[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 108 (Wednesday, September 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8985-S8990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENT OF PRESIDENT BUSH
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, the remarks President Bush delivered
yesterday
[[Page S8986]]
about the war against the radical Islamist terrorists was a historic
speech, the clearest statement to date of the nature of the struggle we
face.
Probably there were two factors that entered the President's decision
to give the remarks today: First, the fact that we will soon, next
Monday, have the fifth anniversary of the heinous attack of September
11 on the United States of America; second, because of the increasing
calls by partisans to abandon part of the conflict--namely, the Iraq
front--in this war.
It was important for the President to define who the enemy is and to
make it clear that the enemy is not terrorism. People in the media have
called this the war on terrorism. We could have just as easily called
the war in the Pacific and World War II the war on kamikaze terrorism,
as kamikaze is a suicide tactic by evil people. The war, then, was
against Nazism, Fascism, the imperial Japanese, and later communism. It
was not against a tactic.
The same thing is true today. It was important for the President to
define the nature of the enemy we face in order to be able to
adequately confront that enemy. The President made a comparison with a
couple of the enemies in World War II. He talked about Adolph Hitler
and the fact he was not taken seriously at first. At first, Adolph
Hitler was a crazy paper hanger. Then he was greatly underestimated.
Eventually, there were those who thought he could be appeased because
the world did not want to fight again, with World War I so fresh in
everyone's mind. But he did have to be confronted.
And the same later with respect to communism. At first it was Uncle
Joe Stalin who helped us win World War II. But it became clear, after
the Berlin blockade and his explosion of an H bomb, that communism was
a clear and present danger for the United States. Eventually, America
understood, and the cold war confronted communism, eventually
succeeding in defeating that threat.
There is a big difference between the Soviets of the Communist era
and the radical Islamists. One difference is that the Soviets could be
deterred. Radical Islamists are not going to be deterred. There is a
particular reason why. The Soviets were rational about life itself.
Radical Islamists seek to bend us to their will, to kill us or to die
trying. Either way, in their view, they win.
I ask my colleagues: What did Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig have to do
before they were released in Gaza just a couple of weeks ago? They had
to bend to the will of Allah. They had to convert to Islam before they
were released. This is the goal of these radical Islamists, as the
President explained--to either bend the rest of the world to their
will, to kill us or to die trying.
We will only win this war if we take the threat seriously. The sooner
we commit to victory, the fewer our losses will be. The best strategy
is to take the fight to the enemy. The worst strategy is to leave in
the middle of a battle, for example, in Iraq. It would be difficult, if
not impossible, to win the war if we abdicate the battle. What ally in
the war will stand with us if we decide that the fight is too tough?
How would that help us influence the mullahs who rule in Iran?
I will read from parts of the President's speech to illustrate the
clarity with which he described the nature of our enemy, the nature of
this conflict, and the absolute necessity that we confront it strongly
now in order to save future generations from the scourge of this
continuing conflict.
The President said:
Five years after our nation was attacked, the terrorist
danger remains. We're a nation at war.
And he said:
. . . we've also learned a great deal about the enemy we
face . . .
We know what the terrorists intend to do because they've told us--and
we need to take their words seriously.
And he proceeded to describe, in the terrorists' own words, what they
believe, what they hope to accomplish, and how they intend to
accomplish it.
Listen to these words of the President:
The terrorists who attacked us on September 11, 2001, are
men without conscience--but they're not madmen. They kill in
the name of a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs
that are evil, but not insane. These al Qaeda terrorists and
those who share their ideology are violent Sunni extremists.
They're driven by a radical and perverted vision of Islam
that rejects tolerance, crushes all dissent, and justifies
the murder of innocent men, women, and children in the
pursuit of political power. They hope to establish a violent
political Utopia across the Middle East, which they call a
``caliphate,'' where all the world would be ruled according
to their hateful ideology. Osama bin Laden has called the 9/
11 attacks--in his words--``a great step toward the unity of
Muslims and establishing the righteous caliphate.''
The President went on to describe that this caliphate would be a
totalitarian Islamic empire, and using the words of the terrorist
Zawahiri, al-Qaida second in command, declaring that al-Qaida intends
to impose its rule ``in every land that was a home for Islam, from
Spain to Iraq.'' And he went on to say:
The whole world is an open field for us.
The President also described what such a world would look like,
referring to the situation in Afghanistan before its liberation as
exemplifying the rule of these kinds of terrorists: Under the Taliban
and al-Qaida, Afghanistan was a nightmare, a land where women were
imprisoned in their homes, girls could not go to school, religious
police roamed the streets, and women were publicly whipped. In fact,
summary executions were held in Kabul's soccer stadium in front of
cheering mobs. And Afghanistan was turned into a launching pad for the
horrific attacks against America and other parts of the civilized
world.
The President said:
The goal of these Sunni extremists is to remake the entire
Muslim world in their radical image. In pursuit of their
imperial aims, these extremists say there can be no
compromise or dialogue with those they call ``infidels''. . .
.
