[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 46 (Monday, November 21, 2005)]
[Pages 1704-1712]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the War on Terror in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania

November 11, 2005

    Thank you all very much. Thank you all for coming. Please be seated. 
Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm glad to be back in Pennsylvania, and 
I'm proud to be the first sitting President to visit Monroe County. I'm 
especially pleased to see so many military veterans with us today. Those 
who have risked their lives for our freedom have the respect and 
gratitude of our Nation on Veterans Day and on every day.
    Tobyhanna is a fitting place to commemorate Veterans Day. For the 
better part of a century, this facility has provided critical services 
for our Armed Forces. Around the clock and around the world, personnel 
from here maintain technology that our troops use to take the fight to 
the enemy. From Afghanistan to Kuwait to Baghdad International Airport, 
technicians from Tobyhanna are carrying out dangerous missions with 
bravery and skill. I know you're proud of them, and so is the Commander 
in Chief.
    Tobyhanna is also home to a thriving community of military families. 
Your support for those who wear the uniform and your support of each 
other through difficult times brings great pride to our country. The 
American people stand with our military families.
    I want to thank Colonel Ellis for allowing me to come and give you 
this speech today. Thank you for your service to our country, Colonel 
Ellis. I want to thank Senator Specter and Congressman Kanjorski and 
Congressman Sherwood for joining us today. It was good to have them on 
Air Force One. I appreciate their service to our country. And I want to 
thank all the State and local officials, and I want to thank all the 
veterans.
    Today our Nation pays tribute to those veterans, 25 million veterans 
who have worn the uniform of the United States of America. Each of these 
men and women took an oath to defend America, and they upheld that oath 
with honor and decency. Through the generations, they have humbled 
dictators and liberated continents and set a standard of courage and 
idealism for the entire world. This year, 3.5 million veterans celebrate 
the 60th anniversary of freedom's great victory in World War II. A 
handful of veterans who live among us in 2005 stood in uniform when 
World War I ended 87 years ago today. These men are more than 100 years 
old. Many of their lives have touched three different centuries, and 
they can all know that America will be proud of their service.
    On Veterans Day, we also remember the troops who left America's 
shores but did not live to be thanked as veterans. On this Veterans Day, 
we honor the courage of those who were lost in our current struggle. We 
think of the families who lost a loved one; we pray for their comfort. 
And we remember the men and women in uniform whose fate is still 
undetermined, our prisoners of war and those missing in action. America 
must never forget their courage, and we will not stop searching until we 
have accounted for every soldier and sailor and airman and marine 
missing in the line of duty.
    All of America's veterans have placed the Nation's security before 
their own lives. Their sacrifice creates a debt that America can never 
fully repay. Yet, there are certain things that Government can do. My 
administration remains firmly committed to serving America's veterans.
    Since I took office, my administration has increased spending for 
veterans by $24 billion, an increase of 53 percent. In the first 4 years 
as President, we increased spending for veterans more than twice as much 
as the previous administration did in 8 years, and I want to thank the 
Members of the Congress and the Senate for joining me in the effort to 
support our veterans.
    We've increased the VA's medical care budget by 51 percent, 
increased total outpatient visits, increased the number of prescriptions 
filled, and reduced the backlog of disability claims. We've committed 
more than $1.5 billion to modernizing and expanding VA facilities so 
that veterans can get better care closer to home. We've expanded grants 
to help homeless veterans in all 50 States and the District of Columbia, 
because we strongly believe no veteran who served in the blazing heat or 
bitter cold of foreign lands should have to live without shelter in our 
own country.
    I've joined with the veterans groups to call on Congress to protect 
the flag of the United

[[Page 1705]]

