For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 7, 2006
President Bush Discusses Progress in the Global War on Terror
Cobb Galleria Centre
Atlanta, Georgia
9/11 Five Years Later: Successes and Challenges
Fact Sheet: Progress Report: Fixing the Problems Exposed by the 9/11 Attacks
In Focus: National Security
10:24 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Please be seated. (Applause.)
Thank you. Sonny, thanks for the introduction. Thanks for your
leadership. It's always a pleasure to be in Georgia. I appreciate you
coming -- (applause) -- and I appreciate the chance to speak here before
the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. And I thank you for what you do.
For 15 years, you've been researching and writing on issues that matter.
You take on tough questions, you apply innovative thinking, you push for
action, and you do it all without regard to politics. Come on up to
Washington. (Applause and laughter.)
I have come here to Atlanta to continue a series of speeches marking the
fifth anniversary of the September the 11th, 2001 attacks. Last week at
the American Legion Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, I outlined the
ideological struggle between the forces of moderation and liberty, and the
forces of extremism across the Middle East. On Tuesday, in Washington, I
described our enemies in their own words, and set forward a strategy to
defeat them. Yesterday, I announced that the men we believe orchestrated
the 9/11 attacks have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, and I called on
the United States Congress to pass legislation creating military
commissions to bring these people to justice. (Applause.)
Today I'll deliver a progress report on the steps we have taken since 9/11
to protect the American people, steps we've taken to go on the offense
against the enemy, and steps we are taking to win this war on terror.
Today I traveled with two United States Senators who clearly see the issues
before us, and I appreciate and I'm proud to be associated with and friends
with Senator Saxby Chambliss and Senator Johnny Isakson. (Applause.)
I do thank Brenda Fitzgerald for encouraging the Board of Governors to
invite me, and for taking the lead for the Georgia Public Policy
Foundation. And I want to thank the Board of Governors for your kind
invitation. I appreciate very much being with Major General Terry Nesbitt,
who's the director of the Georgia office of Homeland Security.
Joining us today is a man I got to know quite well under trying
circumstances, and that would be Lieutenant General Russ Honoré of the
United States Army. Honoré. (Applause.) He issued one of the great lines
I've ever heard, and you're welcome to use it -- "Don't get stuck on
stupid." (Applause.) It's good advice for people in Washington, D.C.
(Laughter.)
I welcome the other state and local officials here. Thank you all for
letting me come by.
In Atlanta, you know the pain of terrorism firsthand. This summer, you
marked the 10th anniversary of the bombing in Centennial Olympic Park.
That was the act of one madman. Next Monday is the fifth anniversary of an
attack on our nation, and on that day, we awoke to a new kind of terrorism.
Instead of a localized strike, we faced multiple attacks by a network of
sophisticated an suicidal terrorists. In the years since, we've come to
learn more about our enemies -- we learned more about their dark and
distorted vision of Islam. We learned about their plan to build a radical
Islamic empire stretching from Spain to Indonesia. We learned about their
dream to kill more Americans on an even more devastating scale. That's
what they have told us. As President, I took an oath to protect this
country, and I will continue using every element of national power to
pursue our enemies and to prevent attacks on the United States of America.
(Applause.)
Over the past five years, we have waged an unprecedented campaign against
terror at home and abroad, and that campaign has succeeded in protecting
the homeland. At the same time, we've seen our enemies strike in Britain,
Spain, India, Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Jordan, Israel, Afghanistan, Iraq,
and other countries. We've seen that the extremists have not given up on
their dreams to strike our nation. Just last month, police and
intelligence officers from Great Britain, with the help of the United
States and other allies, helped break up a terror cell in London. Working
together, we foiled a suicide plot to blow up passenger planes on their way
to the United States.
Many Americans look at these events and ask the same question: Five years after 9/11, are we safer? The answer is, yes, America is safer.
(Applause.) We are safer because we've taken action to protect the
homeland. We are safer because we are on offense against our enemies
overseas. We're safer because of the skill and sacrifice of the brave
Americans who defend our people. (Applause.) Yet five years after 9/11,
America still faces determined enemies, and we will not be safe until those
enemies are finally defeated.
