[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[September 9, 2006]
[Pages 1635-1637]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
September 9, 2006

    Good morning. This Monday our Nation will mark the fifth anniversary 
of the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. On this solemn occasion, 
Americans will observe a day of prayer and remembrance, and Laura and I 
will travel to New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon to take 
part in memorial ceremonies. Our Nation honors the memory of every 
person we lost on that day of terror, and we pray that the Almighty will 
continue to comfort the families who had so much taken away from them.
    On this anniversary, we also remember the brutality of the enemy who 
struck our country and renew our resolve to defeat this enemy and secure 
a future of peace and freedom.
    So this week, I've given a series of speeches about the nature of 
our enemy, the stakes of the struggle, and the progress we have made 
during the past 5 years. On

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Tuesday in Washington, I described in the terrorists' own words what 
they believe, what they hope to accomplish, and how they intend to 
accomplish it. We know what the terrorists intend because they have told 
us. They hope to establish a totalitarian Islamic empire 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 ``a great step towards the unity of Muslims and establishing the 
righteous caliphate.'' Al Qaida and its allies reject any possibility of 
coexistence with those they call ``infidels.'' Hear the words of Usama 
bin Laden: ``Death is better than living on this Earth with the 
unbelievers amongst us.'' We must take the words of these extremists 
seriously, and we must act decisively to stop them from achieving their 
evil aims.
    On Wednesday at the White House, I described for the first time a 
CIA program we established after 9/11 to detain and question key 
terrorist leaders and operatives, so we can prevent new terrorist 
attacks. This program has been invaluable to the security of America and 
its allies and helped us identify and capture men who our intelligence 
community believes were key architects of the September the 11th 
attacks.
    Information from terrorists held by the CIA also helped us uncover 
an Al Qaida cell's efforts to obtain biological weapons, identify 
individuals sent by Al Qaida to case targets for attacks in the United 
States, stop the planned strike on a U.S. Marine base in Djibouti, 
prevent an attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, and help break up a 
plot to hijack passenger planes and fly them into Heathrow Airport or 
the Canary Wharf in London.
    Information from the terrorists in CIA custody has also played a 
role in the capture or questioning of nearly every senior Al Qaida 
member or associate detained by the U.S. and its allies since this 
program began. Were it not for this program, our intelligence community 
believes that Al Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching 
another attack against the American homeland. We have largely completed 
our questioning of these men, and now it is time that they are tried for 
their crimes.
    So this week, I announced that the men we believe orchestrated the 
9/11 attacks had been transferred to Guantanamo Bay. And I called on 
Congress to pass legislation creating military commissions to try 
suspected terrorists for war crimes. As soon as Congress acts to 
authorize these military commissions, we will prosecute these men and 
send a clear message to those who kill Americans: No matter how long it 
takes, we will find you and bring you to justice.
    As we bring terrorists to justice, we're acting to secure the 
homeland. On Thursday in Atlanta, I delivered a progress report on the 
steps we have taken since 9/11 to protect the American people and win 
the war on terror. We are safer today because we've acted to address the 
gaps in security, intelligence, and information sharing that the 
terrorists exploited in the 9/11 attacks. No one can say for sure that 
we would have prevented the attacks had these reforms been in place in 
2001, yet we can say that terrorists would have found it harder to plan 
and finance their operations, harder to slip into our country 
undetected, and harder to board the planes, take control of the 
cockpits, and succeed in striking their targets.
    America still faces determined enemies. And in the long run, 
defeating these enemies requires more than improved security at home and 
military action abroad. We must also offer a hopeful alternative to the 
terrorists' hateful ideology. So America is taking the side of 
democratic leaders and reformers and supporting the voices of tolerance 
and moderation across the Middle East. By advancing freedom and

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democracy as the great alternative to repression and radicalism and by 
supporting young democracies like Iraq, we are helping to bring a 
brighter future to this region, and that will make America and the world 
more secure.
    The war on terror will be long and difficult, and more tough days 
lie ahead. Yet we can have confidence in the final outcome because we 
know what America can achieve when our Nation acts with resolve and 
clear purpose. With vigilance, determination, and courage, we will 
defeat the enemies of freedom, and we will leave behind a more peaceful 
world for our children and our grandchildren.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on September 8 in the 
Cabinet Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on September 
9. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on September 8 but was embargoed for release until the 
broadcast. In his address, the President referred to Usama bin Laden, 
leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this address.