[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 7 (Monday, February 20, 2006)]
[Pages 262-278]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the War on Terror and a Question-and-Answer Session in Tampa, 
Florida

February 17, 2006

    The President. Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm 
welcome. Thanks for the warm weather. [Laughter] It's nice to be back 
here. I just came from MacDill, where I was talking to General Abizaid 
and General Brown, and one of the things that's clear is folks there at 
MacDill really do appreciate the support that the citizens of the 
communities of Tampa and St. Pete and the surrounding area provide them. 
So I want to thank you all very much for being--[applause].
    I'd like to share some thoughts with you and then answer questions 
as time allows, if you've got any. First, I send Laura's greetings. 
She's doing great, by the way. She's a fantastic First Lady and--
[applause]. She's obviously got to be a woman of enormous patience. 
[Laughter]
    I appreciate Congressmen Adam Putnam, Bill Young, Mike Bilirakis, 
and Katherine Harris for being here today. Oh, there they are, yes. 
Proud to give them a ride on Air Force One. [Laughter] Some of them 
aren't going back, by the way. [Laughter] Mark Kennedy--is Mark here 
with us, from Minnesota? I think he was going to drop by--he supposedly 
was going to be here. You don't know him because he's from Minnesota, 
but I do, and he's a fine guy. [Laughter]
    I want to thank my buddy Mel Sembler, Ambassador Sembler, who 
represented our country so well, once in Australia under 41, and then to 
Italy under 43--and Betty. I want to thank the Chambers of both Tampa 
and St. Pete. I want to thank the mayors from Tampa and St. Pete--Mayor 
Iorio and Mayor Baker are with us. Thank you both for coming. Appreciate 
you being here.
    I didn't mean to take you away from your work. Any excuse is a good 
one on Friday, right? [Laughter] So long as I keep the speech short. I 
want to thank members of the statehouse who are here. I want to thank 
you all for letting us use this beautiful facility. And thank you for 
coming.

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    First of all, the economy is in good shape; it's growing. I guess 
that's an easy thing to say in the State of Florida, when the 
unemployment rate is 3.3 percent. Pretty amazing, isn't it? I'm sure the 
Governor is going to try to take credit for it, you know. [Laughter] I'm 
not going to because the role of Government is to create an environment 
where the entrepreneurs can flourish and small businesses can grow.
    And the fundamental question facing this country of ours is, how do 
we keep ourselves to be the economic leader of the world? It's really an 
interesting question. You know, in spite of the good economic numbers--
4.7 percent unemployment around the country; our economy growing at over 
3 percent, in the face of hurricanes as well as high gas prices; 
homeownership is an alltime high; small businesses are growing. In spite 
of all that, there's a certain sense of uncertainty. People are worried. 
They're worried because they're changing jobs a lot. They're worried 
because of competition from India and China. There's a certain sense of 
uncertainty.
    And so we have a choice to make about our economy: Do we retreat in 
the face of uncertainty, or do we lead? And I will be working with the 
Congress, Members from both political parties, to be the leader of the 
world. And here's some ideas. One, keep taxes low. We can't be the 
economic leader of the world if we run up your taxes, and so we're going 
to keep them low.
    And you'll hear a debate in Washington, DC, that says, ``Well, we've 
got to run up your taxes to balance the budget.'' That's not the way it 
works in Washington. They will run up your taxes, and they'll figure out 
new ways to spend money. The best way to balance the budget is to keep 
the taxes low and be wise about how we spend your money. That's how 
we're going to balance the budget.
    In order for us to be competitive and lead in the world, we've got 
to get off of Middle Eastern oil. I know it shocks some of you to hear a 
Texan say, ``We're addicted to oil.'' And we are, and it's a problem. 
It's a problem. It's a national security problem, and it's an economic 
security problem to be reliant upon oil from parts of the world that may 
be unstable or parts of the world that simply don't like us. And so the 
best way to deal with that is to continue to foster new technologies 
because of research and development that will enable us to use different 
fuels in our cars, for example.
    There's Kennedy right there. Good to see you, Kennedy. The reason I 
thought of him is because he's from a part of the world that's growing a 
lot of crops that can be converted into energy. We're close. We're close 
to technological breakthroughs that will enable us to convert wood chips 
and saw grass. We already convert sugar, corn, and soy into fuel. And 
think about that. If this technology comes true, which we believe it 
will, then pretty soon a President is going to say, ``We're growing a 
lot of crops, and we're less dependent on Middle Eastern oil.'' There 
are 4.5 million cars today that are flex-fuel cars that can either run 
on gasoline or ethanol. In other words, the technology is available 
inside the automobile. And it's coming.
    And we're making some great breakthroughs on battery technology. 
Next week I'm going to travel around the country going to some of the 
most innovative places around our country that are providing new 
technologies to enable us to become less dependent on oil, which will 
keep us a leader in the world.
    Another thing we need to do is to make sure that our health care 
system is modern. I want to talk real quick about Medicare here. First 
of all, I'm aware there's a lot of seniors in this State that rely upon 
Medicare. The Federal Government made a commitment to the seniors around 
the United States, starting with Lyndon Baines Johnson, that we would 
provide good health care to the seniors. And when I got to Washington, I 
found that we were not providing modern medicine. I mean, we would 
provide the money for ulcer surgery in old Medicare, but not the 
prescription drugs necessary to prevent the ulcer from happening in the 
first place. And that didn't seem to make sense to me. It's an old, 
centralized system that was not modern and was not fulfilling the 
promise we made.
    And so I worked with Congress--Republicans and Democrats--to get a 
new bill out of Congress that said, ``We're going to provide a 
prescription drug benefit, and as we

