06/15/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09947

BUSH ON TERRORISM WAR

Nine months have passed since the September 11^th terrorist attacks on the United States. Debris from what was once the World Trade Center in New York City has been cleared. The Pentagon, outside Washington, D-C, is being repaired.

Life seems almost normal. "Yet," as President George W. Bush said, "we are a different nation today – sadder and stronger, less innocent and more courageous." Americans now know that trained killers are plotting to attack.

The U.S. is taking steps to prevent more terrorist attacks. Action has already been taken to secure cockpits on commercial airliners, tighten border controls, and increase security at water-treatment and nuclear-power plants.

On June 6^th, President Bush proposed creation of a permanent Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. This department will bring together in a single agency responsibilities now scattered across the government. It will have four primary tasks: to control borders to prevent terrorist infiltration; to respond rapidly to emergencies; to develop technologies for detecting nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons; and to discover drugs and treatment to protect American citizens.

More than sixty-thousand American men and women are now deployed around the world in the war against global terrorism. Seven-thousand Americans are in Afghanistan. Others are offering anti-terrorism training and assistance in a number of countries, including the Philippines, Yemen, and Georgia.

The U.S. isn’t alone in this fight. There is a worldwide coalition. Some ninety nations have arrested or detained over one-thousand three-hundred terrorists and their supporters. And many have offered or are providing assistance in the war on terrorism.

Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorists who carried out the attacks against the United States are being hunted down. They will be found and they will be brought to justice. Some have already been caught. Among them is Abu Zubaydah [zoo-BAY-dah], al-Qaida’s chief of operations. From him and others, the U.S.-led coalition is learning more and more about how the terrorists plan and operate.

As President Bush said, "History has called our nation into action. History has placed a great challenge before us...This great country will lead the world to safety, security, peace and freedom."