'Because we remember'

WASHINGTON -- President Bush prepared Americans for the second stage of the war on terrorism Monday as he marked the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"More dangers and sacrifices lie ahead," Bush said in a White House ceremony, the flags of dozens of American allies fluttering behind him. "Yet America is prepared. Our resolve has only grown, because we remember.

"There can be no peace in a world where differences and grievances become an excuse to target the innocent for murder."

While the United States and its allies routed the Taliban and al-Qaeda and helped establish an interim government in Afghanistan, no one is declaring victory in the global war on terrorism.

U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan or are waiting to be deployed. Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden has not been captured, and the threat of additional attacks against the United States is real.

Meanwhile, Bush said, the second phase of the war is being fought in the Philippines, Yemen and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where U.S. military advisers are training forces in those countries to fight terrorists.

The United States has sent more than 600 troops to the Philippines and is preparing to send about 150 advisers to Georgia. The United States is still negotiating its role in Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Bush warned of the possibility of terrorists using biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, and called on "every civilized nation" to make even the most remote corners of the globe a hostile place for them.

While the president did not mention Iraq, Iran and North Korea -- the three countries he branded an "axis of evil" in his State of the Union Address -- he repeated his warning against rogue nations that help terrorists.

"Some states that sponsor terror are seeking or already possess weapons of mass destruction," Bush said. "Terrorist groups are hungry for these weapons and would use them without a hint of conscience. And we know that these weapons, in the hands of terrorists, would unleash blackmail and genocide and chaos."

America and its allies, he said, must be relentless in pursuing terrorists, allowing "no refuge, no safe haven."

"Every terrorist must be made to live as an international fugitive with no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind and not even a safe place to sleep."

Across the Potomac River, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stood on the steps of the Pentagon, where 189 people died when American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the building six months ago. Rumsfeld remembered the surrealistic scene, as black smoke rose from the symbol of American might on a clear and crisp September morning.

Construction crews have covered the scars of the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said, and now a united nation and its allies are ready to go the distance.

Construction continues at the Pentagon Friday, March 8, 2002 in Washington. American Airlines flight 77, hijacked by terrorists, slammed into the west face of the building, killing 189 persons on Sept. 11, 2001. Gone from the western flank is the jagged hole of blackened concrete ripped open by the rogue jetliner traveling 350 mph, six feet above the ground. In its place is a 100-yard-wide rectangular gap partly filled with five stories of floors in various states of construction. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette)

"Our nation grieves for those who were lost, and our hearts go out to their families -- those in New York, in Pennsylvania, and yes, those of our friends and colleagues here at the Pentagon," he said. "But from the ashes, hope springs."

Eclipsed by the sheer magnitude of the tragedy in New York City and distracted by the war in Afghanistan, the nation's capital has been able to quietly grieve and then look to the future.

With the coming of spring break, the tourists are back, swarming along the Mall and visiting the monuments and museums.

At the same time, there is a sense that the more-secure Washington is here to stay, along with the sense of apprehension that has long marked countries that suffer from frequent terrorist attacks.

"Perhaps naively, or perhaps hopefully, we just never anticipated that an open, welcoming, trusting country such as ours would be subjected to such catastrophic, terroristic attacks," Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told a gathering of the National League of Cities.

It is the coming second phase, Bush said, that will define how that Tuesday in September is remembered. With the United States and its allies on alert at home and on the offensive abroad, he said, the threat eventually will be broken -- perhaps not quickly, but definitively.

"History will know that day not only as a day of tragedy, but as a day of decision -- when the civilized world was stirred to anger and to action," Bush said. "And the terrorists will remember September 11 as the day their reckoning began."

Moments of silence, pledges that good will overcome evil and twin beams of light piercing the night sky Monday commemorated the six months since terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. 'Tribute of Light.'

CLICK on Photo for large image.
The plaque with the names of those killed in the crash in western Pennsylvania of United Flight 93 in a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001 was dedicated Monday, March 11, 2002 outside Shanksville, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) - Mar 11 2:10 PM ET

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