http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212161,00.html

Bush Declares He Will Not Give Up War Against Terror

Tuesday , September 05, 2006

WASHINGTON — President Bush declared his intention to step up the War on Terror, proclaiming Tuesday that "we will not retreat" from the fight against radical Islamists bent on destroying America.

"We will not rest, we will not retreat, we will not withdraw from the fight until this threat to civilization is removed," Bush told a gathering of the Military Officers Association of America.

The president said Al Qaeda is "convinced they can force America to retreat… that we are weak and decadent and lacking in patience and resolve and they're wrong."

Bush warned that allowing Al Qaeda to gain a foothold in Iraq would doom security in the region and around the world.

"They oppose the advance of freedom, and they want to gain control of weapons of mass destruction," he said. "If they drive the forces of freedom out of the region, they will have an open field to pursue their dangerous goals."

Usama Bin Laden was singled out by the president as the focus of center of terrorism.

Bush said the architect of the 9/11 attacks was actively trying to a execute plan to gain control of the country, including a plan to create a "unit responsible for arrests, murder and destruction."

Bush vowed the United States would do whatever it takes to keep "the most dangerous men from getting their hands on the world's most dangerous weapons.

"The best way to protect America is to stay on the offense," he said.

Bush's speech, the latest in a series that began last week to bolster the administration's Iraq and Afghanistan strategies, also came hours after the release of status report in the War on Terror.

The White House report said: "The United States and our partners continue to pursue a significantly degraded but still dangerous Al Qaeda network."

"Yet the enemy we face today in the war on terror is not the same enemy we faced on Sept. 11," said the 23-page terrorism strategy update. "Our effective counterterrorist efforts in part have forced the terrorists to evolve and modify their ways of doing business."

Two months before the midterm elections, the report was the White House's latest attempt to highlight national security, an issue that has helped Republicans in past campaigns. Democrats were releasing their own assessment.

Democrats released their own study, saying it shows the country is less secure today than before Bush took office. Citing research done by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, the report said the number of Al Qaeda members has jumped from 20,000 in 2001 to 50,000 today. It also charged that average weekly attacks in Iraq have jumped from almost 200 in spring 2004 to more than 600 this year, using numbers provided by the liberal-oriented Brookings Institution think tank.

"All the speeches in the world won't change what's going on in Iraq," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

"The truth is the president's policies have not worked and have not made us safer," said Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del.

The updated White House strategy came in the wake of the release of a new Al Qaeda video over the weekend that raised concerns about the possibility of another attack as the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches. The tape featured an American — believed by the FBI to have attended Al Qaeda training camps — calling for his countrymen to convert to Islam.

Asked about this Tuesday, Fran Townsend, a special assistant to President Bush for homeland security and counterterrorism, said she did not think the tape suggested another strike.

"We've seen tapes before. We've seen these sort of releases right near Sept. 11," she said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"There are no plans to raise the threat (terror) threat level," Townsend said.

The Department of Homeland Security had raised the terror threat for aviation to red — its highest level — in mid-August at the time the British, working with the United States, broke up what was purported to be a plot against international flights bound from Britain to the United States.

The administration's Iraq war policy and terrorism strategy have come under increasing criticism in recent months, and Republicans and Democrats returning to Capitol Hill Tuesday for the fall season were set to debate the strategy as the midterm elections draw near.

Five years after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, about a third of the American people think the terrorists are winning, according to a recent AP-Ipsos poll.

In its updated terror-fighting strategy, the administration took credit for some successes, saying that "we have deprived Al Qaeda of safe haven in Afghanistan and helped a democratic government rise in its place. It also said that "a multinational coalition joined by the Iraqis is aggressively prosecuting the war against the terrorists in Iraq."

But it also acknowledged continuing challenges:

—"Terrorist networks today are more dispersed and less centralized. They are more reliant on smaller cells inspired by a common ideology and less directed by a central command structure."

