[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 49 (Monday, December 9, 2002)]
[Pages 2112-2114]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2003 in Arlington, Virginia

December 2, 2002

    Thank you all. Thank you all. Please be seated. Please be seated.
    Thank you, Mr. Secretary. And thank you for your leadership. Thank 
you for your candor. Thank you--you're doing a fabulous job on behalf of 
the American people. It's an honor for me to be here today with the 
leaders of our military, the good folks who are serving our country, to 
sign the 2003 defense authorization bill.
    We're a nation at war. America must understand we're at war. But 
those who wear the uniform must understand how proud all of America is 
for your service to our great country. On behalf of a grateful nation, 
I'm here to thank you.
    Our military is making good progress in this war. We've liberated an 
oppressed and friendless people. We're hunting down the terrorists all 
across the globe. We're performing our missions with speed and skill. 
You have the strong, united support of this great land, and this bill 
should reflect the strong and united support of the United States 
Congress.
    And I want to thank the Members of the Congress who are here on 
stage, Senator Warner and Congressman Duncan Hunter. And Members of the 
Senate and the Congress who are with us, I want to thank you for your 
good work on this important legislation.
    I appreciate so very much all those who work in the Secretary's 
office who worked hard on this bill. I want to thank the Chairmen of the 
Joint Chiefs who are here and the Vice Chairmen are with us and those 
who represent the enlisted personnel of our military.
    Most of all, I want to say a word about Bob Stump, Chairman Stump, 
who couldn't be with us today, distinguished chairman of the Armed 
Services Committee, who has served our Nation well. He's a dedicated 
public servant who has decided to retire. And as the Secretary said, 
this bill is appropriately named for this fine American. We will miss 
him, and we wish Bob and his family all the very best.
    I want to thank the service Secretaries who are here with us. And I 
want to thank you all for coming.
    The legislation I sign this afternoon was passed by Congress in a 
remarkable spirit of unity. It sets priorities of our Defense Department 
in a critical, critical period for our country. Our country has 
unprecedented challenges, and we're facing them with unmatched 
technology, careful planning, and the finest traditions of valor.
    We're rewarding the service and sacrifice of our military families 
with higher pay, improved facilities, and better housing. We're 
procuring the best weapons we possibly can and the best equipment, while 
adding funds for operations and maintenance as well. We're investing in 
missile defenses and all new technologies we need to gain every 
advantage--every advantage--in the battlefields of the future.
    And since intelligence is playing a critical role in our ability to 
achieve military victory, this new law creates a new high-level position 
within the Department of Defense called the Under Secretary for 
Intelligence.
    This generation of Armed Forces has been given two difficult tasks, 
fighting and winning a war and, at the same time, transforming our 
military to win the new kind of war. In the first stages of our fight 
against terror, we've already seen the future face of warfare, forces 
that are more agile and mobile and lethal, along with weapons that are 
smarter and tactics that are more inventive. These priorities are 
reflected in this year's budget. You'll see them reflected in every 
military budget I submit and sign as your President.
    America's military is strong. And that's the way it should be. Our 
Nation and the world are safer that way. Now and in the future, we will 
maintain a military that is second to none. And the greatest strength of 
America's military is the cause we all serve. That cause is freedom in a 
world at peace. Today, that

