As Vice President Dick Cheney said, the United States and its allies are pursuing a global strategy to defeat terrorism:
“Witness the attacks that have occurred in New York and Washington, but also in Bali, Mombasa, Riyadh, Casablanca, Jakarta, Jerusalem, Bombay, Baghdad, and Najaf. It’s a war that involves not just the U.S., but all the nations of the civilized world. And it is a war that will continue well into the foreseeable future.”
Mr. Cheney said this strategy requires confronting states that provide sanctuary to terrorist organizations:
“In this global war on terrorism, U.S. and allied forces are heavily engaged when and where they need to be, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. We will stay in Afghanistan and Iraq to make absolutely certain that the job is done before we move on. Our military is confronting the terrorists along with our allies in Iraq and Afghanistan so that innocent civilians will not have to confront terrorist violence in Washington or London or anywhere else in the world.”
Make no mistake, said Mr. Cheney, the U.S. and its allies are ready to pay whatever price is necessary to ensure the defeat of global terrorism:
“Nearly four hundred of our troops have already given their lives during this war since 9-11, and our allies obviously have also suffered casualties. But Americans will never forget that we lost some three thousand of our fellow citizens right here at home on 9-11. We will be much more secure if we aggressively go after the terrorists and after the nations and the mechanisms that support them, than if we lay back and wait for them to strike us again.”
In the words of Vice President Cheney, “The terrorists intend to strike again. Yet no one should doubt the intentions of our nation. One by one, in every corner of the world, we will hunt the terrorists down and destroy them.”