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do, we're going to give seniors more choices and more options from which 
to choose.''
    About 25 million seniors have signed up for this new plan since 
January 1st. That's a lot of folks in a quick period of time. And 
needless to say, when you make that kind of transition to a modern 
system, there's going to be some glitches. And our job is to fix those 
glitches. And that's what the Department of Health and Human Services 
under Mike Leavitt is doing. And it's important for our seniors to take 
advantage of this new program. Call 1-800-Medicare. Or if you've got a 
mom or a dad who's eligible for Medicare, sit down with them and explain 
the new benefit. It is a really good deal for America's seniors.
    To make sure that health care works, we'll continue to take care of 
the poor. In other words, the Government has made a commitment to the 
elderly and the poor, but the Government has also got to understand, the 
best medicine is private medicine. And we should not get in between the 
doctors and the patients in America.
    Finally, I want to spend a little time on education, briefly. First 
of all, No Child Left Behind Act is working. It's a piece of legislation 
that says, ``We're going to raise the standards for every child, and 
we're going to measure to make sure children are meeting those 
standards.'' Can you imagine--you might remember the old--well, I'll 
tell you. When I was Governor of Texas, we had a system that didn't 
measure right early on. And guess what happened? We just shuffled kids 
through the system who couldn't read, and we found out too late. And 
that is a terrible system. It lets people down. And we're spending a lot 
of your money. It seems like to me, it makes sense to say, when we spend 
your money, we ought to insist upon results. Results are good for the 
taxpayers; more importantly, they're good for the students. So now we 
measure early, before it's too late, and we're correcting problems, 
before they're too late. And our kids are learning to read.
    And we need to apply that same rigor to children in math and 
science, particularly in junior high. Fourth grade tests, our kids are 
doing fine compared to other countries. But there's a big drop-off when 
it comes to math and--mathematics, particularly in junior high. And so 
we need to apply that same standard. We'll measure in junior high, and 
if you need help, we'll provide it for you. And the reason why is, the 
jobs of the 21st century are going to require mastery in math and 
science and engineering. And if we don't make--and if we don't educate 
our kids, the jobs are going to go elsewhere, whether we like it or not. 
So to make sure America remains the leader in the world, we're going to 
stay on the leading edge of research and development, and educate the 
young scientists of tomorrow, today.
    And so, look, my attitude about the future is this, when it comes to 
the economy, and when it comes to foreign policy: We shouldn't fear it; 
let's shape the future. Let's be the leader tomorrow that we are today.
    Now, we're living in historic times when you think about this world 
we're in. It is a time of challenge, and it's a time of opportunity. 
We've got the challenge to protect the American people. My most 
important duty is to protect you from harm. And we have an opportunity 
to lay the foundation of peace for generations to come.
    I make a lot of decisions. My buddies in Texas, when they show up to 
Washington, after they get over the initial surprise that I'm still 
there--[laughter]--or got there in the first place--[laughter]--say, 
``Like, what's it like, you know? What is the job description? What's it 
like to be President?'' And the best way to answer it is, I make a lot 
of decisions. And part of the reason's--my thinking was shaped on 
September the 11th, let me put it to you that way. And I think it's 
important for you to understand how the President thinks and why I make 
decisions I make, particularly decisions relating to war and peace.
    I knew we're at war when they attacked us. As a matter of fact, I 
was down here in Florida. It didn't take long to figure out what was 
going on. And I vowed that day that I would not rest, so long as I was 
the President, in protecting the people. So a lot of my decisionmaking 
is based upon the attack. And I know we're at war, see--I knew it then, 
and the enemy has, unfortunately, proved me right because they continue 
to attack. In order to win the war against the enemy,

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you've got to understand the nature of the enemy.
    First of all, these people are coldblooded killers, people who will 
kill the innocent in order to achieve a tactical objective and a 
strategic objective. They have no conscience. You can't negotiate with 
these people. You cannot reason with them. You must bring them to 
justice.
    Secondly, they have an ideology; they believe in something. The best 
way to describe what they believe in is to think about what life was 
like in Afghanistan under the Taliban. These were people that saw to it 
that young girls didn't get educated. If you didn't agree with their 
view of religion, you were whipped in the public square. They tolerated 
no dissent, no different point of view--tearing down the--destroying the 
culture from the past. They had no sense of history other than their dim 
view of history. That's what they think.
    And they have made it clear their objectives. You probably have read 
some of Zawahiri's writings, admonitions to his fellow fighters. They've 
made it clear that they believe the United States is soft and weak and 
that they can shake our will. They've made it clear that it's just a 
matter of time before we vacate parts of the world which they can then 
occupy in order to be able to plan, plot attacks against the United 
States of America. They have made it clear they're interested in weapons 
of mass destruction. In other words, they've laid out a strategy, you 
know, for the world to see.
    And my job is to take that strategy seriously. My job is to see the 
world the way it is, not the way some would hope it would be. If 9/11 
affected our thinking, then we've got to make sure when the enemy 
speaks, we take every single sentence that they say seriously and deal 
with it. And that's what we're doing.
    So I want to share some of the strategy in winning this war on 
terror. Make no mistake about it: We're going to win the war on terror. 
We'll protect the American people.
    First, when we see threats, we've got to deal with them. When I was 
growing up in west Texas, oceans protected us. You might remember some 
of those days. Old Mayor Martinez, I know he remembers those days when 
we felt pretty comfortable here in America. We could see a threat 
overseas, but oceans made it pretty clear that--to a lot of folks--that 
nothing would happen, you know. September 11th came along and made it 
clear that we are vulnerable, that the enemy can hit us if they want to.
    And therefore, when you see a threat, you've got to deal with it. 
You can't take things for granted anymore. The best way to deal with 
this enemy is to defeat them overseas so we don't have to face them here 
at home, and to stay on the hunt. And that's what we're doing.
    And we've got a coalition of countries. I spent a lot of time 
reminding people about the nature of the war. Listen, the tendency for 
folks is to say, ``Well, this really isn't a war.'' I can understand 
that. Who wants to walk around thinking there's a war about to hit us. I 
mean, that's my job to worry about it, not yours. How can you have an 
economy recover from a recession if people are afraid to risk capital 
because they're worried about thinking something is going to happen? And 
the same thing happens overseas. People kind of want to slip to the 
comfortable. They don't believe it's a war, some of them, and I 
understand that. And so we spend a lot of time reminding people that 
we've got to work together because the enemy can't stand what we stand 
for, and that's freedom. They just hate freedom. And so we've got a good 
coalition, and we're on the hunt. We're keeping the pressure on them. 
It's hard to plot and plan and execute attacks when you're on the run.
    And so the first step of our strategy is defeat them there so we 
don't to have to face them here. And we've got some great special 
forces. I met the special forces command guy here--and there's great 
intelligence officers and wonderful coalition folks. We're cutting off 
their money. It makes it kind of hard to operate when you can't get your 
bank accounts full of money in order to--we're just doing a lot of 
stuff. And it's important for citizens to know that there's a constant, 
constant pressure. I think about it every day.
    And we're making progress. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, September the 
11th plotter-planner, is incarcerated; his successor brought to justice. 
Slowly but surely, we're

