    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [September 7, 2006]
    [Pages 1621-1629]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia
    September 7, 2006

        Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thank you. Sonny, thanks for the introduction. Thanks for your
    leadership. It's always a pleasure to be in Georgia. I appreciate you
    coming, and I appreciate this chance to speak here before the Georgia
    Public Policy Foundation. And I thank you for what you do. For 15 years,
    you've been researching and writing on issues that matter. You take on
    tough questions; you apply innovative thinking; you push for action; and
    you do it all without regard to politics. Come on up to Washington.
    [Laughter]
        I have come here to Atlanta to continue a series of speeches marking
    the fifth anniversary of the September the 11th, 2001, attacks. Last
    week at the American Legion Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, I
    outlined the ideological struggle between the forces of moderation and
    liberty and the forces of extremism across the Middle East. On Tuesday
    in Washington, I described our enemies in their own words and set
    forward a strategy to defeat them. Yesterday I announced that the men we
    believe orchestrated the 9/11 attacks have been transferred to
    Guantanamo Bay, and I called on the United States Congress to pass
    legislation creating military commissions to bring these people to
    justice.
        Today I'll deliver a progress report on the steps we have taken
    since 9/11 to protect the American people, steps we've taken to go on
    the offense against the enemy, and steps we are taking to win this war
    on terror.
        Today I traveled with two United States Senators who clearly see the
    issues before us, and I appreciate and I'm proud to be associated and
    friends with Senator Saxby Chambliss and
    Senator Johnny Isakson.
        I do thank Brenda Fitzgerald for
    encouraging the board of governors to invite me and for taking the lead
    for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. And I want to thank the board
    of governors for your kind invitation. I appreciate very much being with
    Major General Terry Nesbitt. He's the
    director of the Georgia office of Homeland Security.
        Joining us today is a man I got to know quite well under trying
    circumstances, and that would be Lieutenant General Russ Honore of the United States Army--Honore. He issued one of
    the great lines I've ever heard, and you're welcome to use it: ``Don't
    get stuck on stupid.'' It's good advice for people in Washington, DC.
    [Laughter]
        I welcome the other State and local officials here. Thank you all
    for letting me come by.
        In Atlanta, you know the pain of terrorism firsthand. This summer,
    you marked the 10th anniversary of the bombing in Centennial Olympic
    Park. That was the act of one madman. Next Monday is the fifth
    anniversary of an attack on our Nation, and on that day, we awoke to a
    new kind of terrorism. Instead of a localized strike, we faced multiple
    attacks by a network of sophisticated and suicidal extremists. In the
    years since, we've come to learn more about our enemies. We've learned
    more about their dark and distorted vision of Islam. We've learned about
    their plan to build a radical Islamic empire stretching from Spain to
    Indonesia. We learned about their dreams to kill more Americans on an
    even more devastating scale. That's what they have told us. As
    President, I took an oath to protect this country, and I will continue
    using every element of national power to pursue our enemies and to
    prevent attacks on the United States of America.
        Over the past 5 years, we have waged an unprecedented campaign
    against terror at home and abroad, and that campaign has succeeded in
    protecting the homeland. At the same time, we've seen our enemies

    [[Page 1622]]

