[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 11 (Monday, March 15, 2004)]
[Pages 369-376]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Women's Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century Forum in 
Cleveland, Ohio

March 10, 2004

    Thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate so very much the 
invitation to come today. I'm really glad to be back in the great city 
of Cleveland, Ohio. It's good to be in a room full of accomplished 
women. As the husband of Laura--[laughter]--and the son of Barbara, I 
feel right at home.
    I enjoy being in the company of entrepreneurs, risktakers, dreamers, 
and doers. You all share a lot of common experiences. You've met 
challenges of starting a business,

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and that's hard. It required more time than you had in a day, more money 
than you kept in your bank, and more energy than you thought you had. 
But you chose an interesting life. You chose to lead. You chose to 
follow your dreams. And I appreciate your spirit. You're making the 
country a better place by working as hard as you do.
    As the Governor said, nearly half of all small businesses are owned 
by women. That's powerful. That's a beautiful statement. Firms owned by 
women are being started at more than twice the national rate. The 
entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.
    This is a land of great wealth, and it's a land of great 
opportunity, and you're seizing the opportunity. Through the hard work 
of our people, the innovation of our businesses, and the good policies 
now in place, we have put a recession behind us. Thanks in large part to 
your hard work, our economy is expanding. Productivity is strong. 
Unemployment has been falling. Incomes are rising, and we're going to 
stay on this path of growth and prosperity in this country.
    This economy has challenges, and we know how to meet them. We'll 
continue making the finest products and selling those products, not only 
here at home but across the world. We'll make sure that American workers 
have the education and the skills to succeed in the jobs of the future. 
And we'll remain the leading economy in the world, because America will 
remain the best place to do business in the world.
    I want to thank Jennette Bradley, the Lieutenant Governor, for her 
hospitality. And I want to thank the other officials from the State of 
Ohio who are with us.
    I appreciate Elaine Chao, a member of my Cabinet, for joining us 
today. Elaine is doing a great job for the United States. Es un placer 
to be here with Hector Barreto, the head of the SBA.
    I traveled today with Steve LaTourette, the Congressman from this 
area. Steve, I'm honored you're here. He's a progrowth guy. [Laughter] 
He knows the role of Government is not to try to create wealth but to 
create an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish. 
I appreciate you being here. He's a great Congressman from this part of 
the world.
    I appreciate the sponsors. Thanks for putting up with me and the 
entourage. [Laughter] Most of all, thank you for being here.
    Today when I landed at the airport, I met Judi Firestone. Some of 
you may know Judi. She's owned her own computer business since 1986. 
She's an entrepreneur. She's a visionary. She works hard. As well she is 
the northeast Ohio chairman for the Race For The Cure, Komen Foundation 
Race For The Cure. She is a breast cancer survivor.
    The reason I bring her up is, the true strength of America is the 
hearts and souls of our citizens. The true strength of this country is 
the fact there are people like Judi Firestone who are willing to 
volunteer their time to make the community in which she lives a better 
place. It's really the strength, isn't it? I mean, the truth of the 
matter is we can change this country one heart and one soul at a time 
when citizens like Judi take time out of her life, her busy life, to 
help somebody who hurts.
    And so the reason I herald Judi Firestone is to really talk about 
the strength of the country. I know many of you here heard the call to 
love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. I want to thank 
you for what you do to make your community a loving place. I want to 
thank you for what you do to heal the souls that hurt. I want to thank 
you for what you do to be a part of the incredibly important fabric of 
America, that it saves lives not because of government but because 
people are volunteering their time. And if you're not volunteering, 
please do so. The country needs you. But Judi, thanks for coming.
    This economy of ours has faced challenges over the last 3 years. 
Think back about what we have been through. Not long before I took 
office in January of 2001, I invited business leaders from around our 
country to come to Austin. They told me that factories and workers were 
seeing the first signs of recession. That's what they said. They said 
that the economy was troubled, that things weren't feeling too good, and 
they were right. In fact, the manufacturing sector had started losing 
jobs in August of 2000. By January of 2001, orders for equipment and 
software were falling, the stock market had been declining for several 
months.