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finding them where they hide, and they know we're on their trail.
    Secondly, we got to deny them safe haven. These people can't operate 
without safe haven. It's an interesting war we're in. It's totally 
different from what we're used to because we're not facing nation-
states; we're dealing with an enemy that is international in nature, 
that hides in states.
    When the President says something like, ``If you harbor a terrorist, 
you're equally as guilty as the terrorist,'' those words mean nothing 
unless you act upon them. And I said that to the people of Afghanistan--
the Taliban. They didn't listen, and so we acted. And removing the 
Taliban--is a clear signal that we won't tolerate safe haven. In other 
words, if you harbor the terrorist, you're just as guilty as the 
murderers. And that's a clear signal that the United States must 
continue to send in order to win the war on terror.
    We saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. Obviously, this issue is one that 
has caused a lot of people to wonder about certain aspects, caused me to 
wonder about the capacity of our intelligence services to provide good 
intelligence. And that's why we're constantly working to reform the 
intelligence services, to make sure we get the best intelligence, 
because I thought there would be weapons of mass destruction, and so did 
everybody else in the world, and so did people in the United States 
Congress from both political parties--thought that there would be 
weapons of mass destruction.
    The United Nations and the United Nations Security Council thought 
there would be weapons of mass destruction. After all, they passed a 
unanimous resolution that said, ``Disclose, disarm, or face serious 
consequences.'' In other words, we worked the diplomatic front.
    And so when Saddam Hussein chose war--and believe me, he made the 
choice. The hardest thing for the President of the United States to do 
is commit troops into combat. It's the last option, the very last 
option. Except September the 11th taught me--and September the 11th 
taught me that we've got to take threats seriously. And the world saw a 
threat. This man was harboring terrorists. He was on the state sponsor 
of terrorists list. I didn't put him on there; he was put on there by 
previous Presidents. He was firing at our pilots. He had invaded 
countries. He was a threat. And the world spoke with one voice and said, 
``Disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences.'' And when the United 
States says something, it must mean it. And we said, ``Disclose, or face 
serious consequences.'' And when he wouldn't, he faced serious 
consequences. Removing Saddam Hussein has made America safer and the 
world a better place.
    And we have a plan to achieve victory. Victory is a state, a 
democracy that can sustain itself and defend itself and join America in 
fighting the war on terror. That's the goal of victory. That's the 
definition of victory.
    First, part of our strategy is a political strategy. I try to tell 
people how I make decisions. And part of making good decisions is, 
you've got to believe something. You have a belief system that, by the 
way, can't alter because of politics or polls or focus groups or what 
somebody wants you to think. And I believe that freedom is universal. I 
believe that deep in everybody's soul is the desire to be free. That's 
what I believe. I don't believe freedom or liberty is confined here to 
Methodists from Texas. I believe everybody wants to be free--white, 
black, brown, Muslim, Jew, Christian, agnostic. I believe there is a 
deep desire for people to be free.
    And if you believe that, then you have faith in people demanding 
freedom, if given a chance. And the Iraqis proved that theory right. 
Eleven million people went to the polls in the face of unbelievable 
terror, terrorist threats, and said, ``I want to be free; let me vote; 
let me decide my future.'' And so on the political front, they're making 
progress because of the courage of the Iraqis.
    And now the task at hand is to work with those who won votes in the 
new Parliament to set up a unity Government; one that is--can help deal 
with the grievances of the past; one that unites under the fabric of 
democracy. And that's what we're doing. I talked to the Ambassador, Zal 
Khalilzad, there yesterday. He's spent a lot of time working with making 
our position known that we want the Government to be a unified 
government.
    Secondly, we're helping the country rebuild itself after years of 
neglect, so that people can see the benefits of democracy. And

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we started off initially with, kind of, these grand projects. We got the 
Congress to appropriate money, and we tried to build some great 
electricity-type renovations. And the enemy kept blowing them up, and so 
we've altered our strategy. One of the things that you've got to do in a 
situation like this is constantly adjust. You can't just get stuck in 
one kind of response mode. You've got to think and watch the enemy and 
adjust to the enemy in order to achieve an objective. And we're doing 
that. So now we've got much smaller-scale projects that are yielding 
instant results for the people on the ground, so people say, ``Wait a 
minute--this democracy deal is a pretty good thing,'' you know.
    Businesses are flourishing in Iraq. Freedom is coming; freedom is 
coming. There's a determined enemy trying to stop it, of course. They 
can't stand freedom. I told you, they think the exact opposite we do. 
They don't believe that everybody desires to be free. They want 
everybody to live under their totalitarian thumb. That's what they want. 
Not America and our coalition, we want governments to be responsible and 
responsive to the people. That's what we believe in.
    Thirdly, in order to achieve our objective, the Iraqis are going to 
have to fight the enemy. They've proven their worth, in terms of defying 
the terrorists when it comes to making the vote, and they're proving 
their desire to defend themselves against the enemy too. You know how I 
know? I'm listening to the people on the ground. I talk to our 
commanders a lot. They're the ones who are giving me the appraisal about 
how well these Iraqis are being trained.
    An interesting measurement, right off the bat, however, was how the 
Iraqis responded to these attacks on the police stations and the 
recruiting stations. You remember, they had a series of attacks on the 
recruiting stations? Guess what my question was to them out there: Are 
there still people lining up to join up? If you're getting blown up 
standing in line, are they still coming? And the answer was, absolutely. 
And we're training them, and there's a command structure--command and 
control structure getting in place. And this military is getting better 
and better. We're turning over a lot of territory to the Iraqis. They 
now have two divisions, which is a lot of folks, that are capable of 
taking the fight nearly on their own. The training mission is working.
    So on the security side, we're on the hunt. We're after Zarqawi. 
See, he wants us to leave. He believes we'll lose our nerve so he can 
establish a safe haven in Iraq. And we're not going to let him do it. 
And so we've got great special operators and U.S. forces and coalition 
forces on the hunt. And at the same time, we're training the Iraqis.
    There's a big debate in Washington about who gets to decide the 
troop levels. Well, those troop levels will be decided by this 
administration, and this administration is going to listen, not to 
politicians but to the commanders on the ground, of what we need on the 
ground in order to win this deal.
    After I leave here, I'm going to go visit with a family of one of 
the fallen troops. I have to be able to look that person in the eye, and 
say, ``The cause is just.'' I believe it is just and necessary. And I 
have to look that person in the eye and say that the sacrifice of your 
loved one will not go in vain, that we will complete the mission. And 
that's what I want to assure my fellow citizens. No matter what it looks 
like in Washington, DC, I'm committed to victory in Iraq so--to achieve 
peace.
    And so in the short term, we're going to succeed in Iraq. We'll deny 
them safe haven. We'll stay on the hunt. But there has to be a long-term 
strategy as well, to win. And that long-term strategy is to liberate 
people and give them the chance to live under the greatest system of 
government ever, and that's democracy--because democracies respond to 
people.
    You know, our foreign policy in the broader Middle East for a long 
period of time was just kind of, tolerate the status quo and hope for 
the best. It didn't work. The surface looked placid, but beneath the 
surface was brewing resentment and anger and fertile recruiting 
opportunities for those who have got a dark vision of the future. And so 
we're working to help the Iraqis develop a democracy.
    Elections are only the beginning of democracy, not the end. Election 
is the beginning of a process where government listens to the people. In 
order to make sure democracy

