Bush Reminds U.S. Country Is at War - Bush Reminds Americans That the U.S. Is at War With Islamic Extremists

By MERRILL HARTSON
The Associated Press
ABC News

Sept. 5, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C.- President Bush reminded Americans that the United States is a nation at war on the same day his administration proclaimed significant progress in the war on terror but said the enemy has adjusted to U.S. defenses and that "America is safer but we are not yet safe."

"We are a nation at war and America and her allies are fighting this war across the world," Bush said Tuesday at a meeting of the Military Officers Association of America. The speech was the second in a series Bush plans to give in the lead up to the anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America.

Earlier today, the administration released an updated counterterrorism strategy. The White House said: "The United States and our partners continue to pursue a significantly degraded but still dangerous al-Qaida network."

"Yet the enemy we face today in the war on terror is not the same enemy we faced on Sept. 11," said the 23-page terrorism strategy update. "Our effective counterterrorist efforts in part have forced the terrorists to evolve and modify their ways of doing business."

The White House also rejected Democrats' calls for replacing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "It's not going to happen," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said. "Creating Don Rumsfeld as a bogeyman may make for good politics but would make for very lousy strategy at this time."

Two months before the midterm elections, the report was the White House's latest attempt to highlight national security, an issue that has helped Republicans in past campaigns. Democrats were releasing their own assessment.

"Years of failed Republican policies have made America less safe and less able to effectively fight terrorism, and Democrats are ready to take this country in a new direction," Democrats said in statement.

The updated White House strategy came in the wake of the release of a new al-Qaida video over the weekend that raised concerns about the possibility of another attack as the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches. The tape featured an American believed by the FBI to have attended al-Qaida training camps calling for his countrymen to convert to Islam.

Asked about this Tuesday, Fran Townsend, a special assistant to President Bush for homeland security and counterterrorism, said she did not think the tape suggested another strike.

"We've seen tapes before. We've seen these sort of releases right near Sept. 11," she said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"There are no plans to raise the threat (terror) threat level," Townsend said.

The Department of Homeland Security had raised the terror threat for aviation to red its highest level in mid-August at the time the British, working with the United States, broke up what was purported to be a plot against international flights bound from Britain to the United States.

The administration's Iraq war policy and terrorism strategy have come under increasing criticism in recent months, and Republicans and Democrats returning to Capitol Hill Tuesday for the fall season were set to debate the strategy as the midterm elections draw near.

Five years after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, about a third of the American people think the terrorists are winning, according to a recent AP-Ipsos poll.

In its updated terror-fighting strategy, the administration took credit for some successes, saying that "we have deprived al-Qaida of safe haven in Afghanistan and helped a democratic government rise in its place. It also said that "a multinational coalition joined by the Iraqis is aggressively prosecuting the war against the terrorists in Iraq."

But it also acknowledged continuing challenges:

"Terrorist networks today are more dispersed and less centralized. They are more reliant on smaller cells inspired by a common ideology and less directed by a central command structure."

"While the United States government and its partners have thwarted many attacks, we have not been able to prevent them all. Terrorists have struck in many places throughout the world, from Bali to Beslan to Baghdad."

"While we have substantially improved our air, land, sea and border security, our Homeland is not immune from attack."

"The ongoing fight for freedom in Iraq has been twisted by terrorist propaganda as a rallying cry."

Bush has said on many occasions that the country must be prepared for a drawn-out battle against a new kind of enemy, and the new counterterrorism strategy released Tuesday says flatly that "the war on terror will be a long war."

It says that among the strategies the United States must emphasize are making all sovereign nations accountable for what happens on their soil, strengthening existing coalitions and partnerships against terrorists and continue to develop more expertise in this area.

One particular problem, it noted, is an "increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet and media" by terrorists and would-be terrorists, saying these tactics have allowed enemies of the United States to "rally support, proselytize and spread their propaganda without risking personal contact."

It also maintains that terrorism "is not simply a result of hostility to U.S. policy in Iraq."

"The United States was attacked on September 11 and many years earlier, well before we toppled the Saddam Hussein regime," it said. "Moreover, countries that did not participate in coalition efforts in Iraq have not been spared from terror attacks."

"There will continue to be challenges ahead, but along with our partners, we will attack terrorism and its ideology and bring hope and freedom to the people of the world," the policy statement said.

"This is how we will win the war on terror."

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Press release from White House:

Fact Sheet: The President's National Strategy for Combating Terrorism

"We're engaged in a global struggle against the followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom and crushes all dissent, and has territorial ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims. … And against such an enemy there is only one effective response: We will never back down, we will never give in and we will never accept anything less than complete victory. … We will defeat the terrorists and their hateful ideology by spreading the hope of freedom across the world. … The security of our nation depends on the advance of liberty in other nations."

– President George W. Bush
July 4, 2006

Today, The President Released His Updated National Strategy For Combating Terrorism (NSCT), Which Outlines The United States Government Strategy To Protect And Defend American Interests At Home And Abroad From Terrorism. In the years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States, along with our partners, have waged a relentless war against the terrorists using all elements of national power and influence. We have made substantial progress in degrading the al-Qaida network, killing or capturing key lieutenants, eliminating safehavens, and disrupting existing lines of support.