One way to assess whether we're safer is to look at what we have done to
fix the problems that the 9/11 attacks revealed. And so today I'll deliver
a progress report. The information about the attacks in this report is
largely drawn from the work of the 9/11 Commission and other investigations
of the terrorist attacks. I'll begin by looking back at four key stages of
the 9/11 plot, the gaps in our defenses that each stage exposed, and the
ways we've addressed those gaps to make this country safer.
In the first key stage of the 9/11 plot, al Qaeda conceived and planned the
attacks from abroad. In the summer of 1996, Osama bin Laden issued a fatwa
from Afghanistan that said this: "by the grace of Allah, a safe base here
is now available." And declared war on the United States. A month later,
the Taliban seized control of Kabul, and formed an alliance with al Qaeda.
The Taliban permitted bin Laden to operate a system of training camps in
the country, which ultimately instructed more than 10,000 in terrorist
tactics. Bin Laden was also free to cultivate a global financing network
that provided money for terrorist operations. With his fellow al Qaeda
leaders, Osama bin Laden used his safe haven to prepare a series of attacks
on America and on the civilized world.
In August 1998, they carried out their first big strike -- the bombing of
two U.S. embassies in East Africa, which killed more than 200 people and
wounded thousands. Shortly after the embassy bombings, bin Laden approved
another attack. This one was called "the planes operation." Our
intelligence agencies believe it was suggested by a fellow terrorist named
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- or KSM. KSM's plan was to hijack commercial
airliners and to crash them into buildings in the United States. He and
bin Laden selected four preliminary targets -- the World Trade Center, the
Pentagon, the Capitol Building, and the White House. The "planes
operation" would become the 9/11 plot -- and by the middle of 1999, KSM was
at work recruiting suicide operatives to hijack the airplanes.
The first stage of the 9/11 plot exposed serious flaws in America's
approach to terrorism. Most important, it showed that by allowing states
to give safe haven to terrorist networks that we made a grave mistake. So
after 9/11, I set forth a new doctrine: Nations that harbor or support
terrorists are equally guilty as the terrorists, and will be held to
account. (Applause.) And the Taliban found out what we meant. With
Afghan allies, we removed the Taliban from power, and we closed down the al
Qaeda training camps. Five years later, Taliban and al Qaeda remnants are
desperately trying to retake control of that country. They will fail.
They will fail because the Afghan people have tasted freedom. They will
fail because their vision is no match for a democracy accountable to its
citizens. They will fail because they are no match for the military forces
of a free Afghanistan, a NATO Alliance, and the United States of America.
(Applause.)
Our offensive against the terrorists includes far more than military might.
We use financial tools to make it harder for them to raise money. We're
using diplomatic pressure, and our intelligence operations are used to
disrupt the day-to-day functions of al Qaeda. Because we're on the
offense, it is more difficult for al Qaeda to transfer money through the
international banking system. Because we're on the offense, al Qaeda can
no longer communicate openly without fear of destruction. And because
we're on the offense, al Qaeda can no longer move widely without fearing
for their lives.
I learned a lot of lessons on 9/11, and one lesson is this: In order to
protect this country, we will keep steady pressure, unrelenting pressure on
al Qaeda and its associates. We will deny them safe haven; we will find
them and we will bring them to justice. (Applause.)
Key advantages that al Qaeda enjoyed while plotting the 9/11 attack in
Afghanistan have been taken away, and so have many of their most important
leaders, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. For the past three years, KSM
has been in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency. He's provided
valuable intelligence that has helped us kill or capture al Qaeda
terrorists and stop attacks on our nation. (Applause.) I authorized his
transfer to Guantanamo Bay -- and the sooner the Congress authorizes the
military commissions I have called for, the sooner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
will receive the justice he deserves. (Applause.)
In the second key stage of the 9/11 plot, KSM and bin Laden identified,
trained, and deployed operatives to the United States. According to the
9/11 Commission, two of the first suicide hijackers to join the plot were
men named Hazmi and Mihdhar. KSM's plan was to send these two men to
infiltrate the United States and train as pilots, so they could fly the
hijacked planes into buildings. Both operatives attended a special
training camp in Afghanistan, and then traveled to Malaysia and Thailand to
prepare for their trip to America. KSM doctored Hazmi's passport to help
him enter the United States. And from Thailand, the two men flew to Los
Angeles in January 2000. There they began carrying out the plot from
inside our nation. They made phone calls to planners of the attack
overseas, and they awaited the arrival of the other killers.