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works, there has to be institution-building and support for young, 
fledgling democracies. And that's what you're seeing. This is an 
historic moment. The world is changing because freedom is on the march. 
And we shouldn't be discouraged about setbacks--short-term setbacks or 
the enemy's capacity to take innocent life because we've seen democracy 
change the world in the past.
    I think about all the wars fought in Europe over the past 100 years. 
A hundred years seems like a long time, probably, for the little guy 
there--me too. It seems like a while--I'm only 59 years old. But 
Americans shed a lot of blood in Europe, World War I and World War II. 
And yet, the continent is--Europe is peaceful. You know why? Because 
there's democracies living side by side in peace. Democracies don't 
fight each other. Generally, people in a democracy don't campaign and 
say, ``Vote for me; I promise you war.'' They say, ``Vote for you--vote 
for me; I'll work for the peace; I want your children to grow up in a 
peaceful world.'' That's what people say to get elected.
    Japan--one of my favorite analogies and stories about this is my 
friend Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan. He's an interesting guy. I like 
him a lot. We spend time talking about the peace. He understands that 
democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a democracy in a part of the 
world that is desperate for freedom, is an important part of laying the 
foundation for peace. And so he committed Japanese troops to help the 
Iraqis rebuild their country and to provide security so they could 
rebuild their country.
    What's amazing about this is that, like many whose relatives--like 
many here whose relatives fought against the Japanese, my dad did too. 
Isn't that interesting? Eighteen-year-old kid, Navy fighter pilot, 
country calls him; like thousands, he goes overseas to fight the sworn 
enemy, the Japanese. And today, this guy's son is sitting down with the 
Prime Minister of Japan working to keep the peace. And what happened in 
between was that a Japanese-style democracy grew. Democracies yield the 
peace. And what the youngsters here have to see that's happening is, 
we're laying that foundation for peace. Someday, when you're old and--
older, I know you never think it's going to happen, but it does--you'll 
look back and say, ``Maybe old George W. Bush and the United States 
Congress was right in keeping the faith that democracies can yield the 
peace we all want.''
    I got two other things, two other things I want to tell you, then 
I'll answer questions. We not only protect ourselves by keeping the 
pressure on the enemy and defeating them over there so we don't have to 
face them here at home, we've got to protect ourselves by doing smart 
things in America. I hope--I appreciate working with the mayors on 
homeland security issues. We're training a lot of first-responders and 
getting people ready in case something happens.
    Secondly, in order to ask our folks on the frontline of protecting 
America to do the job, they've got to have all the tools. And the 
PATRIOT Act passed right after September the 11th--had a little problem 
getting it out of the United States Senate, it got kind of hung up 
there. My reminder to those Senators is that the bill may--about ready 
to lapse, but the threat isn't. And if people in Washington expect those 
on the frontline of protecting America to do their job, they got to give 
them the tools. The PATRIOT Act needs to be passed.
    Finally, I made a decision that has been in the news lately, and I 
want to share with you my thinking, because it's an important decision. 
September the 11th made it clear to me that an enemy would do anything 
it could to hurt us. We're at war. I understand some don't think that, 
that we're at war. There are good, decent Americans who believe that. I 
know that. This is not what I--I don't believe it, see. I got a 
different point of view. I asked our people on the ground there in 
Washington, is there anything more we can do to protect the American 
people? What can we do? The enemy wants to hit us; they're planning to 
hit us. Is there anything we can do so I can go around the country 
saying, ``Go about your business; we're taking care of your security for 
you''? I think most people would ask that question.
    And General Mike Hayden of the NSA--he's a wonderful person--said he 
thought there was something more we could do. And he showed me the plans 
for this country to pick up a conversation--listen to conversations from 
people outside the country, inside

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the country, who had an affiliation with Al Qaida or were Al Qaida. He 
said, ``I think we can design a program, Mr. President, that will enable 
us to have quick response to be able to detect and deter a potential 
attack.''
    I said, that's interesting, General. I said, that makes a lot of 
sense to me. I said, you're not going to listen inside the country. 
``No, this is calls from outside the country in, or inside out, to 
people who we know or suspect are affiliated with Al Qaida.'' And I 
remember some of those phone calls coming out of California prior to the 
September the 11th attacks by the killers--just thinking maybe if we'd 
have listened to those on a quick-response basis, you know, it might 
have helped prevent the attacks.
    My second question was, is it legal? See, I take that oath of office 
seriously--I've taken it twice as your President--to uphold the laws and 
the Constitution. And so we got lawyers all over Washington, as I'm sure 
you can imagine. [Laughter] I'm not one. I said, is it legal? I'm asking 
this to the Attorney General of the United States, the Legal Counsel in 
the White House; NSA has got lawyers. I mean, a lot of lawyers looked at 
this, and they said, ``You bet, Mr. President, it's legal.'' And they 
gave me the legal ramifications. You'll see this all--this is part of 
the debate.
    Thirdly, I knew I needed to tell Members of Congress. See, they like 
to be a part of the process. They're a co-equal branch of Government, 
and I recognize that, and I honor that. And so we briefed Members of the 
United States Congress on the full program so that they would know--
appropriate Members of Congress, leaders, Republicans, and Democrats, 
leaders of the Intelligence Committee whose job it is to provide 
oversight on intelligence operations. They were abreast. Like my old 
buddy called me, he said, ``You know something, if you're trying to pull 
one over on them, if you're trying to have an illegal program, why are 
you briefing the Congress?'' I said, because I want people to know.
    Unfortunately, we're having this discussion. It's too bad, because 
guess who listens to the discussion: the enemy. If you don't think we're 
at war, it doesn't matter then, does it? I know we're at war. And the 
enemy is adjusting. But I'm going to tell you something. I'm doing the 
right thing. Washington is a town that says, ``You didn't connect the 
dots,'' and then when you do connect the dots, they say, ``You're 
wrong.'' In order to protect America, if somebody is talking to Al 
Qaida, we want to know who they are and why they're talking to them.
    Okay. That's what's on my mind. Now, what's on yours? Yes, sir. Go 
ahead and yell it.

Homeownership

    Q. Mr. President, I just wanted to take an opportunity to tell you 
that I think our country is blessed to have you as our President.
    The President. Thank you.
    Q. That--we are very thankful that you don't make your decisions 
based on the polls, like previous Presidents have.
    The President. Well, I appreciate that.
    Q. And my comment is, is that I'm a homebuilder. I'm very happy 
right now.
    The President. You've got to be. [Laughter]
    Q. But I wanted to just keep you apprised that things are good now; 
the economy is good; interest rates are low. There are people that still 
can't afford homes in our country today. Affordable housing is very 
important. We, as homebuilders--I served on the Board of Directors of 
the National Association of Homebuilders.
    The President. Good.
    Q. We'll be up in Washington in about a month or so to see you guys. 
But we're concerned with the environment just as much as anyone else is, 
and--but there's got to be a balance to make sure that we can develop 
land and provide homes, affordable homes. And also Congress is working 
on some things now that has an affect on financing and interest rates 
for people buying their first homes. And let's make sure that we have 
affordable homes for people.
    My daughter is a school teacher here in Tampa, and it's important to 
people like her, people that protect us--the fire department, the 
sheriffs--they need homes. The times are good now, and I was a builder 
when your friend Jimmy Carter was President, and interest rates weren't 
so good back then, and those were tough times. And I just want to

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tell you that I'm blessed to be here today with you in this room, and we 
all love you.
    The President. Well, thanks. Let me talk about that. Thank you. 
You'll be happy to hear, I don't set interest rates. [Laughter] That's 
set by an independent body. And I just named a new Chairman of the Fed 
to do that. He's a good fellow. And so if I were you, I'd be worried 
about interest rates, because when the interest rates go up, it makes it 
harder for your school teacher.
    Well, there's help, to help certain folks who qualify with their 
downpayments. We want people owning their own home. See, that's--we want 
this to be an ownership society. We want people owning their own 
business; we want people owning their own home; we want people owning 
their own health account they can take with them from job to job like 
health savings accounts. And homeownership is high right now. More 
minorities own a home than ever before in our Nation's history, which is 
a fantastic statistic.
    But interest rates matter, as does good tax policy. Maybe you're 
hinting at whether or not the mortgage deduction would be part of a 
plan. I don't think you have to worry about the mortgage deduction not 
being a part of the income-tax law. But thank you for bringing that up.
    Yes, sir. Go ahead and yell it. Let me get a mike for you.

