September 27, 2001

Thank you all very much for such a warm welcome. I first want to thank Craig and Michelle for their love and compassion for their friends, and for being such great representatives of an incredibly important industry for America's future.

I want to thank all the airline employees who are here, from all the airlines around America. I want to thank you for your dedication, for your concern, and for being such great patriots for this great country. (Applause.)

Besides you all, I'm keeping pretty good company today. First, I'm pleased to introduce the Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta. I want you to know that Norm took a United flight. (Applause.) And he said the flight was just perfect. (Applause.) I appreciate Norm's hard work and concern about our mutual goal, and that's to get the airplanes flying again all across America. (Applause.)

I'm proud to be on the stage with your Governor, and with his honor, the Mayor. (Applause.) The Mayor said he's going to buy me lunch today. (Laughter.) I like my cheeseburger medium. (Laughter.)

I appreciate so very much Jane Garvey, from the FAA, being here. Thank you for coming. (Applause.)

I'm really proud of the attitude in Washington, D.C. right now. Traveling with me today were Republicans and Democrats, but make no mistake about it, they're first and foremost patriotic Americans. (Applause.)

The state of Illinois has produced a good man and a good speaker, and that's Denny Hastert. Thank you, Denny, for being here. (Applause.) Also traveling is Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who has been a joy to work with as we do what's right for America. (Applause.) I appreciate Senator Dick Durbin for being with us today, and I want to thank you coming, Dick. (Applause.) Henry Hyde, of the great state of Illinois. (Applause.) Mark Kirk of Illinois. (Applause.) Jerry Weller of Illinois. (Applause.)

We've got quite a crowd traveling today, all of whom -- all of whom are here to say as clearly as we can to the American public, get on the airlines, get about the business of America. (Applause.)

That's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it? (Applause.) I want to thank not only the employees, the people that make the airlines go, but I want to thank the chief executive officers from American Airlines and United Airlines, as well as old Herb Kelleher from Southwest Airlines -- (applause) -- Jim Goodwin and Don Carty -- (applause.) George Mikelsons of American Trans Air is here, as well. Thank you all for coming, and thank all your employees for being here. I know this will make Representative Gephardt feel good -- there's a lot of folks from TWA here. (Applause.)

I'm so honored to be here. I think it's interesting that on one side, we see American; on the other side, it says United. (Applause.) Because that's what we are -- America is united. (Applause.) We are united. We are united in bringing justice to those folks who did the evil deed on September 11th. (Applause.)

We're not only united, we're determined. We're determined to find those terrorists who tried to affect our way of life. We're determined to find them, and to bring them to justice. And we will. (Applause.)

But our determination goes beyond the immediate and the short-term. This is a nation that's determined to defend freedom from any terrorist, anyplace in the world. This is a determined nation, and we're a strong nation. We're a nation based upon fabulous values.

We're also a nation that is adjusting to a new type of war. This isn't a conventional war that we're waging. Ours is a campaign that will have to reflect the new enemy. There's no longer islands to conquer or beachheads to storm. We face a brand of evil, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time in the world. These are people who strike and hide, people who know no borders, people who are -- people who depend upon others. And make no mistake about it, the new war is not only against the evildoers, themselves; the new war is against those who harbor them and finance them and feed them. (Applause.)

We will need patience and determination in order to succeed. We must understand that sometimes we will see our resources deployed, and sometimes we won't. But we will use every resource at our disposal.

We will use the military might of the United States. We will use our intelligence-gathering capacity of the United States. We will use every diplomatic means of the United States. We will disrupt their financial networks. We will do everything we can to achieve our objective, which is to rout out and destroy global terrorism. (Applause.)

Americans understand we fight not a religion; ours is not a campaign against the Muslim faith. Ours is a campaign against evil. (Applause.)

And there is a broad coalition of nations that understand what's at stake that have come rallying to our side. And I want to thank the nations of the world that have stood side-by-side with our country to defend freedom. It's heartening to know that we stand not alone in the world. It's a coalition that will require different efforts from different countries. Some countries may want to participate in one way, but not in another. All we ask is that you participate. All we ask is that you use the same amount of effort the United States will to win this war against freedom, to win this battle against global terrorism.

This coalition will exist to achieve the mission, and I can assure you our mission will not change to fit any coalition's. America will stand strong. Others will tire and weary; I understand that. But not our nation. Others will get -- (applause.) Others will second-guess, but not our nation. Others will become impatient, but not this great nation. We will stand firm, and stand strong until we've achieved our mission. We hope everybody follows, but we're marching on. We're marching on to do what's right. (Applause.)

This great nation will not only deploy resources overseas, but we will work at home, as well, to fight terrorism and to win this war. I had the honor of announcing an Office of Homeland Security the other night in front of Congress. My good friend, the Governor of Pennsylvania, has agreed to leave his office early to serve the nation, to coordinate activities to make sure that anybody who wants to harm America will have a hard time doing so; to make sure that we're strong at home as we are abroad; to make sure our resources are deployed effectively.

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