Our intelligence community picked up some of this information. CIA
analysts saw links between Mihdhar and al Qaeda, and officers tracked
Mihdhar to Malaysia. Weeks later, they discovered that he had been
accompanied by Hazmi and that Hazmi had flown to Los Angeles. This gave
the CIA reason to be suspicious of both these men. Yet, at the time, there
was no consolidated terrorist watchlist available to all federal agencies,
and state and local governments. So, even though intelligence officers
suspected that both men were dangerous, the information was not readily
accessible to American law enforcement -- and the operatives slipped into
our country.
Since 9/11, we've addressed the gaps in our defenses that these operatives
exploited. We've upgraded technology; we've added layers of security to
correct weaknesses in our immigration and visa systems. Today, visa
applicants like Hazmi or Mihdhar would have to appear for face-to-face for
interviews. They would be fingerprinted and screened against an extensive
database of known or suspected terrorists. And when they arrived on
American soil, they would be checked again to make sure their fingerprints
matched the fingerprints on their visas. Those procedures did not exist
before 9/11. With these steps we made it harder for these -- people like
these guys to infiltrate our country.
Nine-Eleven also revealed the need for a coordinated approach to terrorist
watchlists. So we established common criteria for posting terrorists on a
consolidated terrorist watchlist that is now widely available across
federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Today, intelligence community
officials would immediately place terrorist suspects like Hazmi and Mihdhar
on a consolidated watchlist -- and the information from this list is now
accessible at airports, consulates, border crossings, and for state and
local law enforcement. By putting terrorists' names on a consolidated
watchlist, we've improved our ability to monitor and to track and detain
operatives before they can strike.
Another top priority after 9/11 was improving our ability to monitor
terrorist communications. Remember I told you the two had made phone calls
outside the country. At my direction, the National Security Agency created
the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Before 9/11, our intelligence
professionals found it difficult to monitor international communications
such as those between the al Qaeda operatives secretly in the United States
and planners of the 9/11 attacks. The Terrorist Surveillance Program helps
protect Americans by allowing us to track terrorist communications, so we
can learn about threats like the 9/11 plot before it is too late.
Last year, details of the Terrorist Surveillance Program were leaked to the
news media, and the program was then challenged in court. That challenge
was recently upheld by a federal district judge in Michigan. My
administration strongly disagrees with the ruling. We are appealing it,
and we believe our appeal will be successful. Yet a series of protracted
legal challenges would put a heavy burden on this critical and vital
program. The surest way to keep the program is to get explicit approval
from the United States Congress. So today I'm calling on the Congress to
promptly pass legislation providing additional authority for the Terrorist
Surveillance Program, along with broader reforms in the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. (Applause.)
When FISA was passed in 1978, there was no widely accessible Internet, and
almost all calls were made on fixed landlines. Since then, the nature of
communications has changed, quite dramatically. The terrorists who want to
harm America can now buy disposable cell phones, and open anonymous e-mail
addresses. Our laws need to change to take these changes into account. If
an al Qaeda commander or associate is calling into the United States, we
need to know why they're calling. And Congress needs to pass legislation
supporting this program. (Applause.)
In the third key stage of the 9/11 plot, the rest of the 19 al Qaeda
operatives arrived in the United States. The first two hijackers in
America, Hazmi and Mihdhar, had given up flight training -- so Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed selected operatives from a cell in Germany to become the
new pilots. These men, led by Mohammed Atta, obtained visas and they
traveled to the United States, and then they enrolled in flight training
schools. Atta and his team visited airports and flight training centers
along the East Coast, including here in Georgia. Atta was pulled over by
police. On his way -- one of his co-conspirators, the terrorist who would
go on to pilot Flight 93, was also stopped. Yet there was no information
that the men were dangerous, so the officers treated the encounters as
routine traffic stops. By September the 10th, the hijackers had moved to
their final destinations near major airports and were ready to execute
their attack.
As these terrorists finalized their plans, al Qaeda dispatched another
operative named Moussaoui to the United States. Moussaoui took flight
lessons in Oklahoma and Minnesota, and communicated with an al Qaeda leader
abroad. But he remained isolated from the other operatives and was not a
suicide hijacker on the day of the attacks, didn't participate in the 9/11
attacks.
