Radio Address by the President to the Nation, 09-16-06

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 16, 2006

President's Radio Address

      Audio
      In Focus: National Security

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Monday, I visited New York, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon to attend memorials marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It was an emotional day for me and for our country. On that day, we remembered those who lost their lives, and we paid tribute to those who gave their lives so that others might live. We rededicated ourselves to protecting the American people from another attack.

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Next week, I will return to New York, where I will address the United Nations General Assembly. I look forward to talking to the world leaders gathered there about our obligation to defend civilization, and how we must work together to support the forces of freedom and moderation throughout the Middle East.

As we work with the international community to defeat the terrorists and extremists, we must also provide our military and intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep our country safe. Congress is considering two vital pieces of legislation to help us do just that. My Administration is working closely with members of both parties to pass these bills.

The first bill would allow us to use military commissions to try suspected terrorists for war crimes. We need this legislation because the Supreme Court has ruled that military commissions must be explicitly authorized by Congress.

I recently announced that 14 suspected terrorists, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man believed to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, had been transferred to Guantanamo Bay. As soon as Congress acts to authorize the military commissions I have proposed, the men our intelligence agencies believe helped orchestrate the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on September the 11th, 2001, can face justice.

This bill will also provide clear rules for our personnel involved in detaining and questioning captured terrorists. The information the Central Intelligence Agency has obtained by questioning men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has helped disrupt terrorist plots, including planned strikes inside the United States and on a U.S. Marine base in East Africa, an American consulate in Pakistan, and Britain's Heathrow Airport. This CIA program has saved American lives, and the lives of people in other countries.

Unfortunately, the recent Supreme Court decision put the future of this program in question, and we need this legislation to save it. There is debate about the specific proposals in this bill, and my Administration will work with Congress to find common ground. I have one test for this legislation: The intelligence community must be able to tell me that the bill Congress sends to my desk will allow this vital program to continue.

The second bill before Congress would modernize our electronic surveillance laws and provide additional authority for the terrorist surveillance program. I authorized the National Security Agency to operate this vital program in response to the 9/11 attacks. It allows us to quickly monitor terrorist communications between someone overseas and someone in America. It has helped detect and prevent terrorist attacks on our own country. The principle behind this program is clear: When al Qaeda operatives are calling into or out of our country, we need to know who they are calling, why they are calling, and what they are planning.

Both these bills are essential to winning the war on terror. So we will work with legislators from both sides of the aisle to get them passed. By passing these critical bills, we will bring terrorists to justice, continue collecting vital intelligence from captured terrorists in a lawful way, and monitor terrorist communications, so we can stop new attacks on our nation.

Thank you for listening.

Really is bizzro world. After all the sturm about The Path to 09-11 and the President's 0911 Memorial speech, we end the week with 4 Senator Stoodges blithly attempting to just turn the clock back to 09-10-01 by starting to recreate the same pettifrogging legalistc, overly brurecratic PC system which we just watch fail in the run up to 09-11-01. What I wish ONE time on one of these shows someone would say

Senator.

Why do you want to redefine the Geneva Conventions protections of legal combatants to cover unlawful combatants?

Please define torture as defined by the Geneva Convention?

Please name for me three American foes who have obeyed the Geneva Conventions in their treatment of US Prisoners since we signed the conventions.

Humm, so you base your whole argument on a hypothetical future foe who will magically do what NONE of our previous foes have done and respect the rule of law?

Senator, if our foes respected the rule of law, under want circumstances do you ever image the US would have need to fight them?

Senator, name for me any US foe since the end of WW 1 who obeyed the rule of law in their treatment of US POWS?

This whole exercise was about codifying IN US LAW some strict definitions so the incredibly vague language in the Geneva Convention cannot be twisted by pettifrogning legal minds like the soon to be former Senator from SC can twist to manufacture more reason to try and rebuild the overly legalistic, terribly bureaucratic PC system that so utterly failed in the run up to 09-11-01.

That they would pull this childish grandstanding stunt THIS week of all weeks is positively surreal.

IF this was about principals the 4 Senate stooges could of talked to WH house to work out their concerns. That they did NOT shows this has NOTHING at all to do with principal and EVERYTHING to do with grandstanding for the Cameras.

Just another example of the "My Ego over all Things" mindset of the Old Senators club. What a fool Lindsey is to think he can hook his star to their failed wagon! The old farts in the US Senate simply cannot actually set aside their egos and get something done! Oh no! That would require them to actually stand WITH the President on something. And if they stand WITH President Bush, they alienate the only people who can stand them, the Junk Media elitist. What they do NOT realize is that love ONLY extends to them as long as they are a tool to beat on Conservatives with. The 2nd it is a choice between them and any Democrat, the Junk Media elite will eat this RINO clown posse alive.

So instead we get this pathetically twisted, out right fraudulent rationalization from the 4 Senate Stooges to manufacture some PR campaign paper over their fundamental political cowardice. What they do not realize is they have just destroyed any chance of any higher office ever.

Republicans are not Democrats. The Old Boy's club has drawn all the wrong conclusions from watching Clinton. They think they can do what ever they want and we just have to take it. What they fail to realize is Republicans have no battered party syndrome problem like the Democrats have. They have shown more then once they are perfectly willing and able to tell the party elders to get out of the way.

The Republican bench is so vibrate and vigorous there are plenty of alternatives out here we can pick from in 2008. Contrary to the "conventional wisdom" of the Junk Media there are lots of other choices for Republicans to pick in 2008 All McCain and his posse did this week was write themselves right off the winning team.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1661789/posts

They shall furthermore be bound by the Convention in relation to the said Power, if the latter accepts and applies the provisions thereof. Although one of the Powers in conflict may not be a party to the present Convention, the Powers who are parties thereto shall remain bound by it in their mutual relations. They shall furthermore be bound by the Convention in relation to the said Power, if the latter accepts and applies the provisions thereof 6) Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.

3 examples of where the Geneva Convention is willingly ignored by the 4 Senator Stoodges with their fauldent PR spin to lie about why they are so desperate to impose their arrogant ego driven emotional whimsy on the Administration. That "a former JAG" is this groestquely ignorant of what Common Article 3 ACTUALLY says indicates it is merely another LIE told by the RINO clown posse to come up with YET another excuse to backstab the Administration. Fire these 4 clowns.

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