States in the Constitution of the United States. In June, the House of 
Representatives voted for a constitutional amendment to ban flag 
desecration. I urge the United States Senate to pass this important 
amendment.
    At this hour, a new generation of Americans is defending our flag 
and our freedom in the first war of the 21st century. The war came to 
our shores on September the 11th, 2001. That morning, we saw the 
destruction that terrorists intend for our Nation. We know that they 
want to strike again. And our Nation has made a clear choice: We will 
confront this mortal danger to all humanity; we will not tire or rest 
until the war on terror is won.
    In the 4 years since September the 11th, the evil that reached our 
shores has reappeared on other days, in other places, in Mombasa and 
Casablanca and Riyadh and Jakarta and Istanbul and Madrid and Beslan and 
Taba and Netanya and Baghdad and elsewhere. In the past few months, we 
have seen a new terror offensive with attacks on London and Sharm el-
Sheikh, another deadly strike in Bali, and this week, a series of 
bombings in Amman, Jordan, that killed dozens of innocent Jordanians and 
their guests.
    All these separate images of destruction and suffering that we see 
on the news can seem like random, isolated acts of madness--innocent men 
and women and children who have died simply because they boarded the 
wrong train or worked in the wrong building or checked into the wrong 
hotel. Yet, while the killers choose their victims indiscriminately, 
their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and 
goals that are evil but not insane.
    Some call this evil Islamic radicalism, others, militant Jihadism, 
and still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is 
very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism 
exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: The establishment, 
by terrorism, subversion, and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that 
denies all political and religious freedom. These extremists distort the 
idea of jihad into a call for terrorist murder against Christians and 
Hindus and Jews and against Muslims, themselves, who do not share their 
radical vision.
    Many militants are part of a global, borderless terrorist 
organization like Al Qaida, which spreads propaganda and provides 
financing and technical assistance to local extremists and conducts 
dramatic and brutal operations like the attacks of September the 11th. 
Other militants are found in regional groups often associated with Al 
Qaida, paramilitary insurgencies and separatist movements in places like 
Somalia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Chechnya, Kashmir, and Algeria. 
Still others spring up in local cells, inspired by Islamic radicalism 
but not centrally directed. Islamic radicalism is more like a loose 
network with many branches than an army under a single command. Yet 
these operatives, fighting on scattered battlefields, share a similar 
ideology and vision for our world.
    We know the vision of the radicals because they have openly stated 
it in videos and audiotapes and letters and declarations and on web 
sites.
    First, these extremists want to end American and Western influence 
in the broader Middle East because we stand for democracy and peace and 
stand in the way of their ambitions. Al Qaida's leader, Usama bin Laden, 
has called on Muslims to dedicate, quote, ``Their resources, their sons, 
and money to driving the infidels out of our lands.'' The tactics of Al 
Qaida and other Islamic extremists have been consistent for a quarter of 
a century: They hit us, and they expect us to run.
    Last month, the world learned of a letter written by Al Qaida's 
number two man, a guy named Zawahiri. And he wrote this letter to his 
chief deputy in Iraq, the terrorist Zarqawi. In it, Zawahiri points to 
the Vietnam war as a model for Al Qaida. This is what he said, ``The 
aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam and how they ran 
and left their agents is noteworthy.'' The terrorists witnessed a 
similar response after the attacks of American troops in Beirut in 1983 
and Mogadishu in 1993. They believe that America can be made to run 
again, only this time on a larger scale, with greater consequences.
    Secondly, the militant network wants to use the vacuum created by an 
American retreat to gain control of a country, a base from

[[Page 1706]]