During this stage, law enforcement and intelligence authorities failed to
share the insights they were learning about the 9/11 plot. For example, an
FBI intelligence analyst working at the CIA came across information that
raised her suspicions about Hazmi and Mihdhar. But she did not relay her
concerns to FBI criminal investigators because of a wall -- or "the wall"
that had developed over the years between law enforcement and intelligence.
You see, throughout the government, there was an assumption that law
enforcement and intelligence were legally prohibited from sharing vital
information. At one point, key officials from the CIA, the intelligence
branch of the FBI, the criminal branch of the FBI were all sitting around
the same table in New York, but they believed that "the wall" prohibited
them from telling each other what they knew about Hazmi and Mihdhar, and so
they never put the pieces together.
By the summer of 2001, intelligence about a possible terrorist attack was
increasing. In July, an FBI agent in Phoenix noted that a large number of
suspicious men were attending flight schools in Arizona. He speculated
that this activity might be part of a bin Laden plan to attack inside the
United States. The following month, the FBI Field Office in Minneapolis
began an investigation into Moussaoui. He was soon arrested on immigration
charges, and Minneapolis agents sought a FISA warrant to search his
computer. FBI Headquarters turned them down, saying that the case did not
justify a FISA request because there was not enough intelligence tying
Moussaoui to a foreign power. The FBI later learned that Moussaoui had
attended an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan -- but the information
didn't arrive until September the 13th.
It is clear, after 9/11, something needed to be done to the system,
something needed to be changed to protect the American people. And it is
clear to me that this started with transforming the FBI to ensure that it
would effectively and quickly respond to potential terrorists attacks. And
so now the top priority of the FBI, since 9/11 -- the culture of that
important agency, full of decent people, has changed. The top priority is
to protect the American people from terrorist attack. The Bureau has hired
large numbers of counterterrorism agents and analysts. They're focusing
resources on what they need to do to protect America. They created a
unified National Security Branch to coordinate terrorist investigations.
They expanded the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces. And the Bureau is
submitting more FISA requests in terrorist cases. In other words, they
understand the challenge. And the FBI is changing to meet those
challenges. The FBI is responding to terrorist threats like Moussaoui more
quickly, more effectively, and with more resources. At every level,
America's law enforcement officers now have a clear goal -- to identify,
locate, and stop terrorists before they can kill people.
Since the attacks, we've also worked with Congress to do something about
that wall that prevented intelligence and criminal investigators from
talking to each other. The wall made no sense. It reflected an old way of
thinking. And so I called upon Congress to pass a piece of legislation
that would tear down the wall, and that was called the Patriot Act. The
Patriot Act has increased the flow of information within our government and
it has helped break up terrorist cells in the United States of America.
And the United States Congress was right to renew the terrorist act -- the
Patriot Act. (Applause.) The Terrorist Prevention Act, called the Patriot
Act.
We created the National Counterterrorism Center, where law enforcement and
intelligence personnel work side-by-side in the same headquarters. This
center hosts secure video teleconferences every day that allow for seamless
communication among the FBI, the CIA, and other agencies. Now officials
with critical threat information are sitting at the same table and sharing
information. We created the position of the Director of National
Intelligence to operate the intelligence community as a single unified
enterprise. We set up the Terrorist Screening Center, which maintains the
government's master list of suspected terrorists, and helps get this
information in the hands of state and local law enforcement. Today, a
police officer who stops a driver for a routine traffic violation can
access terrorist watchlists and be automatically directed to the Terrorist
Screening Center if there's a match.
We've learned the lessons of September the 11th. We're changing how people
can work together. We're modernizing the system. We're working to connect
the dots to stop the terrorists from hurting America again. (Applause.)
The fourth and final stage of the 9/11 plot came on the morning of the
attack. Starting around 6:45 a.m., the 19 hijackers, including Hazmi and
Mihdhar, checked in, cleared security, and boarded commercial jets bound
for the West Coast. Some of the hijackers were flagged by the passenger
pre-screening system. But because the security rules at the time focused
on preventing bombs on airplanes, the only precaution required was to hold
the operatives' checked baggage until they boarded the airplane. Several
hijackers were also carrying small knives or box cutters, and when they
reached the security checkpoints, they set off metal detectors. The
screeners wanded them, but let them board their planes without verifying
what had set off the alarms. When the flights took off, the men hijacked
each plane in a similar way -- they stabbed or subdued the pilots and crew,
they seized control of the cockpit and they started flying the airplane.