    strike in Britain, Spain, India, Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Jordan,
    Israel, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries. We've seen that the
    extremists have not given up on their dreams to strike our Nation. Just
    last month, police and intelligence officers from Great Britain, with
    the help of the United States and other allies, helped break up a terror
    cell in London. Working together, we foiled a suicide plot to blow up
    passenger planes on their way to the United States.
        Many Americans look at these events and ask the same question: Five
    years after 9/11, are we safer? The answer is, yes, America is safer. We
    are safer because we've taken action to protect the homeland. We are
    safer because we are on the offense against our enemies overseas. We're
    safer because of the skill and sacrifice of the brave Americans who
    defend our people. Yet 5 years after 9/11, America still faces
    determined enemies, and we will not be safe until those enemies are
    finally defeated.
        One way to assess whether we're safer is to look at what we have
    done to fix the problems that the 9/11 attacks revealed. And so today
    I'll deliver a progress report. The information about the attacks in
    this report is largely drawn from the work of the 9/11 Commission and
    other investigations of the terrorist attacks. I'll begin by looking
    back at four key stages of the 9/11 plot, the gaps in our defenses that
    each stage exposed, and the ways we've addressed those gaps to make this
    country safer.
        In the first key stage of the 9/11 plot, Al Qaida conceived and
    planned the attacks from abroad. In the summer of 1996, Usama bin
    Laden issued a fatwa from Afghanistan that
    said this: ``By the grace of Allah, a safe base here is now available.''
    And he declared war on the United States. A month later, the Taliban
    seized control of Kabul and formed an alliance with Al Qaida. The
    Taliban permitted bin Laden to operate a system of training camps in the
    country which ultimately instructed more than 10,000 in terrorist
    tactics. Bin Laden was also free to cultivate a global financing network
    that provided money for terrorist operations. With his fellow Al Qaida
    leaders, Usama bin Laden used his safe haven to prepare a series of
    attacks on America and on the civilized world.
        In August 1998, they carried out their first big strike, the bombing
    of two U.S. Embassies in east Africa, which killed more than 200 people
    and wounded thousands. Shortly after the Embassy bombings, bin Laden approved another attack. This one was called the
    ``planes operation.'' Our intelligence agencies believe it was suggested
    by a fellow terrorist named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or KSM. KSM's plan was to hijack commercial airliners
    and to crash them into buildings in the United States. He and bin Laden
    selected four preliminary targets--the World Trade Center, the Pentagon,
    the Capitol Building, and the White House. The ``planes operation''
    would become the 9/11 plot, and by the middle of 1999, KSM was at work
    recruiting suicide operatives to hijack the airplanes.
        The first stage of the 9/11 plot exposed serious flaws in America's
    approach to terrorism. Most important, it showed that by allowing states
    to give safe haven to terrorist networks that we made a grave mistake.
    So after 9/11, I set forth a new doctrine: Nations that harbor or
    support terrorists are equally guilty as the terrorists and will be held
    to account. And the Taliban found out what we meant. With Afghan allies,
    we removed the Taliban from power, and we closed down the Al Qaida
    training camps. Five years later, Taliban and Al Qaida remnants are
    desperately trying to retake control of that country. They will fail.
    They will fail because the Afghan people have tasted freedom. They will
    fail because their vision is no match for a democracy accountable to its
    citizens. They will

    [[Page 1623]]

