For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 21, 2001
President Highlights Administration's First-Year Accomplishments
Remarks by the President and Mrs. Bush on Showing New Carpet in the Oval Office
The Oval Office
THE PRESIDENT: Don't step on the new
rug! (Laughter.)
We wanted you to see the new rug. It's a tradition for
each President to design a rug. And Laura helped design this
rug, and I think she did a fantastic job, as you can
see. It's just beautiful.
That's the seal in the middle. The border here has got a
little Texan in it --
MRS. BUSH: We have the Lone Star.
THE PRESIDENT: The Lone Star. The rays are, I
think, very dramatic. And so we wanted you to come by and
take a look at it.
The other thing is, it's been an extraordinary year for
us. We will continue to ask the good Lord's blessings on
America during the holiday season, particularly on those who suffered
incredible loss. And we -- I hope our soldiers are safe
overseas. We appreciate the job they do.
I'm real proud of how the administration and our government has
responded to the attacks on America. Got a good strategy in
the first phase of the war, to rout terror. Held the
doctrine that says that we will bring the murderers to justice and we
will hold those accountable who help the
murderers. Responded quickly to threats to our
homeland. Tom Ridge is doing a really good job in
coordinating with those whose job it is to keep America safe.
Every morning I come into the desk, and I would read the threat
assessments to America. And it reminds me that my most
important job of all is to protect the American people from further
attack.
On the domestic front, I'm really pleased with what's happened in
the Congress to get the education bill, a significant piece of
education reform that believes that the nation should have high
standards for every single child; and that we ought to make sure that
when we spend money that there's results. And along those
lines, we also -- this bill trusts the local governments to make many
decisions about educating children.
We also recognize there's a federal responsibility to make sure
that we help schools achieve a very important goal, and that is every
child learn to read -- something that Laura's been very much involved
in.
I'm pleased that we were able to pass the tax relief plan that gave
working people their own -- let them keep their own
money. It turned out to be -- by simplifying the code and
dropping the bottom rate, for example, to 10 percent, as well as making
sure that there's a child credit, increasing the child credit, getting
rid of the death tax -- all the tax measures were very fortuitous
because the economy began to slow down in March. And I
strongly believe that by providing the first phase of tax relief, it
helped cushion what could have been a very, very hard landing.
In the House, we passed an energy plan. It's the first
time an administration laid out an energy plan. And the
House passed it; it's stuck in the Senate. I'm pleased that
a good piece of environmental policy was passed last night and that I
intend to sign, which is the brownsfield legislation -- legislation
that will help cities around America clean up all industrial
sites. It's really good work, bipartisan
work. We've worked closely with members of both parties to
get the bill passed, and I look forward to signing that.
The faith-based initiative is such a vital initiative for making
sure that there's something beyond welfare for people who have lost
hope in life. And that bill passed the House. I
look forward to working with the Senate sponsors, Senator Lieberman and
Senator Santorum, to get it passed the Senate. We need to
get a patients' bill of rights done -- bill of rights done next year.
I must tell you, I'm disappointed that the Senate did not follow up
on the opportunity to pass a stimulus package that would have taken
care of workers. We worked really hard with members of both
parties to get legislation that would do two things -- one, help
workers by extending unemployment insurance, as well as helping with
their health care. And then there was a -- part of the
package that would encourage investment and job creation. It
just didn't get done, and that's a big disappointment.
I know there was enough votes to get it out of the Senate, had
there been the will to get the bill done. And maybe early
next year we can work on it again.
But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and
me. We're so grateful to be living in this compound and I'm
grateful to be working in this office. It's a joy to walk in
here every morning, realizing that I'm the President of the greatest
country on the face of the Earth.
Anything you want to say?
MRS. BUSH: Happy holidays to everybody. Very
happy New Year.
THE PRESIDENT: Why don't you say something about the
rug?
MRS. BUSH: Do you want to hear more about the rug?
Q Where was it made?
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Terry. (Laughter.)
MRS. BUSH: It was made, actually, in New
York. Edward Fields is the company. I went and
watched as it was being made. They have -- it was very
interesting. They have huge racks the rug is up on, and then
they developed this electric needle that sort of looks like a drill,
and the yarn is actually sort of painted on with this electric drill.
We took a long time working on the design of it, and the
colors. We went back and forth several times with
strike-offs on the colors until we got what we liked. I
think it's really pretty. They've done a beautiful job.
In late January, we're going to ask everyone who had to do with the
Oval Office -- Scalamandre, who made the couches and -- the fabric on
the couches; Brunschwig, the fabric on the drapes; the Drapery House,
which is also out of New York, that made them. The museums
that loaned these paintings from Texas. Tom Lea's widow,
Sarah Lea. W.H.D. Koerner's son, who we found through Joey
O'Neill, who loaned that painting to us. So we'll ask you
back at that time to meet all the people who had something to do with
the decorating of the Oval Office.