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    And as we started to come out of the recession, and the economy, 
because of the entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that we got great 
workers, started to recover, the enemy hit us on September the 11th, 
2001. It was a day of terrible loss, deep mourning. It was also a 
serious blow to our economy. The attacks closed the New York Stock 
Exchange for nearly a week. Remember back to what it was like after 
September the 11th. U.S. airspace was entirely closed for the first 
time. In the 3 months after September the 11th, the economy lost nearly 
one million jobs.
    The enemy hurt us. But we're plenty tough and determined as a 
nation. And as a result of the American people's resolution and 
determination, we began to recover. And then we learned about fraud and 
wrongdoing in corporate America. And that hurt our economy as well. 
There were scandals that were in the--years in making, shook the energy 
industry. It affected the telecommunications industry. It hurt the 
accounting profession and other key sectors of our economy. A lot of 
innocent workers and investors lost their jobs and their savings.
    Those scandals hurt. But we acted, and we passed the strongest 
corporate reforms since Franklin Roosevelt held the office that I'm 
honored to hold. Federal prosecutors are holding corporate executives to 
account. We have made it clear, we will not tolerate dishonesty in the 
boardrooms of America.
    This economy of ours had been through recession, had been through 
emergency, had been through corporate scandals, and then I made the 
necessary decision to deal with Saddam Hussein. September the 11th 
taught a lesson I will never forget and our country must never forget. 
America must confront threats before they fully materialize. That's the 
lesson of that fateful day.
    In Iraq, this administration looked at the intelligence, and we saw 
a threat to the American people. The Congress looked at the same 
intelligence, and they saw a threat. The United Nations Security Council 
looked at the intelligence, and it saw a threat. And then the United 
Nations Security Council, in 2002, gave Saddam Hussein a final chance to 
comply with U.N. resolutions and disarm. We all saw a threat, and we put 
out, through resolutions, the demand that he disclose and disarm. And 
once again, he chose defiance. He made the choice. I had a choice as 
well: Either to trust the word of a madman or to defend the American 
people. Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time.
    And therefore, in 2002 and early 2003, the television screens across 
America had banners saying, ``March to War,'' and as business leaders, 
you understand that's not very conducive to investing capital. Marching 
to war is not a positive thought, but we overcame that challenge. Thanks 
to hard-working people and leaders, entrepreneurs, we overcame that 
challenge, and now we're marching to peace.
    This week, the Iraqi Governing Council approved the new fundamental 
law, which will be the basis for a free constitutional democracy in the 
heart of the Middle East. Because we acted, because we did the right 
thing, the world is becoming more peaceful, and America is more secure.
    My point is this: We faced challenge after challenge during the past 
3 years, and we're overcoming them all. Inflation is low. Interest rates 
are low. Manufacturing activity is up. Homeownership is at an alltime 
high. The unemployment rate today is lower than the average rate in the 
1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Thanks to our productive workers, thanks to 
business leaders such as yourself, the United States of America is the 
fastest growing major industrialized economy in the world.
    One of the main reasons the recession was one of the shortest in 
modern history is because we acted. The tax relief I signed left money 
in the pockets of families and job creators at just the right time. We 
cut the taxes on our families. We lowered tax rates on everybody who 
paid taxes. We didn't play the old political game of winners and losers 
in the Tax Code. We increased the child credit, and we reduced the 
marriage penalty. This helped to lift after-tax incomes in America by 
8.4 percent since 2001, and the spending and investing of Americans is 
driving this economy forward. That's what's happening.
    Most of the new jobs in America are created by small businesses. I 
understand that. And so that is why we focused a lot of our tax relief 
on small businesses. The majority

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of small businesses are either sole proprietorships or Subchapter S 
corporations, which means many of you pay business taxes at the 
individual rates. And so, therefore, when you lower rates on 
individuals, you lower rates on small businesses. You allow small-
business owners to keep more of their own money to invest and, 
therefore, create more jobs.
    As well to encourage investment, we increased the annual deduction 
for equipment purchases by small businesses from $25,000 to $100,000. 