    fail because they are no match for the military forces of a free
    Afghanistan, a NATO alliance, and the United States of America.
        Our offensive against the terrorists includes far more than military
    might. We use financial tools to make it harder for them to raise money.
    We're using diplomatic pressure, and our intelligence operations are
    used to disrupt the day-to-day functions of Al Qaida. Because we're on
    the offense, it is more difficult for Al Qaida to transfer money through
    the international banking system. Because we're on the offense, Al Qaida
    can no longer communicate openly without fear of destruction. And
    because we're on the offense, Al Qaida can no longer move widely without
    fearing for their lives.
        I learned a lot of lessons on 9/11, and one lesson is this: In order
    to protect this country, we will keep steady pressure, unrelenting
    pressure on Al Qaida and its associates. We will deny them safe haven.
    We will find them, and we will bring them to justice.
        Key advantages that Al Qaida enjoyed while plotting the 9/11 attack
    in Afghanistan have been taken away, and so have many of their most
    important leaders, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. For the past 3 years, KSM has been in the custody of
    the Central Intelligence Agency. He's provided valuable intelligence
    that has helped us kill or capture Al Qaida terrorists and stop attacks
    on our Nation. I authorized his transfer to Guantanamo Bay, and the
    sooner the Congress authorizes the military commissions I have called
    for, the sooner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will receive the justice he
    deserves.
        In the second key stage of the 9/11 plot, KSM and bin Laden identified,
    trained, and deployed operatives to the United States. According to the
    9/11 Commission, two of the first suicide hijackers to join the plot
    were men named Hazmi and Mihdhar. KSM's plan was to send these two men
    to infiltrate the United States and train as pilots so they could fly
    the hijacked planes into buildings. Both operatives attended a special
    training camp in Afghanistan, and then traveled to Malaysia and Thailand
    to prepare for their trip to America. KSM doctored Hazmi's passport to
    help him enter the United States. And from Thailand, the two men flew to
    Los Angeles in January of 2000. There they began carrying out the plot
    from inside our Nation. They made phone calls to planners of the attack,
    overseas, and they awaited the arrival of the other killers.
        Our intelligence community picked up some of this information. CIA
    analysts saw links between Mihdhar and Al Qaida, and officers tracked
    Mihdhar to Malaysia. Weeks later, they discovered that he had been
    accompanied by Hazmi and that Hazmi had flown to Los Angeles. This gave
    the CIA reason to be suspicious of both these men. Yet at the time,
    there was no consolidated terrorist watch list available to all Federal
    agencies and State and local governments. So even though intelligence
    officers suspected that both men were dangerous, the information was not
    readily accessible to American law enforcement, and the operatives
    slipped into our country.
        Since 9/11, we've addressed the gaps in our defenses that these
    operatives exploited. We've upgraded technology. We've added layers of
    security to correct weaknesses in our immigration and visa systems.
    Today, visa applicants like Hazmi or Mihdhar would have to appear face
    to face for interviews. They would be fingerprinted and screened against
    an extensive database of known or suspected terrorists. And when they
    arrived on American soil, they would be checked again to make sure their
    fingerprints matched the fingerprints on their visas. Those procedures
    did not exist before 9/11. With these steps, we made it harder for
    these--people like these guys to infiltrate our country.
        Nine-Eleven also revealed the need for a coordinated approach to
    terrorist watch lists. So we established common criteria for posting
    terrorists on a consolidated terrorist

    [[Page 1624]]

    watch list that is now widely available across Federal, State, and local
    jurisdictions. Today, intelligence community officials would immediately
    place terrorist suspects like Hazmi and Mihdhar on a consolidated watch
    list. And the information from this list is now accessible at airports,
    consulates, border crossings, and for State and local law enforcement.
    By putting terrorists' names on a consolidated watch list, we've
    improved our ability to monitor and to track and detain operatives
    before they can strike.
        Another top priority after 9/11 was improving our ability to monitor
    terrorist communications. Remember, I told you the two had made phone
    calls outside the country. At my direction, the National Security Agency
    created the terrorist surveillance program. Before 9/11, our
    intelligence professionals found it difficult to monitor international
    communications such as those between the Al Qaida operatives secretly in
    the United States and planners of the 9/11 attacks. The terrorist
    surveillance program helps protect Americans by allowing us to track
    terrorist communications so we can learn about threats like the 9/11
    plot before it is too late.
        Last year, details of the terrorist surveillance program were leaked
    to the news media, and the program was then challenged in court. That
    challenge was recently upheld by a Federal district judge in Michigan. My administration strongly disagrees with
    the ruling. We are appealing it, and we believe our appeal will be
    successful. Yet a series of protracted legal challenges would put a
    heavy burden on this critical and vital program. The surest way to keep
    the program is to get explicit approval from the United States Congress.
    So today I'm calling on the Congress to promptly pass legislation
    providing additional authority for the terrorist surveillance program,
    along with broader reforms in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
        When the FISA was passed in 1978, there was no widely accessible
    Internet, and almost all calls were made on fixed landlines. Since then,
    the nature of communications has changed quite dramatically. The
    terrorists who want to harm America can now buy disposable cell phones
    and open anonymous e-mail addresses. Our laws need to change to take
    these changes into account. If Al Qaida commander or associate is
    calling into the United States, we need to know why they're calling. And
    Congress needs to pass legislation supporting this program.
        In the third key stage of the 9/11 plot, the rest of the 19 Al Qaida
    operatives arrived in the United States. The first two hijackers in
    America, Hazmi and Mihdhar, had given up flight training, so Khalid
    Sheikh Mohammed selected operatives
    from a cell in Germany to become the new pilots. These men, led by
    Mohammed Atta, obtained visas, and they traveled to the United States,
    and then they enrolled in flight training schools. Atta and his team
    visited airports and flight training centers along the east coast,
    including here in Georgia. Atta was pulled over by police. On his way,
    one of his coconspirators, the terrorist who would go on to pilot Flight
    93, was also stopped. Yet there was no information that the men were
    dangerous, so the officers treated the encounters as routine traffic
    stops. By September the 10th, the hijackers had moved to their final
    destinations near major airports and were ready to execute their
    attacks.
        As these terrorists finalized their plans, Al Qaida dispatched
    another operative named Moussaoui to the
    United States. Moussaoui took flight lessons in Oklahoma and Minnesota.
    He communicated with an Al Qaida leader abroad. But he remained isolated
    from the other operatives and was not a suicide hijacker on the day of
    the attacks, didn't participate in the 9/11 attacks.
        During this stage, law enforcement and intelligence authorities
    failed to share the insights they were learning about the 9/11 plot. For
    example, the FBI intelligence