Q Mr. President, can we ask you --
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
Q Do you think that perhaps the cease-fires and the talks
about possible surrender negotiations gave bin Laden a chance to sneak
out of Afghanistan or --
THE PRESIDENT: Ron, I don't know where he
is. I haven't heard much from him recently. And
-- which means he could be in a cave that doesn't have an opening to it
anymore, or could be in a cave where he can get out, or may have tried
to slither out into neighboring Pakistan. We don't
know. But I will tell you this: We're going to
find him.
And one of the things I said early on in this war was
that -- I told the American people that this
administration would be patient and would be relentless. And
you're talking to a patient man when it comes to achieving the
objectives, because I understand the degree of difficulty has increased
significantly.
The first part of the objective was to destroy the Taliban's
military. That was relatively easy. Secondly, the
objective was to hold those accountable who had harbored al
Qaeda. It took a while, but once we were able to bring our
military strength, made our military strength -- air strength, in
particular -- with boots on the ground, commitment of troops, it
unfolded well.
Now we're on the hunt. And we're chasing one or two,
three or four, 20 individuals at a time. And this is pretty
rugged country, as you know. And so we're slowly, but surely
chasing down every single lead. And as our friends and
allies take over more and more of the country, and as the new
government gets, in the beginning, gets into place, we'll continue to
get good intelligence and we'll continue to chase Mr. bin Laden -- and
others -- Abu Zabeda, Zawahari. I could give you the list of
names.
But if they think they can hide from the United States, they're
making a terrible mistake again. And we'll get him, we'll
bring him to justice. I wish I could give you the exact
moment, but I can't. And frankly, since this administration
is in the fight against terror for the long pull, I am not the least
bit anxious about bringing a particular individual to
justice. I know that we've disrupted the al Qaeda network.
Today I was briefed that there are hundreds of al Qaeda fighters
being held hostage. And by the way, we're in the process of
developing a system to deal with each and every fighter, depending upon
the nature of the fighter -- how to deal with them,
legally. And I've instructed the National Security Council
to take their time and to come up with a process to deal with foreign
al Qaeda fighters, Taliban, Walker. I have no answer on
Walker yet, because I want the process to be able to address all the
different circumstances that may arise, and then we'll be able to brief
the country as to how we're going to deal with these people.
Q Are you nearing, though, a decision? Can you
describe who you're consulting with, and have you --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I tasked the National Security
Council to work up a strategy on how to deal with each and every person
that we capture. And obviously, Walker is unique in that
he's the first American al Qaeda fighter that we have
captured. And we will announce to the country when we have
made up our mind on all -- on how to deal with a wide variety of
cases.
Walker, himself, is being well-treated on a ship of ours that is --
I suspect he's finding his berth a little better than it was when he
was placed in the prison in Afghanistan. And we've heard,
the administration has heard from his lawyer and we've told his lawyer
that at the appropriate time we'll let everybody know, including his
family, how we're going to proceed with Walker, as well as others that
have become captured during this war.
But, no, we don't have an announcement today.
Q And nothing has been ruled out? Like treason --
have you ruled out treason?
THE PRESIDENT: No, nothing has been ruled out because I
want to make -- obviously, every decision we make at this point will
set precedent for future decisions. And I want us to fully
think through all the ramifications of the different
options. And Defense and the Justice Department are taking
the lead on preparing a strategy.
This ought to be a strategy, by the way, that when we capture
somebody who has a certain characteristic to him, that then the process
ought to automatically kick in as to how that person is dealt
with. And I think we owe that to the country, to take our
time. And then I'll make it clear -- somebody will make it
clear once the decision is made.
Q Sir, would you consider bringing -- or asking Congress to
come back early and finish the economic stimulus?
THE PRESIDENT: No.
Q Are you angry at anyone in Congress?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I'm not angry at all. I'm
joyous. I welcome the holiday season. No, but I
don't intend to bring them back early.
Q What is the impact of not passing a stimulus before the end
of the year?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the impact was it was
disappointing.
Q What about for the American people?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we'll just have to
see. We'll have to see what the effects are. And
we'll have time when they come back to take a look-see at the state of
the economy. We're continuing to get mixed signals;
hopefully, the economy will be good, but we'll just have to -- we'll
deal with it when we get back.
But I think the people, a lot of people are going to ask the
question, why couldn't they get something done. And one of
my jobs was to facilitate an agreement. And I went up to
Capitol Hill, as you know -- one of my rare appearances up there -- and
sat down with Democrats and Republicans from both bodies who had made
the commitment to work together to get a bill. And there was
a great -- it's a very good bill, by the way -- billions of dollars of
help for displaced workers. And the will to get something
done just wasn't there.
Q Mr. President, do you think a stimulus is a must?