Florida Coastline/Energy

    Q. Mr. President, you mentioned a trip next week to visit the 
sources of renewable, additional technology to reduce our dependence on 
foreign oil. We have a not-so-renewable resource, which is our precious 
Florida coastline. And because of your great brother, we do have an 
unemployment rate of 3.3 percent. How can you work with us to protect 
our Florida shoreline with respect to offshore drilling?
    The President. Well, I made a commitment that nothing is going to 
happen within 100 miles of this coastline, and I'm honoring the 
commitment. I don't care what people might be saying--I guess maybe they 
quit saying it after the '04 campaign--but it's a commitment that this 
Government has--at least my Government has made, and I'm going to honor 
it. When we say 100 miles off the coastline, we don't mean 99 or 89, we 
mean 100. So rest easy.
    Now, the thing about--look, we've got to get off of hydrocarbons. We 
just do. And I'm a believer in nuclear power. I think it's a--maybe 
someday, and I think we'll--I'll figure out--I'll find out how close we 
are when I visit with some of these solar technology people, but it's 
very likely that you'll become a little power generator in your own 
home, and that the excess power that you do not use, you feed back in 
the grid. Hybrid batteries--batteries for plug-in hybrid automobiles are 
pretty close, they tell me. And I'm going to see firsthand--sometimes 
the President gets the cook's tour, I know it--[laughter]--but 
nevertheless, I'm going to see firsthand.
    Now, what's interesting is, is that a lot of people in urban areas 
are not going to drive more than 30 miles a day. And so we're developing 
automobile engines that can run on electricity for 30 miles, and then if 
you go more, your gasoline kicks in. But it requires a battery that has 
got good storage capacity and is easy to recharge. It's coming.
    And so there's a lot of technologies that are coming on the market, 
and we're spending money. And it's a good use of taxpayers' money, it 
seems like to me, in order to achieve some big objectives.
    I'm going to India on March the 1st, around that period of time, and 
I believe that it's good policy for the United States to encourage these 
emerging economies to use clean energy, nuclear power, so as to help 
reduce demand for, kind of, nonrenewables. And so I'm going to talk to 
them about development of a civilian nuclear power industry. They're 
telling me China has got about 34 plants on the market, which is good. 
But this expansion of nuclear power--which is in our interests, by the 
way; it's in our interests because of the quality of the air; it's in 
our interests because it takes--reduces demand, global demand--is going 
to create another issue, and that is, what are we going to do with the 
spent fuel? This country doesn't reprocess spent fuel; we should. 
Reprocessing spent fuel means that we're able to continue to reuse the 
base material that went through the burn the first time in a plant and 
reduce the amount that we have to then eventually store. And we chose 
not to do that in the

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late '70s because of proliferation concerns. I'm convinced we can work 
internationally to address those issues.
    And so I'm just sharing with you--we got a full strategy to help us 
make us less dependent on energy--on foreign sources of energy.
    Yes, sir.

Transportation

    Q. Commissioner Reynolds from Winter Garden in the central part of 
the State.
    The President. Oh, yes, I know where you are.
    Q. Pressed into service by your brother, Honorable Jeb Bush.
    The President. Is that good or bad? If it's bad, take it up with 
him. [Laughter]
    Q. I thought about calling him and asking him if he'd like to have 
the job back.
    The President. That's right. [Laughter]
    Q. The concerns from the central part of the State is, we've got a 
really unprecedented growth rate there in the middle part. The challenge 
is for mass transportation to free us from the oil that you talk about. 
Unfortunately, the proportionate share of funding that we're able to 
secure seems to be tied into porkbarrel, like light rail which--
Congressman Mica needs to buy into the fact that it's not realistic. So 
how do we get free from that so we can get direct funding for mass 
transit?
    The President. Yes. That will be something that you'll be able to 
effect 5 years from now, because I signed the highway bill, and it's 
done. And nobody wants to deal with it again until it expires, to be 
frank with you. But I understand--but what he's saying is, how come you 
just don't let Floridians decide how to spend the money that's supposed 
to go back to them? Why do you earmark parts of the bill? That's what 
you're saying. And I do think Congress needs to work on earmark reform. 
I'm just not one of these guys--if there's no hope, I got to let you 
know, brother. There ain't no hope. [Laughter] They're not going to 
revisit the highway bill. They're just not going to revisit the highway 
bill until the highway bill expires. And then perhaps you can get the 
kind of--they can get the kind of reforms. As you know, I ain't going to 
be around. [Laughter]
    Yes, sir. I've heard from Jeb on this issue, by the way.

Alternative Sources of Energy

    Q. Mr. President, welcome back to Tampa.
    The President. Thank you.
    Q. And my question is, you've talked a lot about our addiction to 
oil today. You've also talked about advanced, alternative fuel sources, 
in particular for household vehicles as a potential mitigant to that 
dilemma. But we have a very robust, industrialized economy--air, rail, 
shipping, trucking--that has depended on oil, frankly, for generations 
to be successful and vibrant. So my question is, how do we maintain the 
most advanced, industrialized economy on Earth and actually reduce our 
dependency on oil going forward?
    The President. Well, I believe--first of all, natural gas has driven 
a lot of our industrialized growth, as you know. And we are--we need to 
have--import liquified natural gas if we're going to be modern and stay 
competitive.
    Listen, we're going to need oil. The question is, are we able to 
reduce dependency from certain parts of the world. And I think that by 
relieving pressure on how we drive our cars, we'll, in fact, help 
segments of our economy that are going to take a while to diversify away 
from hydrocarbons, I guess is the best kind of macro look.
    Things don't happen instantly; I understand that. But nevertheless, 
there are some practical ways that we can reduce our dependency, and it 
seems like to me, the most practical way is to change automobiles, 
change how we drive. In the short term, ethanol and hybrid batteries 
makes the most sense to me. It's the most practical way and most 
economic way to begin the reduction of dependency.
    Now, listen, we've got a large fleet--I told you, there's four-and-
a-half [million] * flex-fuel cars. That's good, except there's about 200 
million cars. And it takes a while for fleets to renew. And so things 
don't happen instantly, but they will happen quicker as we continue to 
press for innovation and technology.
    * White House correction.

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    Ultimately, I believe that we're going to be using hydrogen to power 
our automobiles. But that's 15 years down the--for the technology to be 
applicable is 15 years down the road. And I guess what I'm not only--I 
guess I am, what I'm telling you is that we see technological 
breakthroughs pretty darn quick when it comes to ethanol and hybrid 
batteries, which is a positive development for the people. And it's an 
interesting thing about ethanol is that the barriers to entry are pretty 
low, when it comes to manufacturing--if the technology says that we 
can--yields the capacity to convert switch grasses and refuses to 
ethanol, once that technological breakthrough comes, the barriers to 
entry are pretty low when it comes to building the manufacturing 
capacity that converts raw material to ethanol. Much different from a 
big cracker refinery. And so that's positive. So we've got the car 
technology, hopefully have the breakthrough technology on fuel, and then 
the infrastructure will follow.
    And so what I'm saying is, this is the most practical way to become 
less dependent on oil. And the economy will continue to function. But 
things are happening, by the way, in diesel. I don't know visiting your 
area--if any of you know something about trucking, you know that diesel, 
clean diesel engines are coming. We did a deal in my administration to 
work with diesel engine manufacturers to come up with a very low-
emission engine that is now being applied in trucks, and it's going to 
make a difference--on Caterpillar tractors. We're getting there; we're 
getting there.
    Thanks for the question. Yes, sir.