    [[Page 1625]]

    analyst working at the CIA came across information that raised her
    suspicions about Hazmi and Mihdhar. But she did not relay her concerns
    to FBI criminal investigators because of a wall--or ``the wall'' that
    had developed over the years between law enforcement and intelligence.
    You see, throughout the Government, there was an assumption that law
    enforcement and intelligence were legally prohibited from sharing vital
    information. At one point, key officials from the CIA, the intelligence
    branch of the FBI, the criminal branch of the FBI were all sitting
    around the same table in New York, but they believed that ``the wall''
    prohibited them from telling each other what they knew about Hazmi and
    Mihdhar, and so they never put the pieces together.
        By the summer of 2001, intelligence about a possible terrorist
    attack was increasing. In July, an FBI agent in Phoenix noted that a large number of suspicious men were
    attending flight schools in Arizona. He speculated that this activity
    might be part of a bin Laden plan to attack
    inside the United States. The following month, the FBI field office in
    Minneapolis began an investigation into Moussaoui. He was soon arrested on immigration charges, and
    Minneapolis agents sought a FISA warrant to search his computer. FBI
    Headquarters turned them down, saying the case did not justify a FISA
    request because there was not enough intelligence tying Moussaoui to a
    foreign power. The FBI later learned that Moussaoui had attended an Al
    Qaida training camp in Afghanistan, but the information didn't arrive
    until September the 13th.
        It is clear, after 9/11, that something needed to be done to the
    system; something needed to be changed to protect the American people.
    And it is clear to me that this started with transforming the FBI to
    ensure that it effectively and quickly respond to potential terrorist
    attacks. And so now the top priority of the FBI, since 9/11--the culture
    of that important Agency, full of decent people, has changed. The top
    priority is to protect the American people from terrorist attack. The
    Bureau has hired large numbers of counterterrorism agents and analysts.
    They're focusing resources on what they need to do to protect America.
    They created a unified National Security Branch to coordinate terrorist
    investigations. They expanded the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
    And the Bureau is submitting more FISA requests in terrorist cases. In
    other words, they understand the challenge, and the FBI is changing to
    meet those challenges. The FBI is responding to terrorist threats like
    Moussaoui more quickly, more effectively, and with more resources. At
    every level, America's law enforcement officers now have a clear goal:
    to identify, locate, and stop terrorists before they can kill again.
        Since the attacks, we've also worked with Congress to do something
    about that wall that prevented intelligence and criminal investigators
    from talking to each other. The wall made no sense. It reflected an old
    way of thinking. And so I called upon Congress to pass a piece of
    legislation that would tear down the wall, and that was called the
    PATRIOT Act. The PATRIOT Act has increased the flow of information
    within our Government, and it has helped break up terrorist cells in the
    United States of America. And the United States Congress was right to
    renew the terrorist act--the PATRIOT Act, the terrorist prevention act
    called the PATRIOT Act.
        We created the National Counterterrorism Center, where law
    enforcement and intelligence personnel work side by side in the same
    headquarters. This center hosts secure video teleconferences every day
    that allow for seamless communication among the FBI, the CIA, and other
    agencies. Now officials with critical threat information are sitting at
    the same table and sharing information. We created the position of the
    Director of National Intelligence to operate the intelligence community
    as a single unified enterprise. We set up the Terrorist Screening
    Center, which maintains the

