Posted on 10/28/2005 8:54:14 PM PDT by wagglebee
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you all very much. Please be seated. (Cheers, applause.) Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for the chance to get out of Washington. (Laughter.)
It is great to be here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Cheers, applause.) You got a lot of history in this part of the world. This part of the country was home to the first English-speaking colony on the continent, birthplace of representative government in America, and the site of George Washington's victory in the Revolutionary War. I call him the first George W. (Laughter, cheers, applause.)
In the 21st century, the tradition of patriotism and freedom still runs strong here in the Hampton Roads. I know there's a lot of folks who are in our military live here, and I know that a lot of veterans live here. So the first thing I want to say is to those who wear the uniform: This country's with you, and the commander in chief's incredibly proud of you. AUDIENCE: Hoo-ah! (Cheers, applause.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: And to the veterans, thanks for setting such a good example. I'm proud of your service. (Applause.)
Dee (sp), thanks for the introduction and thanks for the invitation. I want to thank Jack Hornbeck as well.
I appreciate so very much the senator from the great state or the Commonwealth of Virginia is here, George Allen. Thanks for coming, George. (Cheers, applause.)
And Congresswoman Thelma Drake is with us. Thanks for coming. I appreciate you being here. Honored you're here. (Cheers, applause.)
Mayor, thanks for coming. I appreciate Mayor Fraim. He's here from the city of Norfolk. He's a -- I told -- the only thing I told him is -- he didn't ask for my advice, but I gave it anyway -- I said -- (laughter) -- fill the potholes. (Laughter, cheers, applause.)
Thanks for serving. I appreciate you serving, Mayor. Thanks for greeting me today. I want to thank all the local and state officials who've joined us.
I want to thank the military commanders who are here, Lieutenant General Anthony Jones and Lieutenant General Mark Curran (sp), Lieutenant General Bob Wagner, Major General Jim Solligan (sp). Thank you all for being here. John McCarthy -- Major General McCarthy of the Marine Corps, Rear Admiral John Acton (sp), Rear Admiral Steve Turcott (sp). I'm honored you all took time to come.
I appreciate the foreign officers here. I appreciate you being here. I appreciate the jointness that we're working on and the transformation they're working on together to make sure that we're able to keep the peace. It's an important mission. I want to thank Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope (sp). He's the deputy Supreme Allied Commander of Transformation in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. I appreciate Lieutenant General Michelle Mazineau (sp). She's in the Canadian Air Force. She's NATO's Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation chief of staff. Thank you all for being here. Thanks for being such strong allies in the cause of peace. (Applause.)
I appreciate the vibrancy of the community in which you live. This is a good place to live. It's a good place to find work. It's a good place to realize your dreams. It's a place where people understand that in order to make sure that our society stays vibrant and people can realize their dreams, we got to face squarely the threats that our nation deals with. People here, I think, understand this fact, that America is engaged in the first war of the 21st century and that the stakes could not be higher.
On the morning of September the 11th, 2001, we saw the destruction that the terrorists intend for this nation. We know they want to strike again. Our nation has made a clear choice.
We will confront this mortal danger to our humanity, and we will not tire and we will not rest until the war on terror is won. (Applause.)
In the four years since September the 11th, the evil that reached our shores has reappeared on other days, in other places, in Mombasa and Casablanca and Riyadh and Jakarta and Istanbul and Madrid and Beslan and Taba and Natanya and Baghdad and elsewhere.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible shouts.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: In the past few months we have seen a new terror offensive with attacks on London and Sharm el-Sheikh and a deadly bombing in Bali once again.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Continues shouting.)
(Audience members boo heckler.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: All these separate images of destruction and suffering that we see on the news can seem like random and isolated acts of madness. Innocent men, women and children have died simply because they boarded the wrong train or worked in the wrong building. (Audience applauds silencing of heckler.) They have died because they checked into the wrong hotel.
Yet while the killers choose their victims indiscriminately, their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil, but not insane. Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant jihadism; and still others, Islamofascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent and political vision. The establishment by terrorism, subversion and insurgency of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.