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cause is being challenged by determined enemies. And we will not rest, 
and we will not relent until our freedom is secure.
    Our troops in Afghanistan remain engaged in a difficult and 
dangerous mission. We're hunting down trained killers. And that's all 
they are, nothing but a bunch of coldblooded killers. We're destroying 
their weapons. The Secretary reports to me in the White House that, day 
after day, we're finding giant caches of weapons which we're destroying. 
And while we hunt them down--hunt the killers down, we'll continue to 
help the Afghan people as they work to build lives of dignity and lives 
of security. Afghanistan is no longer a safe haven for hijackers and 
bombmakers and assassins. Thanks to the United States military, the 
terrorist training camps are closed. Many terrorists have met their fate 
in the caves and mountains of Afghanistan. Others are now in custody.
    Yet we know that many terrorists are still at large. They hide and 
they plot in over 60 different countries. We face an enemy that's 
attacked cities in America, embassies and airplanes in Africa, ships in 
the Gulf, tourists in Bali. This enemy lives like a parasite. They plot 
in shadows. They prey on failed states. And they ally themselves with 
outlaw regimes.
    Defeating this enemy requires fighting a different kind of war, what 
we call the first war of the 21st century. We're pursuing the terrorists 
wherever they dwell. It doesn't matter where they hide; we're after 
them, one by one. We follow them wherever they run. They think they can 
run; they can't run far enough from the long arm of justice of the 
United States. We're freezing their finances. We're disrupting their 
plots. We're killing them or capturing them, one person at a time. 
That's how you win the first war of the 21st century, a war we are going 
to win.
    Some of the successes in this war will make headlines, and sometimes 
you won't even know about it. But all the terrorists can be certain of 
this: Their hour of justice will come. And that hour has already arrived 
for an increasing number of field generals of the terrorist army. 
Recently, we took a guy named al-Nashiri into custody. Until last month 
he was the top Al Qaida operative, the top Al Qaida leader in the Gulf 
region. He was plotting and planning. But today this much is certain: He 
won't be executing any more attacks against the United States and our 
friends like the attack he masterminded against the U.S.S. Cole.
    Success in the war on terror will only come by taking every measure 
to protect innocent people from sudden and catastrophic violence. And we 
must oppose the threat of such violence from any source. We oppose the 
terror network and all who harbor and support the terrorists. And we 
oppose a uniquely dangerous regime that possesses the weapons of mass 
murder, has used those weapons, and could supply those weapons to 
terrorist networks.
    Saddam Hussein's regime has a long history of aggression against his 
neighbors and hostility towards America. It has a long history of ties 
to terrorists. The dictator has a long history of seeking biological and 
chemical and nuclear weapons, even while U.N. inspectors were present in 
his country. Now the world has told him the game is over. The U.N. 
Security Council, the NATO Alliance, and the United States are united. 
Saddam Hussein will fully disarm himself of weapons of mass destruction, 
and if he does not, the United States will lead a coalition to disarm 
him.
    As the U.N. weapons inspections process gets underway, we must 
remember that inspections will not--will only work--will only work if 
Iraq fully complies. You see, the inspectors are not in Iraq to play 
hide-and-seek with Mr. Saddam Hussein. Inspectors do not have the duty 
or the ability to uncover terrible weapons hidden in a vast country. The 
responsibility of inspectors is simply to confirm the evidence of 
voluntary and total disarmament. It is Saddam Hussein who has the 
responsibility to provide that evidence as directed and in full. Any act 
of delay, deception, or defiance will prove that Saddam Hussein has not 
adopted the path of compliance and has rejected the path of peace. In 
the inspections process, the United States will be making one judgment: 
Has Saddam Hussein changed his behavior of the last 11 years? Has he 
decided to cooperate willingly and comply completely, or has he not? So 
far the signs are not encouraging. A regime that fires

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upon American and British pilots is not taking the path of compliance. A 
regime that sends letters filled with protests and falsehoods is not 
taking the path of compliance.
    On or before the 8th of December, Iraq must provide a full and 
accurate declaration of its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic 
missile programs. That declaration must be credible and complete, or the 
Iraqi dictator will have demonstrated to the world once again that he 
has chosen not to change his behavior.
    Americans seek peace in this world. We're a peaceful nation. War is 
the last option for confronting threats. Yet the temporary peace of 
denial and looking away from danger would only be a prelude to broader 
war and greater horror. America will confront gathering dangers early, 
before our options become limited and desperate. By showing our resolve 
today, we are building a future of peace.
    In the decisions and missions to come, our military will carry the 
values of America and the hopes of the world. The people of Iraq, like 
all human beings, deserve their freedom. And the people of Afghanistan, 
with the help of the United States Armed Forces, have gained their 
freedom.
    One guardsman from Florida tells of meeting a member of the new 
Afghan national army. This Afghan soldier said he enlisted to honor the 
memory of his brother who was killed by the Taliban and to ensure that 
his own son would live in freedom. The Florida guardsman wrote home that 
``being here makes me realize that people are giving up their lives to 
have a fraction of the freedoms we take for granted.'' He said, 
``Talking to one soldier made me realize how lucky I am to have been 
born in the United States of America.''
    ``I'm honored to have met an Afghan patriot,'' he wrote. Every time 
I visit this building or any American base around the world, I'm honored 
to meet American patriots. The men and women of our military bring 
credit to our flag and security to our country. On behalf of the 
American people, I thank you for all you've done, for all you will do in 
the cause of freedom and the cause of peace.
    And now I'm pleased to sign the Bob Stump National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003.

Note: The President spoke at 2:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the 
Pentagon. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of Defense Donald H. 
Rumsfeld, who introduced the President; and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Al 
Qaida's chief of operations for the Persian Gulf. H.R. 4546, approved 
December 2, was assigned Public Law No. 107-314. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.