George W. Bush's Forty-Third President (2001 to 2009)
Declares "Freedom and Fear Are At War"
Address to Joint Session of Congress United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. September
20, 2001
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore,
members of Congress, and fellow Americans, in the normal course
of events, presidents come to this chamber to report on the
state of the union. Tonight, no such report is needed; it has
already been delivered by the American people.
We have
seen it in the courage of passengers who rushed terrorists to
save others on the ground. Passengers like an exceptional man
named Todd Beamer. And would you please help me welcome his wife
Lisa Beamer here tonight?
(APPLAUSE)
We have seen
the state of our union in the endurance of rescuers working past
exhaustion.
We've seen the unfurling of flags, the
lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers
in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
We have seen the decency
of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of
strangers their own.
My fellow citizens, for the last
nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of
union, and it is strong.
(APPLAUSE)
Tonight, we
are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom.
Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether
we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies,
justice will be done.
(APPLAUSE)
I thank the
Congress for its leadership at such an important time.
All of America was touched on the evening of the tragedy to see
Republicans and Democrats joined together on the steps of this
Capitol singing "God Bless America."
And you did more
than sing. You acted, by delivering $40 billion to rebuild our
communities and meet the needs of our military. Speaker Hastert,
Minority Leader Gephardt, Majority Leader Daschle and Senator
Lott, I thank you for your friendship, for your leadership and
for your service to our country.
(APPLAUSE)
And on
behalf of the American people, I thank the world for its
outpouring of support.
America will never forget the
sounds of our national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace, on
the streets of Paris and at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
We
will not forget South Korean children gathering to pray outside
our embassy in Seoul, or the prayers of sympathy offered at a
mosque in Cairo.
We will not forget moments of silence
and days of mourning in Australia and Africa and Latin America.
Nor will we forget the citizens of 80 other nations who died
with our own. Dozens of Pakistanis, more than 130 Israelis, more
than 250 citizens of India, men and women from El Salvador,
Iran, Mexico and Japan, and hundreds of British citizens.
America has no truer friend than Great Britain.
(APPLAUSE)
Once again, we are joined together in a great
cause. I'm so honored the British prime minister has crossed an
ocean to show his unity with America. Thank you for coming,
friend.
(APPLAUSE)
On September the 11th, enemies
of freedom committed an act of war against our country.
Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years they have
been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941.
Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the
center of a great city on a peaceful morning.
Americans
have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of
civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single day, and
night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is
under attack.
Americans have many questions tonight.
Americans are asking, "Who attacked our country?"
The
evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely
affiliated terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda. They are
some of the murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in
Tanzania and Kenya and responsible for bombing the USS Cole.
Al Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its
goal is not making money, its goal is remaking the world and
imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.
The
terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has
been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim
clerics; a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings
of Islam.
The terrorists' directive commands them to kill
Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no
distinctions among military and civilians, including women and
children. This group a nd its leader, a person named Osama bin
Laden, are linked to many other organizations in different
countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan.
There are thousands of these
terrorists in more than 60 countries.
They are recruited
from their own nations and neighborhoods and brought to camps in
places like Afghanistan where they are trained in the tactics of
terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in
countries around the world to plot evil and destruction. The
leadership of al Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and
supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country.
In Afghanistan we see al Qaeda's vision for the world.
Afghanistan's people have been brutalized, many are starving and
many have fled.
Women are not allowed to attend school.
You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be
practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in
Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. The United States
respects the people of Afghanistan -- after all, we are
currently its largest source of humanitarian aid -- but we
condemn the Taliban regime.
(APPLAUSE)
It is not
only repressing its own people, it is threatening people
everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying
terrorists.
By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban
regime is committing murder. And tonight the United States of
America makes the following demands on the Taliban:
Deliver to United States authorities all of the leaders of Al
Qaeda who hide in your land. Release all foreign nationals,
including American citizens you have unjustly imprisoned.
Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your
country. Close immediately and permanently every terrorist
training camp in Afghanistan. And hand over every terrorist and
every person and their support structure to appropriate
authorities. Give the United States full access to terrorist
training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer
operating. These demands are not open to negotiation or
discussion.
(APPLAUSE)
The Taliban must act and
act immediately.
They will hand over the terrorists or
they will share in their fate. I also want to speak tonight
directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith.
It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by
millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its
teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in
the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah.
(APPLAUSE)
The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in
effect, to hijack Islam itself.
The enemy of America is
not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends.
Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every
government that supports them.
(APPLAUSE)
Our war
on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there.
It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach
has been found, stopped and defeated.
(APPLAUSE)
Americans are asking "Why do they hate us?"
They hate
what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically
elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate
our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech,
our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.
They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim
countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to
drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive
Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.
These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to
disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope
that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and
forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in
their way.
We're not deceived by their pretenses to
piety.
We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs
of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By
sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by
abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in
the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will
follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's
unmarked grave of discarded lies. Americans are asking, "How
will we fight and win this war?"
We will direct every
resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool
of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every
financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the
destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network.
Now, this war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade
ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift
conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two
years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single
American was lost in combat.
Our response involves far
more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans
should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any
other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible
on TV and covert operations secret even in success.
