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.) |