These radicals have declared their uncompromising hostility
to freedom.
And the President said:
It is foolish to think that you can negotiate with them.
The President also quoted from some of the al-Qaida documents that
illustrate the precise nature of this threat. One is the al-Qaida
charter that was secured by coalition forces searching a terrorist safe
house. The charter states:
There will be continuing enmity until everyone believes in
Allah. We will not meet the enemy halfway. There will be no
room for dialogue with them.
The President also noted that the goal of al-Qaida is to cause
Americans to tire of the conflict, ``hoping that the American people
will grow tired of casualties and give up the fight.''
The President said:
And they are targeting America's financial centers and
economic infrastructure at home, hoping to terrorize us and
cause our economy to collapse.
He quoted the words of Osama bin Laden, who calls this his ``bleed-
until-bankruptcy plan,'' and noted that Osama bin Laden was very
impressed with the relatively small investment he had to make to cause
such a large amount of damage to the United States and to our economy.
The President also noted the enemy has a propaganda strategy. Osama
bin Laden says al-Qaida intends to ``launch,'' in his words, ``a media
campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their
government.''
I would submit that the evidence of that campaign is there for all to
see.
The President said:
Bin Laden and his allies are absolutely convinced they can
succeed in forcing America to retreat and causing our
economic collapse. They believe our nation is weak and
decadent, and lacking in patience and resolve.
The President also said that ``they've made clear that the most
important front in their struggle against America is Iraq--the nation
bin Laden has declared the `capital of the caliphate.'
The President said:
Hear the words of bin Laden: ``I now address the whole
Islamic nation. Listen and understand. The most serious issue
today for the whole world is this Third World War that is
raging in Iraq.'' He calls it ``a war of destiny between
infidelity and Islam.'' He says, ``The whole world is
watching this war,'' and that it will end in ``victory and
glory, or misery and humiliation.''
The President noted:
For al Qaeda, Iraq is not a distraction from their war on
America--it is the central battlefield where the outcome of
this struggle will be decided.
The President said:
Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their
intentions as clear as Lenin and
[[Page S8987]]
Hitler before them. The question is: Will we listen? Will we
pay attention to what these evil men say?
And then the President noted that there is a second group of these
radical Islamists who, combined with the first, represent the axis of
evil that we face in this war, the threat posed by Shia extremists.
The President said:
The Shia strain of Islamic radicalism is just as dangerous,
and just as hostile to America, and just as determined to
establish its brand of hegemony across the broader Middle
East. And the Shia extremists have achieved something that al
Qaeda has so far failed to do: In 1979, they took control of
a major power, the nation of Iran, subjecting its proud
people to a regime of tyranny, and using that nation's
resources to fund the spread of terror and pursue their
radical agenda.
Then the President went on to describe the clear aims of the Iranian
regime: wanting to drive America out of the region, to destroy Israel,
and to dominate the broader Middle East. Among the ways in which they
intend to achieve their goals is by the creation and supporting of
terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.
The President said:
Just as we must take the words of the Sunni extremists
seriously, we must take the words of the Shia extremists
seriously.
He went on to quote the Hezbollah leader, the terrorist Nasrallah,
and also the President of Iran, President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad, who
declared in a speech that some people ask, and I am quoting, ``whether
a world without the United States and Zionism can be achieved. I say
that this goal is achievable.''
Everyone is aware of Ahmadi-Nejad's threats to wipe Israel off the
face of the Earth.
He said:
If you do not abandon the path of falsehood, your doomed
destiny will be annihilation.
He delivered this message to the American people. And I am quoting:
If you would like to have good relations with the Iranian
nation in the future, bow down before the greatness of the
Iranian nation and surrender. If you don't accept to do this,
the Iranian nation will force you to surrender and bow down.
The language is always: Bow down. Surrender to their radical,
perverted view of Islam.
And now the Iranian regime is pursuing nuclear weapons. Imagine if
this nation acquires nuclear weapons, a nation that sponsors terrorism
around the world, is the chief sponsor of terrorism, according to the
U.S. State Department. And were they to provide nuclear weaponry to
terrorists, the result is unthinkable.
What the President concluded was:
The Shia and Sunni extremists represent different faces of
the same threat. They draw inspiration from different
sources, but both seek to impose a dark vision of violent
Islamic radicalism across the Middle East.
The President said:
And armed with nuclear weapons, they would blackmail the
free world, and spread their ideologies of hate, and raise a
mortal threat to the American people. If we allow them to do
this, if we retreat from Iraq, if we don't uphold our duty to
support those who are desirous to live in liberty, 50 years
from now history will look back on our time with unforgiving
clarity, and demand to know why we did not act.
The President then went on to reiterate the five basic elements of
the strategy he has discussed before. He pointed out that the enemy is
a flexible and agile enemy that adapts and changes its ways of dealing
with us, and that we have to do the same, and pointed out how we are
doing that.
In fact, the President said:
During the last five years we've learned a lot about this
enemy. We've learned that they're cunning and sophisticated.
