REPORTER: Mr. President, some firefighters and families of the 9/11 victims — of the 9/11 victims want you to pull your campaign ad focusing on the tragedy. Are you prepared to honor their wishes?
DUBYA: First of all, I will continue to speak about the effects of 9/11 on our country and my presidency. I will continue to mourn the loss of life on that day, but I'll never forget the lessons. The terrorists declared war on us on that day, and I will continue to pursue this war. I have an obligation to those who died. I have an obligation to those who were heroic in their attempts to rescue. And I won't forget that obligation.

I've not made up our mind about military action.

How do you measure the benefit of freedom in Iraq? I guess, if you're an Iraqi citizen you can measure it by being able to express your mind and vote. How do you measure the consequence of taking a dictator out of — out of power who has tried to invade Kuwait?

Saddam Hussein is a threat to our nation. September the 11th changed the strategic thinking, at least, as far as I was concerned, for how to protect our country. My job is to protect the American people. It used to be that we could think that you could contain a person like Saddam Hussein, that oceans would protect us from his type of terror. September the 11th should say to the American people that we're now a battlefield, that weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist organization could be deployed here at home.

I've seen all kinds of protests since I've been the President. I remember the protests against trade. A lot of people didn't feel like free trade was good for the world. I completely disagree. I think free trade is good for both wealthy and impoverished nations. But that didn't change my opinion about trade. As a matter of fact, I went to the Congress to get trade promotion authority out.

Hopefully, this [disarmament] can be done peacefully. Hopefully, that as a result of the pressure that we have placed — and others have placed — that Saddam will disarm and/or leave the country.

I believe Saddam Hussein is a threat to the American people. I believe he's a threat to the neighborhood in which he lives. And I've got a good evidence to believe that.

This is a — a regional issue. I say a regional issue because — there's a lot of countries that have got a direct stake into whether or not North Korea has nukyular weapons. We've got a stake as to whether North Korea has a nukyular weapon. China clearly has a stake as to whether or not North Korea has a nukyular weapon. South Korea, of course, has a stake. Japan has got a significant stake as to whether or not North Korea has a nukyular weapon.

If I may, I'd like to remind you what I said at the State of the Union. Liberty is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to each and every person. And that's what I believe. I believe that when we see totalitarianism, that we must deal with it.

[Nuclear weapons] may end up in the hands of dictators, people who are not afraid of using weapons of mass destruction, people who try to impose their will on the world or blackmail free nations.

The price of doing nothing [in Iraq] exceeds the price of taking action, if we have to. We'll do everything we can to minimize the loss of life. The price of the attacks on America, the cost of the attacks on America on September the 11th were enormous. They were significant.

The American people know that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. By the way, he declared he didn't have any.

Uhh — we are working — hard to bring a diplomatic solution. And uhh — we've made some progress. After all, the IEAE asked that the Security Council take up the North Korean issue.

[Saddam Hussein] has trained and financed Al Qaeda-type organizations before, Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

I want the United Nations to be effective. It's important for it to be a robust, capable body. It's important for it's words to mean what they say, and as we head into the 21st century, Mark, when it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission.

He has no intention of disarming — otherwise, we would have known. There's a lot of talk about inspectors. It really would have taken a handful of inspectors to determine whether he was disarming — they could have showed up at a parking lot and he could have brought his weapons and destroyed them.

I'm also honored to be here with the speaker of the House — just happens to be from the state of Illinois. I'd like to describe the speaker as a trustworthy man. He's the kind of fellow who says when he gives you his word he means it. Sometimes that doesn't happen all the time in the political process.