[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 14 (Monday, April 5, 2004)]
[Pages 506-507]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Wisconsin First-Responders in Appleton

March 30, 2004

    Thank you very much. I was just looking for a salad. [Laughter] 
Thank you all for your welcome. Thanks for letting me barge in. Please 
sit down.
    Ed, thanks for letting me come in to say something to our first-
responders here in this State. First, I want to thank you for your 
service to our country. We're at war, and we better be ready on all 
fronts. And so the first-responder effort and the strategy with the 
local, State, and Federal government is really an important part of 
making sure that we do everything we can to do our solemn duty, which is 
to protect our fellow citizens from harm.
    We've got a big and vast country, which makes the task particularly 
tough. So the best way to protect our citizens from harm is to find the 
enemy, bring them to justice, to get them before they try to get us. And 
that's exactly what the country is trying to--[applause].
    We're on the hunt. There's a lot of really fine folks wearing this 
Nation's uniform that are making the world and America more safe and 
secure. If you happen to have a relative in the military, you thank them 
on behalf of the Commander in Chief for this job they're doing and for 
the sacrifice that they're making. This military of ours is fantastic. 
It's really got unbelievably capable people. My job is to make sure they 
get the best--the best equipment, the best training. Any time you put 
anybody in harm's way, we have a solemn duty to make sure that they're 
well-equipped. And there are a lot of good folks out there running them 
down right now, and that's exactly what this Government must do and will 
continue to do.
    I am--I just came from giving a speech on the economy, but part of 
the challenges we face is--my job as the Commander in Chief is to 
provide people as direct assessment I can about the future of this 
country. And the problem we face right now is, we love freedom, and 
we're not going to change, and the people that we fight hate freedom. 
That's just the way it is.
    I've always felt that September the 11th was going to be--the type 
of war that started that day was going to be the type of war that I 
constantly have to explain to the American people. It's going to be 
different. I suspect there's some old vets here. It's easy to find 
infantry and airplanes and a flotilla of ships. It's hard to find people 
that are so cold-blooded in their murder that they hide in caves and the 
dark corners of cities. But that's what we're going to do. We're going 
to find them.
    The other thing is, is that you've just got to know that any time 
you see a threat, after September the 11th, you've got to take it 
seriously. It used to be that oceans would protect us, that we could 
say, ``Well, there's a threat over here. We can deal with it if we feel 
like it, but we're protected by oceans.'' September the 11th taught us 
another lesson, that this Nation must always deal with threats before 
they fully materialize, that we've got

[[Page 507]]

to--in order to do our duty, in order for me to do mine as the Commander 
in Chief, if we see a threat, we'll take action of some kind. Obviously, 
the military option is the last option, not the first.
    But I want to remind you that I saw a threat. I looked at the 
intelligence and saw a threat in Iraq. The United States Congress looked 
at the very same intelligence, and it saw a threat. The United Nations 
Security Council looked at the intelligence, and it saw a threat as 
well. We went back to the United Nations and said, ``Look, this guy is a 
problem. He's a threat. He used gas on his own people. He used weapons 
of mass destruction on his own people. He's a--we've got to take it 
seriously. September the 11th taught us a lesson.'' So we came together 
and said, ``Look, get rid of your weapons, Mr. Saddam Hussein.'' He 
said, ``No.'' So I was faced with a choice: Do I trust the word of a 
madman, or do I do my duty to defend America? And given that choice, I 
will defend our country every time.
    We're living in historic times. It's a different kind of war, and 
all of us are called to do our part. And I want to thank you. I came by 
to thank--they said there's some people who are on the frontlines of 
helping us secure the country. I said, ``I want to come by.'' I don't 
care about your politics. What I do care about is the fact that you're 
serving, and I wanted to come by and thank you for that. I want to thank 
you for doing everything you can to help somebody, to prepare our 
country. I just want you to know, I'm going to do my part too.
    It's a fantastic country we have. It's a--it's been such an amazing 
experience to see the character of this Nation, a nation which refuses 
to buckle under to the threat of terrorism, a nation which showed 
incredible resolve, a nation in which firefighters were willing to rush 
into burning buildings to save their fellow citizens, a nation also 
which has got an incredible amount of compassion. You know what I'm 
talking about when I talk about people who are willing to love their 
neighbor just like they love themselves in the community in which you 
live. To me, that's the courage of the country which defines us, but 
it's also the heart of the country which defines us as well.
    So thanks for letting me come by to say hi. I'm keeping office hours 
now, so I've got to head back--[laughter]--head back over yonder, as 
they say in Texas. [Laughter] But I, again, want to thank you for your 
service.
    May God bless your work. May God bless your families, and may God 
continue to bless our great country. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:39 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel. In his 
remarks, he referred to Ed Gleason, administrator, Wisconsin Emergency 
Management; and former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.