[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[September 5, 2006]
[Pages 1600-1609]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Military Officers Association of America
September 5, 2006

    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.
    I want to--pleased also to stand with members of the diplomatic 
corps, including many representing nations that have been attacked by Al 
Qaida and its terrorist allies since September the 11th, 2001. 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 we're working to secure the peace for generations to 
come.
    I appreciate my Attorney General joining us today, Al 
Gonzales. Thank you for being here. The 
Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, is with us. 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--chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee, Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi; the chairman of the Armed Services 
Committee, John WarnerNM/ of Virginia.
    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

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for joining us here today. May God bless you in your recovery.
    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, Usama 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 5 years since our Nation was attacked, Al Qaida 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.
    In the 5 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 web sites. 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 Qaida 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. Usama 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

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former Muslim lands, stretching from Europe to north Africa, the Middle 
East, and Southeast Asia. We know this because Al Qaida has told us. 
About 2 months ago, the terrorist 
Zawahiri--he's Al Qaida's second in command--declared that Al Qaida 
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 Qaida, 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 dialog 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 Usama 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. 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 Qaida 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 
dialog with them.'' Another document was found in 2000 by British police 
during an antiterrorist raid in London, a grisly Al Qaida 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 dialog of bullets; the ideals of 
assassination, bombing, and destruction; and the diplomacy of the cannon 
and machine gun,'' end quote.
    Still other captured documents show Al Qaida'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 Qaida document found during a 
recent raid in Iraq, which describes their plans to infiltrate and to 
take over Iraq's western Anbar Province. The document lays out an 
elaborate Al Qaida 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 Qaida 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

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to Al Qaida, 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,'' end quote. And he cited the attacks of 9/11 as 
evidence that such a plan can succeed. With the 9/11 attacks, Usama bin 
Laden says, ``Al Qaida spent $500,000 on the event, while America lost--
according to the lowest estimate--$500 billion,'' meaning that every 
dollar of Al Qaida 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 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. Usama 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 Qaida 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 Qaida ``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. Usama 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, 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 5 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 Qaida, 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 Qaida says they will do if they succeed in driving 
us out of Iraq. The terrorist Zawahiri 
has said that Al Qaida will proceed with ``several incremental goals. 
The first stage: Expel the Americans from Iraq. The second stage: 
Establish an Islamic authority or emirate, then develop it and support 
it until it achieves

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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.
    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 Qaida's top commander in Iraq breathed his last breath.
    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; we will 
not rest; we will not retreat; and we will not withdraw from the fight 
until this threat to civilization has been removed.
    Five years into this struggle, it's important to take stock of 
what's been accomplished and the difficult work that remains. Al Qaida 
has been weakened by our sustained offensive against them. And today, it 
is harder for Al Qaida's leaders to operate freely, to move money, or to 
communicate with their operatives and facilitators. Yet Al Qaida remains 
dangerous and determined. Bin Laden and 
Zawahiri remain in hiding in remote 
regions of this world. Al Qaida continues to adapt in the face of our 
global campaign against them. Increasingly, Al Qaida is taking advantage 
of the Internet to disseminate propaganda and to conduct virtual 
recruitment and virtual training of new terrorists. Al Qaida'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 Qaida 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 Qaida's ideology and goals but do not necessarily have 
direct links to Al Qaida, such as training and funding. Some of these

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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 Qaida and these Sunni extremists inspired 
by their radical ideology, we also face the threat posed by Shi'a 
extremists who are learning from Al Qaida, increasing their 
assertiveness, and stepping up their threats. Like the vast majority of 
Sunnis, the vast majority of Shi'a across the world reject the vision of 
extremists. And in Iraq, millions of Shi'a have defied terrorist threats 
to vote in free elections and have shown their desire to live in 
freedom. The Shi'a extremists want to deny them this right. This Shi'a 
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. The Shi'a extremists have achieved something 
that Al Qaida 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 Qaida 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 Hizballah, which allow them to 
attack Israel and America by proxy. Hizballah, the source of the current 
instability in Lebanon, has killed more Americans than any terrorist 
organization except Al Qaida. Unlike Al Qaida, they've not yet attacked 
the American homeland. Yet they're directly responsible for the murder 
of hundreds of Americans abroad. It was Hizballah that was behind the 
1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 
Americans. And Saudi Hizballah 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 take the words of the Sunni extremists seriously, we must 
take the words of the Shi'a extremists seriously. Listen to the words of 
Hizballah'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 Hizballah, 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 3 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 
2 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.
    The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies have demonstrated their 
willingness to

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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.
    The Shi'a 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, 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 web site, 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 Qaida 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 Qaida commanders abroad and terrorist 
operatives within our borders. If Al Qaida is calling somebody in 
America, we need to know why in order to stop attacks.

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    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. And over the last 5 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 Qaida 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 
A.Q. 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.
    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 5 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.
    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. And so America has committed its influence in the world

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to advancing freedom and liberty and democracy as the great alternatives 
to repression and radicalism. 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 Qaida 
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 5 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 our 
grandchildren.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 1:15 p.m. at the Capital Hilton Hotel. In 
his remarks, he referred to Gen. John W. Hendrix, USA (Ret.), chairman 
of the board, and Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan, Jr., USN (Ret.), president, 
Military Officers Association of America; President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad 
of Iran; and A.Q. Khan, former head of Pakistan's nuclear weapons 
program.

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