A Nation Still Reeling From 9 11 Attacks Was Shaken Again by a Seris of Letters Containing

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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 11, 2006

President's Address to the Nation
The Oval Function

Fact Sheet: The Fifth Anniversary of September 11, 2001
Remembering ix/11

9:01 P.G. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Expert evening. Five years ago, this appointment -- September the 11th -- was seared into America's retentivity. Nineteen men attacked us with a barbarity unequaled in our history. They murdered people of all colors, creeds, and nationalities -- and made war upon the entire gratuitous earth. Since that day, America and her allies have taken the offensive in a war dissimilar whatever we have fought before. Today, nosotros are safer, simply nosotros are not yet condom. On this solemn nighttime, I've asked for some of your time to hash out the nature of the threat nevertheless before us, what we are doing to protect our nation, and the building of a more hopeful Middle E that holds the central to peace for America and the world.

On 9/xi, our nation saw the face up of evil. However on that awful day, nosotros besides witnessed something distinctly American: ordinary citizens rising to the occasion, and responding with extraordinary acts of courage. We saw courage in part workers who were trapped on the loftier floors of burning skyscrapers -- and called abode and then that their terminal words to their families would be of comfort and love. We saw courage in passengers aboard Flying 93, who recited the 23rd Psalm -- and and so charged the cockpit. And nosotros saw courage in the Pentagon staff who made it out of the flames and smoke -- and ran back in to respond cries for help. On this day, we call up the innocent who lost their lives -- and we pay tribute to those who gave their lives so that others might live.

For many of our citizens, the wounds of that morning are notwithstanding fresh. I've met firefighters and police force officers who choke upwards at the memory of fallen comrades. I've stood with families gathered on a grassy field in Pennsylvania, who take bittersweet pride in loved ones who refused to exist victims -- and gave America our first victory in the war on terror. I've sat beside immature mothers with children who are at present five years old -- and still long for the daddies who will never cradle them in their arms. Out of this suffering, we resolve to honor every man and woman lost. And we seek their lasting memorial in a safer and more hopeful world.

Since the horror of 9/11, nosotros've learned a great deal nearly the enemy. Nosotros accept learned that they are evil and kill without mercy -- simply not without purpose. Nosotros have learned that they course a global network of extremists who are driven by a perverted vision of Islam -- a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent. And we have learned that their goal is to build a radical Islamic empire where women are prisoners in their homes, men are beaten for missing prayer meetings, and terrorists have a safe oasis to plan and launch attacks on America and other civilized nations. The war against this enemy is more a armed services disharmonize. Information technology is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation.

Our nation is being tested in a mode that nosotros have not been since the offset of the Common cold War. We saw what a scattering of our enemies tin practise with box-cutters and plane tickets. We hear their threats to launch even more terrible attacks on our people. And we know that if they were able to go their hands on weapons of mass destruction, they would use them against us. We confront an enemy determined to bring death and suffering into our homes. America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it were over. So do I. But the war is not over -- and it will not be over until either we or the extremists sally victorious. If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will exit our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons. We are in a state of war that will set the course for this new century -- and determine the destiny of millions across the world.

For America, nine/11 was more than than a tragedy -- information technology inverse the manner nosotros look at the world. On September the 11th, we resolved that we would go on the offense against our enemies, and we would not distinguish between the terrorists and those who harbor or support them. So we helped drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. We put al Qaeda on the run, and killed or captured most of those who planned the ix/11 attacks, including the man believed to exist the mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. He and other suspected terrorists accept been questioned by the Key Intelligence Agency, and they provided valuable information that has helped stop attacks in America and across the world. Now these men have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, and then they tin can be held to account for their actions. Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are still in hiding. Our message to them is articulate: No matter how long information technology takes, America will notice you, and we will bring you to justice.