    [[Page 1626]]

    Government's master list of suspected terrorists and helps get this
    information in the hands of State and local law enforcement. Today, a
    police officer who stops a driver for a routine traffic violation can
    access terrorist watch lists and be automatically directed to the
    Terrorist Screening Center if there's a match.
        We've learned the lessons of September the 11th. We're changing how
    people can work together. We're modernizing the system. We're working to
    connect the dots to stop the terrorists from hurting America again.
        The fourth and final stage of the 9/11 plot came on the morning of
    the attack. Starting around 6:45, the 19 hijackers, including Hazmi and
    Mihdhar, checked in, cleared security, and boarded commercial jets bound
    for the west coast. Some of the hijackers were flagged by the passenger
    prescreening system. But because the security rules at the time focused
    on preventing bombs on airplanes, the only precaution required was to
    hold the operatives' checked baggage until they boarded the airplane.
    Several hijackers were also carrying small knives or box cutters, and
    when they reached the security checkpoints, they set off metal
    detectors. The screeners wanded them but let them board their planes
    without verifying what had set off the alarms. When the flights took
    off, the men hijacked each plane in a similar way: They stabbed or
    subdued the pilots and crew, they seized control of the cockpit, and
    they started flying the airplane. By 9:03 a.m., the hijackers had driven
    two of the flights in the World Trade Center. By 9:37, they had struck
    the Pentagon. And shortly after 10 a.m., the fourth plane crashed into a
    field in Pennsylvania. The passengers realized what was happening, and
    they rose up against their captors. These brave passengers saved
    countless lives on the ground; they likely spared the Capitol or the
    White House from destruction; and they delivered America its first
    victory in the war on terror.
        We have taken many steps to address the security gaps that the
    hijackers exploited that morning. We created the Transportation Security
    Administration to ensure that every passenger and every bag is screened.
    We increased the number of Federal air marshals on domestic and
    international flights. We trained and authorized thousands of pilots to
    carry firearms. We hardened cockpit doors to prevent terrorists from
    gaining access to the controls. We merged 22 Government agencies into a
    single Department of Homeland Security and tripled spending for homeland
    security on our airlines, on our ports, and our borders and other
    critical areas. We will continue to provide the resources necessary to
    secure this homeland.
        Even if all the steps I've outlined this morning had been taken
    before 9/11, no one can say for sure that we would have prevented the
    attack. We can say that if America had these reforms in place in 2001,
    the terrorists would have found it harder to plan and finance their
    operations, harder to slip into the country undetected, and harder to
    board the airplanes and take control of the cockpits and succeed in
    striking their targets.
        We are grateful to all those who have worked to implement these
    important reforms. We're grateful to our Federal and State and local law
    enforcement officers who are working tirelessly to protect our country.
    We're grateful to all the intelligence and homeland security and
    military personnel. Together these dedicated men and women are keeping
    their fellow Americans safe, and Americans are proud of their important
    service to our country.
        On the morning of 9/11, we saw that the terrorists have to be right
    only once to kill our people, while we have to be right every time to
    stop them. So we had to make a larger choice about how to respond to the
    threats to our country. Some suggested that our effort should be purely
    defensive, hunkering down behind extreme homeland security and law
    enforcement

