09/14/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10129

BUSH ON BIGOTRY

More than two-hundred years ago, George Washington, America’s first president, said, "America gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." "And that," said President George W. Bush, "is true today."

"Bigotry is not a part of our soul," Mr. Bush said. "It’s not going to be a part of our future.... In order for us to reject the evil done to America on September the 11^th [2001]...we must reject bigotry in all its forms."

The U.S. rejects bigotry when it helps the people of Afghanistan. That country had been ruled by the oppressive Taleban regime and was a safe haven and training camp for the al-Qaida terrorists. A U.S.-led coalition freed Afghanistan. The coalition went there not as conquerors but as liberators. As President Bush said, today, the people of Afghanistan are "building a better future." The U.S. has committed more than seven-hundred-million dollars to Afghanistan for food and seeds, roads and bridges, and water and sanitation systems.

"All Americans must recognize," Mr. Bush said, "that the face of terror is not the true...face of Islam." The terrorists who attacked the U.S. despise other religions, and they have defiled their own. They are determined to expand the scope of their murder.

The enemy, said President Bush, "is a radical network of terrorists, not a religion. . . . {G]overnments which support [the terrorists] are our enemies, not faithful Muslims who love their families, who yearn for a more peaceful and safe world for their children."

"In our war against terror," said President Bush, "we must never lose sight of the values that make our country so strong -- the values of respect and tolerance. The value that we believe that everybody ought to worship the Almighty, however they so choose."