a lot of plumbers and 
bricklayers, ironworkers, good solid Americans who are going to more 
likely find work, 300,000 of them, if they can get these projects back. 
If Congress is worried about the economy like I am, they need to join 
us.
    They also need to make sure the tax cuts are permanent. Let me tell 
you my thoughts about tax relief. When your economy is kind of ooching 
along, it's important to let people have more of their own money. Here's 
the page out of the textbook--here's the page out of the textbook that I 
believe is important. I know Romney feels the same way. If you let 
somebody keep more of their own money, they're likely to demand a good 
or a service. And when they demand a good or a service in this system, 
somebody is likely to produce that good or a service. And when somebody 
produces that good or a service, somebody is more likely to be able to 
find work. For the sake of job creation, for the sake of helping people 
put food on the table, the tax relief plan we passed came at the exact 
right time.
    And in that tax relief plan, we cut rates, which is good for small-
business creation. Most small businesses are sole proprietorships or 
limited partnerships. They pay their taxes at the income tax rate--the 
personal income tax level. And so when you cut taxes, really what you're 
doing is, you're stimulating small-business growth. Seventy percent of 
new jobs in America are created by small

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businesses. The tax cut was good for the small-business owners.
    We slashed the marriage penalty. We want the Tax Code to encourage 
marriage and families, not discourage marriage.
    We did something really important for the entrepreneurs and new 
startups and farmers and ranchers. We put the death tax on its way to 
extinction. The death tax is bad. It's a bad tax. It's an unfair tax.
    But the reason I'm still having to talk about this issue is, because 
of a quirk in the law, how the rules in the Senate, that tax cut really 
doesn't go--it doesn't stay permanent. It's like the Senate giveth with 
one hand and taketh away with the other. [Laughter] See, in 10 years' 
time, we revert back to where we were when the tax relief plan was 
passed. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's just the way they 
operate over there. [Laughter] For the sake of job creation, for the 
sake of encouraging the entrepreneur to be able to plan, for the sake of 
making sure that our economy is strong and the foundation of growth is 
solid, the United States Congress needs to make the tax cuts permanent.
    And they've got to do one other thing before they go out of town. 
They've got to remember whose money they're spending. Yes, it's not the 
Government's money. It's the people's money. And I'm sad to report--and 
I'm sad to report that the United States Senate could not pass a budget. 
That's a pretty scary thought. See, if you don't have a budget, if you 
don't have constraints in Washington, you're liable to get a little 
overspending, because, see, every idea sounds like a great idea there. 
[Laughter] Every idea is just fantastic. [Laughter] The problem is, they 
all come with billions of dollars worth of price tags.
    If we overspend, it'll serve as a drag on economic growth and 
vitality. I submitted a budget that leads us toward getting back into 
balance. It sets priorities. For the sake of economic growth and jobs, 
the United States Congress must be fiscally responsible, must not 
overspend, must spend only on priorities and not that which they think 
will get them easily reelected. For the sake of job creation, we need 
fiscal sanity in Washington, DC.
    I am optimistic about our economy, but we've got more work to do. 
And I want you to know that I will spend a lot of time working to 
strengthen this economy in any way I can.
    Having said that, my number one priority is to make America a safer 
place, because I understand there's still an enemy out there which hates 
America. And I want to tell you why they hate us, at least my opinion 
about why they hate us. They hate us for what we love. They hate us 
because we love freedom. They hate us because we love the idea that 
people can worship an Almighty God any way he or she sees fit. They hate 
us because we love political discourse in a free society. They hate us 
because of our free press. They hate everything about us because of our 
freedom.
    And there's another--there are a lot of distinguishing features, but 
one of the most clear ones to me is this: We value life in America. We 
say everybody is precious. Everybody counts. Every life has worth. Every 
life has dignity. They don't value life. They're willing to hijack a 
great religion and take innocent life in the name of that religion.
    And they're still out there. And so long as they're out there, the 
number one job of your Government is to protect innocent life, is to 
protect the enemy from hitting us again. You need to know there are a 
lot of good people working long hours to do everything in their power to 
disrupt, to find, to hunt down, to--anything we can do, within the 
United States Constitution, to protect the American people.