    [[Page 1627]]

    measures. Others argue that we should respond overseas, but that our
    action should be limited to direct retaliation for 9/11. I strongly
    disagree with both approaches. Nine-Eleven lifted the veil on a threat
    that is far broader and more dangerous than we saw that morning, an
    enemy that was not sated by the destruction inflicted that day and is
    determined to strike again. To answer this threat and to protect our
    people, we need more than retaliation; we need more than a reaction to
    the last attack; we need to do everything in our power to stop the next
    attack.
        And so America has gone on the offense across the world. And here
    are some of the results. We've captured or killed many of the most
    significant Al Qaida members and associates. We've killed Al Qaida's
    most visible and aggressive leader to emerge after 9/11, the terrorist
    Zarqawi in Iraq. We've kept the terrorists from achieving their key
    goal, to overthrow governments across the broader Middle East and to
    seize control. Instead, the governments they targeted, such as Pakistan
    and Saudi Arabia, have become some of the most valuable allies in the
    war on terror. These countries are joined by the largest coalition in
    the history of warfare, more than 90 nations determined to find the
    terrorists, to dry up their funds, to stop their plots, and to bring
    them to justice.
        This coalition includes two nations that used to sponsor terror but
    now help us fight it, the democratic nations of Afghanistan and Iraq. In
    Afghanistan, President Karzai's elected
    Government is fighting our common enemies. In showing the courage he's
    showing, he's inspired millions across the region. In Iraq, Prime
    Minister Maliki's unity Government is
    fighting Al Qaida and the enemies of Iraq's democracy. They're taking
    increasing responsibility for the security of their free country.
        The fighting in Iraq has been difficult, and it has been bloody, and
    some say that Iraq is a diversion from the war on terror. The terrorists
    disagree. Usama bin Laden has proclaimed
    that the ``third world war is raging'' in Iraq. Al Qaida leaders have
    declared that Baghdad will be the capital of the new caliphate that they
    wish to establish across the broader Middle East. It's hard to believe
    that extremists would make large journeys across dangerous borders to
    endure heavy fighting and to blow themselves up on the streets of
    Baghdad for a so-called ``diversion.'' The terrorists know that the
    outcome in the war on terror will depend on the outcome in Iraq. And so
    to protect our citizens, the free world must succeed in Iraq.
        As we fight the enemies of a free Iraq, we must also ensure that Al
    Qaida, its allies, and the extremists never get their hands on the tools
    of mass murder. When we saw the damage the terrorists inflicted on 9/11,
    our thoughts quickly turned to the devastation that could have been
    caused with weapons of mass destruction. So we launched the
    Proliferation Security Initiative, a coalition of more than 70 countries
    that are cooperating to stop shipments related to deadly weapons.
    Together with Russia, we're working on a new Global Initiative to Combat
    Nuclear Terrorism. We worked with Great Britain to persuade Libya to
    give up its nuclear weapons program, and now the components of that
    program are secured right here in the United States. We uncovered the
    black market nuclear network of A.Q. Khan,
    who was shipping equipment to Iran and North Korea; that network is now
    out of business. And now the world is uniting to send a clear message to
    the regime in Tehran: Iran must end its support of terror; it must stop
    defying its international obligations; and it must not obtain a nuclear
    weapon.
        Our enemies have fought relentlessly these past 5 years, and they
    have a record of their own. Bin Laden and
    his deputy Zawahiri are still in hiding.
    Al Qaida has continued its campaign of terror with deadly attacks that
    have targeted the innocent, including large numbers of fellow Muslims.
    The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq have