Spread of Democracy/America's Influence Abroad

    Q. ----it seems to me that we are facing in this country--I've had 
the opportunity to interface with people of Muslim countries, and the 
war is bad enough, and I applaud what you're doing because freedom is 
important, but what concerns me is if the youth in these nations are 
being taught that you and I and us Americans are, in fact, the devil 
incarnate or Satan, himself--I guess my question is, what can we do 
about that, to win over the people, the children, the youth, so that the 
next generation will not be facing this same dilemma? I think this is an 
incredible problem.
    The President. I appreciate that. First, is to support and work with 
moderate governments, and there are a lot. The largest Muslim nation is 
Indonesia. And we're working closely with the President there to help 
promote a better understanding of different religions. I will be seeing 
President Musharraf, who I like, and he's a good fellow, who understands 
that moderation is an important part of a hopeful future. And so support 
Governments that practice moderation.
    Secondly, provide assistance when assistance is needed. In my State 
of the Union, I said, we've got to reject isolationism. Isolationism is 
the tendency for a nation to withdraw and not feel an obligation to be 
involved in the world. And we cannot defend ourselves if we're 
isolationist. I just made the case. But I also believe, and part of my 
philosophy in the decisionmaking is, to whom much has been given, much 
is required. And therefore, when we see suffering in places like 
Pakistan or because of the tsunami, the United States of America is 
leading the way in.
    And it helps. It helped a lot in Pakistan, for example, to see those 
choppers flying relief supplies up for poor folks who had been--whose 
lives had been just devastated. I can't remember the exact numbers, but 
President Musharraf told me; we're talking hundreds of thousands of 
people either dead, injured, or displaced. And there was the United 
States of America military flying in supplies. I believe, John Abizaid--
General Abizaid told me today that we turned over our MASH unit to the 
Pakistani Government to help so they could continue to provide aid and 
comfort.
    And so there are practical ways. One is to support moderation, and 
two, help where help is needed. Our HIV/AIDS initiative, by the way, is 
a fantastic initiative. It is--I can't tell you how proud I am of the 
American people for supporting this. It is necessary for the United 
States of America to be taking the lead on this issue to save lives. If 
we say, human dignity matters and every life is precious, if that's part 
of a credo as a country, which it is--that's what we say. We say, 
``People matter; every human life is precious.''

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Then those human lives apply not just here at home but on the continent 
of Africa or in Muslim countries. And there's a lot of Muslims in Africa 
who've seen the great compassion of the United States of America when it 
comes to helping to battle HIV/AIDS. There's a pandemic taking place. 
And you ought to be proud of this country, like I am, that we're filling 
that void of compassion and need and hope.
    Yes. Right here. Yes. You're next. Yes. Yes, ma'am.

Helping America's Youth Initiative

    Q. I know that you and First Lady Bush have talked much about our 
hurting generation of teens and our unproductive teens in our 
communities. Just wanted you to talk a little bit about the efforts 
being made with the work that you're doing in initiatives----
    The President. Thanks.
    Q. ----that will help that.
    The President. I appreciate that. First, there's positive news. Teen 
pregnancies are down; teen drug use is down. And that's positive. That's 
good--because of people at the grassroots level--people at the 
grassroots level. I think one of the most important initiatives of this 
administration is to--is the Faith-Based and Community Initiative, which 
recognizes what de Tocqueville saw in the 1830s. He's a French guy who 
came over here--[laughter]--in case you don't remember. And he 
recognized that the great strength of America was the capacity for 
individualists--or the willingness of individualists to work together in 
what he called voluntary associations to make the community in which 
they live a better place. And he saw that in the 1830s.
    It's a--what he saw is still the strength of our country, if you 
really think about it. You know, Government can hand out money, but 
Government cannot put a hope in a person's heart. A lot of people miss 
one of the basics ingredients of life, and that is love. And love 
happens when somebody puts an arm around a person and says, ``What can I 
do to help you, brother or sister?''
    And so part of our initiative in dealing with loneliness, 
discouragement, lack of self-esteem, is to encourage faith-based 
programs--which all exist because they hear a universal call to love a 
neighbor, by the way--to have access to Federal money, in other words, 
level the playing field for grant money so that these programs--which 
have been set up to love somebody and provide love--have got equal 
access to Federal money. It's a really important initiative.
    There are targeted monies, of course. There's monies aimed at the 
different community groups dealing with drug use. But I think the most 
important initiative of all is to empower groups that really do provide 
mentoring and care and decency on an individual basis for somebody who 
needs it. And it's happening. It's happening in America.
    Yes.

Culture of Life

    Q. Mr. President, it's an honor to be here with you today, and I 
thank you so much for the time that you take to share with us. I'm a 40-
year-old father of a 3-year-old.
    The President. There you go.
    Q. And I'm also an adopted child. And it seems that, anymore, 
through the results of legislation from the bench, that maybe the 
unsafest place for a child in this country is in his or her mother's 
womb. And my question for you is--and I commend you for your Supreme 
Court picks. I thank you for your bold stance in who you picked. My 
question is, with my son--this is the future of America. And my question 
is, where do you believe we're headed? Long after your term of serving 
us has ended and long after we've had other Presidents serve this 
country, where do you think we're headed in the areas of abortion, in 
the areas of traditional marriage, in the areas of faith and the 
foundations that this country was founded upon that are so under attack 
anymore? Where do you believe we're going?
    The President. I'm an optimist. I believe we're headed toward a 
period of personal responsibility, where people understand that they're 
responsible for the decisions they make in life.
    I just gave you some statistics. Abortions are down in America as 
well, by the way. People are--one of my jobs is to promote a culture of 
life. And I just told you every life is precious, and I meant it, 
whether it be here at home or on the continent of Africa

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where somebody's suffering from HIV/AIDS. And so I'm an optimist. I 
think people are beginning to understand that there is virtue in being 
personally responsible for the decisions you make in life.
    And that--there's a--and cultures change, and it takes a while for 
cultures to change. All of us--I'm not going to peg anybody a certain 
age around here, but those of us born, like, around '46, '47, '48, we've 
seen a culture change in our lifetime, if you really think about it. The 
culture changed, and it can change again. And I think these statistics 
that show that some problems that seemed incurable at one point in our 
history indicate that there is a cultural shift. A lot of it has to do 
with people being responsible. Some of it has to do with there's a 
religious awakening around many communities in the country, not just 
Christian religion, Jewish religion, Muslim religion. People are 
becoming religious in America. And that, in itself, helps people realize 
that you've got to be conscious of the decisions you make and mindful of 
the needs of others.
    And--but we still got challenges. One of the things that obviously 
undermines good teaching at home is TV and some of the movies. But I 
remind people, they put ``off'' and ``on'' knobs on TVs for a reason. 
You don't have to go to a movie if you don't want to go to a movie. See, 
I think you can promote responsibility at home and still live in the 
free society where people are allowed to express themselves. And my 
advice to parents is, pay attention to the Internet. Part of the problem 
we have in our society is people aren't paying attention to their kids' 
habits. And when you've got your child on the Internet, make sure you 
know what that child is looking at, because that's your responsibility. 
It's not the Government's responsibility to take care of your child; 
it's your responsibility to take care of your child.