We've witnessed their ability to change their methods and
their tactics with deadly speed--even as their murderous
obsessions remain unchanging.
He also noted--and I think this is important--that one of the things
they have accomplished over the last several years is the slaughtering
of huge numbers of innocent Muslim men and women around the world. And
you have but to look at the daily casualty count in Iraq, where it is
primarily violence on other Muslims in Iraq that represents this
terrible news we wake up to every morning.
The President said, as he has said before:
The road ahead is going to be difficult, and it will
require more sacrifice. Yet we can have confidence in the
outcome, because we've seen freedom conquer tyranny and
terror before.
I would say that we have a choice to make. We can understand the
nature of this conflict and its seriousness and the required sacrifice
now or we can come to that realization after we have suffered far too
many more casualties and far too much loss in blood and treasure.
Eventually the world will join us in this struggle and we will succeed.
But the question is, How many have to die? How much loss has to occur
before the world wakes to the nature of this threat?
I harken back to the days just before World War II as a good lesson
in history to remind us that we need to take the words of these
evildoers to heart. They just may mean what they say. History has
proven that to be the case in the past, and recent history leaves no
doubt that this is what they mean today.
Next Monday, we will stand on the Capitol steps at 6 o'clock, as we
did exactly 5 years before, to demonstrate to the American people that
the attacks on America will not deter us from our business or our
commitment to protect the American people. When we do that, we need to
mean what we say. Our ability to make good on that commitment will
depend, first and foremost, on our understanding of the nature of this
threat and our ability and willingness to confront it.
The President concluded his remarks with these statements. He said:
This time, we're confronting them--
Meaning the enemy--
before they gain the capacity to inflict unspeakable damage
on the world, and we're confronting their hateful ideology
before it . . . takes root.
That is the point I was making, that we have a choice today to take
this fight to the enemy and win rather than waiting until more damage
has been inflicted upon us to understand and appreciate the nature of
the threat.
The President concluded by saying:
This is the great ideological struggle of the 21st
century--and it is the calling of our generation. All
civilized nations are bound together in this struggle between
moderation and extremism.
Mr. President, this is the challenge which confronts us. It confronts
us as leaders of this country, and it requires of us the discussion,
honestly and forthrightly, of the serious nature of this struggle. It
will not be won by papering over differences. It will not be won by
deciding that the fight is too difficult and that there are places
where this struggle is occurring where we just cannot prevail. We
cannot send a message to our enemies, let alone to our allies, that we
are not up to the struggle, wherever it may break out.
The way to win this struggle is to win it. And that is the point the
President was making in his remarks yesterday.
Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to review the President's
remarks. I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the speech he
made yesterday be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
President Discusses Global War on Terror
The President: Thank you all very much. (Applause.) Thank
you all. Please be seated. General Hendrix, thank you for the
invitation to be here. Thanks for the kind introduction. I'm
honored to stand with the men and women of the Military
Officers Association of America. I appreciate the Board of
Directors who are here, and the leaders who have given me
this platform from which to speak. I'm proud to be here with
active members of the United States military. Thank you for
your service. I'm proud to be your Commander-in-Chief.
(Applause.)
I am pleased also to stand with members of the diplomatic
corps, including many representing nations that have been
attacked by al Qaeda and its terrorist allies since September
the 11th, 2001. (Applause.) Your presence here reminds us
that we're engaged in a global war against an enemy that
threatens all civilized nations. And today the civilized
world stands together to defend our freedom; we stand
together to defeat the terrorists; and were working to secure
the peace for generations to come.
I appreciate my Attorney General joining us today, Al
Gonzales. Thank you for being here. (Applause.) The Secretary
of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, is with us.
(Applause.) Three members of the United States Senate--I
might say, three important members of the United States
Senate--Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens of Alaska. Thank
you for joining us, Senator. (Applause.) Chairman of the
Appropriations Committee, Senator Thad Cochran of
Mississippi. (Applause.) The Chairman of the
[[Page S8988]]
Armed Services Committee, John Warner of Virginia.
(Applause.)
I thank Norb Ryan, as well, for his leadership. I do
appreciate all the folks that are at Walter Reed who have
joined us today. I'm going to tell the parents of our troops,
we provide great health care to those who wear the uniform.
I'm proud of those folks at Bethesda and Walter Reed--are
providing you the best possible care to help you recover from
your injuries. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for
joining us here today. May God bless you in your recovery.
(Applause.)
Next week, America will mark the fifth anniversary of
September the 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. As this day
approaches, it brings with it a flood of painful memories. We
remember the horror of watching planes fly into the World
Trade Center, and seeing the towers collapse before our eyes.
We remember the sight of the Pentagon, broken and in flames.
We remember the rescue workers who rushed into burning
buildings to save lives, knowing they might never emerge
again. We remember the brave passengers who charged the
cockpit of their hijacked plane, and stopped the terrorists
from reaching their target and killing more innocent
civilians. We remember the cold brutality of the enemy who
inflicted this harm on our country--an enemy whose leader,
Osama bin Laden, declared the massacre of nearly 3,000 people
that day--I quote--``an unparalleled and magnificent feat of
valor, unmatched by any in humankind before them.''