These extremists distort the idea of jihad into a call for terrorist murder against Christians and Hindus and Jews, and also against Muslims who do not share their radical vision, whom they regard as heretics. Many militants are part of a global, borderless, terrorist organizations like al Qaeda, which spreads propaganda and provides financing and technical assistance to local extremists, and conducts dramatic and brutal operations like the attacks of September the 11th. Other militants are found in regional groups often associated with al Qaeda -- paramilitary insurgencies and separatist movements in places like Somalia, the Philippines and Pakistan and Chechnya and Kashmir and Algeria. Still others spring up in local cells, inspired by Islamic radicalism, but not centrally controlled or directed. Islamic radicalism is more like a loose network with military branches than an army under a single command. Yet these operatives fighting on scattered battlefields share a similar ideology and vision for our world.
We know the vision of the radicals because they've openly stated it in videos and audiotapes and letters and declarations and websites. First, these extremists want to end American and Western influence in the broader Middle East because we stand for democracy and peace, and we stand in the way of their ambitions. Al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, has called on Muslims to dedicate, quote, "their resources, sons and money to driving the infidels out of their lands." The tactics of al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists have been consistent for a quarter-century. They hit us, and they expect us to run.
Earlier this month, the world learned of a letter written by al Qaeda's number two leader, a man named Zawahiri.
He wrote this letter to his chief deputy in Iraq, the terrorist Zarqawi. In it, Zawahiri points to the Vietnam War as a model to al Qaeda. Zawahiri writes, quote, "The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam, and how they ran and left their agents, is noteworthy." The terrorists witnessed a similar response after the attacks on American troops in Beirut in 1983, in Mogadishu in 1993. They believe that America can be made to run again, only this time on a larger scale, with greater consequences.
Second, the militant network wants to use the vacuum created by an American retreat to gain control of a country, a base from which to launch attacks and to conduct their war against non-radical Muslim governments. Over the past few decades, radicals have specifically targeted Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and Jordan for potential takeover. They achieved their goal for a time in Afghanistan, and now they have set their sights on Iraq.
In his recent letter, Zawahiri writes that al Qaeda views Iraq as, quote, "the place for the greatest battle." End quote. The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity, and we must recognize Iraq was the central front in our war against terror.
Third, these militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia. Zawahiri writes that the terrorists, quote, "must not have their mission end with the expulsion of Americans from Iraq." He goes on to say the jihad requires several incremental goals: expel the Americans from Iraq, establish an Islamic authority over as much territory as you can to spread its power in Iraq, extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq.
With the greater economic, military and political power they seek, the terrorists would be able to achieve their stated agenda -- to develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate Europe, to assault the American people and to blackmail our government into isolation.
Some might be tempted to dismiss these goals as fanatical or extreme. They are fanatical and extreme, but they should not be dismissed. Our enemy is utterly committed. As Zawahiri has vowed, we will either achieve victory over the human race or we will pass to the eternal life.
And the civilized world knows very well that other fanatics in history, from Hitler, to Stalin, to Pol Pot, consumed whole nations in war and genocide before leaving the stage of history. Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously, and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply. (Applause.)
Defeating the militant network is difficult because it thrives like a parasite on the suffering and frustration of others. The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization in which someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution. They exploit resentful and disillusioned young men and women, recruiting them through radical mosques as pawns of terror.
And they exploit modern technology to multiply their destructive power.
Instead of attending faraway training camps, recruits can now access online training libraries to learn how to build a roadside bomb or fire a rocket-propelled grenade, and this further spreads the threat of violence, even within peaceful democratic societies.
The influence of Islamic radicalism is also magnified by helpers and enablers. They've been sheltered by authoritarian regimes, allies of convenience like Syria and Iran that share the goal of hurting America and moderate Muslim governments, and that use terrorist propaganda to blame their own failures on the West, on America, and on the Jews.
The radicals depend on front operations such as corrupted charities which direct money to terrorist activity. They are strengthened by those who aggressively fund the spread of radical and intolerant versions of Islam in unstable parts of the world.
The militants are aided, as well, by elements of the Arab news media that incite hatred and anti-Semitism, that feed conspiracy theories and speak of so-called American war on Islam, with seldom a world -- word about American action to protect Muslims in Afghanistan and Bosnia and Somalia and Kosovo and Kuwait and Iraq, and with seldom a word about our generous assistance to Muslims recovering from natural disasters in places like Indonesia and Pakistan.
Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that country has somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals. I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001. and al Qaeda attacked us anyway. (Applause.)
The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse. The government of Russia did not support Operation Iraqi Freedom, and yet the militants killed more then 150 Russian schoolchildren in Beslan.
Over the years these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence: the Israeli presence on the West Bank, the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, or the defeat of the Taliban, or the Crusades of a thousand years ago. In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with an unalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world. No act of ours invited the rage of killers, and no consequence, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans of murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior they believe they change through violence. Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response. We will never back down, we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less then complete victory. (Applause, cheers.)
The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great challenge of our new century, yet in many ways this fight resembles the struggle against communism in the last century. Like the ideology of communism, Islamic radicalism is elitist, led by self-appointed vanguards that presumes to speak for the Muslim masses. Bin Laden says his own rules to tell Muslims, quote, "what is good for them and what is not." And what this man, who grew up in wealth and privilege, considers good for poor Muslims is that they become killers and suicide bombers. He assures them that this is the road to paradise, though he never offers to go along for the ride. (Laughter.)
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision. And this explains their cold-blooded contempt for human life. We've seen it in the murders of Daniel Pearl, Nicholas Berg ,and Margaret Hansen and many others. In a courtroom in the Netherlands, the killer of Theo van Gogh turned to the victim's grieving mother and said, "I don't feel your pain because I believe you're an infidel." And in spite of this veneer of religious rhetoric, most of the victims claimed by the militants are fellow Muslims.
In an al Qaeda attack on two Baghdad hotels this week, the targets were journalists and innocent Iraqis. When unsuspecting hotel guests are blown up in their rooms, or 25 Iraqi children are killed in a bombing, or Iraqi teachers are executed at their schools, or hospital workers are killed caring for the wounded, this is murder pure and simple -- the total rejection of justice and honor and morality and religion. (Applause.)
These militants are not just the enemies of America or the enemies of Iraq, they are the enemies of Islam and the enemies of humanity. And we've seen this kind of shameless cruelty before in a heartless zealotry that led to the gulags, the Cultural Revolution, and the killing fields.
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues totalitarian aims. Its leaders pretend to be an aggrieved party representing the powerless against imperial enemies. In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination, and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves. Under their rule they have banned books and desecrated historical monuments and brutalized women. They seek to end dissent in every form, to control every aspect of life, and to rule the soul itself. While promising a future of justice and holiness, the terrorists are preparing a future of oppression and misery.
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy is dismissive of free peoples, claiming that men and women who live in liberty are weak and decadent. Zarqawi has said that Americans are -- and I quote -- "the most cowardly of God's creatures." But let us be clear: It is cowardice that seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs, and cuts the throat of a bound captive, and targets worshippers leaving a mosque. It is courage that liberated more than 50 million people from tyranny. It is courage that keeps an untiring vigil against the enemies of a rising democracy. And it is courage in the cause of freedom that will once again destroy the enemies of freedom. (Applause.)
And Islamic radicalism, like the ideology of communism, contains inherent contradictions that doom it to failure. By fearing freedom, by distrusting human creativity, and punishing change, and limiting the contributions of half of the population, this ideology undermines the very qualities that make human progress possible and human society successful. The only thing modern about the militants' vision is the weapons they want to use against us. The rest of their grim vision is defined by a warped image of the past, a declaration of war on the idea of progress itself. And whatever lies ahead in the war against this ideology, the outcome is not in doubt. Those who despise freedom and progress have condemned themselves to isolation, decline and collapse because free peoples believe in the future. Free peoples will own the future. (Applause.)
We didn't ask for this global struggle, but we are answering history's call with confidence and a comprehensive strategy. Defeating a broad and adaptive network requires patience, and constant pressure, and strong partners in Europe, in the Middle East, in North Africa, in Asia and beyond. Working with these partners, we're disrupting militant conspiracies, and we're destroying their ability to make war, and are working to give millions in a troubled region of the world a hopeful alternative to resentment and violence.
First, we're determined to prevent the attacks of terrorist networks before they occur. We're reorganizing the government to give this nation a broad and coordinated homeland defense. We're reforming our intelligence agencies for the incredibly difficult task of tracking enemy activity, based on information that often comes in small fragments from widely scattered sources both here and abroad.