We
will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against
another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge
or no rest.
And we will pursue nations that provide aid
or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has
a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the
terrorists.
From this day forward, any nation that
continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the
United States as a hostile regime. Our nation has been put on
notice, we're not immune from attack. We will take defensive
measures against terrorism to protect Americans. Today, dozens
of federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local
governments, have responsibilities affecting homeland security.
These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. So
tonight, I announce the creation of a Cabinet-level position
reporting directly to me, the Office of Homeland Security. And
tonight, I also announce a distinguished American to lead this
effort, to strengthen American security: a military veteran, an
effective governor, a true patriot, a trusted friend,
Pennsylvania's Tom Ridge.
He will lead, oversee and
coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to safeguard our
country against terrorism and respond to any attacks that may
come. These measures are essential. The only way to defeat
terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it,
eliminate it and destroy it where it grows.
Many will be
involved in this effort, from FBI agents, to intelligence
operatives, to the reservists we have called to active duty. All
deserve our thanks, and all have our prayers. And tonight a few
miles from the damaged Pentagon, I have a message for our
military: Be ready. I have called the armed forces to alert, and
there is a reason.
The hour is coming when America will
act, and you will make us proud.
This is not, however,
just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's
freedom. This is the world's fight. This is civilization's
fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and
pluralism, tolerance and freedom.
We ask every nation to
join us.
We will ask and we will need the help of police
forces, intelligence service and banking systems around the
world. The United States is grateful that many nations and many
international organizations have already responded with sympathy
and with support -- nations from Latin America to Asia to Africa
to Europe to the Islamic world.
Perhaps the NATO charter
reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an
attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America's
side.
They understand that if this terror goes
unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next.
Terror unanswered can not only bring down buildings, it can
threaten the stability of legitimate governments.
And you
know what? We're not going to allow it.
(APPLAUSE)
Americans are asking, "What is expected of us?"
I ask
you to live your lives and hug your children. I know many
citizens have fears tonight, and I ask you to be calm and
resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat.
I ask
you to uphold the values of America and remember why so many
have come here.
We're in a fight for our principles, and
our first responsibility is to live by them. No one should be
singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of
their ethnic background or religious faith.
I ask you to
continue to support the victims of this tragedy with your
contributions. Those who want to give can go to a central source
of information, Libertyunites.org, to find the names of groups
providing direct help in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The thousands of FBI agents who are now at work in this
investigation may need your cooperation, and I ask you to give
it. I ask for your patience with the delays and inconveniences
that may accompany tighter security and for your patience in
what will be a long struggle.
I ask your continued
participation and confidence in the American economy. Terrorists
attacked a symbol of American prosperity; they did not touch its
source.
America is successful because of the hard work
and creativity and enterprise of our people. These were the true
strengths of our economy before September 11, and they are our
strengths today.
And finally, please continue praying for
the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform
and for our great country. Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and
will help strengthen us for the journey ahead. Tonight I thank
my fellow Americans for what you have already done and for what
you will do.
And ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, I
thank you, their representatives, for what you have already done
and for what we will do together.
Tonight we face new and
sudden national challenges. We will come together to improve air
safety, to dramatically expand the number of air marshals on
domestic flights and take new measures to prevent hijacking.
We will come together to promote stability and keep our
airlines flying with direct assistance during this emergency.
(APPLAUSE)
We will come together to give law
enforcement the additional tools it needs to track down terror
here at home.
We will come together to strengthen our
intelligence capabilities to know the plans of terrorists before
they act and to find them before they strike.
(APPLAUSE)
We will come together to take active steps that strengthen
America's economy and put our people back to work.
Tonight, we welcome two leaders who embody the extraordinary
spirit of all New Yorkers, Governor George Pataki and Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani.
As a symbol of America's resolve, my
administration will work with Congress and these two leaders to
show the world that we will rebuild New York City.
After
all that has just passed, all the lives taken and all the
possibilities and hopes that died with them, it is natural to
wonder if America's future is one of fear.
Some speak of
an age of terror. I know there are struggles ahead and dangers
to face. But this country will define our times, not be defined
by them.
As long as the United States of America is
determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror. This
will be an age of liberty here and across the world.
Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And
in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment.
Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom,
the great achievement of our time and the great hope of every
time, now depends on us.
Our nation, this generation,
will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our
future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by
our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter and we will
not fail.
(APPLAUSE)
It is my hope that in the
months and years ahead life will return almost to normal. We'll
go back to our lives and routines and that is good.
Even
grief recedes with time and grace.
But our resolve must
not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day and to
whom it happened. We will remember the moment the news came,
where we were and what we were doing.
Some will remember
an image of a fire or story or rescue. Some will carry memories
of a face and a voice gone forever.
And I will carry
this. It is the police shield of a man named George Howard who
died at the World Trade Center trying to save others.
It
was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her
son. It is my reminder of lives that ended and a task that does
not end.
I will not forget the wound to our country and
those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I
will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security
for the American people. The course of this conflict is not
known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and
cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not
neutral between them.
(APPLAUSE)
Fellow citizens,
we'll meet violence with patient justice, assured of the
rightness of our cause and confident of the victories to come.
In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom and may
he watch over the United States of America. Thank you.
