[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 38 (Monday, September 24, 2007)]
[Pages 1221-1222]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Members of Military Support Organizations

September 18, 2007

    The President. Thanks for coming. Laura and I are honored to welcome 
you here to the South Lawn. Welcome to the people's house. First, I'd 
like to thank Katy Benko for singing the national anthem. It's not only 
a beautiful morning to sing the national anthem; it's a beautiful 
setting in which to sing the national anthem. Katy's husband, Ryan, is 
deployed to Iraq. Katy, make sure you e-mail him and tell him how 
appreciative we are of your service, and tell him how appreciative all 
of us are of your voice.
    Laura and I want to thank the members of our--my administration for 
joining us. Mr. Vice President, we're really thrilled you're here. Thank 
you for coming, sir. Secretary of State Condi Rice is with us today. 
Madam Secretary, appreciate you being here. Secretary Jim Nicholson of 
the Veterans Affairs Administration--thanks for coming, Jim.
    For you veterans who are here, there is no more solemn obligation by 
your Government to make sure you have all it takes to--for your health 
care and for your support. I feel a very strong obligation, since it was 
my decision that committed young men and women into combat, to make sure 
our veterans who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan get all the 
help this Government can possibly provide.
    I appreciate the Secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, for joining us; 
the Secretary of the Navy, Don Winter; General ``Hoss'' Cartwright, Vice 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife, Sandee. By the way, 
General Cartwright is a marine. I'm not playing to the crowd or 
anything. [Laughter]
    I want to welcome members of this crowd who have lost a loved one in 
this war against terror. Our hearts go out to you. We love you. The best 
way to honor the sacrifices that your loved one made, as well as the 
sacrifice you have made, is to accomplish the mission, is to achieve the 
peace.
    Laura and I welcome the families who have got a loved one overseas, 
whether it be in Iraq or Afghanistan, fighting these extremists and 
terrorists. The best way to honor your loved one is to make sure that he 
or she has the full support of the United States Government as you 
accomplish the mission that we have set out. By the way, for the loved 
ones here, I fully understand the best way to sustain a volunteer army 
is to make sure you're happy--[laughter]--is to make sure you've got 
good housing; to make sure that you've got good health care; to make 
sure that you understand that we know that you're in this fight along 
with your husband or wife or son or daughter. And that's exactly how 
this administration feels.
    For the veterans who are here, for those of you who are veterans in 
Iraq and Afghanistan, thank you for volunteering in the face of danger. 
And for the people who aren't veterans yet, still remain on active duty, 
thanks for wearing the uniform of the greatest country on the face of 
the Earth. We're proud of you.
    I want to thank our service organizations and those who have come 
together to support our families and our troops. I can't tell you how 
important it is for organizations like the

[[Page 1222]]

Vets for Freedom or the VFW or the American Legion and other groups, two 
of you--Gold Star Mothers, got you, okay, thank you--Blue Star Mothers, 
Gold Star Mothers, all the mothers, yes. Every day is Mother's Day as 
far as you're concerned, isn't it? [Laughter]
    Audience member. Don't forget the dads.
    The President. And the dads, yes. I knew this was going to happen. 
[Laughter] Yes, the wives, okay, fine. [Laughter] Everybody's supporting 
our troops. I want to thank you for doing it.
    It's important people hear from you. It's important people hear your 
voice. And I want to thank you for organizing. I want to thank you not 
only for the grassroots support of our families; I want to thank you for 
going up to Capitol Hill. And here's the message I hope you deliver: The 
Commander in Chief wants to succeed, and the Commander in Chief takes 
seriously the recommendations of our military commanders. General 
Petraeus came back to the United States to deliver the recommendations 
he made to me. Inherent in his recommendations is, one, his belief we're 
succeeding; his belief we will succeed. And I ask the United States 
Congress to support the troop levels and the strategies I have embraced.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. Thank you all. When the history books are finally 
written about this chapter in the war against extremists and radicals, 
they will recognize certain truths: One, that we recognize that if we 
were to retreat from the Middle East, the enemy would not be content to 
remain where they are, but they would follow us here. We recognize that 
the best way to protect our homeland is to defeat an enemy overseas so 
we do not have to face them here on the streets of America. And we 
recognized that liberty is powerful, that liberty will yield the peace 
that we want for generations to come. They will recognize that this 
generation of Americans did the hard work now, so that future 
generations could live in security and peace.
    And so on this beautiful morning, we thank you for your steadfast 
resolve; we appreciate your support of those brave souls who have 
volunteered in the face of the danger. We ask for God's blessings on the 
families and our troops in harm's way. And we thank you from the bottom 
of our collective hearts. God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 9:07 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, 
commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.