And we're acting, along with governments from many countries, to destroy the terrorist networks and incapacitate their leaders. Together with our coalition partners, we've disrupted a number of serious al Qaeda plots since September the 11th, including several al Qaeda plots to attack inside the United States. Our coalition against terrorists killed or captured nearly all of those directly responsible for the September the 11th attacks. We've killed or captured most of bin Laden's senior deputies, al Qaeda's managers and operatives in more than 24 countries, the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, who was the chief al Qaeda operations -- chief of al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf. We captured the mastermind of the bombings in Jakarta and Bali, a senior Zarqawi terrorist planner who was planning attacks in Turkey, and many al Qaeda senior leaders in Saudi Arabia.
Because of the steady progress, the enemy is wounded, but the enemy is still capable of global operations. Our commitment is clear: We will not relent until the organized international terror networks are exposed and broken and until their leaders are held to account for their murder. (Applause.)
Secondly, we're determined to deny weapons of mass destruction to outlaw regimes and to their terrorist allies, who would use them without hesitation. The United States, working with Great Britain and Pakistan and other nations, has exposed and disrupted a major black market operation in nuclear technology led by A.Q. Khan. Libya has abandoned its chemical and nuclear weapons programs as well as its long-range ballistic missiles. And in the last year, America and our partners in the Proliferation Security Initiative have stopped more than a dozen shipments of suspected weapons technology, including equipment for Iran's ballistic missile program.
This progress has reduced the danger to free nations, but it has not removed it. Evil men who want to use horrendous weapons against us are working in deadly earnest to gain them, and we're working urgently to keep weapons of mass murder out of the hands of the fanatics.
Third, we're determined to deny radical groups the support and sanctuary of outlaw regimes. State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists, and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror.
The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them because they are equally guilty of murder. (Applause.)
Fourth, we're determined to deny the militants control of any nation, which they would use as a home base and a launching pad for terror. This mission has brought new and urgent responsibilities to our armed forces and to all of you. American troops are fighting beside Afghan partners with remnants of the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. We're working with President Musharraf to oppose and isolate the militants in Pakistan. We're fighting the regime remnants and terrorists in Iraq.
The terrorists' goal is to overthrow a rising democracy, claim a strategic country as a haven for terror, destabilize the Middle East, and strike America and free nations with ever-increasing violence. That's their goal.
Our goal is to defeat the terrorists and their allies at the heart of their power. So we will defeat the enemy in Iraq. (Applause.)
Our coalition, along with our Iraqi allies, is moving forward with a comprehensive plan. As Secretary Rice explained last week, our strategy is to clear, hold and build. We are working to clear areas from terrorist control, to hold those areas securely, and to build lasting and democratic Iraqi institutions.
In recent weeks, American and Iraqi troops have conducted several major assaults to clear out enemy fighters in western Iraq and to help shut down terrorist entry routes from Syria. During one raid, our forces killed a Zarqawi henchman named Abu Abdullah, who was responsible for attacks on American troops and innocent Iraqis.
We also killed a terrorist named Abu Dua, who has been helping terrorists enter Iraq from Syria. Thousands of Iraqi forces have been participating in our operations, and many have remained in the cities, along with coalition forces, to hold onto our gains and prevent the enemy from returning. Iraqi forces are using their local expertise to maintain security and make tangible improvements in the lives of their fellow Iraqis.
At the same time, Iraqis are making inspiring progress to building a lasting democracy. Earlier this month, millions of Iraqis turned out to vote on a constitution that guarantees fundamental freedoms and lays the foundation for lasting democracy. And this week, the Iraqi elections commission certified passage of that constitution. Many more Sunnis participated in this vote than in January's historic elections, and the level of violence was dramatically lower.
With their courageous vote, the Iraqis have once again proved their determination to build a democracy united against extremism and violence. An 85-year-old Iraqi woman cast a ballot in favor of the constitution after her son carried her to the polls on his back. And here's what she said: "I went out to vote for it because I want the future to be safe and peaceful for my sons and my grandchildren."
The work ahead involves great risk for Iraqis and for American and coalition forces. We've lost some of the nation's finest men and women in the war on terror. Each of these men and women left grieving families and left loved ones back home. Each of these patriots left a legacy that will allow generations of their fellow Americans to enjoy the blessings of liberty. Each loss is heartbreaking, and the best way to honor the sacrifices of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and lay the foundation of peace by spreading freedom. (Cheers, applause.)