which to launch attacks and conduct their war against nonradical Muslim 
governments. Over the past few decades, radicals have specifically 
targeted Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and Jordan for potential 
takeover. They achieved their goal, for a time, in Afghanistan, and now 
they've set their sights on Iraq. In his recent letter, Zawahiri writes 
that Al Qaida views Iraq as, quote, ``The place of the greatest 
battle.'' The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war 
against humanity. We must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war 
against the terrorists.
    Third, these militants believe that controlling one country will 
rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate 
governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that 
spans from Spain to Indonesia. Zawahiri writes that the terrorists, 
quote, ``Must not have their mission end with the expulsion of the 
Americans from Iraq.'' He goes on to say: ``The jihad requires several 
incremental goals. Expel the Americans from Iraq; establish an Islamic 
authority over as much territory as you can to spread its power in Iraq; 
extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq.''
    With the greater economic and military and political power they 
seek, the terrorists would be able to advance their stated agenda, to 
develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate 
Europe, to assault the American people, and to blackmail our Government 
into isolation.
    Some might be tempted to dismiss these goals as fanatical or 
extreme. They are fanatical and extreme, but they should not be 
dismissed. Our enemy is utterly committed. As Zarqawi has vowed, ``We 
will either achieve victory over the human race, or we will pass to the 
eternal life.'' And the civilized world knows very well that other 
fanatics in history, from Hitler to Stalin to Pol Pot, consumed whole 
nations in war and genocide before leaving the stage of history. Evil 
men, obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience, must be taken 
very seriously, and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply.
    Defeating the militant network is difficult, because it thrives like 
a parasite on the suffering and frustration of others. The radicals 
exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization, in which 
someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution. 
They exploit resentful and disillusioned young men and women, recruiting 
them through radical mosques, as pawns of terror. And they exploit 
modern technology to multiply their destructive power. Instead of 
attending faraway training camps, recruits can now access online 
training libraries to learn how to build a roadside bomb or fire a 
rocket-propelled grenade, and this further spreads the threat of 
violence, even within peaceful democratic societies.
    The influence of Islamic radicalism is also magnified by helpers and 
enablers. They've been sheltered by authoritarian regimes, allies of 
convenience like Iran and Syria, that share the goal of hurting America 
and modern Muslim governments, and use terrorist propaganda to blame 
their own failures on the West, on America, and on the Jews.
    This week, the Government of Syria took two disturbing steps. First, 
it arrested Dr. Kamal Labwani for serving as an advocate for democratic 
reform. Then President Asad delivered a strident speech that attacked 
both the Lebanese Government and the integrity of the Mehlis 
investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister. 
The Government of Syria must do what the international community has 
demanded, cooperate fully with the Mehlis investigation and stop trying 
to intimidate and destabilize the Lebanese Government. The Government of 
Syria must stop exporting violence and start importing democracy.
    The radicals depend on front operations, such as corrupted 
charities, which direct money to terrorist activity. They are 
strengthened by those who aggressively fund the spread of radical, 
intolerant versions of Islam into unstable parts of the world. The 
militants are aided as well by elements of the Arab news media that 
incite hatred and anti-Semitism, that feed conspiracy theories and speak 
of a so-called American ``war on Islam,'' with seldom a word about 
American action to protect Muslims in Afghanistan and Bosnia and Somalia 
and Kosovo and Kuwait and Iraq or seldom a word about our generous 
assistance to Muslims recovering from natural disasters in places like 
Indonesia and Pakistan.

[[Page 1707]]

    Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by our 
actions in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that country has somehow 
caused or triggered the rage of radicals. I would remind them that we 
were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001. The hatred of the radicals 
existed before Iraq was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no 
longer an excuse. The Government of Russia did not support Operation 
Iraqi Freedom, and yet, the militants killed more than 150 Russian 
schoolchildren in Beslan.
    Over the years, these extremists have used a litany of excuses for 
violence, the Israeli presence on the West Bank, the U.S. military 
presence in Saudi Arabia, the defeat of the Taliban, or the Crusades of 
1,000 years ago. In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can 
be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with the 
inalterable objectives to enslave whole nations and intimidate the 
world. No act of ours invited the rage of killers, and no concession, 
bribe, or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for 
murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior they believe 
they can change through violence. Against such an enemy, there is only 
one effective response: We will never back down; we will never give in; 
we will never accept anything less than complete victory.
    The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great 
challenge of our new century. Yet in many ways, this fight resembles the 
struggle against communism in the last century. Like the ideology of 
communism, Islamic radicalism is elitist, led by a self-appointed 
vanguard that presumes to speak for the Muslim masses. Bin Laden says 
his own role is to tell Muslims, quote, ``What is good for them and what 
is not.'' What this man who grew up in wealth and privilege considers 
good for poor Muslims is that they become killers and suicide bombers. 
He assures them that this road--that this is the road to paradise, 
though he never offers to go along for the ride. [Laughter]
    Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent 
individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision. And this 
explains their coldblooded contempt for human life. We have seen it in 
the murders of Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg and Margaret Hassan and so 
many others. In a courtroom in the Netherlands, the killer of Theo van 
Gogh turned to the victim's grieving mother and said, ``I don't feel 
your pain because I believe you're an infidel.'' And in spite of this 
veneer of religious rhetoric, most of the victims claimed by the 
militants are fellow Muslims.
    Recently, in the town of Huwaydar, Iraq, a terrorist detonated a 
pickup truck parked along a busy street lined with restaurants and 
shops, just as residents were gathering to break the daylong fast 
observed during Ramadan. The explosion killed at least 25 people and 
wounded 34. When unsuspecting Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast are 
targeted for death or 25 Iraqi children are killed in a bombing or Iraqi 
teachers are executed at their school, this is murder, pure and simple, 
the total rejection of justice and honor and morality and religion.
    These militants are not just the enemies of America or the enemies 
of Iraq, they are the enemies of Islam, and they are the enemies of 
humanity. And we have seen this kind of shameless cruelty before in the 
heartless zealotry that led to the gulags, the Cultural Revolution, and 
the Killing Fields.
    Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues totalitarian 
aims. Its leaders pretend to be an aggrieved party, representing the 
powerless against imperial enemies. In truth, they have endless 
ambitions of imperial domination, and they wish to make everyone 
powerless, except themselves. Under their rule, they have banned books 
and desecrated historical monuments and brutalized women. They seek to 
end dissent in every form, to control every aspect of life, to rule the 
soul itself. While promising a future of justice and holiness, the 
terrorists are preparing a future of oppression and misery.
    Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy is dismissive of free 
peoples, claiming that men and women who live in liberty are weak and 
decadent. Zarqawi has said that Americans are, quote, ``The most 
cowardly of God's creatures.'' But let us be clear: It is cowardice that 
seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs and cuts the 
throat of a bound captive and targets worshipers leaving a mosque. It is 
courage that liberated

[[Page 1708]]

more than 50 million people from tyranny. It is courage that keeps an 
untiring vigil against the enemies of rising democracies. And it is 
courage in the cause of freedom that will once again destroy the enemies 
of freedom.
    And Islamic radicalism, like the ideology of communism, contains 
inherent contradictions that doom it to failure. By fearing freedom, by 
distrusting human creativity and punishing change and limiting the 
contributions of half a population, this ideology undermines the very 
qualities that make human progress possible and human societies 
successful. The only thing modern about the militants' vision is the 
weapons they want to use against us. The rest of their grim vision is 
defined by a warped image of the past, a declaration of war on the idea 
of progress itself. And whatever lies ahead in the war against this 
ideology, the outcome is not in doubt. Those who despise freedom and 
progress have condemned themselves to isolation and decline and 
collapse. Because free peoples believe in the future, free peoples will 
own the future.
    We didn't ask for this global struggle, but we're answering 
history's call with confidence and with a comprehensive strategy. 
Defeating a broad and adaptive network requires patience, constant 
pressure, and strong partners in Europe and in the Middle East and North 
Africa and Asia and beyond. Working with these partners, we're 
disrupting militant conspiracies; we're destroying their ability to make 
war; and we're working to give millions in a troubled region a hopeful 
alternative to resentment and violence.
    First, we're determined to prevent attacks of the terrorist networks 
before they occur. We are reorganizing our Government to give this 
Nation a broad and coordinated homeland defense. We're reforming our 
intelligence agencies for the incredibly difficult task of tracking 
enemy activity, based on information that often comes in small fragments 
from widely scattered sources, both here and abroad. And we're acting, 
along with governments from other countries, to destroy the terrorist 
networks and incapacitate their leadership.
    Together with our partners, we've disrupted a number of serious Al 
Qaida terrorist plots since September the 11th, including several plots 
to attack inside the United States. Our coalition against terror has 
killed or captured nearly all those directly responsible for the 
September the 11th attacks. We've captured or killed several of bin 
Laden's most serious deputies: Al Qaida managers and operatives in more 
than 24 countries; the mastermind of the U.S.S. Cole bombing, who was 
chief of Al Qaida's operations in the Persian Gulf; the mastermind of 
the bombings in Jakarta and Bali; a senior Zarqawi terrorist planner, 
who was planning attacks in Turkey; and many of their senior leaders in 
Saudi Arabia.
    Because of this steady progress, the enemy is wounded, but the enemy 
is still capable of global operations. Our commitment is clear: We will 
not relent until the organized international terror networks are exposed 
and broken and their leaders are held to account for their murder.
    Second, we're determined to deny weapons of mass destruction to 
outlaw regimes and to their terrorist allies who would use them without 
hesitation. The United States, working with Great Britain and Pakistan 
and other nations, has exposed and disrupted a major black-market 
operation in nuclear technology led by A.Q. Khan. Libya has abandoned 
its chemical and nuclear weapons programs, as well as its long-range 
ballistic missiles. And in the past year, America and our partners in 
the Proliferation Security Initiative have stopped more than a dozen 
shipments of suspect weapons technology, including equipment for Iran's 
ballistic missile program.
    This progress has reduced the danger to free nations, but it has not 
removed it. Evil men who want to use horrendous weapons against us are 
working in deadly earnest to gain them. And we're working urgently to 
keep the weapons of mass murder out of the hands of the fanatics.
    Third, we're determined to deny radical groups the support and 
sanctuary of outlaw regimes. State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a 
long history of collaboration with terrorists, and they deserve no 
patience from the victims of terror. The United States

