For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 23, 2002
President Bush: "First Priority is the Military"
Remarks by the President at Reserve Officers Association Luncheon
Washington Hilton Hotel
Washington, D.C.
1:23 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. At
ease. (Laughter.) I want to thank you all very
much for such a warm welcome. It's an honor to be here, and
it's an honor to receive the Minuteman Award. I'm in pretty
good company. (Applause.) Scoop Jackson, Strom
Thurman, President Ford, President Reagan, and the best Dad a guy could
ever have. (Applause.)
It's a high privilege to be here with the men and women of the
Reserves Officers Association. For 80 years you stood up for
America and the people who wear its uniform. Today, many
Reserve officers are on duty in our campaign against
terror. Today, the Guard and Reserve are fighting a
two-front war -- one in Central Asia, and one here at home.
The Air Force Reserve alone has flown more than 3,000 sorties over
Afghanistan, and more than 800 sorties to protect American
cities. In this hour of need, America is depending on our
Reserve officers. You are not letting us down, and America
is grateful. (Applause.)
We're in a fight for freedom and for the security of the American
people. We're in a fight for the values of
civilization. And the terrorists, the evil ones who targeted
America are learning something -- they picked the wrong
enemy. (Applause.) Whatever it takes, whatever it
costs, this patient, this resolved nation will win the first war of the
21st century. (Applause.)
I want to thank Chip for his fine introduction and for picking me
for the award. (Laughter and applause.) I see
Secretary of the Army White is here. General Jumper is
here. I'm sure I'm going to miss somebody -- David Chu is
here, and other members of one of the finest teams, one of the finest
national security teams a President has ever put
together. Thank you all for
coming. (Applause.) And I appreciate the Reserve
chiefs, as well. Thank you for your service to the
country. (Applause.)
You know, it has been four and a half months since September the
11th. It's been four and a half months since we've been
attacked. Sometimes it seems like a long
time. But one thing is for certain -- when you think about
the nature of the war we face, four and a half months is not a very
long time. And yet, we've done a lot. We've
accomplished a lot. (Applause.)
One thing is for certain; this great nation has risen to the
challenge. (Applause.) One of the most brutal and
repressive regimes ever, the Taliban, is now out of
business. (Applause.) We've smoked members of al
Qaeda out of their caves. We've destroyed their
bunkers. And the global network of terrorists has seen the
first glimpse of their fate.
We've sent food and medical shipments to the suffering people of
Afghanistan. We've helped them organize a new government
that represents all the people. And this proud military, and
this great nation has liberated people. We've liberated
women and children who lived under the severe hand of the most
repressive Taliban. (Applause.)
And these gains are a tribute to the United States
military. There were no doubt in my mind that when I
unleashed our great military, our men and women would perform
bravely. They have not let us
down. (Applause.) Our military is relentless -- I
mean, relentless -- in pursuing the terrorists. And at the
same time, we've shown great care in protecting innocent life.
They serve with skill and dedication. Our commanders are
patient; they're not restless. They know that they've got
the backing of the administration and the American people; that I'm
patient; the people are patient. We all know that we've
entered a difficult phase in our first theater in the war against
terror; that while, in the first couple of months, we saw great success
on the ground, we're now on a manhunt, one person at a
time. No matter how long it takes, no matter where we have
to look, our United States military will patiently and surely hunt down
the murderers and killers and terrorists, and bring them, one by one,
to justice. (Applause.)
Our fight against terrorism began in Afghanistan, but it's not
going to end there. We still face a shadowy enemy who dwells
in the dark corners of the earth. Dangers and sacrifices lie
ahead. Yet, America will not rest, we will not tire until
every terrorist group of global reach has been found, has been stopped,
and has been defeated. (Applause.)
We have a special responsibility to defend freedom. And
I accept that responsibility, and so does our military, and so do the
American people. And I have the responsibility to prepare
the nation for all that lies ahead. Next week I will go
before Congress to lay out my priorities for the coming
year. There will be no room for
misunderstanding. The most basic commitment of our
government will be the security of our country. We will win
this war; we will protect our people; and we will work to renew the
strength of our economy.
Our first priority is the military. The highest calling
to protect the people is to strengthen our military. And
that will be the priority of the budget I submit to the United States
Congress. (Applause.) Those who review our budget
must understand that we're asking a lot of our men and women in
uniform, and we'll be asking more of them in the future. In
return, they deserve every resource, every weapon needed to achieve the
final and full victory.
My '03 budget calls for more than $48 billion in new defense
spending. This will be the largest increase in defense
spending in the last 20 years, and it includes another pay raise for
the men and women who wear the uniform. (Applause.)
We will invest in more precision weapons, in missile defenses, in
unmanned vehicles, in high-tech equipment for soldiers on the
ground. The tools of modern warfare are
effective. They are expensive. But in order to
win this war against terror, they are essential. Buying
these tools may put a strain on the budget, but we will not cut corners
when it comes to the defense of our great land. (Applause.)
Another priority is to protect our people from future terrorist
attacks. And so the second priority in my budget will be a
major new increase in spending for homeland security. The
federal government has already acted quickly to increase the number of
sky marshals, to support the largest criminal investigation in U.S.
history, to acquire antibiotics for large-scale treatment of anthrax,
to deploy hundreds of Coast Guard cutters and aircraft and small boats
to patrol ports, and to station 8,000 National Guardsmen in the
nation's airports.
All this came in response to a sudden emergency. Now we
must undertake a sustained strategy for homeland defense. In
our next budget, we move forward to complete the hiring of 30,000 new
federal airport security workers. We will hire an additional
300 FBI agents to help fight the war on terror. We'll
purchase new equipment to improve the safety of the mail, and protect
the men and women who deliver our mail. We'll begin a major
program of research to combat the threat of
bioterrorism. We'll modernize public health labs throughout
the country, improving their capacity to detect and treat outbreaks of
disease. We will ensure that state and local firemen and
police and rescue workers are prepared for terrorism. And
we will do more to secure our borders.
The American people are on watch against future
attacks. And so will their government. The truth
of the matter is, though, in order to fully secure America and our
allies, those of us who love and defend freedom, in order to make sure
we're safe in the long run, we must find the terrorists wherever they
think they can hide, and, as I like to say, get
'em. (Applause.)
Another priority of the budget is to fight the recession and work
on the economic security of our people. You know, our
country is united when it comes to fighting the war. We need
to be united when it comes to battling recession, as
well. It's time to set aside all the politics, all the
posturing, and figure out how to take care of workers whose lives were
affected because of the attacks on 9/11.
But as we do so, always remember that people may want an
unemployment check to help them through tough times, but what they
really want is a permanent paycheck. And, therefore, jobs
ought to be the central core of any economic development plan that we
can run out of the United States Congress. (Applause.)
So when I submit my budget to the United States Congress, these
will be my priorities. We've made our choices, to match the
great challenges and opportunities of our time. Our great
challenge is to protect the American people. Our great
opportunity is to advance the cause of justice and human dignity and
freedom all across the world. (Applause.) In this
cause, our military is showing the world America at its
best. (Applause.)
And so, on behalf of an entire nation, I want to say thanks to the
men and women who wear our uniform, and thanks to the Reserve Officers
Association for your sacrifices and your support of our great land.
Thank you for having me, and may God bless. (Applause.)
END 1:40
P.M. EST
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