Wars are not won without sacrifice, and this war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve. The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we have ever faced, unconstrained by any notion of common humanity or by the rules of warfare. No one should underestimate the difficulties ahead, nor should they overlook the advantages we bring to this fight. Some observers look at the job ahead and adopt a self-defeating pessimism. It is not justified. With every random bombing and with every funeral of a child, it becomes more clear that the extremists are not patriots or resistance fighters. They are murderers at war with the Iraqi people themselves. In contrast, the elected leaders of Iraq are proving to be strong and steadfast. By any standard or precedence of history, Iraq has made incredible political progress from tyranny to liberation to national elections to the ratification of a constitution in the space of two and a half years. (Applause.)
And with our help the Iraqi military is gaining new capabilities and new confidence with every passing month. At the time of our Fallujah operations nearly a year ago, there were only a few Iraqi Army battalions in combat. Today there are nearly 90 Iraqi Army battalions fighting the terrorists alongside our forces. General David Petraeus says Iraqis are in the fight, and they're fighting and dying for their country, and they're fighting increasingly well, he says. The progress isn't easy, but it is steady. And no fair-minded person should ignore or deny or dismiss the achievements of the Iraqi people. (Applause.)
Some observers question the durability of democracy in Iraq. They underestimate the power and appeal of freedom. We've heard it suggested that Iraq's democracy must be on shaky ground because Iraqis are arguing with each other. (Laughter.) But that's the essence of democracy. (Laughter.) You make your case, you debate with those you disagree with, you build consensus by persuasion, and you answer to the will of the people. (Applause.)
We've heard it said that the Shi'a, the Sunnis and the Kurds of Iraq are too divided to form a lasting democracy. In fact, democratic federalism is the best hope for unifying a diverse population because a federal constitutional system respects the rights and religious traditions of all citizens while giving all minorities, including the Sunnis, a stake and a voice in the future of their country. (Applause.)
It's true that the seeds of freedom have only recently been planted in Iraq, but democracy when it grows is not a fragile flower, it's a healthy, sturdy tree. As Americans, we believe that people everywhere prefer freedom to slavery, and that liberty, once chosen, improves the lives of all. And so we're confident as our coalition and the Iraqi people each do their part, Iraqi democracy will succeed. (Applause.)
Some observers also claim that America would be better off by cutting our losses and leaving Iraq now. This is a dangerous illusion, refuted with a simple question: Would the United States and other free nations be more safe or less safe with Zarqawi and bin Laden in control of Iraq, its people and its resources?
Having removed a dictator who hated free peoples, we will not stand by as a new set of killers, dedicated to the destruction of our country, seizes control of Iraq by violence. (Applause.) There is always a temptation in the middle of a long struggle to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems in the world and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder. That would be a pleasant world, but it's not the world we live in. The enemy is never tired, never sated, never content with yesterday's brutality. This enemy considers every retreat of the civilized world as an invitation to greater violence. In Iraq, there is no peace without victory, and so we will keep our nerve and win that victory. (Applause.)
This element of our strategy in the war on terror is to deny the militants future recruits by replacing hatred and resentment with democracy and hope across the broader Middle East. This is a difficult and long-term project, yet there is no alternative to it. Our future and the future of that region are linked. If the broader Middle East is left to grow in bitterness, if countries remain in misery while radicals stir the resentments of millions, then that part of the world will be a source of endless conflict and mounting danger in our generation and for the next. If the peoples of that region are permitted to choose their own destiny and advance by their own energy and participation as free men and women, then the extremists will be marginalized, and the flow of violent radicalism to the rest of the world will slow and eventually end. By standing for the hope and freedom of others, we make our own freedom more secure. (Applause.)
America is making the stand in practical ways. We are encouraging our friends in the Middle East, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to take the path of reform, to strengthen their own societies in the fight against terror by respecting the rights and choices of their people. We're standing with dissidents and exiles against oppressive regimes because we know that the dissidents of today will be the democratic leaders of tomorrow. We're making our case through public diplomacy, stating clearly and confidently our belief in self- determination and the rule of law and religious freedom and equal rights for women -- beliefs that are right and true in every land and in every culture.
