For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
May 17, 2002

Mrs. Bush's Remarks to the Press
Budapest, Hungary

MRS. BUSH: I think it is very sad that people would play upon the victims' families' emotions, or all Americans' emotions. I know, I feel very, very certain that anyone, Republican or Democrat, if they had had any sort of specific information, would have done something about it. I also now know how hard working our intelligence and law enforcement officers are, and I know that if any of them had had any sort of specific information, they would have acted upon it.

We know -- I know my husband, and all Americans know how he has acted in Afghanistan and in the war with terror. I think, really, we need to put this in perspective, and I think it's sad to play upon the emotions of people as if there were something we could have done to stop it, because that's just not the case. And this briefing, as far as I know -- and I only know what you know from watching Dr. Rice on television -- was so inspecific that there was no way he could have predicted what would happen from this intelligence.

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