 |
|
President Bush makes remarks on the global war on terror to the Military Officers Association of America in Washington September 5, 2006. [Reuters]
|
Quoting repeatedly from Osama bin Laden, President Bush said Tuesday that pulling US troops out of Iraq would fulfill the terrorist leader's wishes and propel him into a more powerful global threatin the mold of Adolf Hitler.
With two months until an Election Day thathinges largely onnational security, Bush laid out bin Laden's vision in detail, including new revelations from previously unreported documents. Voters were never more united behind the president than in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and his speech was designed to convince Americans that the threat has not faded five years later.
To make the administration's strategy more clear, the White House on Tuesday published a 23-page booklet called "National Strategy for Combating Terrorism," which Bush described as an unclassified version of the strategy he's been pursuing since Sept. 11, 2001. The booklet's conclusion: "Since the Sept. 11 attacks, America is safer, but we are not yet safe."
Democrats dismissed Bush's actions as a public relations strategy that avoided real solutions.
Bush's speech was the second in a series linked to next week's anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It wasdeliveredto the Military Officers Association of America in a hotel ballroom filled with U.S. troops, including several injured in the war, and with diplomatic representatives of foreign countries that have suffered terrorist attacks.
Later, the White House said Bush was extending for one-year thenational emergencyhe declared following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because the "terrorist threat continues" and measures adopted to deal with that emergency must remain in effect.
Bush planned a third speech Wednesday from the White House, laying out his plan to change the law so thatdetaineesheld at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can be tried for crimes before military commissions.
Bush argued Tuesday that history will look favorably on his currently unpopular war strategy.
To make his case, the White House cited previously unreleased documents including a copy of the al-Qaida charter found by coalition forces in Afghanistan that says hostilities will continue until everyone believes in Allah.
The White House also unveiled a letter from bin Laden to Taliban leader Mullah Omar in which he wrote about plans for a "media campaign to create awedgebetween the American people and their government" so the people will pressure leaders to retreat in the fight.
Bush also quoted bin Laden saying.
"Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."
"That is why we must not, and we will not, give the enemy victory in Iraq bydesertingthe Iraqi people," Bush said.
(Agencies)
|
