Remarks by the President to the Travel Pool

Obviously, I pray every day there’s less casualty. But I know what we’re doing in Iraq is right. It’s right for long-term peace. It’s right for the security of our country. And it’s hard work. And today, on bended knee, I thank the good Lord for protecting those of our troops overseas, and our coalition troops and innocent Iraqis who suffer at the hands of some of these senseless killings by people who are trying to shake our will. …

This inarticulate fool thinks it’s in god’s hands, not his. He thinks this is a contest of wills and ”hard work.” mjh

[In response to a question about the now-famous Presidential Daily Briefing…]

PRESIDENT: Right, and had they found something, they would have reported it to me. That’s — we were doing precisely what the American people expects us to do: run down every lead, look at every scintilla of intelligence, and follow up on it. But there was — again, I can’t say it as plainly as this: Had I known, we would have acted. …

I am satisfied that I never saw any intelligence that indicated there was going to be an attack on America — at a time and a place, an attack. Of course we knew that America was hated by Osama bin Laden. That was obvious. The question was, who was going to attack us, when and where, and with what. And you might recall the hijacking that was referred to in the PDB. It was not a hijacking of an airplane to fly into a building, it was hijacking of airplanes in order to free somebody that was being held as a prisoner in the United States.