[[Page 1709]]

makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those 
who support and harbor them, because they're equally guilty of murder.
    Fourth, we're determined to deny the militants control of any nation 
which they would use as a home base and a launching pad for terror. This 
mission has brought new and urgent responsibilities to our Armed Forces. 
American troops are fighting beside Afghan partners and against remnants 
of the Taliban and their Al Qaida allies. We're working with President 
Musharraf to oppose and isolate the militants in Pakistan. We're 
fighting the regime remnants and terrorists in Iraq. The terrorist goal 
is to overthrow a rising democracy, claim a strategic country as a haven 
for terror, destabilize the Middle East, and strike America and other 
free nations with increasing violence. Our goal is to defeat the 
terrorists and their allies at the heart of their power, so we will 
defeat the enemy in Iraq.
    Our coalition, along with our Iraqi allies, is moving forward with a 
comprehensive plan. Our strategy is to clear, hold, and build. We're 
working to clear areas from terrorist control, to hold those areas 
securely, and to build lasting, democratic Iraqi institutions through an 
increasingly inclusive political process. In recent weeks, American and 
Iraqi troops have conducted several major assaults to clear out enemy 
fighters in Baghdad and parts of Iraq.
    Two weeks ago, in Operation Clean Sweep, Iraq and coalition forces 
raided 350 houses south of Baghdad, capturing more than 40 of the 
terrorist killers. Acting on tips from local citizens, our forces have 
recently launched air strikes against terrorist safe houses in and 
around the towns of Ubaydi and Husaybah. We brought to justice two key 
senior Al Qaida terrorist leaders. And in Mosul, coalition forces killed 
an Al Qaida cell leader named Muslet, who was personally involved in at 
least three videotaped beheadings. We're on the hunt. We're keeping 
pressure on the enemy.
    And thousands of Iraqi forces have been participating in these 
operations, and even more Iraqis are joining the fight. Last month, 
nearly 3,000 Iraqi police officers graduated from 10 weeks of basic 
training. They'll now take their places along other brave Iraqis who are 
taking the fight to the terrorists across their own country. Iraqi 
police and security forces are helping to clear terrorists from their 
strongholds, helping to hold onto areas that we've cleared. They're 
working to prevent the enemy from returning. Iraqi forces are using 
their local expertise to maintain security and to build political and 
economic institutions that will help improve the lives of their fellow 
citizens.
    At the same time, Iraqis are making inspiring progress toward 
building a democracy. Last month, millions of Iraqis turned out to vote, 
and they approved a new constitution that guarantees fundamental 
freedoms and lays the foundation for lasting democracy. Many more Sunnis 
participated in this vote than in January's historic elections, and the 
level of violence was lower.
    Now, Iraqis are gearing up for December 15th elections, when they 
will go to the polls to choose a government under the new constitution. 
The new government will serve a 4-year term, and it will represent all 
Iraqis. Even those who voted against the constitution are now organizing 
and preparing for the December elections. Multiple Sunni Arab parties 
have submitted a list of candidates, and several prominent Sunni 
politicians are running on other slates. With two successful elections 
completed and a third coming up next month, the Iraqi people are proving 
their determination to build a democracy united against extremism and 
violence.
    The work ahead involves great risk for Iraqis and for American and 
coalition forces. We've lost some of our Nation's finest men and women 
in this war on terror. Each of these men and women left grieving 
families and left loved ones at home. Each of these patriots left a 
legacy that will allow generations of fellow Americans to enjoy the 
blessings of liberty. Each loss of life is heartbreaking. And the best 
way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the 
mission and to lay the foundation of peace for generations to come.
    The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we've ever faced, 
unconstrained by any notion of our common humanity or by the rules of 
warfare. No one should underestimate the

