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    I know a lot of people have got some concerns about how safe we can 
make the country, and if we're doing--are we doing things within the 
Constitution. I want to talk about a couple of things to put your mind 
at ease.

[[Page 1750]]

I'll ask myself a question: Why are you having the opportunity to have a 
military tribunal?
    Now, I want you to remember that we are at war. The United States of 
America is under attack. And at war, the President needs to have the 
capacity to protect the national security interests and the safety of 
the American people. And so I asked, what are all my options as your 
Commander in Chief? What are the options to protect America? What do I 
need to know about what might occur to make sure that I can come in 
front of the folks in Orlando, Florida, and say we're doing everything 
in our power, or we have every option in our power to keep you safe?
    Well, one of those scenarios is military tribunals. No one has been 
tried in a military tribunal; except I, by Executive order, provided 
myself with the option of having a military tribunal, which will be used 
for--no American citizen will go to a military tribunal. They would only 
be used for those who aren't American citizens.
    And let me give you one example of why it may be necessary, why it 
may be necessary to use such a tribunal. What happens if, in the course 
of this war, that we apprehend or capture an enemy and we want to bring 
him to justice? In the course of bringing him to justice, what if the 
information necessary to bring him to justice would compromise our 
capacity to keep America safe?
    In a court of law, there would be all kinds of questions that might 
compromise our ability to gather incredibly important intelligence to 
prevent the next attack from happening to America. It seems like to me 
that the President of the United States ought to have the option to 
protect the national security interests of the country and, therefore, 
protect America from further attack.
    You've probably read about the interviews that are taking place. 
There are countries that we're certain of where people who come from 
those countries are likely to commit a terrorist act against America. 
And they're here on our soil--certain citizens from those countries, on 
our soil. We're a free country. They're here because we're a great 
country. And we've got liberties that we'll protect. But we're asking 
those who are here as guests, enjoying our freedom, to voluntarily 
participate in helping us understand how best to protect the country.
    Nobody is being forced into an interview. People are being--``Why 
don't you help us? Why don't those of you who are guests in our country 
help us make the land more secure? It's in your interests, and it's 
certainly in our interests. If you know somebody or know something, help 
us.''
    We're in the business now of gathering as much information as we 
possibly can gather, and we're acting on that information. People are 
detained in America under material witness claims. It's against the law, 
by the way, to publish the name of those people before they get up in 
front of a grand jury. We've got people that we've pulled aside because 
of who they may or may not know, and it turns out they violated their 
immigration status. It turns out, as we're looking for leads, we've 
found people who have actually committed other crime.
    All of them in America are entitled to a lawyer. All of them in 
America are entitled to make phone calls. We're the freest society in 
the world. That's what America is all about. And at the same time, we're 
doing what's necessary to protect the people at home.

Airline Industry/Hospitality Industry

    Q. How are you doing, Mr. President?
    The President. Pretty darn good. [Laughter]
    Q. Thanks for coming to Florida and talking to us. You've given 
billions of dollars to the airline industry, to try to help get them 
stimulated and get them going. Are you going to do any kind of grants or 
any type of benefits for the hospitality industry, as we're struggling 
to get by?
    The President. Well, part of the key is, is that the first industry 
deeply affected after 9/11 was the airline industry. And without an 
airline industry there is no hospitality--oh, there may be a hospitality 
industry, certainly not as vibrant a hospitality industry as we would 
like.
    It is the first major industry affected. And so our strategy was to 
make sure that we provide the industry that actually affects hospitality 
directly the means necessary to stay in business. To me, that seemed 
like the most

[[Page 1751]]

important initial leg of a strategy. And in the meantime, we're trying 
to help those workers who have been affected within the hospitality 
industry.
    I am hopeful that as a result of a airline stimulus package, or 
airline security package, as well as a safety package and an economic 
stimulus package, this economy will come back; people will have the 
money necessary to travel; people will feel safe to travel; and the 
hospitality industry to recover.
    But to answer your question directly, no, the answer is that the 
first step, and we think the primary step, needed to be what we've 
already done.
    Yes, ma'am.
    Q. Mr. President, what about tax incentives----
    The President. Tax incentives for travel? That hasn't made it to my 
radar screen yet. [Laughter]
    Yes, sir.

