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12/4/04 - BUSH IN HALIFAX - 2004-12-06


On his visit to Canada, President George W. Bush thanked the Canadian people for helping the U.S. in the wake of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks. Speaking in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mr. Bush said defense alone is not a sufficient strategy in the war against terrorism:

"On September the 11th, the people of North America learned that two vast oceans and friendly neighbors cannot fully shield us from the dangers of the 21st century. There's only one way to deal with enemies who plot in secret and set out to murder the innocent and the unsuspecting. We must take the fight to them. We must be relentless and we must be steadfast in our duty to protect our people."

"Our enemies have declared their intentions," said Mr. Bush, "and so have we":

"Peaceful nations must keep the peace by going after the terrorists and disrupting their plans and cutting off their funding. We must hold the sponsors of terror equally responsible for terrorist acts. We must prevent outlaw regimes from gaining weapons of mass destruction and providing them to terrorists. We must stay at these efforts with patience and resolve until we prevail."

Mr. Bush also called on free nations to help promote stability and democracy in the Middle East:

"If twenty years from now, the Middle East is dominated by dictators and mullahs who build weapons of mass destruction and harbor terrorists, our children and our grandchildren will live in a nightmare world of danger. That must not happen."

"By taking the side of reformers and democrats in the Middle East," said President Bush, "we will gain allies in the war on terror and isolate the ideology of murder and help to defeat the despair and hopelessness that breeds terror. The world," he said, "will become a much safer place as democracy advances."

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