    [[Page 1628]]

    killed American troops and thousands of Iraqis. Syria and Iran have
    continued their support for terror and extremism. Hizballah has taken
    innocent life in Israel and succeeded briefly in undermining Lebanon's
    democratic Government. Hamas is standing in the way of peace with
    Israel. And the extremists have led an aggressive propaganda campaign to
    spread lies about America and incite Muslim radicalism. The enemies of
    freedom are skilled, and they are sophisticated, and they are waging a
    long and determined war. The free world must understand the stakes of
    this struggle. The free world must support young democracies. The free
    world must confront the evil of these extremists. The free world must
    draw full measure of our strength and resources to prevail.
        We see that full measure and the strength of this Nation in the men
    and women in uniform who fight this war and we have--and who have given
    their lives in the cause of liberty and freedom. One of these soldiers
    was a young lieutenant named Noah Harris, who was killed last summer in
    Iraq when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. Noah grew up here in
    Georgia. He graduated from the University of Georgia. He volunteered for
    the Army after September the 11th, 2001. He told his dad that people had an obligation to serve a cause higher
    than themselves. In Iraq, Lieutenant Harris was an officer known for his
    toughness and his skill in battle and for the Beanie Babies that he
    carried with him to hand out to the Iraqi children. He was also known
    for the photo of his parents' home in Ellijay that he used as a
    screensaver on his computer. When his troops asked why he chose that
    picture, he explained, ``That is why I'm here.''
        Lieutenant Harris understood the stakes in Iraq. He knew that to
    protect his loved ones at home, America must defeat our enemies
    overseas. If America pulls out of Iraq before the Iraqis can defend
    themselves, the terrorists will follow us here, home. The best way to
    honor the memory of brave Americans like Lieutenant Harris is to
    complete the mission they began. So we will stay, we will fight, and we
    will win in Iraq.
        The war on terror is more than a military conflict, it is the
    decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. And we're only in its
    opening stages. To win this struggle, we have to defeat the ideology of
    the terrorists with a more hopeful vision. So a central element in our
    strategy is the freedom agenda. We know from history that free nations
    are peaceful nations. We know that democracies do not attack each other
    and that young people growing up in a free and hopeful society are less
    likely to fall under the sway of radicalism. And so we're taking the
    side of democratic leaders and reformers across the Middle East. We're
    supporting the voices of tolerance and moderation in the Muslim world.
    We're standing with mothers and fathers in every culture who want to see
    their children grow up in a caring and peaceful world. And by leading
    the cause of freedom in the vital region, we will change the conditions
    that give rise to radicalism and hatred and terror. We will replace
    violent dictatorships with peaceful democracies. We'll make America, the
    Middle East, and the world more secure.
        In the early days after 9/11, I told the American people that this
    would be a long war, a war that would look different from others we have
    fought, with difficulties and setbacks along the way. The past 5 years
    have proven that to be true. The past 5 years have also shown what we
    can achieve when our Nation acts with confidence and resolve and clear
    purpose. We've learned the lessons of 9/11, and we have addressed the
    gaps in our defenses exposed by that attack. We've gone on the offense
    against our enemies and transformed former adversaries into allies. We
    have put in place the institutions needed to win this war. Five years
    after September the 11th, 2001, America is safer, and America is winning

    [[Page 1629]]

    the war on terror. With vigilance, determination, courage, we will
    defeat the enemies of freedom, and we will leave behind a more peaceful
    world for our children and our grandchildren.
        God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:24 a.m. at the Cobb Galleria Center. In
    his remarks, he referred to Gov. George E. ``Sonny'' Perdue of Georgia;
    Brenda Fitzgerald, chairman, board of governors, Georgia Public Policy
    Foundation; Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore, USA, commanding general, First
    United States Army; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist
    organization; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, senior Al Qaida leader responsible
    for planning the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, who was captured
    in Pakistan on March 1, 2003; U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern
    District of Michigan Anna Diggs Taylor; Zacarias Moussaoui, an Al Qaida
    operative who was sentenced on May 4 for helping to plan the September
    11, 2001, terrorist attacks; President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan;
    Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq; and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, founder of
    the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and senior Al Qaida associate. He also
    referred to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
    States (9/11 Commission).