—"While the United States government and its partners have thwarted many attacks, we have not been able to prevent them all. Terrorists have struck in many places throughout the world, from Bali to Beslan to Baghdad."

—"While we have substantially improved our air, land, sea and border security, our Homeland is not immune from attack."

—"The ongoing fight for freedom in Iraq has been twisted by terrorist propaganda as a rallying cry."

Bush has said on many occasions that the country must be prepared for a drawn-out battle against a new kind of enemy, and the new counterterrorism strategy released Tuesday says flatly that "the War on Terror will be a long war."

It says that among the strategies the United States must emphasize are making all sovereign nations accountable for what happens on their soil, strengthening existing coalitions and partnerships against terrorists and continue to develop more expertise in this area.

One particular problem, it noted, is an "increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet and media" by terrorists and would-be terrorists, saying these tactics have allowed enemies of the United States to "rally support, proselytize and spread their propaganda without risking personal contact."

It also maintains that terrorism "is not simply a result of hostility to U.S. policy in Iraq."

"The United States was attacked on September 11 and many years earlier, well before we toppled the Saddam Hussein regime," it said. "Moreover, countries that did not participate in coalition efforts in Iraq have not been spared from terror attacks."

"There will continue to be challenges ahead, but along with our partners, we will attack terrorism and its ideology and bring hope and freedom to the people of the world," the policy statement said.

"This is how we will win the War on Terror."

FOX News' Wendell Goler and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

i really didn't know where to post this but i just remember the war on terror thread that's about 15 pages, so merge if you'd like, dave

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212481,00.html

Bush Reveals Secret War on Terror, Movement of Suspects

WASHINGTON — President Bush, warning Americans Wednesday that "terrorists are still active ... and still trying to kill our people," announced the transfer of 14 key terrorist suspects from secret CIA custody to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

He also announced that he was asking Congress to pass legislation that would allow the United States to try the terror suspects for war crimes.

"The families of the 9/11 attacks have waited patiently for justice," Bush said.

Issuing a warning to terrorists around the world, the president added, "We will find you, and we will bring you to justice."

The president's comments came during a White House speech on the War on Terror, his third such speech, and before an audience of Sept. 11 families and first responders.

Bush acknowledged for the first time the existence of secret prisons to hold terrorist suspects and outlined how the CIA and the government's intelligence and law enforcement agencies were fighting a secret war against Al Qaeda to "stop attacks before they occur."

He detailed how the administration plans to legally try the more than 400 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The suspects will be transferred to Defense Department custody as a first step in preparing them for trial, a senior administration official. The suspects would be afforded some legal protections consistent with the Geneva Conventions, he said.

In addition to Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 Al Qaeda leader before his capture in Pakistan in 2003, the suspects include: Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11 hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, whom U.S. intelligence officials believe was a key link between Usama bin Laden and many Al Qaeda cells. Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan in March 2002.

The announcement of the prisoner transfers is the first time the administration has acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which had been reported in the media and the subject of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees.

Bush referred to his comments on the CIA program as "limited disclosures" to enable intelligence officials to continue to investigate terrorists' knowledge of future attacks.

"To win the War on Terror, we must be able to detain, question and when appropriate, prosecute terrorists captured here in American and in battlefields around the world," Bush said.

The disclosure of initial leads, photographic identification, voices in recordings of intercepted calls and interpretation of terrorism communications have allowed U.S. officials to stop attacks against the United States, Bush said.

It also came as the president pressed a hard line with Congress on legislation he says is needed to permit the trial of terror suspects through military tribunals. Bush exhorted lawmakers on Wednesday to allow evidence to be withheld from a defendant, if necessary, to protect classified information.

"One of the most important tasks is for Congress to recognize that we need the tools necessary to win this War on Terror and we'll continue to discuss with Congress ways to make sure that this nation is capable of defending herself," Bush said after meeting with members of his Cabinet.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that military tribunals were never authorized by Congress and would violate U.S. and international law. Since the ruling, administration officials have been working on a new proposal to try terrorism suspects.

