Remarks to employees of the Dixie Printing and Packaging Corporation in Glen Burnie, Maryland

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 29, 2001

October24, 2001

Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Newth, thank you very much. And Ray and Susan Blavatt, thank you for being here, as well. I'm glad my SBA Director is here; Hector Barreto is in charge of the Small Business Association. And Elector, thank you for coming. I want to thank the employees of Dixie Printing and my fellow Americans.

Some might ask why, in the midst of war, I would come to Dixie Printing. They say, "Here you are conducting a campaign against terrorists, and you take time to come to a small business." And the answer is, because we fight in the war on two fronts. We fight a war at home, and part of the war we fight is to make sure that our economy continues to grow.

When the terrorists struck our homeland, they thought we would fold. They thought our economy would crater. That's what they wanted. But they don't understand America. They don't understand the entrepreneurial spirit of our country. They don't understand the spirit of the working men and women of America. They don't understand that small-business owners all across our country are saying, "We're not going to allow you to terrorize us." We're going to make sure our--[applause].

I am here to report that we're doing well on both fronts. Overseas, our diplomatic efforts are strong. Nations all across the globe have bound with the United States to send a clear message that we'll fight terrorism wherever it may exist.

Recently I was in China. I had an interesting meeting, as you can imagine, with the President of Russia, the head of China, Mexico, Chile--were all represented. And to a leader, from all kinds of nations, some Muslim, some not, the people said, "We stand with America. We stand with America in our noble goal of finding the evildoers and bringing them to justice."

As you know, I have asked our military to take an active role in the campaign. I set out a doctrine to America that said the following: Not only will we hold terrorists accountable for their activities, we will also hold those accountable, those nations accountable that harbor them, that hide them, that try to feed them. And that's exactly what we're doing in Afghanistan.

I gave the Afghan Government, the Taliban Government, plenty of time to respond to the demands of the United States. I said, "You must hand over the Al Qaida leadership which hides in your country." I said, "You must free those who you illegally detain in your country." And I said, "You must destroy the camps that have been used to train the terrorists." And they had time to respond, and they didn't respond positively, and therefore, they're paying a price.

Our military is conducting a campaign to bring the terrorists to justice, not to harm the Afghan people. While we are holding the Taliban Government accountable, we're also feeding Afghan people. You need to be proud of the United States military. It's doing its job. It is slowly but surely encircling the terrorists so that we'll bring them to justice. We're patient. We're firm. We have got a strategy that is going to work. And make no mistake about it, justice will be done.

But there is another front in this war, and the front is here at home. It's something that, obviously, we're not used to in America. We've had oceans which have protected us over our history. Except for Pearl Harbor, we've never really been hit before. And yet, on September 11th, this great land came under attack. And it's still under attack as we speak. Anybody who puts poison in mail is a terrorist. Anybody who tries to affect the lives of our good citizens is evil.

I'm oftentimes asked by our friends in the press, do I know if there's a direct connection between what took place on September the 11th and what's happening today. I have no direct evidence, but there are some links. Both series of actions are motivated by evil and hate. Both series of actions are meant to disrupt Americans' way of life. Both series of actions are an attack on our homeland. And both series of actions will not stand.

It's important for the American people to know our Government is doing everything we can on both fronts of this war. On the homefront, we've got an Office of Homeland Security, the job of which is to organize and coordinate our functions of Government in such a way as to disrupt and find those who would harm our citizens. We've got thousands of FBI agents scouring the information, asking questions, following up leads, all aimed to raise the risk of someone who would harm our citizens.

And as well, we've responded to every incident that has occurred. Our Nation has responded with bravery and courage. I'm proud of our health officials who responded so quickly to the incidents that took place. And unfortunately, we lost life, and our prayers are with anybody who lose life in America. But I firmly believe their quick actions saved many lives, as well.

We're learning about terror and evil, and our country is responding forcefully. The American people have got remarkable spirit and remarkable resolve. We are strong; we are united; and we are determined to prevail.