In five years since our nation was attacked, al Qaeda and
terrorists it has inspired have continued to attack across
the world. They've killed the innocent in Europe and Africa
and the Middle East, in Central Asia and the Far East, and
beyond. Most recently, they attempted to strike again in
the most ambitious plot since the attacks of September the
11th--a plan to blow up passenger planes headed for
America over the Atlantic Ocean.
Five years after our nation was attacked, the terrorist
danger remains. We're a nation at war--and America and her
allies are fighting this war with relentless determination
across the world. Together with our coalition partners, we've
removed terrorist sanctuaries, disrupted their finances,
killed and captured key operatives, broken up terrorist cells
in America and other nations, and stopped new attacks before
they're carried out. We're on the offense against the
terrorists on every battlefront--and we'll accept nothing
less than complete victory. (Applause.)
In the five years since our nation was attacked, we've also
learned a great deal about the enemy we face in this war.
We've learned about them through videos and audio recordings,
and letters and statements they've posted on websites. We've
learned about them from captured enemy documents that the
terrorists have never meant for us to see. Together, these
documents and statements have given us clear insight into the
mind of our enemies--their ideology, their ambitions, and
their strategy to defeat us.
We know what the terrorists intend to do because they've
told us--and we need to take their words seriously. So today
I'm going to describe--in the terrorists' own words, what
they believe... what they hope to accomplish, and how they
intend to accomplish it. I'll discuss how the enemy has
adapted in the wake of our sustained offensive against them,
and the threat posed by different strains of violent Islamic
radicalism. I'll explain the strategy we're pursuing to
protect America, by defeating the terrorists on the
battlefield, and defeating their hateful ideology in the
battle of ideas.
The terrorists who attacked us on September the 11th, 2001,
are men without conscience--but they're not madmen. They kill
in the name of a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs
that are evil, but not insane. These al Qaeda terrorists and
those who share their ideology are violent Sunni extremists.
They're driven by a radical and perverted vision of Islam
that rejects tolerance, crushes all dissent, and justifies
the murder of innocent men, women and children in the pursuit
of political power. They hope to establish a violent
political utopia across the Middle East, which they call a
``Caliphate''--where all would be ruled according to their
hateful ideology. Osama bin Laden has called the 9/11
attacks--in his words--``a great step towards the unity of
Muslims and establishing the Righteous... [Caliphate].''
This caliphate would be a totalitarian Islamic empire
encompassing all current and former Muslim lands, stretching
from Europe to North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast
Asia. We know this because al Qaeda has told us. About two
months ago, the terrorist Zawahiri--he's al Qaeda's second in
command--declared that al Qaeda intends to impose its rule in
``every land that was a home for Islam, from [Spain] to Iraq.
He went on to say, ``The whole world is an open field for
us.''
We know what this radical empire would look like in
practice, because we saw how the radicals imposed their
ideology on the people of Afghanistan. Under the rule of the
Taliban and al Qaeda, Afghanistan was a totalitarian
nightmare--a land where women were imprisoned in their homes,
men were beaten for missing prayer meetings, girls could not
go to school, and children were forbidden the smallest
pleasures like flying kites. Religious police roamed the
streets, beating and detaining civilians for perceived
offenses. Women were publicly whipped. Summary executions
were held in Kabul's soccer stadium in front of cheering
mobs. And Afghanistan was turned into a launching pad for
horrific attacks against America and other parts of the
civilized world--including many Muslim nations.
The goal of these Sunni extremists is to remake the entire
Muslim world in their radical image. In pursuit of their
imperial aims, these extremists say there can be no
compromise or dialogue with those they call ``infidels''--a
category that includes America, the world's free nations,
Jews, and all Muslims who reject their extreme vision of
Islam. They reject the possibility of peaceful coexistence
with the free world. Again, hear the words of Osama bin Laden
earlier this year: ``Death is better than living on this
Earth with the unbelievers among us.''
These radicals have declared their uncompromising hostility
to freedom. It is foolish to think that you can negotiate
with them. (Applause.) We see the uncompromising nature of
the enemy in many captured terrorist documents. Here are just
two examples: After the liberation of Afghanistan, coalition
forces searching through a terrorist safe house in that
country found a copy of the al Qaeda charter. This charter
states that ``there will be continuing enmity until everyone
believes in Allah. We will not meet [the enemy] halfway.
There will be no room for dialogue with them.'' Another
document was found in 2000 by British police during an
anti-terrorist raid in London--a grisly al Qaeda manual
that includes chapters with titles such as ``Guidelines
for Beating and Killing Hostages.'' This manual declares
that their vision of Islam ``does not . . . make a truce
with unbelief, but rather confronts it.'' The
confrontation . . . calls for . . . the dialogue of
bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and
destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine
gun.''