You see, I understand you can't have a healthy economy without a healthy 
small-business sector, and the tax relief we passed is reinvigorating 
small businesses all across this country.
    We did something else that will help the entrepreneurial spirit in 
this country. We're phasing out the death tax. Small-business owners and 
ranchers and farmers shouldn't have their assets taxed twice. The death 
tax is unfair. You ought to be able to pass your assets on to whoever 
you want.
    Progrowth policies are working. They're helping this economy--the 
economic recovery to turn into lasting prosperity. That's what I want, 
and that's what's happening. Yet, the jobs report last week shows that, 
while the economy is dynamic and growing, it's experiencing some 
fundamental change. Productivity has grown faster over the last 2 years 
than at any time in more than 50 years, in part because technology is 
changing the way we do things. You know what I'm talking about. You're 
more productive in your companies.
    In some fields, one person can do the work that used to be done by 
many. That's what being more productive means. At one semiconductor 
plant in New Mexico, new technology is allowing the same number of 
workers to produce 20 times as many computer chips as they used to.
    Higher productivity is a good thing. It's good for our workers. It 
is good for our economy. If you're more productive, you're better able 
to compete and survive and expand and grow. People think--when they 
think about productivity, you think of it this way: Operating heavy 
equipment every day is hard work, but operating a shovel every day is 
harder work. I don't think many people here want to trade in your laptop 
for one of those old hunt-and-peck typewriters. [Laughter]
    Advances in productivity lead to higher wages. That is a fact. The 
more productive a worker becomes, the better wages that person will 
receive. A more productive society means lower prices for consumers. A 
more productive society is one that generates greater national wealth. 
And small businesses are leading the way in this productivity 
revolution, and for that, I'm grateful.
    Higher productivity also presents us a challenge, and here's the 
challenge: Many companies fill new orders and expand operations without 
needing to hire new workers. Because we're a productive workforce, the 
economy can expand, and in some cases, they don't need to add additional 
workers to meet that expansion, to meet the additional demand. 
Manufacturing output, for instance, increased sixfold between 1950 and 
2000--a sixfold increase. Yet because of high productivity, all this 
manufacturing is done by about the same number of workers. And because 
of the new technologies throughout the economy, another challenge is the 
fact that we've got to make sure people have got the skills necessary to 
become productive workers.
    In Ohio, you know firsthand the effects of economic change. 
Manufacturers are more productive, so they aren't creating as many jobs 
as they used to. Ohio's unemployment rate is higher than the national 
average. Manufacturing communities like Youngstown and Cleveland have 
been hit especially hard. I understand that. I know there are workers 
here concerned about their jobs going overseas. I share that concern. I 
know they're wondering whether they'll ever be able to find new skills 
necessary to fill the new jobs of the 21st century. I understand that. 
There are those with good jobs who worry about their health care and 
their retirement benefits. There are a lot of moms and dads who wonder 
whether or not their child will be able to find a job in the community 
in which they were raised. There are legitimate concerns amongst people 
here in Ohio and elsewhere around the country.
    And one reason why there's concern is because, as the economists 
say, ``This is a time of transition. It's a time of change.'' And if

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you're one going through transition, it's not an easy experience. But 
then we have a responsibility to help. We have a responsibility to help 
with more than just unemployment insurance. We have a responsibility in 
Government to create an environment that increases more jobs and helps 
people find the skills to fill those jobs. That's a responsibility that 
we must do in Government.
    Some politicians in Washington see this new challenge, and yet they 
want to respond in old ways. Their agenda is to increase Federal taxes, 
to build a wall around this country, and to isolate America from the 
rest of the world. They never get around to explaining how higher taxes 
would help create a single job in America, except maybe at the IRS. They 
don't explain how closing off markets abroad would help the millions of 
Americans who produce goods for export or work for foreign companies 
right here in the United States.
    That old policy of tax and spend is the enemy of job creation. The 
old policy of economic isolationism is a recipe for economic disaster. 
America has moved beyond that tired, defeatist mindset, and we're not 
going back. There's a better way, and that's what I want to talk about 
today. To expand the creation of new jobs and to see our workers through 
our transition, Government must meet basic responsibilities.