And as we do our part to confront radicalism, we know that the most vital work will be done within the Islamic world itself. And this work's begun. Many Muslim scholars have publicly condemned terrorism, often citing Chapter 5, verse 32 of the Koran, which states that killing an innocent human being is like killing all humanity, and saving the life of one person is like saving all of humanity. After the attacks in London on July the 7th, an imam in the United Arab Emirates declared, "Whoever does such a thing is not a Muslim nor a religious person."
The time has come for all responsible Islamic leaders to join in denouncing an ideology that exploits Islam for political ends and defiles a noble faith. Many people of the Muslim faith are proving their commitment at great personal risk. Everywhere we have engaged the fight against extreme Islam, Muslim allies have stood up and joined the fight, becoming partners in a vital cause. Afghan troops are in combat against Taliban remnants. Iraqi soldiers are sacrificing to defeat al Qaeda in their own country. These brave citizens know the stakes: the survival of their own liberty, the future of their own region, the justice and humanity of their own tradition. And we are proud to stand beside them. (Applause.)
With the rise of a deadly enemy and the unfolding of a global ideological struggle, our time in history will be remembered for new challenges and unprecedented dangers. And yet, the fight we have joined is also the current expression of an ancient struggle between those who put their faith in dictators and those who put their faith in the people.
Throughout history, tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that murder is justified to serve their grand vision, and they end up alienating decent people across the globe. Tyrants and would- be tyrants have always claimed that regimented societies are strong and pure, until those societies collapse in corruption and decay.
And tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that free men and women are weak and decadent until the day that free men and women defeat them.
We don't know the course of our own struggle, where it will take us, or the sacrifices that might lie ahead, but we do know, however, that the defense of freedom is worth our sacrifice. We do know the love of freedom is the mightiest force of history, and we do know the cause of freedom will once again prevail. (Applause.)
Thank you for having me. May God bless you all. (Applause continued, cheers.)
Bush should be saying this every single time he is in front of a microphone!
Thanks for posting! ....I'm pinging myself to keep tabs on this great speech.
I also like this line he has been using
"Bin Laden says his own rules to tell Muslims, quote, "what is good for them and what is not." And what this man, who grew up in wealth and privilege, considers good for poor Muslims is that they become killers and suicide bombers. He assures them that this is the road to paradise, though he never offers to go along for the ride."
:-)
I respectfully remind the President that 15 of the 19 hijackers were from a country to the southwest of our current position.
I humbly suggest that he get after it.
God bless you Sir and God bless our brave troops.
Concur... Lets start talking about the what if we were not in Iraq scenarios. Like the thousands of dead U.S. citizens who went to work one day when the dirty bomb went off. Or the hundreds of dead children who went to school one day when the terrorists decided to take their school hostage. Not one single attack in the U.S. since 9/11/01 over 4 years? Where are the talking heads that said we could expect many more attacks right after 9/11...
That's why he took the war to their sand.
W should give this great speech at the State of the Union Address. Best explanation (for the DUmmmies) for the War on Terror yet. Damn MSM won't report this.
I believe this is the finest speech ever by President Bush. But I prefer the whitehouse.gov version:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051028-1.html
Because it gives a voice to the heckler...and to the crowd!
"AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. President, war is terror."
"AUDIENCE: Booo!"
He has finally spoken the word I've hoped to hear him say for such a long time. "Islamofascism." He needs to use it every day, in every speech, so the world can get used to how it sounds. It's not the war on terror, it's the war on Islamofascism. There are no Buddhist terrorists, no Seventh-Day Adventist suicide bombers, no Hare Krishna snipers. We have met the enemy, and the enemy is Islamofascism. Wrap your lips around that word, BBC. See how it sounds on the nightly news, MSNBC. I want to hear it roll off the lovely lips of Robin Meade on the CNN morning news.
Although there are some things I wish he would do better, I am proud to have George W. Bush as my President.
I don't see American troops in Saudi Arabia. Do you?
I still think that Bush has an even better speech still in him, a speech that will be remembered through history. Something on the level of Reagan's "Evil Empire - Ash Heap of History" Speech at the House of Commons (June 8, 1982) or "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall" Speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berling (June 12, 1987) .
We have a base of operations there.
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