Still other captured documents show al Qaeda's strategy for
infiltrating Muslim nations, establishing terrorist enclaves,
overthrowing governments, and building their totalitarian
empire. We see this strategy laid out in a captured al Qaeda
document found during a recent raid in Iraq, which describes
their plans to infiltrate and take over Iraq's western Anbar
Province. The document lays out an elaborate al Qaeda
governing structure for the region that includes an Education
Department, a Social Services Department, a Justice
Department, and an ``Execution Unit'' responsible for
``Sorting out, Arrest, Murder, and Destruction.''
According to their public statements, countries that have--
they have targeted stretch from the Middle East to Africa, to
Southeast Asia. Through this strategy, al Qaeda and its
allies intend to create numerous, decentralized operating
bases across the world, from which they can plan new attacks,
and advance their vision of a unified, totalitarian Islamic
state that can confront and eventually destroy the free
world.
These violent extremists know that to realize this vision,
they must first drive out the main obstacle that stands in
their way--the United States of America. According to al
Qaeda, their strategy to defeat America has two parts: First,
they're waging a campaign of terror across the world. They're
targeting our forces abroad, hoping that the American people
will grow tired of casualties and give up the fight. And
they're targeting America's financial centers and economic
infrastructure at home, hoping to terrorize us and cause our
economy to collapse.
Bin Laden calls this his ``bleed-until-bankruptcy plan.''
And he cited the attacks of 9/11 as evidence that such a plan
can succeed. With the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden says,
``al Qaeda spent $500,000 on the event, while America. . .
lost--according to the lowest estimate--$500 billion . . .
Meaning that every dollar of al Qaeda defeated a million
dollars'' of America. Bin Laden concludes from this
experience that ``America is definitely a great power, with .
. . unbelievable military strength and a vibrant economy, but
all of these have been built on a very weak and hollow
foundation.'' He went on to say, ``Therefore, it is very easy
to target the flimsy base and concentrate on their weak
points, and even if we're able to target one-tenth of these
weak points, we will be able [to] crush and destroy them.''
Secondly, along with this campaign of terror, the enemy has
a propaganda strategy. Osama bin Laden laid out this strategy
in a letter to the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, that
coalition forces uncovered in Afghanistan in 2002. In it, bin
Laden says that al Qaeda intends to ``[launch],'' in his
words, ``a media campaign . . . to create a wedge between the
American people and their government.'' This media campaign,
bin Laden says, will send the American people a number of
messages, including ``that their government [will] bring them
more losses, in finances and casualties.'' And he goes on to
say that ``they are being sacrificed . . . to serve . . . the
big investors, especially the Jews.'' Bin Laden says that by
delivering these messages, al Qaeda ``aims at creating
pressure from the American people on the American government
to stop their campaign against Afghanistan.''
Bin Laden and his allies are absolutely convinced they can
succeed in forcing America to retreat and causing our
economic collapse. They believe our nation is weak and
decadent, and lacking in patience and resolve. And they're
wrong. (Applause.) Osama bin Laden has written that the
``defeat of . . . American forces in Beirut'' in 1983 is
proof America does not have the stomach to stay in the fight.
He's declared that ``in Somalia . . . the United States
[pulled] out,
[[Page S8989]]
trailing disappointment, defeat, and failure behind it.'' And
last year, the terrorist Zawahiri declared that Americans
``know better than others that there is no hope in victory.
The Vietnam specter is closing every outlet.''
These terrorists hope to drive America and our coalition
out of Afghanistan, so they can restore the safe haven they
lost when coalition forces drove them out five years ago. But
they've made clear that the most important front in their
struggle against America is Iraq--the nation bin Laden has
declared the ``capital of the Caliphate.'' Hear the words of
bin Laden: ``I now address. . . the whole . . . Islamic
nation: Listen and understand . . . The most . . . serious
issue today for the whole world is this Third World War . . .
[that] is raging in [Iraq].'' He calls it ``a war of destiny
between infidelity and Islam.'' He says, ``The whole world is
watching this war,'' and that it will end in ``victory and
glory or misery and humiliation.'' For al Qaeda, Iraq is not
a distraction from their war on America--it is the central
battlefield where the outcome of this struggle will be
decided.
Here is what al Qaeda says they will do if they succeed in
driving us out of Iraq: The terrorist Zawahiri has said that
al Qaeda will proceed with ``several incremental goals. The
first stage: Expel the Americans from Iraq. The second stage:
Establish an Islamic authority or amirate, then develop it
and support it until it achieves the level of Caliphate . . .
The third stage: Extend the jihad wave to the secular
countries neighboring Iraq. And the fourth stage: . . . the
clash with Israel.''
These evil men know that a fundamental threat to their
aspirations is a democratic Iraq that can govern itself,
sustain itself, and defend itself. They know that given a
choice, the Iraqi people will never choose to live in the
totalitarian state the extremists hope to establish. And that
is why we must not, and we will not, give the enemy victory
in Iraq by deserting the Iraqi people. (Applause.)
