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Question: Mr. President, since we continue to police the world, how
do you intend to maintain our military presence without reinstituting
a draft?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah, great question. Thanks. I hear there's rumors
on the Internets that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to
have a draft, period. The all-volunteer Army works. It works particularly
when we pay our troops well, it works when we make sure they've got
housing, like we have done in the last military budgets. An all-volunteer
Army is best-suited to fight the new wars of the 21st century, which
is to be specialized and to find these people as they hide around the
world. We don't need mass armies anymore.
One of the things we've done is we've taken the -- we're
beginning to transform our military, and by that I mean we're moving
troops out of Korea and replacing them with more effective weapons.
We don't need as much manpower on the Korean Peninsula to keep a deterrent.
In Europe we have massed troops as if the Soviet Union existed and was
going to invade into Europe. But those days are over with, and so we're
moving troops out of Europe and replacing it with more effective equipment.
 So,
the answer to your question is, we're withdrawing, not from the world,
we're withdrawing manpower so they can be stationed here in America
so there's less rotation so life is easier on their families and, therefore,
more likely to be -- we'll be more likely to be able to keep people
in the all-volunteer Army.
One of the most important things we're doing in this
administration is transformation. There's some really interesting technologies.
For example, we're flying unmanned vehicles that can send real-time
messages to stations in the United States. That saves manpower and it
saves equipment. It also means that we can target things easier and
move more quickly, which means we need to be lighter, and quicker, and
more facile, and highly trained.
Forget all this talk about a draft. We're not going to have a
draft so long as I'm the president.
MR. GIBSON: Senator Kerry, a minute-and-a-half.
SEN. KERRY: Daniel, I don't support a draft. But let me tell you where
the president's policies have put us. The president -- and this is one
of the reasons I'm very proud in this race to have the support of General
John Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Admiral
William Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General
Tony McPeak, who ran the air war for the president's father and did
a brilliant job, supporting me; General Wes Clark, who won the war in
Kosovo supporting me, because they all -- General Bacca (sp) support
me.
Why? Because they understand that our military is overextended under
the president. Our Guard and Reserves have been turned into almost active
duty. You've got people doing two and three rotations. You've got stop-loss
policies so people can't get out when they were supposed to. You've
got a backdoor draft right now. And a lot of our military are underpaid.
These are families that get hurt. It hurts the middle class. It hurts
communities, because these are our first responders and they're called
up and they're over there, not over here.
Now, I'm going to add 40,000 active duty forces to the military, and
I'm going to make people feel good about being safe in our military
and not overextended, because I'm going to run a foreign policy that
actually does what President Reagan and President Eisenhower did and
others. We're going to build alliances. We're not going to go unilaterally.
We're not going alone like this president did.
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MR. GIBSON: Mr. President, let's extend for a minute --
(inaudible) -- issue of --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Let me just -- one point. I've got to answer this.
MR. GIBSON: Exactly. And with reservists being held on duty and some
soldiers --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Let me answer what he just said about going alone.
MR. GIBSON: Well, I wanted to get into the issue of the backdoor draft.
PRESIDENT BUSH: You tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Tony Blair
we're going alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going alone. Tell Alexander
Kwasniewski of Poland we're going alone. We've got 30 countries there.
It denigrates an alliance to say we're going alone, to discount their
sacrifices. You cannot lead an alliance if you say, you know, you're
going alone. And people listen. They're sacrificing with us.
MR. GIBSON: Senator?
 SEN.
KERRY: Mr. President, countries are leaving the coalition, not joining.
Eight countries have left it. If Missouri, just given the number of
people from Missouri who are in the military over there today, were
a country, it would be the third largest country in the coalition, behind
Great Britain and the United States.
That's not a grand coalition. Ninety percent of the casualties are American.
Ninety percent of the cost are coming out of your pockets. I could do
a better job. My plan does a better job. And that's why I'll be a better
commander in chief.
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MR. GIBSON: The next question, Senator Kerry, is for you, and it comes
from Anne Bronsing (sp), who I believe is over in this area.
Question: Senator Kerry, we have been fortunate that there have been
no further terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11. Why do you
think this is? And if elected, what will you do to assure our safety?
