Remarks at a luncheon for Representative Charles W. "Chip" Pickering in Jackson, Mississippi

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, August 12, 2002

In the meantime, I hope you realize that there are a lot of people working hard to protect our homeland. We're doing a better job of sharing information. We're running down every lead, every hint. Every time we find out that somebody might be thinking about doing something to America, we're reacting. And there's a lot of good people reacting on our behalf. And I want to thank you for that, and I want to assure you that we take every possible hint seriously. We do.

I also want to tell you that I know the best way to protect the homeland is to find the killers and bring them to justice. We must hunt them down, one by one, to secure America, and we will. It's a different kind of war. I know you know that. The American people have come to understand that, that the first war of the 21st century is different from the previous wars. In the past, we would follow infantries and formations of aircraft and fleets of ships across oceans. We would know where they were, and we'd watch whether or not battlefields were taken or not. Now we're fighting individuals who hide in caves and send youngsters to their death. We're fighting people that move money around surreptitiously and attack by means of terror. That's who we're fighting. But it's still a war. We fight for freedom. Just like the previous wars we fought for freedom, we fight for freedom now, which means that we have to think differently about how we fight the war.

The first stage of any war is to make certain doctrines clear. One doctrine we made clear, and we're continuing to make clear, is, no matter what the cost, we defend freedom in America. That's why I submitted a significant budget--a defense budget, the biggest since Ronald Reagan, because I understand the price of freedom is high. But it's not too high, as far as I'm concerned. Anytime we put our uniformed folks into harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best possible equipment. It also is a signal, by the way--the size of the defense bill is a signal that says, we're in this for the long run. I like to remind people, there's not a calendar on my desk. Senator Lott will tell you, or Senator Cochran who's been in the office, there's not a calendar in the Oval Office that says, oh, by such-and-such a date, we're through, that we'll all go home. That's not the way it is when it comes to defending freedom and winning the first war of the 21st century. We're relentless, and we're determ ined.

And so the first doctrine is, no matter what the cost to defend our freedoms, we'll pay it. The second doctrine is, if you harbor a terrorist, or if you feed a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorists.

And the Taliban learned now what we meant. The Taliban found out what we meant. And I want you all to remind your youngsters who are here, or remind your youngsters if they're not here, that their Government sent our military into Afghanistan not to conquer a people but to free a people, to free people from the clutches of a barbaric regime which would not even educate young girls. And so for the first time in Afghanistan, many young girls get to go to school, thanks to the United States and our coalition.