    We're doing a better job of talking to each other. We're doing a 
better job of sharing information. We are on alert. We understand 
they're out there. There's a lot of fine folks at the Federal level, a 
lot of great police officers at the State and local level, a lot of 
people in the sheriff's department, a lot of emergency responders--a lot 
of people working hard.
    But in order to make sure we do the job better, I have asked 
Congress to create what they call the Department of Homeland Security. 
And let me tell you why I asked them to do that. I asked them to do it 
because there's over a hundred agencies in Washington involved with 
homeland security. And they're scattered everywhere, and it seemed like 
to me, in order to make sure that we align authority and responsibility, 
they ought

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to be under one boss--at least the functions for the homeland ought to 
be coordinated. If the number one priority of the Government is to 
protect you, we ought to have the ability to make sure that culture 
changes within agencies so it becomes the number one priority.
    And I asked Congress to join me. And the House passed a bill, and 
they still can't get it out of the Senate. They're fixing to go home, 
and they're still arguing over homeland security. And I'll tell you why: 
There are some up there who believe that they ought to micromanage the 
process.
    And I'll give you an example. They want these work rules to make it 
difficult for the Secretary and the President and future Secretaries and 
Presidents to be able to move people to the right place at the right 
time in order to respond to an enemy. For example, if you're working for 
Customs, we thought it was a wise idea to have people wear radiation 
detection devices in order to be able to determine whether somebody is 
trying to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into America. The union 
wanted to take that to collective bargaining. It would have taken over a 
year to determine whether or not people could carry detection devices. 
That doesn't make any sense for me.
    We've got a border. We need to know who's coming in our country, 
what they're bringing in the country, why they're bringing what they're 
bringing into their country. We've got three different agencies on the 
border, fine people, really good people working hard. I'm proud that I'm 
a Federal--Federal employee with them. But we've got the Border Patrol 
and the INS and the Customs. They wear different uniforms. In some 
sectors, they may have different strategies. They need to be able to be 
knitted up. They need to be able to work in concert. They need to be 
able to do everything they can to make sure that we understand our 
borders are functioning properly.
    See, and I need the flexibility. We cannot leave a legacy behind of 
micromanagement and unnecessary work rules and inflexible--inflexible 
rules on managers. I'm all for public employees being able to bargain 
collectively if that's what they choose to do. But I'm also for making 
sure the President, in the name of national security, has the capacity 
to put people at the right place at the right time to protect America.
    They need to get it done. They need to get something done up there. 
They need to get it to my desk before they go home.
    But the best way to protect our homeland, in the short run and in 
the long run, is to hunt the killers down, one person at a time, and 
bring them to justice.
    This is a different kind of war. I spent a lot of time talking to 
our fellow citizens about this, and it's important for America to 
understand. I think they do. This is a different kind of war. You don't 
measure progress in this war based upon the number of ships sunk or the 
numbers of tanks dismantled or the number of aircraft grounded. You 
measure progress in this war by the number of killers brought to 
justice, and that's why I say ``hunting them down one person at a 
time,'' which is precisely the strategy we're employing.
    It starts with upholding doctrine. The doctrine which says, ``Either 
you're with us, or you're with the enemy,'' still stands. We still got 
this coalition of freedom-loving nations we're working together with. 
And we're hunting them down.
    The other day, one of them popped up--popped his head up--named bin 
al-Shibh. He's no longer a problem. He would have been a problem--he 
would have been a problem. This is the fellow that was bragging about 
the fact that, had he gotten a visa, he would have been one of the 
20th--he would have been the 20th killer that would have come to America 
and killed innocent lives. That's what he bragged about.
    Thanks to hard-working--the hard work of our intelligence folks and 
our United States military and our friends and allies, this guy is not a 
problem anymore, and neither are a couple of thousand of them just like 
him who have been detained. And about that many weren't as lucky. Slowly 
but surely, slowly but surely, we're dismantling the Al Qaida network. 
Sometimes you'll see it on your TV screens; sometimes you won't.
    Sometimes--I sent a significant increase in our defense spending, 
the largest since Ronald Reagan was the President, to the Congress for 
two reasons--two reasons: One, anytime we put our troops into harm's 
way,

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they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best possible 
equipment; and secondly, I sent a message to friend and foe alike that, 
when it comes to the defense of our freedom, it comes to our desire to 
make the world more peaceful, there's no artificial deadline for 
America. There's no time when, all of a sudden, it says, well, we--the 
calendar shows up, and it's time to quit. There's no quit in this 
country because we love freedom; we love our peace. We owe it to our 
children and our children's children.
