President Bush's remarks upon arrival in Utah
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Salt Lake City, Utah
9:04 P.M. MDT
"Thank you all for coming out. I can't thank you enough for this fantastic Utah welcome. I am delighted to be here in Salt Lake City. My only regret is that Laura is not here to see this great crowd. She sends her best, she sends her love.
"I want to thank the Governor for being here today. Governor, thank you for coming. I want to thank your two fine United States Senators, Senator Hatch and Bennett for joining us. I thank Congressmen Matheson, Bishop and Cannon for being here, as well. I want to thank you all for coming.
"Most of all, I want to thank you all for staying up a little past your bedtime, for some of you, to greet me.
"These are challenging times. I wish I could report to you that all is well. But there's still an enemy that wants to harm the United States of America because of what we stand for. We learned that lesson earlier this month, when because of the good work of our friends in Great Britain, and some of our own help, we stopped a terrorist plot against the United States. This is the challenge of our time, and my most important duty. And the most important duty of our government is to protect the American people from further attack.
"We will stay on the offense and defeat the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. And as we do so, we'll remember the power of freedom and liberty to transform regions of hate to regions of compassion. I believe there's an Almighty, and I believe the great gift of the Almighty to every man and woman on the Earth is the desire to live in freedom.
"Iraq is the central front in this war on terror. If we leave the streets of Baghdad before the job is done, we will have to face the terrorists in our own cities. We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century.
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