Last year, the terrorist Zarqawi declared in a message
posted on the Internet that democracy ``is the essence of
infidelity and deviation from the right path.'' The Iraqi
people disagree. Last December, nearly 12 million Iraqis from
every ethnic and religious community turned out to vote in
their country's third free election in less than a year. Iraq
now has a unity government that represents Iraq's diverse
population--and al Qaeda's top commander in Iraq breathed his
last breath. (Applause.)
Despite these strategic setbacks, the enemy will continue
to fight freedom's advance in Iraq, because they understand
the stakes in this war. Again, hear the words of bin Laden,
in a message to the American people earlier this year. He
says: ``The war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it
means your defeat and disgrace forever.''
Now, I know some of our country hear the terrorists' words,
and hope that they will not, or cannot, do what they say.
History teaches that underestimating the words of evil and
ambitious men is a terrible mistake. In the early 1900s, an
exiled lawyer in Europe published a pamphlet called ``What Is
To Be Done?''--in which he laid out his plan to launch a
communist revolution in Russia. The world did not heed
Lenin's words, and paid a terrible price. The Soviet Empire
he established killed tens of millions, and brought the world
to the brink of thermonuclear war. In the 1920s, a failed
Austrian painter published a book in which he explained his
intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany and take
revenge on Europe and eradicate the Jews. The world ignored
Hitler's words, and paid a terrible price. His Nazi regime
killed millions in the gas chambers, and set the world aflame
in war, before it was finally defeated at a terrible cost in
lives.
Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their
intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. The
question is: Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what
these evil men say? America and our coalition partners have
made our choice. We're taking the words of the enemy
seriously. We're on the offensive, and we will not rest, we
will not retreat, and we will not withdraw from the fight,
until this threat to civilization has been removed.
(Applause.)
Five years into this struggle, it's important to take stock
of what's been accomplished--and the difficult work that
remains. Al Qaeda has been weakened by our sustained
offensive against them, and today it is harder for al Qaeda's
leaders to operate freely, to move money, or to communicate
with their operatives and facilitators. Yet al Qaeda remains
dangerous and determined. Bin Laden and Zawahiri remain in
hiding in remote regions of this world. Al Qaeda continues to
adapt in the face of our global campaign against them.
Increasingly, al Qaeda is taking advantage of the Internet to
disseminate propaganda, and to conduct ``virtual
recruitment'' and ``virtual training'' of new terrorists. Al
Qaeda's leaders no longer need to meet face-to-face with
their operatives. They can find new suicide bombers, and
facilitate new terrorist attacks, without ever laying eyes on
those they're training, financing, or sending to strike us.
As al Qaeda changes, the broader terrorist movement is also
changing, becoming more dispersed and self-directed. More and
more, we're facing threats from locally established terrorist
cells that are inspired by al Qaeda's ideology and goals, but
do not necessarily have direct links to al Qaeda, such as
training and funding. Some of these groups are made up of
``homegrown'' terrorists, militant extremists who were born
and educated in Western nations, were indoctrinated by
radical Islamists or attracted to their ideology, and joined
the violent extremist cause. These locally established cells
appear to be responsible for a number of attacks and plots,
including those in Madrid, and Canada, and other countries
across the world.
As we continue to fight al Qaeda and these Sunni extremists
inspired by their radical ideology, we also face the threat
posed by Shia extremists, who are learning from al Qaeda,
increasing their assertiveness, and stepping up their
threats. Like the vast majority of Sunnis, the vast majority
of Shia across the world reject the vision of extremists--and
in Iraq, millions of Shia have defied terrorist threats to
vote in free elections, and have shown their desire to
live in freedom. The Shia extremists want to deny them
this right. This Shia strain of Islamic radicalism is just
as dangerous, and just as hostile to America, and just as
determined to establish its brand of hegemony across the
broader Middle East. And the Shia extremists have achieved
something that al Qaeda has so far failed to do: In 1979,
they took control of a major power, the nation of Iran,
subjugating its proud people to a regime of tyranny, and
using that nation's resources to fund the spread of terror
and pursue their radical agenda.
Like al Qaeda and the Sunni extremists, the Iranian regime
has clear aims: They want to drive America out of the region,
to destroy Israel, and to dominate the broader Middle East.
To achieve these aims, they are funding and arming terrorist
groups like Hezbollah, which allow them to attack Israel and
America by proxy. Hezbollah, the source of the current
instability in Lebanon, has killed more Americans than any
terrorist organization except al Qaeda. Unlike al Qaeda,
they've not yet attacked the American homeland. Yet they're
directly responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans
abroad. It was Hezbollah that was behind the 1983 bombing of
the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans.
And Saudi Hezbollah was behind the 1996 bombing of Khobar
Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans, an attack
conducted by terrorists who we believe were working with
Iranian officials.
Just as we must take the words of the Sunni extremists
seriously, we must take the words of the Shia extremists
seriously. Listen to the words of Hezbollah's leader, the
terrorist Nasrallah, who has declared his hatred of America.
He says, ``Let the entire world hear me. Our hostility to the
Great Satan [America] is absolute . . . Regardless of how the
world has changed after 11 September, Death to America will
remain our reverberating and powerful slogan: Death to
America.''