    I asked Congress to get the defense bill to my desk. The House 
passed it. The Senate passed it. But they haven't come to conclusion 
yet. They need to get it to my desk before they go home. I hope they 
will. I know there's a lot of good people from both parties working hard 
to get the bill done. But we're at war, and at the very minimum, they 
ought to get the defense bill passed in time of war and get it to my 
desk before they go home.
    I want to remind you all about what I said earlier. We value each 
life. Everybody counts. That is not just for American life; that's every 
life, by the way. That's what America thinks.
    I want to remind you as well that when we upheld the doctrine that 
says, ``If you harbor a terrorist and feed one of them, you're just as 
guilty as the terrorist''--and when we upheld that doctrine in 
Afghanistan, we went in not to conquer anybody; we went in to liberate 
people from the clutches of a barbaric regime. You need to tell your 
children, you need to tell children who wonder about this war, about the 
nature of your country, that we love peace, that we're going to secure 
our homeland. And that, thanks to the United States of America in the 
first theater of the first war of the 21st century, many young girls now 
go to school for the first time. That this country loves freedom, and we 
value each and every life.
    We also must recognize threats when we see them, and deal with them. 
See, September 11th taught us a new lesson about our vulnerabilities. 
Prior to that, it used to be that we could be protected by two oceans. 
And unrest or what was going on in a different part of the world--it 
might have been okay sometimes, because we were protected. No longer is 
that the case. We're now the battlefield, because of what we believe in 
and what we hold dear. And since we're never going to relinquish those 
freedoms or love for freedom, since we're never going to back down from 
the things we hold dear, we'll continue to be a battlefield until the 
world is more secure.
    We've got a true threat facing us, a threat that faces our very 
homeland. And that is Saddam Hussein. And I want to explain to you about 
Saddam Hussein, just quickly, if I might.
    This is a man who has used weapons of mass destruction. He used them 
on his own people. He used them on his neighbors.
    This is a man who said he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, 
yet he does. This is a man who, 11 years ago, said he wouldn't harbor 
terrorists; he wouldn't develop chemical or biological weapons. This is 
a man who said he would free prisoners. He has lied and deceived and 
denied for 11 long years.
    This is a man who continues to torture people in his own country who 
disagree with him. He's a coldblooded killer. This is a man who I 
believe strongly thinks he can use terrorist networks to foster his own 
ambitions. This is a man who, when they went into Iraq the first time, 
it was discovered that he was a short period away from developing a 
nuclear weapon.
    This is a man who has invaded two countries. This is a man who is a 
threat--he's a threat to the United States; he's a threat to Israel; 
he's a threat to neighbors of his. He is a threat.
    My job is to protect the American people. My job is to anticipate. 
And so I went to the United Nations. I went to the United Nations 
because I want the United Nations to be effective. I went to the United 
Nations and--to remind them that for 11 years, this man has defied 16 
resolutions. Time and time and time again, he has ignored the United 
Nations. I basically said, ``You can be an effective body to help us 
keep the peace, or you can be the League of Nations.''
    It's up to them. It's up to them. We will continue to work with our 
friends in the United Nations for peace, to deal with threats, to not 
ignore reality. I want the

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United Nations to be effective. I want them to do their job of disarming 
Saddam Hussein.
    The choice is theirs, and the choice is also Mr. Saddam Hussein's 
choice. There are no negotiations. There's nothing to negotiate. He said 
he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, and that's what those of 
us who love peace expect. We expect him not to have weapons of mass 
destruction.
    But I want to tell you all, for the sake of our freedom, for the 
sake of peace, if the United Nations won't make the decision, if Saddam 
Hussein continues to lie and deceive, the United States will lead a 
coalition to disarm this man before he harms America and our friends.
    The military's not my first choice, but peace is. Peace is my first 
choice. And we're not--what I just told you is a sentiment that's 
becoming more and more shared in Washington. I was honored this week to 
stand on the steps of the Rose Garden with Speaker Hastert, Minority 
Leader Gephardt, Leader Lott, Senator Lieberman, Senator McCain, Senator 
Bayh, just to name a few of both Republicans and Democrats who are 
coming together to speak with one voice, a voice out of concern for the 
future of our country and for the future of our friends.
