USA Leader • GWB Speaks • July 9 2004 • At University of
Pennsylvania • Kutztown • Pennsylvania
"The job of the President is to confront problems, not to pass
them on to future Presidents and future generations.
(Applause.) The job of the President is to do the hard work,
so that people can grow up in a society which is a safer
society, a strong society and a better society...
I never thought I'd be a war President. As a matter of fact,
you know, I was hoping I wouldn't be a war President. But
the enemy attacked us on September the 11th. It's an event
that I will never forget. It is a duty that I will honor, which is
to keep America safe. (Applause.)
Let me tell you a couple of lessons I learned from September
the 11th. We face an enemy which has hijacked a religion.
They're not religious people; they've hijacked a religion.
Secondly, therapy is not going to work with them. You cannot
negotiate with these people, you can't discuss it. The only
way to make sure America is more secure is to bring them to
justice. (Applause.) Thirdly, I learned about this enemy, that
they try to find soft spots in the world. They try to find safe
havens. They try to burrow in and corrupt a government.
They become parasitical. And that's why I laid out a doctrine
that said, if you harbor a terrorist and feed one, you're just as
guilty as the terrorist.
Let me tell you something else about the presidency --
(applause.) One other thing about this job that I have is that
when you say something, you need to say it clearly so people
will understand, and you better mean what you say.
(Applause.) And I meant what I said, and the Taliban in
Afghanistan found out exactly what we meant. (Applause.)
Al Qaeda no longer has the training bases and the safe haven
they had throughout most of Afghanistan. Oh, they try to get
in and out all the time, but now we've got an ally in
Afghanistan.
Now, we have a duty to defend ourselves -- we have a duty to
defend ourselves. I believe we also have a duty to work to
free people from tyranny.
I also said that -- told the American people this, that another
lesson of September the 11th is that when you see a gathering
threat, you've got to deal with it before it materializes.
Obviously, the first choice when I say deal with it is
diplomacy. The first choice is to try to convince people to
come to their senses if they're a threat. And that's precisely
why I went to the United Nations. I saw a threat in the form
of Saddam Hussein. Who wouldn't have seen a threat. He's
the guy who used weapons of mass destruction against his
own people. He's a person that harbored terrorists...
This was a guy who attacked his own neighborhood. It's a
guy who professes hatred for America. He was a threat, see.
And I said he's a threat. I went to the United Nations and
said, he's a threat. And they agreed with the fact that he was
a threat, by a 15 to nothing vote in the United Nations Security
Council. See, the world spoke. Not only America speak (sic),
the world spoke. I looked at the intelligence, members of the
United States Senate looked at the same intelligence and saw a
threat. And the United Nations saw the threat. They said,
disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences.
See, I think when you say something you better mean it, in
order to make the world a more peaceful place. (Applause.)
And so what did Saddam Hussein say to the world? He said,
forget it, I'm not going to -- we're going to play games with
the inspectors. Intelligence clearly says that he was gaming
the system. He wasn't going to disclose. He wasn't about to
show the world what he had. Inspectors like you had for
years were denied access. And so I had a choice to make. I'm
the President who was in office during September the 11th; I
remember the lessons well. The choice was to trust Saddam
Hussein, or to make the decisions necessary to defend our
country. And given that choice, I will defend America every
single time. (Applause.)"
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