George W. Bush: “I will tell my friend Silvio that the use of military troops is my last choice, not my first.”

To you and the honored dead, our country is forever grateful.

Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.

We are grateful to the first responders and volunteers who are working to find the missing and comfort the grieving at Camp Mystic and along the Guadalupe.

We know our words cannot help, but we believe the prayers of so many Americans will.