THE PRESIDENT: Is a --
Q Is a must.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, a must. We'll
see. I thought it was important to get a good stimulus
package out. As well as I thought it was very important to
take care of displaced workers. And the bill that I
supported and my administration helped craft with both the Democrats
and Republicans would have done just that. But we'll see
when we come back and take a look.
Q Mr. President, you had said that the next phase of the war
following the defeat of the military in Afghanistan would be hunting
down these groups wherever they -- across the globe, and that countries
who didn't work with us were against us. So do we have any
sort of time lines or goals that we've set up for these countries where
we know al Qaeda and other groups that we've put on our list of
terrorism are functioning, where we're going to say at a certain point,
you're not doing as much as we had expected of you?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I hear what you're
saying. Well, I also said that sometimes the war will take
place and actions will take place that the American people won't be
able to see. And by that I mean that this is a multifront
war that will be effective when we cut off money, or encourage
governments to round up al Qaeda cells. And we are
encouraging governments to try to round up and sometimes -- and bring
to justice al Qaeda cells.
But it wouldn't be very wise for me to describe those to you
because the al Qaeda cell we're trying to round up may
flee. But, yes, we're constantly talking to countries,
reminding them that if you're with us, perform. I'm a
performance-oriented person. I believe in results.
And many of the world leaders that have been here in the Oval
Office will tell you that one of the strong messages that I send is,
thank you for your condolences; I appreciate your flowers; now arrest
somebody if they're in your country. And we will help
you. We'll give you the intelligence necessary to show you
who they are and where they are. And we will -- if you need
be, we'll be glad to lend some troops. Now, that hasn't
happened yet, but the enemy needs to know that we're on the
hunt. And part of being -- and friends need to know, if
you're a member of the coalition we expect you to perform.
Q Are there any -- I mean, obviously, you're not going to
delineate for us the conversations that are happening, but are there
any phone calls going to countries, friends or allies --
THE PRESIDENT: All the time. All the time
we're reminding people that this is a performance-oriented
world. If you want to win the war on terror, you must
perform. And a good area, for example, is in the financial
area, where we're constantly working with nations to help them chase
down money that is moving illegally. There's a lot of
cooperation.
But you asked a very interesting question -- do you keep a
scorecard. And the answer is, I do. I do, because
I'm an old baseball guy and I like to keep the score. I like
to see who's performing and who's not performing. It's a
part of being a coalition.
Tommy Franks said something interesting the other day -- and by the
way, he was one year ahead of Laura at Midland Lee High
School. (Laughter.) They were "fighting rebels"
together. (Laughter.) But Tommy said, this war --
the phase of this war is kind of like a baseball game. Of
course, my ears perked up. He said there will be a lot of
moments of boredom, and then there would be some great joy as we --
what he was saying was that we're in a slow pursuit to achieve the
objective that Ron talked about.
Last question.
Q Sir, can you say that the country is more secure today and
less vulnerable to terrorism than it was before September 11th?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, sir. The country is more
secure today and less vulnerable to attack than before September the
11th, because the enemy has made it clear that we are a target, and we
responded.
America never dreamt before September the 11th anybody would attack
us. We knew there were threats. During the summer
there had been some threats to overseas assets that we responded
to. But we really never felt that -- we had the sense that
we're invulnerable. And now they've made it clear that
they're not afraid to attack us.
And so, one, we're aware. Secondly, we have got a much
better system of sharing information -- information we gather overseas
to agencies here at home. When we get a hint -- and by the
way, as a result of the coalition, there is much more intelligence
sharing going on. So, oftentimes, we'll get a lead from an
intelligence service, say, in the Middle East, or in Europe, and that
piece of information will be analyzed and passed immediately on to the
FBI, that has now shifted its culture from one of doing important work,
like white-collar crime or spy-on-spy work, to
prevention. That is the most, primary job of the FBI, is to
prevent a further attack.
And there's over 4,000 agents working on every single lead we get
-- leads that sometimes prove to be false, but sometimes indicate that
there could be somebody here in the country that is -- intends to do us
harm. And we will use whatever resources necessary to haul
them in if that's the case.
So, yes, the country is safer. Is it still -- totally
safe? No. And that's why, as I've told you, my
main job, my main worry for America is to prevent another
attack. Every morning at 6:50 a.m. in the morning, I come in
here and I think about the possibilities. And every day I
meet with the FBI Director and Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft, along with
George Tenet, reminding them that we have an awesome responsibility to
do whatever we can to protect the American people. And we've
made great progress since September the 11th.
The American people need to know that even though we go into a
holiday season, this government will be doing everything we can to keep
our country safe. We're keeping CAPs up, we're
keeping -- those are military flights around --
just to make sure if somebody tries to attack us, there will be --
we'll have the measures in place to prevent it.
Listen, I hope you all have a great holiday. Thank you.