President George W. Bush marked the sixty-fourth anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that brought the United States into the Second World War. Mr. Bush drew a parallel between that attack and the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S. On December 7th, 1941, he said, the United States "awoke to an attack plotted in secret and executed without mercy":
"Our nation pulled together and, despite setbacks and battlefield defeats, we did not waver in freedom's cause. On September 11th, 2001, our nation awoke to another sudden attack. In the space of just one-hundred-and-two minutes, more Americans were killed than we lost at Pearl Harbor."
Mr. Bush says Americans are confronting the danger of international terrorism "with firm resolve":
"Like generations before us, we're taking the fight to those who attacked us and those who share their murderous vision for future attacks. Like generations before us, we face setbacks on the path to victory. Yet, we will fight this war without wavering. And like generations before us, we will prevail."
The United States and the civilized world, said Mr. Bush, must remain steadfast in this war:
"Like earlier struggles for freedom, this war will take many turns. And the enemy must be defeated on every battlefront: from the streets of Western cities, to the mountains of Afghanistan, to the tribal regions of Pakistan, to the islands of Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa. Yet, the terrorists have made it clear that Iraq is the central front in their war against humanity, so we must recognize Iraq as the central front in the war on terror."
"If we're not fighting and destroying the enemy in Iraq," said President Bush, "they would be plotting and killing our citizens across the world and within our own borders. By fighting the terrorists in Iraq, we are confronting a direct threat to the American people. And we will accept nothing less than complete victory."
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.