By 9:03 a.m., the hijackers had driven two of the flights in the World
Trade Center. At 9:37 a.m., they had struck the Pentagon. And shortly
after 10:00 a.m., the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
The passengers realized what was happening, and they rose up against their
captors. These brave passengers saved countless lives on the ground; they
likely spared the Capitol or the White House from destruction; and they
delivered America its first victory in the war on terror. (Applause.)
We have taken many steps to address the security gaps that the hijackers
exploited that morning. We created the Transportation Security
Administration to ensure that every passenger and every bag is screened.
We increased the number of federal air marshals on domestic and
international flights. We trained and authorized thousands of pilots to
carry firearms. We hardened cockpit doors to prevent terrorists from
gaining access to the controls. We merged 22 government agencies into a
single Department of Homeland Security, and tripled spending for homeland
security on our airlines, on our ports, and our borders and other critical
areas. We will continue to provide the resources necessary to secure this
homeland.
Even if all the steps I've outlined this morning had been taken before
9/11, no one can say for sure that we would have prevented the attack. We
can say that if America had these reforms in place in 2001, the terrorists
would have found it harder to plan and finance their operations, harder to
slip into the country undetected, and harder to board the airplanes and
take control of the cockpits, and succeed in striking their targets.
We are grateful to all those who have worked to implement these important
reforms. We're grateful to our federal and state and local law enforcement
officers who are working tirelessly to protect our country. We're grateful
to all the intelligence and homeland security and military personnel.
Together, these dedicated men and women are keeping their fellow citizens
safe, and Americans are proud of their important service to our country.
(Applause.)
On the morning of 9/11, we saw that the terrorists have to be right only
once to kill our people, while we have to be right every time to stop them.
So we had to make a larger choice about how to respond to the threats to
our country. Some suggested that our effort should be purely defensive,
hunkering down behind extreme homeland security and law enforcement
measures. Others argue that we should respond overseas, but that our
action should be limited to direct retaliation for 9/11. I strongly
disagree with both approaches. Nine-Eleven lifted the veil on a threat
that is far broader and more dangerous than we saw that morning -- an
enemy that was not sated by the destruction inflicted that day, and is
determined to strike again. To answer this threat and protect our people,
we need more than retaliation; we need more than a reaction to the last
attack; we need to do everything in our power to stop the next attack.
And so America has gone on the offense across the world. And here are some
of the results. We've captured or killed many of the most significant al
Qaeda members and associates. We've killed al Qaeda's most visible and
aggressive leader to emerge after 9/11, the terrorist Zarqawi in Iraq.
We've kept the terrorists from achieving their key goal, to overthrow
governments across the broader Middle East and to seize control. Instead,
the governments they targeted -- such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia -- have
become some of our most valuable allies in the war on terror. These
countries are joined by the largest coalition in the history of warfare --
more than 90 nations determined to find the terrorists, to dry up their
funds, to stop their plots, and to bring them to justice.
This coalition includes two nations that used to sponsor terror, but now
help us fight it -- the democratic nations of Afghanistan and Iraq.
(Applause.) In Afghanistan, President Karzai's elected government is
fighting our common enemies. In showing the courage he's showing, he's
inspired millions across the region. In Iraq, Prime Minister Maliki's
unity government is fighting al Qaeda and the enemies of Iraq's democracy.
They're taking increasing responsibility for the security of their free
country.
The fighting in Iraq has been difficult and it has been bloody, and some
say that Iraq is a diversion from the war on terror. The terrorists
disagree. Osama bin Laden has proclaimed that the "third world war is
raging" in Iraq. Al Qaeda leaders have declared that Baghdad will be the
capital of the new caliphate that they wish to establish across the broader
Middle East. It's hard to believe that extremists would make large
journeys across dangerous borders to endure heavy fighting, and to blow
themselves up on the streets of Baghdad for a so-called "diversion." The
terrorists know that the outcome in the war on terror will depend on the
outcome in Iraq -- and so to protect our own citizens, the free world must
succeed in Iraq. (Applause.)