Iran's leaders, who back Hezbollah, have also declared
their absolute hostility to America. Last October, Iran's
President declared in a speech that some people ask--in his
words--``whether a world without the United States and
Zionism can be achieved . . . I say that this . . . goal is
achievable.'' Less than three months ago, Iran's President
declared to America and other Western powers: ``open your
eyes and see the fate of pharaoh . . . if you do not abandon
the path of falsehood . . . your doomed destiny will be
annihilation.'' Less than two months ago, he warned: ``The
anger of Muslims may reach an explosion point soon. If such a
day comes . . . [America and the West] should know that the
waves of the blast will not remain within the boundaries of
our region.'' He also delivered this message to the American
people: ``If you would like to have good relations with the
Iranian nation in the future . . . bow down before the
greatness of the Iranian nation and surrender. If you don't
accept [to do this], the Iranian nation will . . . force you
to surrender and bow down.''
America will not bow down to tyrants. (Applause.)
The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies have
demonstrated their willingness to kill Americans--and now the
Iranian regime is pursuing nuclear weapons. The world is
working together to prevent Iran's regime from acquiring the
tools of mass murder. The international community has made a
reasonable proposal to Iran's leaders, and given them the
opportunity to set their nation on a better course. So far,
Iran's leaders have rejected this offer.
Their choice is increasingly isolating the great Iranian
nation from the international community, and denying the
Iranian people an opportunity for greater economic
prosperity. It's time for Iran's leader to make a different
choice. And we've made our choice. We'll continue to work
closely with our allies to find a diplomatic solution. The
world's free nations will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear
weapon. (Applause.)
The Shia and Sunni extremists represent different faces of
the same threat. They draw inspiration from different
sources, but both seek to impose a dark vision of violent
Islamic radicalism across the Middle East. They oppose the
advance of freedom, and they want to gain control of weapons
of mass destruction. If they succeed in undermining fragile
democracies, like Iraq, and drive the forces of freedom out
of the region, they will have an open field to pursue their
dangerous goals. Each strain of violent Islamic radicalism
would be emboldened in their efforts to topple moderate
governments and establish terrorist safe havens.
Imagine a world in which they were able to control
governments, a world awash with oil
[[Page S8990]]
and they would use oil resources to punish industrialized
nations. And they would use those resources to fuel their
radical agenda, and pursue and purchase weapons of mass
murder. And armed with nuclear weapons, they would blackmail
the free world, and spread their ideologies of hate, and
raise a mortal threat to the American people. If we allow
them to do this, if we retreat from Iraq, if we don't uphold
our duty to support those who are desirous to live in
liberty, 50 years from now history will look back on our time
with unforgiving clarity, and demand to know why we did not
act.
I'm not going to allow this to happen--and no future
American President can allow it either. America did not seek
this global struggle, but we're answering history's call with
confidence and a clear strategy. Today we're releasing a
document called the ``National Strategy for Combating
Terrorism.'' This is an unclassified version of the strategy
we've been pursuing since September the 11th, 2001. This
strategy was first released in February 2003; it's been
updated to take into account the changing nature of this
enemy. This strategy document is posted on the White House
website--whitehouse.gov. And I urge all Americans to read it.
Our strategy for combating terrorism has five basic
elements:
First, we're determined to prevent terrorist attacks before
they occur. So we're taking the fight to the enemy. The best
way to protect America is to stay on the offense. Since 9/11,
our coalition has captured or killed al Qaeda managers and
operatives, and scores of other terrorists across the world.
The enemy is living under constant pressure, and we intend to
keep it that way--and this adds to our security. When
terrorists spend their days working to avoid death or
capture, it's harder for them to plan and execute new
attacks.
We're also fighting the enemy here at home. We've given our
law enforcement and intelligence professionals the tools they
need to stop the terrorists in our midst. We passed the
PATRIOT Act to break down the wall that prevented law
enforcement and intelligence from sharing vital information.
We created the Terrorist Surveillance Program to monitor the
communications between al Qaeda commanders abroad and
terrorist operatives within our borders. If al Qaeda is
calling somebody in America, we need to know why, in order to
stop attacks. (Applause.)
I want to thank these three Senators for working with us to
give our law enforcement and intelligence officers the tools
necessary to do their jobs. (Applause.) And over the last
five years, federal, state, and local law enforcement have
used those tools to break up terrorist cells, and to
prosecute terrorist operatives and supporters in New York,
and Oregon, and Virginia, and Texas, and New Jersey, and
Illinois, Ohio, and other states. By taking the battle to the
terrorists and their supporters on our own soil and across
the world, we've stopped a number of al Qaeda plots.