On September the 11th, we learned that America must confront threats before they reach our shores, whether those threats come up from terrorist networks or terrorist states. I'm oftentimes asked why we're in Republic of iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat. My administration, the Congress, and the United nations saw the threat -- and after 9/eleven, Saddam's regime posed a risk that the globe could non afford to take. The world is safer because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. And now the challenge is to help the Iraqi people build a democracy that fulfills the dreams of the nearly 12 meg Iraqis who came out to vote in free elections concluding Dec.

Al Qaeda and other extremists from across the world have come up to Republic of iraq to stop the rise of a complimentary society in the heart of the Heart East. They have joined the remnants of Saddam'southward regime and other armed groups to foment sectarian violence and bulldoze us out. Our enemies in Iraq are tough and they are committed -- just so are Iraqi and coalition forces. We're adapting to stay alee of the enemy, and nosotros are carrying out a articulate plan to ensure that a autonomous Iraq succeeds.

We're grooming Iraqi troops then they can defend their nation. We're helping Iraq's unity government grow in strength and serve its people. We volition not exit until this work is done. Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst fault would be to recall that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone. They will not leave us alone. They volition follow the states. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad. Osama bin Laden calls this fight "the Tertiary World War" -- and he says that victory for the terrorists in Iraq will mean America'southward "defeat and disgrace forever." If nosotros yield Iraq to men like bin Laden, our enemies will be emboldened; they will gain a new safe haven; they will utilise Iraq'due south resources to fuel their extremist movement. We will not permit this to happen. America volition stay in the fight. Republic of iraq will exist a gratis nation, and a strong ally in the war on terror.

We can exist confident that our coalition will succeed because the Iraqi people have been steadfast in the face of unspeakable violence. And we can exist confident in victory because of the skill and resolve of America's Armed forces. Every 1 of our troops is a volunteer, and since the attacks of September the 11th, more than than ane.6 meg Americans have stepped forward to put on our nation'southward uniform. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts in the war on terror, the men and women of our armed forces are making great sacrifices to continue the states safe. Some take suffered terrible injuries -- and nearly 3,000 have given their lives. America cherishes their memory. We pray for their families. And nosotros will never dorsum down from the work they have begun.

We also honour those who toil twenty-four hours and night to keep our homeland safe, and we are giving them the tools they demand to protect our people. Nosotros've created the Department of Homeland Security. We have torn down the wall that kept police enforcement and intelligence from sharing data. We've tightened security at our airports and seaports and borders, and we've created new programs to monitor enemy bank records and phone calls. Thanks to the difficult work of our constabulary enforcement and intelligence professionals, we have broken up terrorist cells in our midst and saved American lives.

Five years afterwards 9/11, our enemies take not succeeded in launching another assault on our soil, merely they've non been idle. Al Qaeda and those inspired past its hateful credo have carried out terrorist attacks in more than ii dozen nations. And just last month, they were foiled in a plot to blow up passenger planes headed for the Usa. They remain determined to attack America and kill our citizens -- and we are determined to cease them. We'll continue to give the men and women who protect the states every resource and legal authorisation they need to do their jobs.

In the offset days after the 9/xi attacks I promised to apply every chemical element of national power to fight the terrorists, wherever we notice them. Ane of the strongest weapons in our arsenal is the ability of freedom. The terrorists fear freedom every bit much as they do our firepower. They are thrown into panic at the sight of an old homo pulling the ballot lever, girls enrolling in schools, or families worshiping God in their own traditions. They know that given a option, people volition cull freedom over their extremist credo. And so their reply is to deny people this choice by raging confronting the forces of liberty and moderation. This struggle has been chosen a clash of civilizations. In truth, it is a struggle for civilization. We are fighting to maintain the way of life enjoyed by free nations. And nosotros're fighting for the possibility that good and decent people across the Middle East tin can raise upwards societies based on freedom and tolerance and personal nobility.

