Bush: America Will Not Back Down in War on Terror

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2005 – America faces a dangerous enemy in the radical terrorists who are fighting democracy in the Middle East, and the only strategy to win is to remain on the offensive and to accept nothing less than total victory, President Bush said today at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. Speaking to a crowd of servicemembers and families from military installations in Alaska, Bush said that the terrorists had the wrong idea that the U.S. would run after being attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

"The terrorists are mistaken," he said. "America will never run; we will stand, we will fight and we will win the war on terror."

The terrorists are driven by a violent political vision to establish a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedoms, Bush said. For a time in Afghanistan, the terrorists succeeded in establishing a launching pad for their attacks and their violent agenda, he said. After the U.S. routed them out, they set their sights on Iraq.

"The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity, and we must recognize Iraq as the central front in the war on terror," he said.

The war on terror is a vital mission for the armed forces, one that must be won to secure the freedom and safety of the Middle East and the rest of the world, Bush said.

"We didn't ask for this global struggle, but we're answering history's call with confidence and with a comprehensive strategy to win this war," he said.

America is committed to prevent terrorist attacks, to deny weapons of mass destruction to outlaw regimes, to deny radical groups that support and provide sanctuary to outlaw regimes, to prevent the terrorists from gaining control of any country to use as a staging area for attacks, and to deny the terrorists future recruits, Bush said.

The coalition has stayed on the offensive against terror, killing or capturing terrorist operatives and leaders in countries around the world, Bush said. U.S. and coalition forces will keep pressure on terrorist networks until the networks are broken and the leaders are held accountable for their murders, he said.

The best way to prevent terrorists from gaining new recruits is to replace hatred and resentment with democracy and freedom, Bush said, because the value of free societies has been proven by history.

"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 free women, then the extremists will be marginalized and the flow of radical extremism to the rest of the world will slow and eventually end," he said.

The work ahead in the war on terror involves great risk, Bush said, adding that some of America's best men and women have already been lost. However, the best way to honor their sacrifices is to complete the mission and protect the freedom of Americans now and in the future, he said.

"By advancing the hope of freedom and democracy for others, we make our own freedom more secure," he said.

"Neither the United States of America nor the world community of nations can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation, large or small. We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nation's security to constitute maximum peril.

My fellow citizens, let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can foresee precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead -- months in which both our patience and our will will be tested, months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.

Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right; not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved."

---- John F. Kennedy, Oct. 22, 1962

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkcubanmissilecrisis.html

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My, how Democrats changed since them....

Here is the best part:

Under Saddam's dictatorship, Iraq was the only country in the world where American military pilots faced regular attack. Iraq was the only country that had used chemical weapons on its own people, invaded its neighbors, and fought a war against the United States and a great coalition. Iraq was only one of seven countries listed as a state sponsor of terror, and it was judged by intelligence agencies around the globe to possess weapons of mass destruction. After more than a decade of diplomacy, we gave Saddam Hussein a final chance to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions, ordering him to disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. When he refused, we had a choice: Do we take the word of a madman and forget the lessons of September the 11th, or do we take action to defend our country? Given that choice, I will defend America every time. (Applause.)

Combat forces of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Poland, and other countries enforced the demands of the United Nations, and put an end to Saddam's regime. Because we acted, the Iraqi people now live in freedom, and the people of the United States are safer.

Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war, but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people. Leaders in my administration and members of the United States Congress from both political parties looked at the same intelligence on Iraq, and reached the same conclusion: Saddam Hussein was a threat.

Let me give you some quotes from three senior Democrat leaders: First, and I quote, "There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons." Another senior Democrat leader said, "The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as Saddam Hussein is in power." Here's another quote from a senior Democrat leader: "Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think the President is approaching this in the right fashion."

They spoke the truth then, and they're speaking politics now. (Applause.)

The truth is that investigations of intelligence on Iraq have concluded that only one person manipulated evidence and misled the world -- and that person was Saddam Hussein. In early 2004, when weapons inspector David Kay testified that he had not found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he also testified that, "Iraq was in clear material violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441. They maintained programs and activities, and they certainly had the intentions at a point to resume their programs. So there was a lot they wanted to hide because it showed what they were doing that was illegal."

Eight months later, weapons inspector Charles Duelfer issued a report that found, "Saddam Hussein so dominated the Iraqi regime that its strategic intent was his alone. He wanted to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction when the sanctions were lifted."

Some of our elected leaders have opposed this war all along. I disagreed with them, but I respect their willingness to take a consistent stand. Yet some Democrats who voted to authorize the use of force are now rewriting the past. They are playing politics with this issue and they are sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy. And that's irresponsible.

As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them into war continue to stand behind them. (Applause.) Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. (Applause.) And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory.

Give 'em hell Dubya!

The best way to prevent terrorists from gaining new recruits is to replace hatred and resentment with democracy and freedom, Bush said, because the value of free societies has been proven by history.

Mr. President, that is so simplistic and based more on wishful thinking than reality. If your words had validity, then our great nation, the epitome of democracy and freedom would be free of hatred and resentment but that is not the case, Mr. President. Neither you or I can walk the streets of any of our major cities without signs of that which you claim should not exist.

The babble of phrases containing democracy..........freedom etc is getting old fast. They are overused and frankly have given cause to make me think they are cover for other less palatable motives.

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