On August 19th, terrorists struck the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. The more than twenty U-N personnel and Iraqi citizens killed in the bombings were engaged in a purely humanitarian mission. They were working on reconstruction, medical care for Iraqis, and the distribution of food.
On the same day, a terrorist in Jerusalem murdered at least twenty people riding on a crowded bus. The killer concealed under his clothing a bomb filled with metal fragments. The bomb was designed to kill and injure the greatest number of people possible. Among the one-hundred-ten people hurt were forty children. As President George W. Bush said, these bombings reveal, once again, why terrorism must be defeated:
"In their malicious view of the world, no one is innocent. Relief workers and infants alike are targeted for murder. Terrorism may use religion as a disguise, but terrorism violates every religion and every standard of decency and morality."
As Mr. Bush said, the goals of the terrorists are clear:
"The terrorists have declared war on every free nation and all our citizens. They want more governments to resemble the oppressive Taleban that once ruled Afghanistan. Terrorists commit atrocities because they want the civilized world to flinch and retreat so they can impose their totalitarian vision. There will be no flinching in this war on terror, and there will be no retreat."
"From Afghanistan to Iraq, to the Philippines and elsewhere," said President Bush, civilized nations will continue their war against terrorists "wherever they gather, wherever they plan, and wherever they act":
"In continued acts of murder and destruction, terrorists are testing our will, hoping we will weaken and withdraw. Yet across the world, they are finding that our will cannot be shaken. Whatever the hardships, we will persevere."
"This campaign," said President Bush, "requires sacrifice, determination, and resolve, and we will see it through."
