THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all
very much. Thank you. I admit he's not very
pretty to look at. (Laughter.) But he's doing a
heck of a job. I'm so proud of my friend -- (applause.) It's
become clear to all the hardworking FEMA employees that I didn't pick
Joe Allbaugh because of his
haircut. (Laughter.) But I picked him because
he's a good man who knows how to run a very important
organization. And I'm proud of my friend. I'm
proud of the job he's doing. And I'm proud of the work that
the FEMA employees all across the country are doing on behalf of
America.
I'm here to thank you all. I
was up in the operations room, thanking the folks who are working 12 to
13, 14, 15 hours a day, still to this day. I had the honor of going to
New York City. I saw what they call "dirty boot" operations,
from Sacramento and Puerto Rico, all FEMA employees; all people who
love their fellow Americans; all who want to join in to say loud and
clear to the evildoers, your actions won't stand in America.
(Applause.)
Joe said it best; he said, this is
something I hope I never have to go through again as long as I
live. I know every FEMA employee feels that
way. After all, yours was an organization that was used to
dealing with, generally, acts of nature -- hurricanes or tornadoes, and
fires or floods. And then, all of a sudden, some evil people came and
they declared war on America. And your agency and the
good-working people, true Americans, had to rise to the occasion.
And rise, you did. And for
that, the people of New York and Connecticut and New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, and every other state in the Union, are proud of the job
you're doing. So on behalf of the American people, I say
thanks from the bottom of our hearts for the FEMA employees.
I also want to talk about the battle we
face, the campaign to protect freedom; the willingness of the American
people to not only repair the damage done, but the willingness of our
nation to stand united, to say loud and clear that freedom will stand;
that you can tear down our buildings, but you can't tear down our
spirit; that we're strong and united in the cause of freedom not only
here in America, but all around the world.
This will be a different kind of campaign
than Americans are used to. It's a campaign that must be fought on
many fronts. And I'm proud to report that we're making
progress on many fronts. Not only have the FEMA employees
showed the world what it's like to stand up and help a neighbor in
need, we're also beginning to make progress on the financial front.
As you may remember, I made it clear that
part of winning the war against terror would be to cut off these evil
people's money; it would be to trace their assets and freeze them, cut
off their cash flows, hold people accountable who fund them, who allow
the funds to go through their institutions; and not only do that at
home, but to convince others around the world to join us in doing so.
Thus far, we've frozen $6 million in bank
accounts linked to terrorist activity. We've frozen 30 al
Qaeda accounts in the United States and 20 overseas. And
we're just beginning.
Also on the military front we're making
progress. We've deployed 29,000 military personnel and two
carrier battle groups, as well as an amphibious-ready group and several
hundred military aircraft. We've called about 17,000 members
of the Reserve to active duty, as well as several thousand National
Guard operating under state authority.
As I said, this is a different kind of
war. It's hard to fight a guerrilla war with convention
forces. But our military is ready. And as I said
to the Congress, they will make us proud. (Applause.)
In this new kind of war, one that requires
a coalition, we're making good progress on the diplomatic
front. At our request, the United Nations unanimously
enacted a binding resolution requiring all its members to deny
financing support or safe harbor to
terrorists. (Applause.) We've had 46 declarations
of support from organizations, including NATO, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, the Organization of Islamic Conference, and
the Organization of American States.
You see, the evildoers like to hit and
then they try to hide. And slowly, but surely, we're going
to make sure they have no place to hide. Slowly, but surely, we're
going to move them out of their holes and what they think is safe
havens, and get them on the move.
We're a patient nation. We're a
nation who has got a long-term view; a nation that's come to realize
that in order to make freedom prevail, the evildoers will be forced to
run, and will eventually be brought to justice.
Now, along those lines, we're taking any
threat seriously here at home. The FBI has conducted
hundreds of interviews and searches, issued hundreds of subpoenas, and
arrested or detained more than 400 people as it investigates the
attacks. About 150 terrorists and their supporters, as well,
have been arrested or detained in 25 different countries.
In my speech to the Congress, I said,
sometimes the American people aren't going to see exactly what's taking
place on their TV screens. But slowly, but surely, the
results are coming in. You see, we've said to people around
the world, this could have happened to you, this could have easily have
taken place on your soil, so you need to take threats seriously, as
well.
We're beginning to share intelligence
amongst our nations. We're finding out members of the al
Qaeda organization, who they are, where they think they can
hide. And we're slowly, but surely, bringing them to
justice. We're slowly, but surely, calling their hand and
reining them in.
We've just begun. There's 150
detained, and more to come. And along these lines, this
weekend, through the collaborative efforts of intelligence and law
enforcement, we've arrested a known terrorist who was responsible for
the deaths of two U.S. citizens during a hijacking in 1986. This
terrorist, by the name of Zayd Hassin Safarini, is not affiliated with
al Qaeda. Yet he's an example of the wider war on terrorism
and what we intend to do.
Here's a man who killed two of our own
citizens when he hijacked a plane in Pakistan. By the way,
obviously, there's only two Americans. That's two too many, but there
was a lot of people from other countries, as well,
involved. And he was convicted and sentenced to
death. Yet he only served 14 years. Well, we arrested him;
we got him; we brought him into Alaska. And today the United
States of America will charge him with murder. (Applause.)
Sometimes we'll have success in the
near-term; sometimes with have to be patient. Sometimes
we'll be able to round somebody up who threatens us today; sometimes it
may take us awhile to catch him. But the lesson of this
case, and every case, is that this mighty nation won't rest until we
protect ourselves, our citizens, and freedom-loving people around the
world.
The evildoers struck, and when they did,
they aroused a mighty land, a land of compassionate people, a land who
wants to help a neighbor in need, but a land who stands solidly on
principles -- the principles of freedom -- freedom to worship, freedom
to govern, freedom to speak, freedom to assemble.
We sent a loud message to the
world: We will not be cowed by a few. We sent another
message to the world: Together we're going to bring these
people to justice. And that's exactly what we're going to
do. (Applause.)
Thank you for your hard work. I
want to thank you all so very much for your hard work and for your love
for America. May God bless you all. May God continue to
bless America. Thank you very much. (Applause.)