[[Page 1710]]

difficulties ahead, nor should they overlook the advantages we bring to 
this fight.
    Some observers look at the job ahead and adopt a self-defeating 
pessimism. It is not justified. With every random bombing, with every 
funeral of a child, it becomes more clear that the extremists are not 
patriots or resistance fighters; they're murderers at war with the Iraqi 
people themselves.
    In contrast, the elected leaders of Iraq are proving to be strong 
and steadfast. By any standard or precedent of history, Iraq has made 
incredible political progress--from tyranny, to liberation, to national 
elections, to the ratification of a constitution in the space of 2\1/2\ 
years.
    I have said, as Iraqis stand up, Americans will stand down. And with 
our help, the Iraqi military is gaining new capabilities and new 
confidence with each passing month. At the time of our Fallujah 
operations a year ago, there were only a few Iraqi army battalions in 
combat. Today, there are nearly 90 Iraqi army battalions fighting the 
terrorists alongside our forces. General David Petraeus says, ``Iraqis 
are in the fight. They're fighting and dying for their country, and 
they're fighting increasingly well.'' This progress is not easy, but it 
is steady. And no fairminded person should ignore, deny, or dismiss the 
achievements of the Iraqi people.
    And our debate at home must also be fairminded. One of the hallmarks 
of a free society and what makes our country strong is that our 
political leaders can discuss their differences openly, even in times of 
war. When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, 
Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support. I also recognize 
that some of our fellow citizens and elected officials didn't support 
the liberation of Iraq. And that is their right, and I respect it. As 
President and Commander in Chief, I accept the responsibilities and the 
criticisms and the consequences that come with such a solemn decision.
    While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the 
conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of 
how that war began. Some Democrats and antiwar critics are now claiming 
we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why 
we went to war. These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate 
investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the 
intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs.
    They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world 
agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein. They know the United 
Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing his development and 
possession of weapons of mass destruction. And many of these critics 
supported my opponent during the last election, who explained his 
position to support the resolution in the Congress this way: ``When I 
vote to give the President of the United States the authority to use 
force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe 
that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a 
threat and a grave threat to our security.'' That's why more than 100 
Democrats in the House and the Senate, who had access to the same 
intelligence, voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.
    The stakes in the global war on terror are too high and the national 
interest is too important for politicians to throw out false charges. 
These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an 
enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless 
enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that 
their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand 
behind them. Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain 
firm when the going gets tough. And our troops deserve to know that 
whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our Nation 
is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory.
    The fifth element of our strategy in the war on terror is to deny 
the militants future recruits by replacing hatred and resentment with 
democracy and hope across the broader Middle East. This is difficult, 
and it's a long-term project, yet there is no alternative to it. Our 
future and the future of the region are linked. If the broader Middle 
East is left to grow in bitterness, if countries remain in misery while 
radicals stir the resentment of millions, then that part of the world 
will be a source of endless conflict and mounting danger in our 
generation and for the next.