Second, we're determined to deny weapons of mass
destruction to outlaw regimes and terrorists who would use
them without hesitation. Working with Great Britain and
Pakistan and other nations, the United States shut down the
world's most dangerous nuclear trading cartel, the AQ Khan
network. This network had supplied Iran and Libya and North
Korea with equipment and know-how that advanced their efforts
to obtain nuclear weapons. And we launched the Proliferation
Security Initiative, a coalition of more than 70 nations that
is working together to stop shipments related to weapons of
mass destruction on land, at sea, and in the air. The
greatest threat this world faces is the danger of extremists
and terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction--and
this is a threat America cannot defeat on her own. We applaud
the determined efforts of many nations around the world to
stop the spread of these dangerous weapons. Together, we
pledge we'll continue to work together to stop the world's
most dangerous men from getting their hands on the world's
most dangerous weapons. (Applause.)
Third, we're determined to deny terrorists the support of
outlaw regimes. After September the 11th, I laid out a clear
doctrine: America makes no distinction between those who
commit acts of terror, and those that harbor and support
them, because they're equally guilty of murder. Thanks to our
efforts, there are now three fewer state sponsors of terror
in the world than there were on September the 11th, 2001.
Afghanistan and Iraq have been transformed from terrorist
states into allies in the war on terror. And the nation of
Libya has renounced terrorism, and given up its weapons of
mass destruction programs, and its nuclear materials and
equipment. Over the past five years, we've acted to disrupt
the flow of weapons and support from terrorist states to
terrorist networks. And we have made clear that any
government that chooses to be an ally of terror has also
chosen to be an enemy of civilization. (Applause.)
Fourth, we're determined to deny terrorist networks control
of any nation, or territory within a nation. So, along with
our coalition and the Iraqi government, we'll stop the
terrorists from taking control of Iraq, and establishing a
new safe haven from which to attack America and the free
world. And we're working with friends and allies to deny the
terrorists the enclaves they seek to establish in ungoverned
areas across the world. By helping governments reclaim full
sovereign control over their territory, we make ourselves
more secure.
Fifth, we're working to deny terrorists new recruits, by
defeating their hateful ideology and spreading the hope of
freedom--by spreading the hope of freedom across the Middle
East. For decades, American policy sought to achieve peace in
the Middle East by pursuing stability at the expense of
liberty. The lack of freedom in that region helped create
conditions where anger and resentment grew, and radicalism
thrived, and terrorists found willing recruits. And we saw
the consequences on September the 11th, when the
terrorists brought death and destruction to our country.
The policy wasn't working.
The experience of September the 11th made clear, in the
long run, the only way to secure our nation is to change the
course of the Middle East. So America has committed its
influence in the world to advancing freedom and liberty and
democracy as the great alternatives to repression and
radicalism. (Applause.) We're taking the side of democratic
leaders and moderates and reformers across the Middle East.
We strongly support the voices of tolerance and moderation in
the Muslim world. We're standing with Afghanistan's elected
government against al Qaeda and the Taliban remnants that are
trying to restore tyranny in that country. We're standing
with Lebanon's young democracy against the foreign forces
that are seeking to undermine the country's sovereignty and
independence. And we're standing with the leaders of Iraq's
unity government as they work to defeat the enemies of
freedom, and chart a more hopeful course for their people.
This is why victory is so important in Iraq. By helping
freedom succeed in Iraq, we will help America, and the Middle
East, and the world become more secure.
During the last five years we've learned a lot about this
enemy. We've learned that they're cunning and sophisticated.
We've witnessed their ability to change their methods and
their tactics with deadly speed--even as their murderous
obsessions remain unchanging. We've seen that it's the
terrorists who have declared war on Muslims, slaughtering
huge numbers of innocent Muslim men and women around the
world.
We know what the terrorists believe, we know what they have
done, and we know what they intend to do. And now the world's
free nations must summon the will to meet this great
challenge. The road ahead is going to be difficult, and it
will require more sacrifice. Yet we can have confidence in
the outcome, because we've seen freedom conquer tyranny and
terror before. In the 20th century, free nations confronted
and defeated Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, we confronted
Soviet communism, and today Europe is whole, free and at
peace.
And now, freedom is once again contending with the forces
of darkness and tyranny. This time, the battle is unfolding
in a new region--the broader Middle East. This time, we're
not waiting for our enemies to gather in strength. This time,
we're confronting them before they gain the capacity to
inflict unspeakable damage on the world, and we're
confronting their hateful ideology before it fully takes
root.
We see a day when people across the Middle East have
governments that honor their dignity, and unleash their
creativity, and count their votes. We see a day when across
this region citizens are allowed to express themselves
freely, women have full rights, and children are educated and
given the tools necessary to succeed in life. And we see a
day when all the nations of the Middle East are allies in the
cause of peace.
We fight for this day, because the security of our own
citizens depends on it. This is the great ideological
struggle of the 21st century--and it is the calling of our
generation. All civilized nations are bound together in this
struggle between moderation and extremism. By coming
together, we will roll back this grave threat to our way of
life. We will help the people of the Middle East claim their
freedom, and we will leave a safer and more hopeful world for
our children and grandchildren.
God bless. (Applause.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware is recognized.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, good morning.
(The remarks of Mr. Carper pertaining to the introduction of S. 3846
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills
and Joint Resolutions.'')
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut is recognized.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to
speak in morning business for 15 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________