Of the 770 terror suspects had been sent to Guantanamo Bay, 315 of were returned to other countries and 455 remain in U.S. custody, Bush said.

Some of those suspects are linked to the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Bush's 40-minute speech pressured Congress to pass legislation that would allow military trials for terror suspects so they "can face justice."

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Congress will come to a resolution.

"Obviously there will be differences in approach by the administration and the Congress," Warner said.

Warner, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham drafted a proposal different than the White House measure that would guarantee legal rights to defendants and access to evidence used against them.

"I think it's important that we stand by 200 years of legal precedents concerning classified information because the defendant should have a right to know what evidence is being used," McCain said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow downplayed reports that there are major differences between the White House and Congress.

"It's going to get worked out," Snow said when asked if the White House will negotiate with the lawmakers. "It may be that the Hill is willing to negotiate."

Bush's proposal faces opposition from members of Congress, including Republicans, over objections to whether prosecutors could use sensitive evidence that defendants would not be allowed to see. Some Republicans say it is violates constitutional rights of due process and could encourage other countries to use the same procedure against captured U.S. military personnel.

Some military lawyers back a system similar to the current system of military courts martial. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has objected to rules that would give terror suspects the right to remain silent or challenge hearsay evidence.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he will likely introduce the legislation late Wednesday.

The president also is scheduled to meet with members of his Cabinet and Republican leaders Wednesday. The White House plans a fourth speech by the president in the series on the War on Terror Thursday in Atlanta.

The president's speech comes a day after proclaiming that the United States "will not retreat" from the fights against radical Islamists bent on attacking America.

"We will not rest, we will not retreat, we will not withdraw from the fight until this threat to civilization is removed," Bush told a gathering Tuesday of the Military Officers Association of America.

The speeches lead up to Bush's trip to New York on Monday's fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush will visit ground zero, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania field where Flight 93 passengers forced hijackers to crash to avoid further loss of life.

Drilling for fear makes the job simple

I think it is vital for Congress to give President Bush this authority. What is a reasonable alternative?

Not giving authority to a house of mad men...

See, this was the crux of Rumseld's speech.

So Bush and Co. are the "mad men." And the terrorists are what....freedom fighters that should be released immediately with time served and a lawyer so they can sue the US government for imprisonment without a fair and speedy trial?

*takes out Violin for Flux*.........you just want to be angry at anyone do ya.... How about NOone is right but you ...better?

i see no problem with the trails.

what makes me sick is bush and his administration can call themselves so morally superior to others when things like this happen.

it's become clear: the u.s. isn't morally superior to anyone.

hoepfully that becomes clear to the general population, because it should be clear to anyone who even trys to look

Irrelevant....we are "alpha male"....everyone (every species) obeys "top dog"

What amuses me (definately doesn't make me sick because I know it's the minority view) is when people twist Bush's words around, search and search for possible scandals (see valerie plame), and when they are proven wrong, they move on to the next attack. You people are completely obsessed with this man. You scour every word he utters looking for something to link him to a global hegemony.

Yet, at the same time, you don't believe what ahminajad, hamas, or the hezbos actually say. How fucked up is that?

I never actually heard Bush say he's morally superior to anyone. Example?

well your name is corky...

i really dont believe anyone anymore

theyre all fucked

and you people are completely obsessed in the opposite way..you worship everything he says and does and defend EVERYthing he says like hes the second coming

No need for the violin - perhaps you can stop psychoanalyzing for a moment and answer the question I asked. If the Bush Administration are "mad men," then what are the terrorists to you?

People who stage wars on ROCK throwers ...good enough answer?
Edit: where do you think they(afgan and Irag) got these weapons from anyway ..? your turn to answer

Well, if that's your answer then it's good enough. I think depicting the terrorists as "rock throwers" is underexaggerated to say the least.

I'd rather live under Bush/Cheney than Ahmadinejhad, Nasrallah, or Osama any day. But that's not exactly the point.