[[Page 1711]]

    If the peoples of that region are permitted to choose their own 
destiny and advance by their own energy and participation of free men 
and women, then the extremists will be marginalized, and the flow of 
violent radicalism to the rest of the world will slow and eventually 
end. By standing for hope and freedom of others, we make our own freedom 
more secure.
    America is making this stand in practical ways. We're encouraging 
our friends in the Middle East, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to 
take the path of reform, to strengthen their own societies in the fight 
against terror by respecting the rights and choices of their own people. 
We're standing with dissidents and exiles against oppressive regimes, 
because we know that the dissidents of today will be the democratic 
leaders of tomorrow. We're making our case through public diplomacy, 
stating clearly and confidently our belief in self-determination and the 
rule of law and religious freedom and equal rights for women, beliefs 
that are right and true in every land and in every culture.
    As we do our part to confront radicalism and to protect the United 
States, we know that a lot of vital work will be done within the Islamic 
world itself. And the work is beginning. Many Muslim scholars have 
already publicly condemned terrorism, often citing Chapter 5, Verse 32 
of the Koran, which states that killing an innocent human being is like 
killing all of humanity and saving the life of one person is like saving 
all humanity. After the attacks of July--on July 7th in London, an imam 
in the United Arab Emirates declared, ``Whoever does such a thing is not 
a Muslim nor a religious person.'' The time has come for responsible 
Islamic leaders to join in denouncing an ideology that exploits Islam 
for political ends and defiles a noble faith.
    Many people of the Muslim faith are proving their commitment at 
great personal risk. Everywhere we've engaged the fight against 
extremism, Muslim allies have stood up and joined the fight, becoming 
partners in this vital cause. Afghan troops are in combat against 
Taliban remnants. Iraqi soldiers are sacrificing to defeat Al Qaida in 
their country. These brave citizens know the stakes: The survival of 
their own liberty, the future of their own region, the justice and 
humanity of their own tradition, and the United States of America is 
proud to stand beside them.
    With the rise of a deadly enemy and the unfolding of a global 
ideological struggle, our time in history will be remembered for new 
challenges and unprecedented dangers. And yet this fight we have joined 
is also the current expression of an ancient struggle between those who 
put their faith in dictators and those who put their faith in the 
people. Throughout history, tyrants and would-be tyrants have always 
claimed that murder is justified to serve their grand vision, and they 
end up alienating decent people across the globe. Tyrants and would-be 
tyrants have always claimed that regimented societies are strong and 
pure, until those societies collapse in corruption and decay. Tyrants 
and would-be tyrants have always claimed that free men and women are 
weak and decadent, until the day that free men and women defeat them.
    We don't know the course of our own struggle will take or the 
sacrifices that might lie ahead. We do know, however, that the defense 
of freedom is worth our sacrifice. We do know the love of freedom is the 
mightiest force of history, and we do know the cause of freedom will 
once again prevail.
    Thank you for coming. May God bless our veterans. May God bless our 
troops in harm's way, and may God continue to bless the United States of 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. at the Tobyhanna Army Depot. In 
his remarks, he referred to Col. Tracy L. Ellis, USA, commander, 
Tobyhanna Army Depot; Ayman Al-Zawahiri, founder of the Egyptian Islamic 
Jihad and senior Al Qaida associate; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab 
Al Zarqawi; Kamal Labwani, secretary general, Liberal Democratic Union 
of Syria; President Bashar al-Asad of Syria; Detlev Mehlis, head, United 
Nations International Independent Investigation Commission into the 
assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri of Lebanon; Mohammed 
Bouyeri, who was convicted of the murder of Theo van Gogh; Anneke van 
Gogh, mother of Theo van Gogh; Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Al Qaida's chief 
of operations for the Persian Gulf; Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin (also 
known as Hambali), Al Qaida's chief operational planner in Southeast 
Asia; A.Q. Khan, former head of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program; 
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan; Nashwan

[[Page 1712]]

Mijhim Muslet, senior Al Qaida terrorist cell leader in Mosul, Iraq; Lt. 
Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, former commander, Multi-National Security 
Transition Command--Iraq; and former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.