Nosotros are at present in the early on hours of this struggle between tyranny and liberty. Amid the violence, some question whether the people of the Heart East want their freedom, and whether the forces of moderation can prevail. For threescore years, these doubts guided our policies in the Center East. And so, on a bright September morning, it became clear that the calm we saw in the Centre East was only a mirage. Years of pursuing stability to promote peace had left us with neither. So we inverse our policies, and committed America's influence in the globe to advancing freedom and democracy equally the great alternatives to repression and radicalism.

With our help, the people of the Centre East are now stepping forward to merits their freedom. From Kabul to Baghdad to Beirut, there are dauntless men and women risking their lives each solar day for the same freedoms that we enjoy. And they take one question for us: Do we accept the confidence to do in the Heart East what our fathers and grandfathers accomplished in Europe and Asia? By standing with democratic leaders and reformers, by giving vocalism to the hopes of decent men and women, we're offering a path away from radicalism. And we are enlisting the well-nigh powerful force for peace and moderation in the Centre East: the desire of millions to be free.

Beyond the broader Middle East, the extremists are fighting to prevent such a future. Even so America has confronted evil before, and we take defeated it -- sometimes at the cost of thousands of good men in a unmarried battle. When Franklin Roosevelt vowed to defeat two enemies across 2 oceans, he could not have foreseen D-24-hour interval and Iwo Jima -- simply he would not accept been surprised at the effect. When Harry Truman promised American support for free peoples resisting Soviet assailment, he could not have foreseen the rise of the Berlin Wall -- but he would non take been surprised to see it brought down. Throughout our history, America has seen liberty challenged, and every fourth dimension, nosotros have seen liberty triumph with cede and determination.

At the get-go of this young century, America looks to the day when the people of the Middle Eastward get out the desert of despotism for the fertile gardens of liberty, and resume their rightful place in a world of peace and prosperity. Nosotros look to the twenty-four hours when the nations of that region recognize their greatest resource is not the oil in the ground, but the talent and inventiveness of their people. We look to the day when moms and dads throughout the Middle Due east run across a time to come of hope and opportunity for their children. And when that good day comes, the clouds of war will part, the appeal of radicalism will decline, and we will leave our children with a better and safer world.

On this solemn anniversary, nosotros rededicate ourselves to this cause. Our nation has endured trials, and we confront a difficult route ahead. Winning this war will require the determined efforts of a unified country, and we must put aside our differences and piece of work together to encounter the test that history has given us. Nosotros volition defeat our enemies. We volition protect our people. And nosotros will atomic number 82 the 21st century into a shining historic period of human liberty.

Earlier this year, I traveled to the United States Armed forces Academy. I was there to evangelize the starting time address to the outset form to arrive at W Signal afterward the attacks of September the 11th. That mean solar day I met a proud mom named RoseEllen Dowdell. She was there to sentry her son, Patrick, accept his committee in the finest Ground forces the world has ever known. A few weeks earlier, RoseEllen had watched her other son, James, graduate from the Fire Academy in New York City. On both these days, her thoughts turned to someone who was not there to share the moment: her husband, Kevin Dowdell. Kevin was one of the 343 firefighters who rushed to the burning towers of the Globe Trade Heart on September the 11th -- and never came home. His sons lost their begetter that twenty-four hour period, but not the passion for service he instilled in them. Hither is what RoseEllen says about her boys: "As a mother, I cantankerous my fingers and pray all the time for their rubber -- but as worried as I am, I'1000 too proud, and I know their dad would be, also."

Our nation is blessed to have young Americans similar these -- and we volition need them. Unsafe enemies have alleged their intention to destroy our way of life. They're non the first to effort, and their fate will be the same as those who tried before. Nine-11 showed usa why. The attacks were meant to bring us to our knees, and they did, simply non in the mode the terrorists intended. Americans united in prayer, came to the help of neighbors in need, and resolved that our enemies would not have the last word. The spirit of our people is the source of America'southward strength. And nosotros go forrad with trust in that spirit, conviction in our purpose, and faith in a loving God who made us to be gratuitous.

Thanks, and may God bless you.

Cease nine:18 P.M. EDT

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Source: https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060911-3.html

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