In Response To Our Efforts, The Terrorists Have Adjusted And So We Have Continued To Refine Our Approach To Defeat The Evolving Threat. Today, the United States is battling a transnational terrorist movement fueled by a radical ideology of hatred, oppression, and murder. This updated strategy incorporates our increased understanding of the enemy and sets the course for winning the War on Terror.

Strategic Vision For The War On Terror

Our Strategy Recognizes That The War On Terror Is A Different Kind Of War, Involving Both A Battle Of Arms And A Battle Of Ideas. Not only are we fighting our terrorist enemies on the battlefield, we are promoting freedom and human dignity as alternatives to the terrorists' perverse vision of oppression and totalitarian rule. To win the War on Terror, the United States will continue to lead an expansive international effort to:

• Defeat violent extremism as a threat to our way of life as a free and open society.
• Create a global environment inhospitable to violent extremists and their supporters.

Advancing Effective Democracy Over The Long-Term

The Long-Term Solution For Winning The War On Terror Is The Advancement Of Freedom And Human Dignity Through Effective Democracy. Effective democracies honor and uphold basic human rights, including freedom of religion, conscience, speech, assembly, association, and press. They are the long-term antidote to the ideology of terrorism today. This is the battle of ideas.

Defeating Terrorism In The Long Run Requires That We Diminish The Underlying Conditions In Society That Terrorists Seek To Exploit By Advancing Effective Democracy:

• Terrorists Exploit Political Alienation. Democracy gives people an ownership stake in society.
• Terrorists Exploit Grievances To Blame Others. Democracy offers the rule of law, the peaceful resolution of disputes, and the habits of advancing interests through compromise.
• Terrorists Exploit Misinformation And Conspiracy Theories. Democracy offers freedom of speech, independent media, and a marketplace of ideas to expose and discredit falsehoods.
• Terrorists Exploit An Ideology That Justifies Murder. Democracy offers a respect for human dignity and rejects the targeting of innocents.

Four Priorities Over The Short Term

The Advance Of Freedom And Human Dignity Through Democracy Is The Long-Term Solution To The Transnational Terrorism Of Today. To create the space and time for that long-term solution to take root, there are four steps we are taking in the short term. We will:

• Prevent Attacks By Terrorist Networks. Working with partners across the globe, we are using a range of tools at home and abroad to take the fight to the terrorists, deny them entry to the United States, hinder their movement across international boundaries, and establish protective measures to further reduce our vulnerability to attack.
• Deny WMD To Rogue States And Terrorist Allies Who Seek To Use Them. Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists is one of the gravest threats we face. We have taken aggressive efforts to deny terrorists access to WMD-related materials, equipment, and expertise, and we are enhancing these activities through an integrated effort at all levels of government and with the private sector and our foreign partners to stay ahead of this dynamic and evolving threat.
• Deny Terrorists The Support And Sanctuary Of Rogue States. We make no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor terrorists. We are working to disrupt the flow of resources from states to terrorists while simultaneously end state sponsorship of terrorism.
• Deny Terrorists Control Of Any Area They Would Use As A Base And Launching Pad For Terror. We are working to prevent terrorists from exploiting ungoverned and under-governed areas as physical safehavens. These efforts also extend to non-physical or virtual safehavens, such as those existing within legal, cyber, and financial systems.

Institutionalizing The Strategy For Long-Term Success

During The Cold War We Created An Array Of Domestic And International Institutions As Well As Enduring Partnerships To Defeat The Threat Of Communism – Today We Require Similar Structures To Win The Long War On Terror. We are transforming our domestic and international institutions and enduring partnerships to carry forward the long term fight against terror and to help ensure our ultimate success.

• Establishing International Standards Of Accountability: We are collaborating with our partners to update and tailor international obligations and standards of accountability to meet the evolving threat of terrorism. Efforts already underway in this regard include consultations with the G-8 and others to develop landmark counterterrorism standards and best practices.
• Strengthening Our Coalitions And Partnerships To Maintain A United Front Against Terror. We are building the capacity of foreign partners in all areas of counterterrorism activities. Through the provision of training, equipment, and other assistance, the United States will enhance the ability of partners across the globe to attack and defeat terrorists, deny them funding and freedom of movement, secure their critical infrastructures, and deny terrorists access to WMD and safehavens.
• Enhancing Our Counterterrorism Architecture And Interagency Collaboration By Setting Clear National Priorities And Transforming The Government To Achieve Those Priorities. This includes the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, Director of National Intelligence, and the National Counterterrorism Center. Additionally, our military is expanding Special Operations Forces, increasing the capabilities of the general purpose force to conduct irregular warfare in an asymmetric environment, and initiating the largest rearrangement of its force posture since World War II. The State Department is repositioning its domestic and overseas staff to better promote America's policies and interests and have more direct local and regional impact.
• Fostering Intellectual And Human Capital By Creating An Expert Community Of Counterterrorism Professionals And Developing A Domestic Culture Of Preparedness. This Culture of Preparedness restson a shared acknowledgement of the certainty of future catastrophes; the importance of initiative and accountability at all levels of society; the role of citizen and community preparedness; and a delineation of the roles of each level of government and the private sector in creating a prepared nation.