President's Personal Values

    Q. Thank you for being our President. We are all way better off and 
very safe----
    The President. Thanks. It's my high honor, by the way.
    Q. Thank you.
    The President. I'm glad I did it.
    Q. We appreciate it. How do you--earlier you shared with us some 
intimacy about how you make decisions, and I felt that was heartfelt. 
How do you keep it together? What do you really think about when the 
biggest story this week was Dick Cheney's hunting trip and not Al Gore 
blasting our troops and being treasonous in his regard to this war on 
terror in the Middle East? How do you keep it together?
    The President. Well, I appreciate that. That's a loaded question. 
[Laughter] I keep it in perspective. There's a lot of noise in 
Washington. There's a lot of flattery; there's a lot of criticism; 
there's just a lot of noise. And I keep it in--I try to keep my life in 
perspective. I try to--I don't try to; I do keep my life in perspective. 
And I am focused on achieving certain objectives. Every day--I've said 
this, and I mean this--every day I think about how to protect America. 
Every day in the morning, first thing in the morning, I get briefed by 
our intelligence officers about potential threats. Every morning I'm 
aware of the world around us. And I told you that it's--9/11 changed my 
thinking. My focus is there.
    You know, I care deeply about troubled youth. I'm worried about 
Katrina victims. I'm worried about people that got moved out of their 
home, and they ended up somewhere else. Put yourself in their 
perspective. I said homeownership is valuable. We talked about 
homeownership here, how important it is--and somebody wakes up the next 
morning and their home is gone. And not only that, they ended up out, 
somewhere else, you know. The good news is those people found love, 
which is a wonderful thing about our country. And I think about those 
kind of things.
    So to answer your question--and I appreciate that--first, I'm wise 
enough not to fall into your trap because--[laughter]--there are some 
keen reporters paying attention to every word I'm saying. [Laughter] But 
I really don't let that bother me. I've got my perspective, and I've got 
my priorities. My faith is a priority. My family is a priority. Look, we 
got to deal with issues, of course, when they come up. That's part of--
it's part of Washington. It's part of being the President. There's--
issues come, and they go. And

[[Page 275]]

they--but I hope that when it's all said and done, people see me as a 
strategic thinker and that I'm able to stay focused on a strategy that 
will leave behind peace and hope--peace around the world and hope not 
only around the world but equally importantly, here at home, so people 
have this sense of the greatness of America. It's a--we're a fantastic 
country.
    Think about a country--when you really put America in perspective, 
ours is a country where somebody can come with nothing except drive and 
desire, and end up being able to raise a family and realize dreams. It 
is a fantastic land. And the great thing about America is it doesn't 
matter who you are, you know, if you got the drive and the desire and 
the willingness, you can make it in this country. And it's a powerful--
it's a powerful--that's a powerful statement to make. And that's the way 
we need to keep it, by the way. And so--I don't even know how I got 
there, but anyway. [Laughter]
    Yes, ma'am.

Immigration/Social Security Reform

    Q. In light of national security, some of us baby boomers are going 
to retire in the next 3 to 5 years.
    The President. There you go. I know how you're thinking, baby. 
[Laughter] I'm right there with you. [Laughter]
    Q. And the number of people replacing us is only at about 63 
percent. So what are we going to do with immigration to make sure we 
have enough people to fill those positions?
    The President. Yes, it's interesting; I thought you were going a 
different direction. [Laughter] I'm going to answer two questions. I 
thought you were taking me down that Social Security route, because it's 
a really interesting--that's a really interesting way to frame the 
immigration debate. Really is, I haven't heard it put that way.
    Let me answer immigration first and then talk about the unfunded 
liabilities inherent in Medicare and Social Security as a result of baby 
boomers like me and you retiring with not enough people to pay it, to 
pay the bill.
    First, immigration. There are a lot of people working here in 
America doing jobs Americans will not do. And that is a fact. And it's 
a--as I told you, we deal with the way the world--the way it is, not the 
way we hope that it is, and therefore, how to deal with that issue, what 
do you do? You got people working here, doing jobs Americans won't do.
    My attitude is, you recognize it for what it is, and you say, ``You 
can do this on a temporary basis.'' You say, if there's a willing 
employer and a willing worker on a job an American won't do, then it's 
okay to fill that job, so long as you're not here permanently, so long 
as this is not--[applause]. And so I believe there ought to be a 
temporary-worker program. We've tried this in America before--pretty 
successful, at least in my own home State of Texas. You got people--old 
Red Putnam over there, he's got people--probably have been bringing 
people in to pick oranges for awhile, I don't know. Agriculture relies 
upon a lot of people willing to do the work that others won't do. And it 
seems like to me that there ought to be a legal way to make this happen 
without creating a sense of amnesty or permanency.
    And so, one, I have a deal with immigration rationally. Now, we've 
got an obligation to enforce our borders and our coastlines, and we're 
spending a lot of money to do so. The Texas border is long, and it's 
hard to enforce. I mean, it's a lot of miles, a lot of empty country. 
And so we're using new technologies, drones, infrared, some mounds, some 
fencing in cities, to try to make it harder for people to cross. But the 
truth of the matter is, a lot of our Border Patrol agents are chasing 
people who are coming here to work, see. And it seems like to me that if 
we could have a rational system that would enable people to do this on a 
temporary basis, it would take the pressures off the borders. People 
would be able to come in here in a rational, legal way.
    Now, as I told you, I'm not for amnesty. You got about 8 million-
plus people here illegally. My worry is if the--all of a sudden legal 
citizens, then another 8 million comes. And I don't think that makes any 
sense. So in terms of immigration, I'm for border enforcement, and 
strong border enforcement, with a rational guest-worker program that's 
temporary in nature, where it's understood

