"The Iranian regime has clear aims: They want to drive America out of the region, to destroy Israel, and to dominate the broader Middle East"
"The Shia and Sunni extremists represent different faces of the same threat. They draw inspiration from different sources, but both seek to impose a dark vision of violent Islamic radicalism across the Middle East."
"Our strategy for combating terrorism has five basic elements:
First, we're determined to prevent terrorist attacks before they occur. So we're taking the fight to the enemy. The best way to protect America is to stay on the offense.We're also fighting the enemy here at home. We've given our law enforcement and intelligence professionals the tools they need to stop the terrorists in our midst. We passed the Patriot Act to break down the wall that prevented law enforcement and intelligence from sharing vital information. We created the Terrorist Surveillance Program to monitor the communications between al Qaeda commanders abroad and terrorist operatives within our borders. If al Qaeda is calling somebody in America, we need to know why, in order to stop attacks. (Applause.)
"By taking the battle to the terrorists and their supporters on our own soil and across the world, we've stopped a number of al Qaeda plots."
Second, we're determined to deny weapons of mass destruction to outlaw regimes and terrorists who would use them without hesitation.
"Third, we're determined to deny terrorists the support of outlaw regimes. After September the 11th, I laid out a clear doctrine: America makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror, and those that harbor and support them, because they're equally guilty of murder."
"Fourth, we're determined to deny terrorist networks control of any nation, or territory within a nation. So, along with our coalition and the Iraqi government, we'll stop the terrorists from taking control of Iraq, and establishing a new safe haven from which to attack America."
"Fifth, we're working to deny terrorists new recruits, by defeating their hateful ideology and spreading the hope of freedom -- by spreading the hope of freedom across the Middle East."
"The experience of September the 11th made clear, in the long run, the only way to secure our nation is to change the course of the Middle East. So America has committed its influence in the world to advancing freedom and liberty and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism. (Applause.) We're taking the side of democratic leaders and moderates and reformers across the Middle East. We strongly support the voices of tolerance and moderation in the Muslim world. We're standing with Afghanistan's elected government against al Qaeda and the Taliban remnants that are trying to restore tyranny in that country. We're standing with Lebanon's young democracy against the foreign forces that are seeking to undermine the country's sovereignty and independence. And we're standing with the leaders of Iraq's unity government as they work to defeat the enemies of freedom, and chart a more hopeful course for their people. This is why victory is so important in Iraq. By helping freedom succeed in Iraq, we will help America, and the Middle East, and the world become more secure."
My Comments:
In this speech the president, with a political agenda in mind, quotes bin Laden and Zawahiri 26 times and September 11th 5 times. It's a way to hit the audience and the American people again and again with the words that are intended to bring fear and anger surging in the American public. The President hammers away again and again with the previous sound bites from bin Laden and Zawahiri that threaten Americans and the United States. He ties these terrorists to 9/11 which indeed he should because they and their al Qaeda organization were responsible for that obscene attack and not by any stretch of the imagination was Sadam Hussein implicated.
The President and his advisors have seen how fear and terror have worked on the American voter before. The specter of Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks have been used quite successfully in scaring the crap out of the American people and have delivered elections to the Republicans and this Administration every time since 2001.
An apropos quote about these tactics comes from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, "In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious "international misconduct" to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?"
The use of these sound bites from these terrorists should remind us that after 5 years these terrorists are still on the loose after Bush claimed that capturing them was his number one priority and he wanted them "Dead or Alive". We should also be reminded of the fact that the CIA special ops unit that was set up with the specific purpose of hunting down these people has been quietly disbanded.
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