    First, instead of building barriers to trade, we must break down 
those barriers so that good products, American products, are welcomed 
and sold on every continent. Look at it this way: America has got 5 
percent of the world's population. That means 95 percent of potential 
customers are in other countries. We cannot expect to sell our goods and 
services and create jobs if America and our partners, trading partners, 
start raising barriers and closing off markets.
    Millions of American jobs are supported by exports. That's a fact. 
One in five factory jobs in this country directly depends on trade. The 
surest way to threaten those jobs is a policy of economic isolation. The 
surest way to add more jobs is a confident policy, a confident economic 
policy that trades with the world.
    The economic isolationists have a pessimistic outlook. They don't 
show much faith in the American worker or the American entrepreneur. 
They don't think we can compete. But here in Ohio, you're proving them 
wrong. People all over the world are buying products from Ohio, cars and 
tires and batteries and jet engines and ball bearings and electronics 
and crops from your farms. Since 1996, under NAFTA, Ohio's exports to 
Mexico have tripled and last year came to more than $2 billion. Two 
billion dollars of exports means it's more likely somebody will have a 
job in the State of Ohio. Since the end of 2000, Ohio's exports have 
increased more than any State in the country. And why is that? Because 
this State has got great entrepreneurs who are making high-quality 
products that the world wants to buy. And another reason why is because 
you've got great workers, who, if given a level playing field, can out-
produce any worker, anywhere on the Earth.
    Foreign companies recognize the quality of American workers, and 
that is one of the reasons why so many have chosen to locate plants in 
our country. More than 900 foreign facilities employ people here in the 
State of Ohio, including major companies like Honda. Ten percent of 
Honda's international workforce lives in this State. About 16,000 
Ohioans work for Honda, with good, high-paying jobs. That's a lot of 
your fellow citizens employed by a company that has chosen to do 
business in America. And that's not counting the people who work at 165 
different Ohio companies that supply Honda with parts and material.
    When politicians in Washington attack trade for political reasons, 
they don't mention these workers or the 6.4 million other Americans who 
draw their paychecks from foreign companies. Economic isolationism would 
lead to retaliation from abroad and put many of those jobs at risk. 
Those who play on fear and criticize trade are not serving the interests 
of our workers. Across America, from Marysville, Ohio, to Seattle, 
Washington, workers are better off--better off--because this country is 
an optimistic, successful trading nation.
    My administration is committed to creating the jobs that trade 
brings. It's a commitment of my administration. Remember this: 
Presidents of both parties since World War

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II have made the decision to open up our markets for the good of 
American workers and for the good of American consumers. If we're 
opening up our markets, it makes sense to get others to open up theirs, 
and so we're dedicated to making sure that other nations treat us 
fairly. That's why I pressed for free trade agreements with Singapore 
and Chile. We want them to open up their markets to America's goods and 
services. We've recently completed negotiations with Morocco and Central 
America.
    I just completed a negotiation with Australia. I want you to 
understand this important aspect of the trade agreement. Almost all 
manufacturing exports to that country will be duty-free immediately. 
That means this could help America's manufacturers sell another $2 
billion worth of goods to Australia every year. If we're going to let 
people sell here, we ought to be encouraging them to let--open up their 
markets as well. That's good for jobs, and it's good for America.
    I want the world to ``Buy America.'' The best products are those--
listen, the best product on any shelf anywhere in the world says, ``Made 
in the USA.''
    To create more jobs, Government must meet a second basic 
responsibility. If we want to continue to outperform the world, if we 
want to be able to compete, America must remain the best place in the 
world to do business. If we want to be competitive with other places, 
we've got to be a good place for people to invest capital. We've got to 
make sure that people who invest capital are not penalized by lousy 
Government policy. Tax cuts were vital to creating the environment for 
growth and innovation, and there are more steps that need to be done.
    There needs to be fewer regulations on businessowners in America. I 
bet you spend a lot of time filling out paperwork. [Laughter] I bet not 
much of your paperwork is ever read. [Laughter] The Government needs to 
let you focus on your business, on developing goods and services. It 
needs to let you focus on hiring people, rather than spending hours 
filling out paperwork. In order for us to keep jobs here at home and 
expand the job base, we need better regulatory policy at the Federal, 
State, and local level.