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that you're working here for a period of time, then you're going back on 
home.
    Now, I want to talk to you about what's happened as a result of the 
current program. When you make something illegal, and there's a--you 
know, people coming here to work; people figure out ways around it. I'm 
not old enough to remember the old whisky days of Prohibition, but I 
remember reading about it--people still made whisky because people 
wanted to drink it.
    And so guess what's happening today? We've got people getting 
stuffed in the back of 18-wheelers, driving across hot desert to find 
jobs that most often or not Americans won't do. There's a whole 
smuggling industry as a result of making temporary work--not making it 
legal. A whole smuggling industry--coyotes they're called--and it's 
inhumane. It just is, any way you look at it.
    You know, family values don't stop at the Rio Grande River. If 
you've got starving children and there's a job over here in America that 
pays you more than it does in Mexico that an American won't do, you'll 
come and do that job and get that money back to your family.
    Secondly, one way to make immigration policy work is you've got to 
enforce the law. And so you've got to go to employers. I'm not going to 
come to your home building site--but anyway. [Laughter] You come to 
enforce the law, right? And so you're a home builder out here in the 
Tampa area; a bunch of people show up, roofers show up, and say, you 
know, ``We're legal; here's my card.'' You're not in the business of 
telling me whether or not that's a forged document or not. You don't 
know. It looks real. And that's all you're expected--but I'm telling 
you, they're forging these documents. There's a whole underground 
industry. They're smuggling people, and they're forging documents. And 
our borders are being over--it makes it much harder to enforce. And so I 
think by having a rational plan--temporary worker, no amnesty--will 
expose these people runners and drug--document forgers for what they 
are. So that's my answer on immigration.
    Now, Social Security and Medicare. They're giving me the hook, by 
the way; I've got another speech here in Florida. Laura said, ``Whatever 
you do, don't be too windy.'' [Laughter] I didn't listen to her.
    You bring up a huge problem, and that is, she identified something 
younger workers better be asking politicians to do something about, and 
that is, just to put it blunt, Social Security is going broke. And the 
reason why is a baby boom generation, like some of us here, are fixing 
to retire. And there's a lot of us, and we've been promised greater 
benefits than the previous generation, and there are fewer people paying 
in the system. And it's difficult----
    Audience member. [Inaudible]
    The President. ----and we're living longer, yes, thank you. 
[Laughter] Yes, cameras and everything, they're--leave your name with 
them. [Laughter] She's right, and we're living longer. I wish I'd have 
thought of that. [Laughter]
    We've got to do something about it, and I tried last year. The job 
of the President is not to pass problems on but to confront them. That's 
my job. That's what you expect people to do. And I'm going to continue 
trying. And so they said, ``Well, we don't have a problem.'' Well, one 
thing people now have recognized is we got a problem. I succeeded. Not 
only did I succeed, others succeeded too, in reminding--we've got the 
issue, talking it up.
    People are now beginning to realize what you realize and I realize, 
that we're going to fine--it's just the people paying in the payroll 
taxes. Can you imagine looking at youngsters in the eye, and say, ``Pay 
in the payroll taxes,'' and you know the system is going broke? That's 
not a good deal. And so in the State of the Union, I said, ``Look, I 
tried it; I'm going to try it again,'' is basically what I said. This 
time I believe that we need to have a table with Republican and 
Democrats sitting around it, and sit down and get something done. This 
isn't going to pass unless it's--people from both parties can come up 
with something to do. There's just too much opposition one way or the 
other, unless there's a bipartisan solution. I believe the American 
people are pretty sick and tired of needless partisanship in Washington, 
DC, and I know they expect us to get some stuff done.

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    And so I just want to assure you, I'm going to keep trying and keep 
trying and keep trying because it's the right thing to do. It's the 
right thing to uphold the honor of our offices by confronting these 
problems now, and not saying, ``It's okay for another President,'' or 
``It's okay for another Congress,'' and just keep shuffling it down the 
path. Now is the time to get it done, because the longer you wait, the 
worse the problem gets. Every year that goes by, the problem gets worse 
for a next generation of Americans.
    Okay, I've got the hook. Listen, let me conclude--yes, ma'am. 
Anybody who makes that kind of noise----

Uganda/Sudan

    Q. I did not do that.
    The President. Okay, good. [Laughter]
    Q. It's a small part of the world, but it's very important to me--
I'm concerned about the children in northern Uganda who are the victims 
of the rebel Joseph Kony. And I'm wondering if you can bring any 
pressure to bear on President Museveni to stop that 20-year war and free 
those children from the bondage that they're under.
    The President. Really interesting question. She's talking about 
the--northern Uganda. There's a group called the Lord's Group that has 
been terrorizing both northern Uganda and southern Sudan. I talked to 
Mrs. Garang, John Garang's widow. John Garang was the head of the 
Sudanese in the southern part of the country that, by the way, became 
adopted by a church in Midland, Texas, my old hometown, interestingly 
enough. And early in my administration, I got Jack Danforth, a former 
United States Senator, to go and negotiate an agreement between northern 
Sudan and southern Sudan. And John Garang was a partner in peace. 
Unfortunately, he died in a helicopter accident about a year ago, I 
think. And the reason I bring this up is that there's no doubt it would 
be easier to deal with the Lord's Group if we were able to achieve peace 
between north and south Sudan. They take advantage of instability.
    I have talked to this--I've talked about this issue with Mrs. 
Garang, as well as--now, there are peacekeepers in the region, by the 
way, U.N. peacekeepers on the north-south accord. I hope they're 
effective at helping the people of southern Sudan. I have talked to 
Museveni, President Museveni, about the issue as well, and I've been 
with him, I think, two or three times. I know on two occasions we've 
talked about this--and will continue to talk to him about it. I'm very 
aware of the issue.
    My hope is that by having a southern Sudanese--having the peace 
agreement negotiated between north and south so the southern Sudanese 
can begin to get their lives back in order, get the oil money moving 
that's guaranteed to them, will help provide--help drive them out of any 
safe haven in the south, which will make it easier for all of us to 
deal. It's kind of a roundabout answer, but I'm aware of the problem, 
first of all. And secondly, I'm surprised that anybody in this audience 
would bring it up, and I thank you for that.
    We also have got a major issue in Darfur, Sudan. I presume if you're 
worried about northern Uganda, you're also worried about western Sudan, 
as am I. The strategy there was to encourage African Union troops to try 
to bring some sense of security to these poor people that are being 
herded out of their villages and just terribly mistreated. We need more 
troops. The effort was noble, but it didn't achieve the objective.
    And so I'm in the process now of working with a variety of folks to 
encourage there to be more troops, probably under the United Nations. I 
talked to Kofi Annan about this very subject this week. But it's going 
to require a--I think a NATO stewardship, planning, facilitating, 
organizing, probably double the number of peacekeepers that are there 
now, in order to start bringing some sense of security. There has to be 
a consequence for people abusing their fellow citizens.
    At the same time, part of the issue in the Darfur region is that the 
rebel groups are not united in their objectives. And so politically or 
diplomatically, we have to work to make sure there's one voice from 
which to speak, so that we can then create kind of the same agreement 
between Government in Darfur that was created between north and south. A 
lot of talk, but we've got a strategy, and it's of concern, to the point 
where our country was the first country to call what was

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taking place a genocide, which matters--words matter.
    And so, thank you for bringing up that part of the world. That's 
very interesting that you would have that on your mind. You're a decent 
soul, a decent soul.
    All right, I've got to go. Thanks for your time. God bless. 
Appreciate it.

Note: The President spoke at 1:26 p.m. at the Port of Tampa. In his 
remarks, he referred to Gen. John P. Abizaid, USA, combatant commander, 
U.S. Central Command; Gen. Bryan D. Brown, USA, commander U.S. Special 
Operations Command; Ambassador to Italy Melvin Sembler and his wife 
Betty; Mayor Pam Iorio of Tampa, FL; Mayor Rick Baker of St. Petersburg, 
FL; Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Ayman Al-Zawahiri, founder of the Egyptian 
Islamic Jihad and senior Al Qaida associate; former Mayor Robert 
Martinez of Tampa, FL; Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad; senior Al 
Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; President Susilo Bambarg Yudhoyano 
of Indonesia; President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan; President Yoweri 
Kaguta Museveni of Uganda; and Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the 
United Nations.