SEN. KERRY: Thank you very much, Anne (sp). I've asked, in my security
briefings, why that is, and I can't go into all the answer, et cetera.
But let me say this to you: This president and his administration have
told you and all of us it's not a question of when, it's a question
of -- excuse me, not a question of if, it's a question of when. We've
been told that. The when, I can't tell you. Between the World Trade
Center bombing in, what was it?, 1993 or so, and the next time was five
year, seven years. They people wait. They'll plan. They plot.
I agree with the president that we have to go after them and get them
wherever they are. I just think I can do that far more effectively,
because the most important weapon in doing that is intelligence. You
got to have the best intelligence in the world. And in order to have
the best intelligence in the world to know who the terrorists are and
where they are and what they're plotting, you've got to have the best
cooperation you've ever had in the world.
Now to go back to your question, Nicky (sp), we're not getting the
best cooperation in the world today. We got a whole bunch of countries
that pay a price for dealing with the United States of America now.
I'm going to change that. And I'm going to put in place a better homeland
security effort.
Look at -- 95 percent of our containers coming into this country are
not inspected today. When you get on an airplane, your bag is X -rayed
but the cargo hold isn't X-rayed. Do you feel safer?
This president in the last debate said, well, that would be a big tax
gap if we did that. Ladies and gentlemen, it's his tax plan. He chose
a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans over getting that equipment out
into the homeland as fast as possible. We have bridges and tunnels that
aren't being secured. Chemical plants, nuclear plants that aren't secured.
Hospitals that are overcrowded with their emergency rooms. If we had
a disaster today, could they handle it?
This president chose a tax cut over homeland security. Wrong choice.
MR. GIBSON: Mr. President.
PRESIDENT BUSH: That's an odd thing to say, since we've -- tripled the
homeland security budget from 10 (billion dollars) to 30 billion dollars.
Listen, we'll do everything we can to protect the homeland. My opponent's
right, we need good intelligence. It's also a curious thing for him
to say since right after 1993 he voted to cut the intelligence budget
by $7.5 billion.
 The
best way to defend America in this -- in this world we live
in is to stay on the offense. We got to be right a hundred percent of
the time here at home, and they got to be right once. And that's the
reality. And there's a lot of good people working hard. We're doing
the best we possibly can to share information.
That's why the Patriot Act was important.
The Patriot Act is vital, by the way. It's a tool that law enforcement
now uses to be able to talk between each other. My opponent says he
hasn't changed his positions on it. No, but he's for weakening it.
I don't think my opponent has got the right view about the world to
make us safe. I really don't. First of all, I don't think he can succeed
in Iraq. And if Iraq were to fail, it'd be a haven for terrorists, and
there'd be money, and the world would be much more dangerous. I don't
see how you can win in Iraq if you don't believe we should be there
in the first place. I don't see how you can lead troops if you say it's
the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't see how
the Iraqis are going to have confidence in the American president if
all they hear is that it was a mistake to be there in the first place.
This war is a long, long war, and it requires steadfast determination,
and it requires a complete understanding that we not only chase down
al-Qaida, but we disrupt terrorist safe havens as well as people who
could provide the terrorists with support.
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MR. GIBSON: I want to extend for a minute, senator. And I want -- I'm
curious about something you said. You said it's not when, but if (sic).
You think it's inevitable, because the sense of security is a very basic
thing with everybody in this country worried about their kids.
SEN. KERRY: Well, the president and his experts have told America that's
it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. And I accept what
the president has said. These terrorists are serious, they're deadly,
and they know nothing except trying to kill. I understand that. That's
why I will never stop at anything to hunt down and kill the terrorists.
 But
you heard the president just say to you that we've added money. Folks,
the test is not if you've added money. The test is, have you done everything
possible to make America secure. He chose a tax cut for wealthy Americans
over the things that I listed to you.
MR. GIBSON: Mr. President.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we'll talk about the tax cut for middle class
here in a minute, but yeah, I'm worried. I'm worried. I'm worried about
our country. And I'll tell, all I can tell you is, every day I know
that there's people working overtime doing the very best they can. And
the reason I'm worried is because there's a vicious enemy that has an
ideology of hate.
And the way to defeat them long term, by the way, is to spread freedom.
Liberty can change habits. And that's what's happening in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
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