    In order to make sure that we're able to create jobs here at home 
and to prevent jobs from going overseas, this country must have tort 
reform. Frivolous lawsuits or the threat of a frivolous lawsuit create 
an environment that is not conducive to job creation and job expansion. 
There's a role at the Federal level for tort reform. The trial lawyers 
are tough up there, though. [Laughter] Members of the Senate need to 
hear from you. The House has passed good tort legislation, but the 
Senate has got to hear from you. Tort reform will help make it easier to 
keep jobs here at home.
    We need to do something about the high cost of health care as well. 
I'm a strong proponent of association health plans to allow small 
businesses to pool risk so you can better afford health care plans for 
your employees. We've introduced a new concept called health savings 
accounts, which will make a big difference for small-business owners and 
employees as well. And the market has taken hold. We ought to--listen, 
frivolous lawsuits are running up the cost of health care in America. 
Frivolous lawsuits against docs and hospitals are making it harder for 
you to be able to afford health care. We need medical liability reform 
at the Federal level now.
    We're interested in making sure our jobs don't go overseas and that 
there's jobs available for citizens all across our country. We need 
affordable and reliable supplies of energy. Here in Ohio, you know what 
I'm talking about. [Laughter] You've experienced the disruption and high 
cost when factories and cities lose power. It's time for our Nation to 
modernize the electricity systems. We need to promote clean coal 
technology so we've got abundant supplies of energy. We need to explore 
for more natural gas. We need to promote conservation. There's a lot of 
things we need to do. One thing is for certain: In order to expand our 
job base, we need to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
    Finally, to make sure this economy grows, to make sure the 
entrepreneurial spirit is strong, we must have certainty in the Tax 
Code. It's important for elected officials to understand that if you're 
a business leader, if you're the CEO of a corporation, and you're 
uncertain about your taxes from year

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to year, because of--because the tax policy is haphazard, it's hard for 
you to plan. It's hard for you to think ahead. It's hard for you to be 
confident in your investment strategy.
    Part of the issues we face here in the future of this country is the 
fact that the tax relief we passed is going to expire. The marriage 
penalty will go back up. By the way, it doesn't make any sense to have a 
marriage penalty in the Tax Code when you're trying to encourage 
marriage in the country. The child credit will go back down if Congress 
doesn't act. The death tax will eventually come back to life. Imagine 
what it's going to be like in 2011, when it's supposed to come back to 
life. There's going to be a lot of people maybe trying to die a little 
earlier to avoid the--[laughter]--it's unbelievable, when you think 
about it. Think about public policy that says: Your taxes are going to 
be down this year but not. We may have increased expensing allowances or 
not. Uncertainty in the Tax Code makes it hard for the job base to 
continue to expand. For the sake of job creation, Congress needs to make 
the tax cuts permanent.
    The third basic responsibility is to make sure American workers are 
prepared for successful careers in the new economy. Some sectors are 
producing fewer jobs, but in other areas, jobs are growing. They're 
multiplying. There's a lot of opportunity in a changing economy. Here in 
Ohio, there's a shortage of nurses and pharmacists and other skilled 
professionals. And so any viable economic strategy, progrowth strategy, 
must be to help people find new skills, to gain new skills, to be able 
to fill the new jobs of the 21st century. If you're in a period of 
transition, you must help people make that transition.
    All skills start with education. I'm a strong proponent of the 
legislation we passed in Washington called the No Child Left Behind Act. 
This is a good piece of legislation which is challenging the soft 
bigotry of low expectations. We've raised the bar. See, we believe every 
child can learn to read and write and add and subtract. That's what we 
believe. And therefore, we expect every child to achieve those skills. 
And therefore, we're expecting, in return for Federal money, the school 
districts to measure, because if you don't measure, how do you know. 
We've just got to stop this practice of shuffling kids through the 
school as if they don't matter. What matters is every child gets a basic 
education. And if you can't read, you're not going to be able to take 
advantage of the new jobs of the 21st century. And that's why we're 
focused on secondary schools, and that's why we've got plans to help 
high school students who've fallen behind in reading and math to gain 
the skills necessary to be able to work in this new economy.
    We've got programs to help workers who've been displaced by the 
effects of trade by giving them assistance in job training and health 
care and relocation. I proposed what's called personal reemployment 
accounts for people who need extra help so they can pay for child care 
and transportation and other costs of finding work. In other words, 
we're trying to help people.
    But we've got a plan as well. It's an important plan that's going to 
make a big difference, and that is to help the community colleges train 
workers for jobs which actually exist. Community colleges need to listen 
to the business community and the community in which they live. They 
need to ask the question, what do we need to do to train workers? What 
are you looking for? What kind of skill set is necessary for you to hire 
this person? They need to be flexible. The curriculums must be willing 
to change. The community college system has got a fantastic opportunity 
to make sure workers gain the skills necessary to become employable in 
this changing economy.
    I was in Toledo recently and talked with a guy named Mike Potter. He 
lost a manufacturing job. He went back to the community college to get 
retrained. He got help. The Government paid. And he got retrained, and 
he found a new job because he was willing to go back to school, and the 
community college listened to the employers in the community in which he 
lived.
    I was in Northern Virginia and went to a community college system. I 
met Connie Mitchell. She heard there was jobs available in the health 
industry. And by the way, there's a lot of jobs being created in the 
health industry. And so she went to the community college, and they gave 
her the skills

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necessary to become a nurse. And now she's employed.
    In Mesa, Arizona, I met a Stacey Leedom, who's a single mom--which, 
by the way, is the hardest job in America, being a single mom. She was a 
graphic artist. She had worked for a company, I think, for 12 or 13 
years. She got help to go back to Mesa Community College. She learned a 
new skill in the computer industry. And in her first year of a new job, 
she made more than she did after 12 years as a graphic artist.
    You see, if you become a more productive citizen, you'll make more 
money. Better productivity, better skills means higher pay. And our 
country must focus our education system on helping workers learn the new 
skills of the 21st century so we can increase the job base of this 
country.
    You know, it wasn't all that long ago that some people said that 
America was not up to global competition. I don't know if you remember 
back in the seventies and eighties--that's what we heard, though, wasn't 
it--that we couldn't compete with the Japanese, that they were too good 
at being automobile makers, that foreign companies would soon overtake 
our own, that we just weren't up to it. That's what a lot of people said 
in that period. We were told that American companies weren't flexible 
enough, American workers were not disciplined enough, and American 
products weren't good enough.
    Well, the pessimists were wrong. American companies remade 
themselves to beat the competition. Great ideas for improvement came 
from our workforce, workers who are on the line. And the leaders of 
those companies listened. The entrepreneurial spirit was strong in 
America, and it was the American entrepreneur that invented new 
technologies, technologies that have made this country the most 
productive in the world. Our economy performed like never before, and 
today, no one doubts what nation's economy leads this world.
    Our Nation in 2004 is vibrant. As opposed to retreating like the 
pessimists thought, we're selling computer chips to Japan. We're 
producing BMWs in Greer, South Carolina, for export to Germany. We're 
even exporting California wine to France.
    There are people who doubt our ability to compete. There are 
economic isolationists who surrender and wall us off. It's bad for the 
country, bad for consumers. It's bad for workers. We'll prove the 
pessimists wrong again. We'll continue to open up untapped markets for 
American workers and businesses. We'll keep this Government on the side 
of growth and job creation, so American businesses can compete and 
prosper. We'll focus on job training and education, so Americans can 
improve their skills and improve their lives. We'll get the policies 
right, and the American people will do the rest. You will show, once 
again, that this Nation has the energy and the confidence and the 
creativity to meet every challenge.
    I want to thank you for your leadership. I want to thank you for 
your spirit. I want to thank you for working hard to realize the 
American Dream and own your own business. I want to thank you for 
employing people. I want to thank you for the faith of your country.
    May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. at the Cleveland Convention 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Lt. Gov. Jennette Bradley of 
Ohio; and former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.