Youth, Education, and the Faith-Based Initiative

    Q. [Inaudible]--and my wife and my mother-in-law and friends, 
they're in the tourism industry. Yes, my family has been very well 
affected by 9/11. But I have a question about the youth. Is there 
anything that you or your brother, Governor Bush, can do to give the 
youth the drive and will to look for a better future? Because it seems 
like a lot of them don't--it seems as if they don't have anything to 
lose, so they don't have anything to drive for.
    The President. I can think of a couple of things. One is to remind 
moms and dads of America that no matter what you're doing during the day 
job, your most important job you'll ever have is to love your children, 
is to tell your children you love them.
    Secondly--it goes to this lady's point right here--is to make sure 
that every child in America is well-educated, starting with every child 
learning to read. There's nothing like an education to provide hope for 
people. Part of the reason why people are discouraged is because they 
lose hope. They say, ``Well, this society isn't meant for me.'' A 
hopeful society is an educated society. And so we've got to make sure we 
get it right, we have an education--a focus on education, understanding 
that education is the gateway to such great freedom and opportunity.
    And finally, one of my initiatives that I'm most proud of, that 
passed the House of Representatives and I think will have a significant 
impact in America, is to rally one of the great strengths of our 
country, and that is the faith-based initiatives and faith-based 
programs which exist all across the country.
    I want to talk about one. I want to talk about a couple. First of 
all, governments shouldn't worry about faith. We ought to welcome faith. 
We ought to understand that--we ought to welcome those programs that 
exist because somebody will say, ``What can I do? What can I do to help 
a neighbor in need? What can I do?''
    And it's not a particular faith I'm talking about. I'm talking about 
the Muslim faith; I'm talking about Judaism; and I'm talking about 
Christianity. No, the faith doesn't have a lock on a certain religion. 
I'm talking about people who have heard a call. And there all kinds of 
programs all around America based upon faith. And many of them have 
asked the question, what can I do to surround a child with love? What 
can I do to make sure that a child has got--somebody has got their arm 
them saying, ``Somebody loves you''?
    There's a lot of children who have no love in their life. Imagine 
what it would be like growing up in America, how tough it would be if 
your mom or your dad were in prison. How tough is that? The degree of 
difficulty for success is incredibly hard for a person. And we've got a 
program that we hope to get out of Congress--the House passed it; get it 
out of the Senate--that says, we want to fund, make monies available for 
mentoring programs, faith-based or not, but mentoring programs, the sole 
purpose of which will be to take a son or a daughter of a person in 
prison and encourage some loving soul to say, ``I love you. America is 
meant for you. This country belongs to you. Get educated and go after it 
with all your heart and all your soul.''
    So there's a lot that can be done in society. You know, Government--
Government must not fear these programs that exist in neighborhoods all 
around the country, based upon faith. We must not fear. We must fear 
Government embracing religion. We fear a state

[[Page 1752]]

religion; that's not what we're for. We don't want for one government or 
religion. Government will never say, ``This is the religion.'' We're a 
free society for religion. But Government can embrace programs started 
because of faith and religion and encourage those programs to foster in 
neighborhoods all across America. I'm passionate on the subject because 
I understand the power of faith in people's lives, and I understand what 
it can mean.

Energy Policy

    Q. Mr. President, early in your administration there was a lot of 
discussion of drilling for oil in Alaska and the Gulf. Now that prices 
are low at the pump, what are you doing to ensure that?
    The President. Yes--well, I'm trying to get an energy plan out of 
Congress. [Laughter] The House of Representatives--the House of 
Representatives passed a good energy bill. It is stuck in the Senate. 
And I believe it is in our national interests to have an energy plan, to 
have a strategy to get us less dependent on foreign sources of crude 
oil.
    Part of that energy plan means that we've got to enhance 
conservation. We've got to encourage technologies that will enable us to 
conserve better, and we can do that with the proper incentives. And this 
plan of ours that passed the House has got incentives to encourage 
conservation. And we're making great strides in our society, by the way, 
of conserving. We're doing a much better job, and we can do an even 
better job.
    Part of it also recognizes that we need more supply. And there are 
several places we can find supply. One is, I believe that the nuclear 
industry is safe enough now to encourage more nuclear power in America. 
I believe that is necessary. I also strongly believe that we can explore 
for natural gas in Alaska without damaging the environment. And I 
believe that's necessary, to do that.
    You know, when the vote came up in the House, a lot of people came 
forward to work on behalf of the vote because they understood not only 
did it mean energy security, it also meant jobs. I was pleased to report 
that the Teamsters, for example, led by Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., was out 
campaigning for--or lobbying or working for this bill, because it meant 
jobs.
    But I've got great faith in the technology and the ability of our 
country, if given proper incentive, to become less dependent and more 
wise about how we develop our energy sources; I truly do. But we need a 
bill, and we need to get it out of the Senate. Energy prices are low, 
but that doesn't mean we shouldn't worry about our future. Because if 
the economies of the world come back, we might be in a tight again, in 
which case we're going to be wondering where was the energy policy that 
the President was arguing for back in the year 2001.
    Yes, ma'am.