    This country next week will be having a big debate on a really 
important, historic resolution. I welcome the debate. This is not a 
political debate. It's a debate about peace and security. I also think 
it's about--a debate about responsibility for those of us who've been 
given high office. I believe we have a responsibility to speak clearly, 
to defend that which we hold dear, to be determined. And by doing so, we 
can achieve peace. We can achieve peace for America by speaking strongly 
against terror, by holding our line the values we hold free--of freedom.
    We can achieve peace in the Middle East. We can achieve peace in 
South Asia. I know the enemy hit us, but out of the evil done to America 
that day has a chance to come a more peaceful world. They also hit us, 
and out of the evil done to America that day can come a better world for 
America, too.
    You know, I don't know what was on their mind. They probably thought 
that, after September the 11th, 2001, somebody might file a lawsuit or 
two. [Laughter] They didn't know. They didn't know who they're dealing 
with. They're dealing with a great country, a country which can be tough 
but a country which also can be compassionate.
    See, in our midst of plenty, there are people who hurt in America, 
people who are addicted, people who are lost. When you say ``American 
Dream,'' they go, ``What the heck are you talking about, American 
Dream?'' They don't know.
    And when one of us hurts, we all got to realize all of us hurt in 
this country. We must do everything we can to eradicate those pockets of 
despair. And the best way to do so, in my judgment, is to unleash the 
character of our country. See, Government can hand out money, and 
sometimes we do a pretty darn good job of it. [Laughter] But what 
Government cannot do is put hope in people's hearts or sense of purpose 
in people's lives. That's done when a fellow American hears the 
universal call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved 
yourself.
    If you want to fight evil here in America, do some good. You see, 
it's the millions of acts of kindness and compassion that really define 
the true character of our country and will enable us to defy the killers 
by making this country a more compassionate and decent place. Mentor a 
child. Help a shut-in. Start a Boys' Club or a Girls' Club. Tell 
somebody you love them. These acts of kindness don't have to be huge; 
they've just got to be significant enough to change America one person 
at a time. No, they hit us--they hit us--they didn't know what they were 
getting into. They had no idea what they were getting into.
    I truly believe that this country is going to be a stronger and 
better place, because I understand the nature of America. See, a lot of 
us took a step back after what happened to us that day and realized 
there's something more important in life than self, something more 
important in life than materialism, that being a patriot is somebody 
more than just puts their hand over their

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heart; being a patriot is somebody who does love a neighbor.
    And that's going across all across this land. You know, I first got 
into politics because I believed that I could make a difference in 
helping change a culture, from one which said, ``If it feels good, do 
it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else.'' See, I was 
hoping to help usher in a period of personal responsibility, when each 
of us understands we're responsible for the decisions we make in life.
    If you're responsible--if you're a mother or dad, your most 
important responsibility is to love your child with all your heart and 
all your soul. If you're living--if you're living in Boston, 
Massachusetts, you're responsible for helping people in need, not some 
faraway government. If you're running a corporation, you're responsible 
for telling the truth to your employees and your shareholders and the 
public.
    It's happening. It's happening. Perhaps the most vivid example was 
Flight 93, people flying across the country. They heard from their loved 
ones that the plane was going to be used as a weapon. They said goodbye. 
They used the word ``love'' a lot. They said a prayer. A guy said, 
``Let's roll.'' They took the plane into the ground to serve something 
greater than themselves in life.
    No, the enemy hit us. But see, they didn't know--they didn't know 
the character of this great country. They didn't realize that this 
country is a country which will fight for peace, lead the world for 
peace. And this is a country which will make sure that everybody who 
lives here understands that the great American experience, the great 
hope of this country, is available for everybody. There's no doubt in my 
mind we can accomplish these objectives, because America is the greatest 
country, full of the finest people, on the face of the Earth.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 12:48 p.m. in the Plaza Ballroom at the 
Seaport Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Ann Romney, wife of 
candidate Mitt Romney; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an Al Qaida operative 
suspected of helping to plan the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 
who was captured in Karachi, Pakistan; and President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq.