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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 12, 2001

Remarks by the President
While Touring Damage at the Pentagon
the Pentagon

5:53 P.M. EDT

     THE  PRESIDENT:   I am so grateful to the people who are working here. We're  here  to  say  thanks  to not only the workers on this site, but the workers who are doing the same work in New York City.  I want to say thanks to  the  folks who have given blood to the Red Cross.  I want to say thanks for  the  hundreds  of  thousands of Americans who pray for the victims and their families.

     Secretary  Rumsfeld  told  me,  when I talked to him, that he felt the blast  shake  the  Pentagon  -- even though he was on the other side of the building, the building rocked.  And now I know why.

     Coming  here  makes  me  sad, on the one hand; it also makes me angry. Our  country will, however, not be cowed by terrorists, by people who don't share  the  same  values  we  share,  by  people who are willing to destroy people's  lives  because  we  embrace  freedom.  The nation mourns, but our government will go on, the country will function.  We are on high alert for possible activity.

     But coming here confirms what the Secretary and I both know, that this is  a  great  nation.   People  here working hard prove it; people out here working  their  hearts  out  to  answer  families' questions, to remove the rubble  and debris from this office.  I want to thank everybody not only on this site, but all across America, for responding so generously, so kindly, in  their  prayers, in their contributions of love and their willingness to help in any way they can.

                             END                 5:55 P.M. EDT