Families and American Values

    Q. Hi, Mr. President.
    The President. I'm not nervous as you are. [Laughter]
    Q. I wrote it out, because I thought I would be nervous, and I'm 
here with my sister, Maggie, and my family, and----
    The President. Good. Hi, Maggie. [Laughter]
    Q. And I'm Caitlin. Our family wants to help out our country, and we 
think that making families strong will make our country strong. My 
parents believe that eating meals together will do that. Is it something 
that you did when you were a kid, and that you and Mrs. Bush believe in?
    The President. I did eat with my family, so long as my mother wasn't 
cooking. [Laughter] Wait a minute. Just kidding, Mom. [Laughter] She was 
one of the great fast food cooks of all time. [Laughter] Just kidding, 
Mom. We ate a lot together. We did. And I think it's important to do 
that. That's a very interesting question.
    You know, we live in a society that's a busy society. We live in a 
society where it's so easy to forget the fundamentals. But one of the 
really positive things that has come out of the evil of 9/11 was that 
people are beginning to ask, what's important--what's important?
    I think you've touched on something really important, and that's 
family. And the idea of a mom and dad prioritizing family is all about 
not only enhancing the quality of life of their children but, 
collectively, making America so

[[Page 1753]]

much stronger and so much better after the evils.
    There has been--this is an unbelievably great country we live in. 
The values of America are so strong; the people are so real and so good. 
And 9/11 has brought out, in many instances, the best in America. Part 
of that is the individual--the decisions individual families make about 
setting new priorities in their lives. A lot of it has to do with 
helping people in need.
    I'll never forget the story of people in a Midwestern city, when 
they heard me on TV talk about how distressed I was that women of cover 
would not leave their homes for fear of some other American treating 
them harshly, and then Jewish citizens and Christians alike getting on 
the phone and saying, ``We want to help you. We want to take you to the 
neighborhood store. This isn't the America we know.''
    No, the country--this country is a fabulous country. They thought 
they hurt us, the evil ones. They have made us stronger, more real, and 
a better land.

Role of Religious Leaders

    Q. Mr. President, we thank you for coming, on behalf of the clergy 
of Orlando. We're going to be having a summit this next week, 12/12 
summit, and I'm a pastor. And we want to know what we can do--we're 
praying for strategies of how we can assist you in our Government and 
assist our communities.
    The President. First thing you can do is make sure people of all 
faiths are represented at your prayer session. It sends such a strong 
signal--it reminds people of the greatness of America. The evil people 
we fight, they don't believe in religious freedom. They want it their 
way or no way, and if you're not their way, they'll treat you harshly. 
That's why, by the way, when we liberated cities throughout Afghanistan, 
people lined the roads and cheered out of joy and happiness.
    Secondly, you need to pray for the good Lord to protect America, 
provide a shield over our country, to prevent us from harm.

September 11

    Q. Hi, Mr. President. I want to say, they haven't won. I got in my 
car today, and I'm in the same building with you, speaking to you. They 
have not won.
    The President. Thank you very much.
    Q. And would you say hello to my son Jordan and my daughter 
Patricia.
    The President. Jordan and who?
    Q. Patricia.
    The President. Hi, Patricia. How are you? How old is Patricia?
    Q. Five, and Jordan is in third grade. And Jordan has a question, if 
I could give him the microphone.
    The President. You bet. Your mother is relaying the mike to you, 
Jordan.
    Q. One thing, Mr. President, is that you have no idea how much 
you've done for this country. And another thing is that, how did you 
feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?
    The President. Thank you, Jordan. Well, Jordan, you're not going to 
believe what State I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I 
was in Florida. And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card--actually, I was in a 
classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting 
outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the 
tower; the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, 
``Well, there's one terrible pilot.'' I said, ``It must have been a 
horrible accident.'' But I was whisked off there. I didn't have much 
time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy 
Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, 
``A second plane has hit the tower. America is under attack.''
    And Jordan, I wasn't sure what to think at first. You know, I grew 
up in a period of time where the idea of America being under attack 
never entered my mind--just like your daddy's and mother's mind, 
probably. And I started thinking hard in that very brief period of time 
about what it meant to be under attack. I knew that when I got all of 
the facts that we were under attack, there would be hell to pay for 
attacking America.

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