As we fight the enemies of a free Iraq, we must also ensure that al Qaeda,
its allies and the extremists never get their hands on the tools of mass
murder. When we saw the damage the terrorists inflicted on 9/11, our
thoughts quickly turned to the devastation that could have been caused with
weapons of mass destruction. So we launched the Proliferation Security
Initiative -- a coalition of more than 70 countries that are cooperating to
stop shipments related to deadly weapons. Together with Russia, we're
working on a new Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. We worked
with Great Britain to persuade Libya to give up its nuclear weapons
program, and now the components of that program are secured right here in
the United States. We uncovered the black market nuclear network of A.Q.
Khan, who was shipping equipment to Iran and North Korea -- that network is
now out of business. And now the world is uniting to send a clear message
to the regime in Tehran: Iran must end its support for terror; it must
stop defying its international obligations; and it must not obtain a
nuclear weapon. (Applause.)
Our enemies have fought relentlessly these past five years, and they have a
record of their own. Bin Laden and his deputy Zawahiri are still in
hiding. Al Qaeda has continued its campaign of terror with deadly attacks
that have targeted the innocent, including large numbers of fellow Muslims.
The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq have killed American troops and
thousands of Iraqis. Syria and Iran have continued their support for
terror and extremism. Hezbollah has taken innocent life in Israel, and
succeeded briefly in undermining Lebanon's democratic government. Hamas is
standing in the way of peace with Israel. And the extremists have led an
aggressive propaganda campaign to spread lies about America and incite
Muslim radicalism. The enemies of freedom are skilled and they are
sophisticated, and they are waging a long and determined war. The free
world must understand the stakes of this struggle. The free world must
support young democracies. The free world must confront the evil of these
extremists. The free world must draw the full measure of our strength and
resources to prevail. (Applause.)
We see that full measure and the strength of this nation in the men and
women in uniform who fight this war, and we have -- and who have given
their lives in the cause of liberty and freedom. One of these soldiers was
a young lieutenant named Noah Harris, who was killed last summer in Iraq
when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. Noah grew up here in Georgia;
he graduated from the University of Georgia. He volunteered for the Army
after September the 11th, 2001. He told his dad that people had an
obligation to serve a cause higher than themselves. In Iraq, Lieutenant
Harris was an officer known for his toughness and his skill in battle --
and for the Beanie Babies that he carried with him to hand out to Iraqi
children. He was also known for the photo of his parents' home in Ellijay
that he used as a screen-saver on his computer. When his troops asked why
he chose that picture, he explained, "That is why I'm here."
Lieutenant Harris understood the stakes in Iraq. He knew that to protect
his loved ones at home, America must defeat our enemies overseas. If
America pulls out of Iraq before the Iraqis can defend themselves, the
terrorists will follow us here, home. The best way to honor the memory of
brave Americans like Lieutenant Harris is to complete the mission they
began -- so we will stay, we will fight, and we will win in Iraq.
(Applause.)
The war on terror is more than a military conflict - it is the decisive
ideological struggle of the 21st century. And we're only in its opening
stages. To win this struggle, we have to defeat the ideology of the
terrorists with a more hopeful vision. So a central element in our
strategy is the freedom agenda. We know from history that free nations are
peaceful nations. We know that democracies do not attack each other, and
that young people growing up in a free and hopeful society are less likely
to fall under the sway of radicalism. And so we're taking the side of
democratic leaders and reformers across the Middle East. We're supporting
the voices of tolerance and moderation in the Muslim world. We're standing
with the mothers and fathers in every culture who want to see their
children grow up in a caring and peaceful world. And by leading the cause
of freedom in the vital region, we will change the conditions that give
rise to radicalism and hatred and terror. We will replace violent
dictatorships with peaceful democracies. We'll make America, the Middle
East, and the world more secure.
In the early days after 9/11, I told the American people that this would be
a long war -- a war that would look different from others we have fought,
with difficulties and setbacks along the way. The past five years have
proven that to be true. The past five years have also shown what we can
achieve when our nation acts with confidence and resolve and clear purpose.
We've learned the lessons of 9/11, and we have addressed the gaps in our
defenses exposed by that attack. We've gone on the offense against our
enemies, and transformed former adversaries into allies. We have put in
place the institutions needed to win this war. Five years after September
the 11th, 2001, America is safer -- and America is winning the war on
terror. With vigilance, determination, courage, we will defeat the enemies
of freedom, and we will leave behind a more peaceful world for our children
and our grandchildren.
God bless. (Applause.)
END 11:10 A.M. EDT
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